Turkey

The Republic of Turkey is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance.

The present republic was formed in 1922-1923, after the Ottoman Empire was defeated during World War I. The Ottoman Empire (1299-1922) was a substantial force in Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. It reached its height after it took Constantinople in 1453; the next two centuries were the empire's golden age.

Most of Harry Turtledove's stories are set in the "Ottoman" era, although even at the time, the names "Turkey" and "Ottoman Empire" were used interchangeably. In some stories, the Ottoman Empire continues on for longer than it did in OTL. Both versions redirect here for convenience.

Turkey in Agent of Byzantium
By the early 14th Century, the Byzantine Empire had retained Asia Minor as part of its territory.

Turkey in Crosstime Traffic
In the home timeline, Turkey was suspected of having destroyed the Syrian capital Damascus in 2033 with a nuclear weapon smuggled into the city.

Crosstime Traffic imported high quality fruit from an alternate in which Palestine was a sleepy Turkish province.

Turkey in Curious Notions
In an alternate where Germany won a war analogous to World War I, the Ottoman Empire continued on well into the 21st Century.

Turkey in "Les Mortes d'Arthur"
Turkey was defeated and assimilated by the Arab World. As a result, Turks were one of several nationalist groups threatening the Arab World during the sixty-sixth Winter Olympic Games.

Turkey in "Occupation Duty"
The invading Turkish tribes from central Asia, which arrived in the area near the Inner Sea, were for a time a major disrupting force for the older peoples and civilizations of this region. At one time they conquered and sacked Hierosolyma, but did not retain possession of it. Eventually they settled down in possession of the ancient city of Babylon, where they took up the militant religion of Sword Buddha, built up a modern civilization and became the arch-foes of the Philistines. (Thus, "Turkish" territory in this timeline corresponds to OTL Iraq. The story gives no clue as to who rules the region we know as Turkey, but a mention of Greece still being a world power would seem to suggest that Greek culture retained control over Asia Minor, although this is speculative.) The Turks' attempt to gain nuclear weapons aroused great alarm among other nations, most of which lacked the nerve to intervene themselves, and which expressed great relief when the Philistines "took the bull by the horns" on their own initiative, and sent an aerial bombing raid to destroy the Babylonian stockpile. (The parallel is to Israel's harrying of Saddam Hussein in OTL.) The Arabs, who were the Turks' neighbours to the south, shared their dislike of the Philistines, but were not great friends of the Turks either.

Turkey in Ruled Britannia
Turkey was decisively defeated by Spanish forces at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, 17 years before King Philip II of Spain conquered England with the Spanish Armada. English playwright William Shakespeare paid tribute to this battle in his history play about Philip, King Philip.

Turkey in Southern Victory
The Ottoman Empire aligned itself with the Central Powers and benefited from its allies' victory in the Great War. In 1917, Turkey was among the first governments to grant diplomatic recognition to the Republic of Quebec, the Republic of Ireland, and the Kingdom of Poland. The Ottomans were able to retain their Arab territories after the armistice of 1917.

Turkey began a program of genocide against Armenians within its territory after the war. This made Turkey the target of international outrage, including its wartime co-belligerent, the United States. Officially, the US asked their de jure ally Kaiser Wilhelm II, who was much closer to Turkey geographically, to pressure the Sultan. However, German protests were more apathetic in nature and the US, weary from their costly wartime experience, had to back down, allowing the genocide to continue.

Nonetheless, during the Second Great War enough Armenians remained to mount a people bombing campaign against the Turks.

During the Second Great War, Turkey joined the Central Powers once again.

Turkey in "The Bleeding Moon"
In 1546, a century and a half after Turkey conquered Bulgaria in 1396, the Bulgar village of Gramada was plagued by a vurkolak.

Turkey in "The Emperor's Return"
On May 29, 1453, the Ottoman Empire successfully conquered Constantinople, bringing about the fall of the Byzantine Empire. The last emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, vanished on that day.

On June 7, 2003, Turkey was invaded by the Soviet Union and its ally, Greece. Greece was rewarded for the alliance with the return of Constantinople, now Istanbul, to Greek control three days later.

Turkey in "The More it Changes"
The history of the Ottoman Empire was changed thanks to the efforts of Sabbatai Tzevi, a Turkish-born Jew who proclaimed himself the Messiah and led a substantial group of followers as he proselytized throughout the Empire. In September, 1666, Sultan Mehmed IV brought Sabbatai before him, expecting Sabbatai to convert to Islam. Instead, after listening to Sabbatai, Mehmed announced that he was converting, and changed his name to Sabbatai I.

From then on, the Sabbateans flourished within the Ottoman Empire, eventually spreading into Europe.

Turkey in The Two Georges
The Ottoman Empire had begun to decline in the 18th Century, with Russia and Austria poised to conquer parts of its territory and the peoples of the Balkans increasingly restive and rebellious. However, the British Empire - reinvigorated after the successful conclusion of its North American crisis - stepped in to guarantee the integrity of Ottoman boundaries, which remained fixed as of the early 19th Century.

The Ottomans' domain included the Greeks, the Bulgarians, the Serbians and the Albanians. In return the Turks surrendered their independence and became a British protectorate, with a British resident in every province to "keep an eye" on the local Turkish governor and ensure a more humane treatment of the subjects. The British give special attention to Jerusalem due to its religious significance, the British resident there ensuring that Palestine remained a sleepy province and that nothing would disturb the rest of the world.

The British protectorate over the Ottoman Empire had the added benefit of blocking the only avenue Austria had for expansion, dooming it to remain a second-rate power.

Turkey in Worldwar
Turkey remained neutral during the first half of World War II. During the Race invasion of Tosev 3, Turkey fell to the Race after the British were defeated in the Middle East, and at the Peace of Cairo in 1944 it was formally recognized as part of the Race's empire on Earth.

In the years afterwards, tobacco imports from Turkey became too expensive for many US cigarette companies and they stopped including it in their products. Turkish opium poppy proved to be a profitable source of income for European smugglers such as Pierre Dutourd. Germany and the Soviet Union, both sharing land borders with Turkey, kept stirring up unrest within the country.

In 1965, when the Race-German War began over Poland, the city of Istanbul was used as a major supply base for the Race's effort in defending their colony. Despite being protected by the Race's anti-missile defences, a German nuclear missile managed to get through and destroy the city.