A QUICK LOOK AT HISTORY OF ANATOLIA / TURKEY
12000 - 7000 BC Cave dwellings at Karain and Belba

7500 BC Early Stone Age, first known human settlement at Çatal Höyük near Konya; earliest agriculture

5000 BC Stone and Copper Age; settlement at Hac�lar; earliest known religious pottery and frescoes in Anatolia.

3000 BC First settlement at Troy

2600-1900 BC Old Bronze Age; Proto-Hittite Empire in central and south eastern Anatolia

1900-1300 BC Hittite Empire, wars with Egypt; Prophet Abraham departs from Harran, near �anl� Urfa, for Canaan.

1185 BC Legendary Trojan War

1200- 600 BC Phrygian and Mysian invasions followed by the great period of Hellenic civilisation, Yass� Höyük settlement flourishes; King Midas and King Croesus reign; coinage is invented; Kingdoms of lonia, Lycia,Lydia,Caria,Pamphylia flourish; Empire of Urartu expands in eastern Anatolia.

546 BC Cyrus of Persia invades Anatolia

334 BC Alexander the Great from Macedon conquers Anatolia

279 BC Celts (or Gauls) invade and found Galatia near Ankara

250 - 133 BC Rise of the Kingdom of Pergamon (Bergama)

129 BC Rome establishes the Province of Asia ("Asia Minor") with its capital at Ephesus (near Izmir)

47 - 57 AD St.Paul's journeys in Anaolia

330 AD Constantine dedicates the "New Rome" of Constantinople and the centre of the Roman Empire moves to the Bosphorus

527 - 565 Reign of Justinian, greatest Byzantine emperor; construction of Haghia Sophia, greatest church in the world

570 - 622 Muhammed's birth; revelation of the Koran; flight (hijra) to Medina

1037 - 1109 Empire of the Great Seljuk Turks based in Persia

1071 - 1243 Seljuk Sultanate of Rum based in Konya; life and work of Jelaleddin Rumi (Mevlana), founder of the Whirling Dervishes

1000s - 1200s Age of Crusades

1288 (1299) Founding , near Bursa, of the Ottoman Empire

1453 Conquest of Constantinople by Mehmer II

1520 - 1566 Reign of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, the great age of the Ottomans; most of North Africa and Eastern Europe and all of the Middle East controlled from Istanbul; Ottoman navies patrol the Mediterranean and Red Seas and Indian Ocean

1876 - 1909 Reign of Sultan Abdülhamid, last of the powerful sultans, European powers struggle to grab Ottoman territory as the empire collapses

1914 - 1918 Ottoman Empire, allied with Germany, defeated in World War I; parts of Anatolia occupied by Allied armies

1919 - 1922 Turkish War of Independence; foreign armies pushed out by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk); sultanate abolished

1923 Proclamation of the Turkish Republic

1925 - 1938 Ataturk's reforms transform Turkey into a modern, western-oriented republic; first woman appointed to the Turkish Republic Death of M. K. Ataturk, founding father of contemporary Turkey

1939 Turkey remains neutral during World War II

1950 Turkish troops make a strong contribution to United Nations forces in the Korean War

1991 Mrs.Tansu Çiller becomes Turkey's first female prime minister

1998 75th Aniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic

1999 Turkey stands firm against international terorism,catches the terrorist leader and puts him under trial in front of the international media and observers. Worst earthquake in Turkey with severe casualties

2000 - 2001 September 11 terrorism considerably affects Turkey's economy with sharp decrease in tourism revenues.

2002 Turkey ranks 3rd in football in World Championship.
Turkey's national basketball team qualifies for World Championship for the first time.

2003 Women's National Volleyball Team ranks 2nd in European Championship.

2004 - EU officially decides to start negotiations on Turkey's full membership to EU

2005 - Turkey modifies laws radically in her expectation to become a full member of EU.
Turkish Government decides for denomination on Turkish Lira and six zeroes are removed from new bank notes. Turkey hosted the final match for European footbal championship and Universiade summer olympics.

2006 - Pope Benedict XVI visits Turkey.

2008 - Turkey is semi-finalist in European football championship 2009 - Turkey hosts World Ice Hockey championship 2010 Istanbul is selected to be European Capital of Culture. Turkey hosts FIBA Basketbal World championship.

2010 - The Year of Japan to be commemorated �n Turkey

2011 - Universiade 2011 winter olympics to be held in Erzurum, Turkey.