The Turks are a nomadic, warrior people whose roots are in Central Asia but who in several ways of migration moved west conquering lands in India, the Middle East, Russia, Anatolia, and Eastern Europe. The old Turkish society of the steppe was one that was dominated by a tribal structure, in which women were treated with equal regard and respect as the menfolk. Culturally, honor, strength, and courage were the most respected virtues, and being a good fighter (warrior or soldier) was an essential part of becoming an effective and respected tribal member. Both men and women engaged in combat, and were skilled in both archery and swordsmanship. This inate fighting skill developed by Turks established them as empire-builders, and gave birth to such famous conquerers as Tamerlane, and Attilla the Hun.
Although Turkish people are commonly associated with Islam, the old Turkish tribes were not Muslim and in fact practiced a religion known as "shamanism": the warship of nature (particularly fire, water and air) though divinely inspired holy men known as shamans. As the Turks migrated west, however, they came into closer association with the Muslim peoples of the Middle East. Turks were first introduced to Islam by mystics who travelled through the frontiers of Islam. Turks were not forced into Islam, but accepted it freely. Because of their warrior nature and roots in the frontier, however, the Islam practiced by Turks came to be spiritual and militant, responding well to the cries of war in the name of God. Turks came to become the majority in the Arab Empires of the Middle East before finally overtaking the Arabs themselves, forming Empires such as the Mamluks in Egypt, the Seljuks of Persia and Anatolia, and finally, the greatest of them all, the Ottoman Empire which at its height spanned from Eastern Europe to North Africa, the Caucasus and the Middle East.
However, not all of the Turks migrated southwest and became Muslims. Many also migrated towards the North deeper into Russia, and even as far as Finland, where they instead adopted Christianity. Peoples such as the Georgians, the Chuvash, and the Gagauz are all Christians with Turkic origins. However, because of the dominance of the Islamic Empires established by Turkish ruling families, and their subsequent wars with the West which had religious overtones, such as the Crusades, the Europeans came to equate "Muslim" with "Turk." In fact, in European vernacular, a Christian who became Muslim was typically said to have turned "Turk.' Nevertheless, the term "Turk" is an ethnic term, not a religious one, and connotes people of all religious who have Turkic origin.
When the Turks became Muslim, Islam became the dominant cultural force. Much of the old Turkish customs were replaced by Islamic ones with Arabic and Persian influences. Evidence of this can be found in the ever increasing domination of men in society as well as the adoption of the Arabic alphabet to express the spoken Turkish. The Ottoman Empire was ruled with the Islamic Seriat Law and conquests were made in the name of Islam.
Culturally, within Anatolia, the old Turkish elements, aside from being mixed with the Islamic ones, were also influenced by the local influences of the Byzantines (Greeks), Armenians, and other Christian and Muslim indigenous peoples. All of these elements were incorporated within the Ottoman Empire under the banner of Islam. Ethnicity was irrelevant compared to religion. And as proscribed by the Koran, non-Muslims were treated fairly and with toleration, and many Christians held high offices within the Sultan's Court. Indeed, when the Ottomans conquered Rumelia (Greece), they were welcomed as liberators from the harsh Byzantine and Roman rule. With the advent of nationalistic principles in Europe that really took root with the French Revolution in 1789, increasingly the minorities within the Ottoman Empire became discontent and began asserting their ethnic identities. First the Balkans and then Greece succesfully fought for independence. Then the Arab Viyalets rebelled. Naturally there was also a rise of Turkish nationalism. When the Ottoman Empire finally crumbled at the end of the First World War, the Allies planned to carve Anatolia among themselves, Greeks, and Armenians. There would be nothing resembling a Turkish state. Turks would have been reduced to servants and subjected to occupation of a foreign power. Under these conditions, the Turkish people rebelled, and guided by the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, succesfully won their independence from the invaders in 1923, thereby establishing the secular, democratic Republic of Turkey.
Turkey is a country that is inhabited now by people of many ethnic groups, that have very much been intermixed over the centuries of co-existence. In forming the national identity, Ataturk placed emphasis not on a citizens ethnic origins or religion, but on loyalty to Turkey - that land of Anatolia which forms the modern borders. One of his most famous sayings is "Happy is He who calls himself a Turk!" In this meaning of Turk, however, Ataturk is not just referring to the original, ethnically Turkish elements, but of a Turk as a citizen of Turkey, that encompasses all mixtures of ethnicity. In reading literature about Turks and Turkey, it is easy to get these two differing uses of the word Turk mixed up. Indeed, many authors themselves have a hard time grappling with the difference, especially with the rise in interest in old Turkish culture and history. Yet, it is something that one must always keep in mind.
In the modern world order, however, Turkey is not the only Turkic republic. Not all of the Turkic peoples left Central Asia. Those who stayed behind or migrated north came under the influence of Russia, and for a long time were part of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of communism and the breakup of the Soviet Union, however, these peoples had the opportunity to become independent, thereby creating the republics of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgzstan. Additionally, there are still many Turkish people who live in Russia, such as the Chechens, and the Tatars, or in Georgia and the Ukraine. There are also Turkic people who live in China (the Xingxhang Province, otherwise known as Eastern Turkestan). Finally, with the partition of Cyprus in 1974, there is also the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Yup turks did migrate alot, u see all different kind of turks, i made a post once of all the different kinds.
Raning from china area to turkey. Most of whom looked chinese lookign besdies the ones from turkey and azerbayjain.
Turks today are genetically considered to be Turanids, meaning a mix of Mongoloid and Caucasoid. The Turks historically are from the Steppes of Asia, but as they continued to migrated and push West they interbred with their conquered people. Today, Turks genetically are as much Turk as they are Persian, Greek, Assyrian, Arab, Serb, Armenian, or Russian. Turks of Central Asia have mixed with Russians during the Soviet era as well.
Indeed, when the Ottomans conquered Rumelia (Greece), they were welcomed as liberators from the harsh Byzantine and Roman rule.
Sorry?
And is this why there were 300 minor/15 major rebellions in the Helladic area? Is this why the "kleftes" guerrilla banmds were the masters of the mountains and the Turks formed their counter-guerrila bands, the armatoloi (which failed miserably btw)? Is this why, there are whole regions like Sfakia, Mani, Souli, Agrapha, Valia Kalta, that were not under Turkish rule? Is this why, the Turkish population in Peloponnese were practically exterminated during the 1821 revolution?
When once you have tasted flight,
you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward,
for there you have been,
and there you will always long to return. Leonardo da Vinci
@ Koursaros:
"And is this why there were 300 minor/15 major rebellions in the Helladic area? Is this why the "kleftes" guerrilla banmds were the masters of the mountains and the Turks formed their counter-guerrila bands, the armatoloi (which failed miserably btw)? Is this why, there are whole regions like Sfakia, Mani, Souli, Agrapha, Valia Kalta, that were not under Turkish rule? Is this why, the Turkish population in Peloponnese were practically exterminated during the 1821 revolution?"
"optimaton... get over yourself buddy. the whole time you've been here its just been turk bashing.. you dont got nothing else to do?"
Get over it, Turkishdude. And what about your fellow bananas, such as JKommando and 3_er, it's all right when they wish death on the Hellenic people. And besides, I don't Turk bash. I just keep your hypocrisies in check.
