Timeline of Turkish History

Last reviewed on 27 September 2026.

This is a dated reference to the history of the land that is now Türkiye, from the first monumental buildings of the Neolithic to the Republic's centenary in 2023. It is arranged in ten eras. Each has a short paragraph explaining what held the period together and why it matters, then a table of dates, and a link to the page on this site that covers the era in depth. The dates are the standard ones found in academic reference works. Where a date is approximate, traditional or disputed, the table says so ("c." for circa, "traditional" for a date handed down rather than documented). Where the interpretation of an event is contested, the entry says who holds which view.

1. Prehistory and the Bronze Age (to c. 1180 BC)

Anatolia has some of the earliest evidence anywhere for monumental building and settled farming life. Göbekli Tepe shows that hunter-gatherers in the upper Euphrates basin put up large carved stone enclosures before farming had fully taken hold. Çatalhöyük shows a crowded farming town a couple of thousand years later. In the Bronze Age, writing reached Anatolia through Assyrian traders. The Hittites then built the first great Anatolian state and dealt with Egypt as equals. For the archaeology, see Ancient Anatolia and the site guides to Göbekli Tepe and Troy.

2. Iron Age kingdoms, Greeks and Persians (c. 1180–133 BC)

When the Hittite state collapsed, Anatolia split into regional kingdoms: Phrygia in the centre, Lydia in the west, Urartu around Lake Van. Greek cities spread along the Aegean and Black Sea coasts. Persia absorbed them all in the 6th century BC. Alexander conquered the region in the 330s BC, and his successors, including the Attalid kings of Pergamon, spread Hellenistic culture. This period produced much of the ancient heritage visitors see today, from Ephesus to the Aegean temples. See Ancient Anatolia and the Aegean region.

3. Rome and Byzantium (133 BC – 1071)

Under Rome, Anatolia became one of the empire's richest and most urban regions. In 330 Constantine moved the capital to Constantinople, and the eastern empire went on to outlast the western one by almost a thousand years. Historians call it "Byzantine", though its people called themselves Romans. The great church councils that shaped Christian doctrine met on what is now Turkish soil. The full story is on the Byzantine Empire page.

4. The Seljuks and the Turkish settlement of Anatolia (1071–c. 1300)

Turkish-speaking groups from Central Asia arrived through Iran in the 11th century. After Manzikert in 1071 they settled Anatolia in large numbers. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, ruled from Konya, built caravanserais and medreses across the plateau. Byzantium survived in the west, was badly weakened by the Fourth Crusade, and never fully recovered. After the Mongol victory of 1243, Anatolia broke up into small Turkish principalities, and one of them became the Ottoman state. See The Seljuks and Konya.

5. The rise and height of the Ottoman Empire (c. 1299–1699)

The Ottomans began as a frontier principality in Bithynia and grew into an empire that stretched from Hungary to Yemen and from Algeria to the Caspian. They crossed into Europe before they controlled most of Anatolia. They recovered from Timur's victory in 1402, took Constantinople in 1453, and reached their greatest extent in the 16th century. See the Ottoman Empire overview, the fall of Constantinople and Süleyman the Magnificent.

6. Reform, retreat and war (1699–1918)

From Karlowitz on, the empire lost territory to Habsburg Austria and then, above all, to Russia. Governments answered with reform. The Tanzimat modernised law and administration, and two constitutional periods (1876–78 and from 1908) brought a parliament. The Balkan Wars and the First World War ended the empire. They also brought mass violence against civilians, including the Armenian deportations and killings of 1915, which remain the subject of a sharp international dispute over how they should be described. See Ottoman Empire and Gallipoli.

7. The War of Independence (1918–1923)

After the Armistice of Mudros, the Allies occupied Istanbul and parts of Anatolia, and the Treaty of Sèvres proposed to divide much of what remained. A nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kemal and based in Ankara fought Greek, Armenian and French forces and rejected Sèvres. It then negotiated the Treaty of Lausanne, which still largely defines Türkiye's borders. See the War of Independence page.

8. Atatürk's Republic and İnönü (1923–1945)

Under a single-party government, the new Republic carried through a rapid programme of secularising and nationalising reforms. It changed law, script, dress, the calendar and family names within about a decade. İnönü, Atatürk's successor, kept Türkiye neutral for almost all of the Second World War. See Atatürk and Türkiye since 1923.

9. Multi-party politics, coups and liberalisation (1946–1999)

Türkiye moved to competitive elections after 1945 and joined the Western alliance. Military interventions in 1960, 1971 and 1980 interrupted civilian rule, and the constitution drafted after the 1980 coup remains in force, heavily amended. The 1980s brought market liberalisation. The 1990s brought unstable coalitions, an armed conflict with the PKK and, by the end of the decade, EU candidacy. The detail is on Türkiye since 1923 and Government and politics.

10. The 21st century (2000–2023)

A financial crash in 2001 was followed by the election of the AKP in 2002. The party has governed ever since: first under a parliamentary system and, from 2018, under an executive presidency. The period covers EU accession talks, rapid growth and later high inflation, the 2016 coup attempt, and the 2023 earthquakes. It ended with the centenary. For the political context and the competing interpretations, see Türkiye since 1923, and for the economy, Economy. For the seismic background, see Earthquakes in Türkiye.

Common mistakes

• Dating "Turkish history" from 1923, or from 1453. Turks arrived in Anatolia in the 11th century, and the land's history goes back more than eleven thousand years before that. Most of the country's archaeological heritage is Hittite, Greek, Roman or Byzantine.
• Treating 1299 as a documented founding date. It is a traditional date. Nothing survives from the early 14th century that records a foundation in that year.
• Confusing the end of the sultanate with the end of the caliphate. The sultanate was abolished on 1 November 1922. The caliphate lasted until 3 March 1924, held by a member of the dynasty with purely religious status.
• Saying Istanbul was the Republic's first capital. Ankara was made the capital on 13 October 1923, just before the Republic was proclaimed. Istanbul has never been the Republic's capital.

Frequently asked questions

Where this fits on the rest of the site

• The History overview gathers all the long-form history pages.
• For individual periods: Ancient Anatolia, Byzantine Empire, Seljuks, Ottoman Empire, War of Independence, Türkiye since 1923.
• Many of the places in this timeline are on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
• National days that commemorate these dates are listed under public holidays.