Dr. Allen H. Merriam
Professor of Communication (Ret.)
Missouri Southern State University
What is the only country whose capital (Ankara) sits in one continent (Asia) while its largest city (Istanbul) lies in another (Europe), is 99% Muslim but has a secular, democratic government, and consists largely of arid plateaus and mountainous terrain in Asia yet has been an important member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization since 1952? 
These paradoxes describe Turkey, the focus of Missouri Southern State University’s 18th annual international semester.
That number corresponds closely to Turkey’s global ranking in several key indicators: 16th in population (est. 81.6 million in 2014),17th in Gross Domestic Product ($1.2 trillion in 2013), 15th in number of Internet users (30.9 million in 2012), 14th in military expenditures, and 20th in railroad mileage. (Sources: CIA World Factbook and 2014 World Almanac)
Turkey occupies a strategic location – straddling the northeastern Mediterranean junction of Asia and Europe and bordering volatile flashpoints including Syria, Iraq, the Caucasus and, across the Black Sea, Ukraine. It has been traversed by Alexander the Great and Marco Polo and was the birthplace of Paul of Tarsus, author of nearly half the books of the New Testament.
Mount Ararat, an extinct volcano rising nearly 17,000 feet near Turkey’s border with Armenia, was identified in Genesis (8:4) as the landing site of Noah’s Ark.
Now Turkey is flooded by an influx of refugees fleeing Syria’s brutal civil war, severely straining the nation’s humanitarian resources. The situation worsened when violence in Syria spilled across the border, notably in the May 11, 2013 terrorist bombings in Reyhanli killing over 50 people and injuring about 140.
On his first international trip as Secretary of State, John Kerry in 2013 visited Turkey and Israel hoping to patch relations between the two U.S. allies. They had soured in 2010 when Israeli marines killed nine Turkish civilians aboard a Turkish ship trying to deliver relief supplies to Palestinians in the blockaded Gaza Strip. At a 2013 United Nations conference in Vienna Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Zionism a crime against humanity.
Some of Islam’s most impressive architecture can be found in Turkey. Examples include the Sultan Ahmet (“The Blue”) and the Suleimaniye Mosques in Istanbul, the Kocatepe Mosque in Ankara, the Sabanci Mosque in Adana, and the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne, considered the masterpiece of the great 16th century Ottoman architect Sinan.
One of Istanbul’s most famous buildings and a UNESCO World Heritage site is Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom). Commissioned by the Roman emperor Justinian, it was dedicated in 537 and served as a church until Muslims conquered Constantinople in 1453. Four minarets were added and the building converted into a mosque. Now a museum, the massive rectangular structure is capped by a dome 180 feet high.
Turkey has long been noted for Whirling Dervishes, dancers who seek spiritual ecstasy through fast-paced motion. They developed out of Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam associated with the 13th century Persian poet Rumi.
The “Orient Express” operated between Paris and Istanbul from 1889 to 1977. Novels such as Graham Greene’s Stamboul Train (1932) and Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (1934) and their subsequent film adaptations helped impress this legendary train in the popular imagination.
A vibrant metropolis of some 12 million people, Istanbul forms the country’s commercial and cultural hub. Built on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium, it lost to Tokyo in a bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Constantine made it the eastern capital of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, and it was called Constantinople until 1930.
After the Great Schism of 1054, Constantinople became the seat of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. But the victory of Muslim forces under Mehmet II in 1453 ended the Byzantine Empire, ushering in the sprawling Ottoman Empire which collapsed after World War I.
The secular Republic of Turkey emerged Oct. 29, 1923, led by the national hero Mustafa Kemel Ataturk. He instituted dramatic reforms including the abolition of the Islamic caliphate, adoption of Western-style clothing and the Latin alphabet in place of Arabic script, and the enfranchisement of women. By 1993 Turkey had her first woman prime minister, the economist Tansu Cillar.
Many Turks remain highly sensitive to discussions of violence against Armenians 100 years ago. Ethnic hatreds fueled deportations, starvation, and massacres leaving as many as 1.5 million Armenians dead in what many historians regard as the first major genocide of the 20th century. Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature, faced imprisonment for his outspoken acknowledgements of this painful past.
An ongoing conflict involves restive Kurds who make up 18% of the population. In 1984 the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) launched an armed struggle to create a Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey. Some 40,000 people have died in the struggle. PKK’s imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, considered a terrorist by the government, recently called for a ceasefire – raising hopes for a peaceful resolution.
Turkey’s quest for European Union membership so far has stalled, due in part to concerns over human rights abuses. For the last two years Turkey has led the world in number of jailed journalists. Declining freshwater reservoirs throughout the Tigris and Euphrates River basins, currency fluctuations, and tension between Islamist politicians and the military pose continuing challenges for this crossroads of Eurasia
