He led his troops to victory against the occupying Europeans. in photo) declared the country to be an independent country.
Modern Turkey is sourced back to a distinct year, 1923, when the charismatic and powerful military leader Mustafa Kemal ‘Ataturk’ (center. (A pleasant ‘east-west connection’ occurred my first day as I strolled past a Moorish-style piano store from which emanated beautiful live excerpts of Rachmaninov’s 2nd piano concerto being performed by the proprietor.) Western humanitarian, economic and political standards have prevailed as well as countless Victorian, art-deco and neo-classical style buildings, along with clutching traffic jams and independent newspapers. Indeed, after the defeat of the 700-year-old Islamic Ottoman Empire in World War I, England and France pretty much split up Turkey between themselves for several years. Modern urban Turkey is an east-west culture that has become infused, for most of the 20th century, with European life.
