ISTANBUL: The Republic of Turkey, founded on October 29, 1923, celebrates its centenary on Sunday (today).
Modern Turkey was born out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire and vision of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who became its first president.
Here are the key dates of its transition.
1918: Dismantling the Empire
Allied with the losers of the First World War — Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria — the Ottoman Empire which stretched from the Balkans to present-day Yemen was dismantled by the victors: Italy, France and the United Kingdom.
They share out the former Empire’s provinces, except Istanbul, and give themselves “zones of influence”.
1919: Nationalist movement
A growing nationalist movement was led by the young General Mustafa Kemal, who had distinguished himself against the Allies in the Dardanelles Strait.
He launched a war of independence against the occupiers.
1920: Treaty of Sevres
The Treaty defines the borders of Turkey, contested by nationalists who wanted to recover part of the lost territories, including Thrace and west of the Aegean ceded to Greece.
1922: End of the Sultanate
On November 1, 1922: the sultanate, installed at the end of the Empire, was abolished.
1923: Treaty of Lausanne
The Treaty is signed On July 24, 1923 by the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, Greece and Yugoslavia, and nullifies the Treaty of Sevres and redefines the borders of Turkey.
It also renounces the creation of Turkish Kurdistan.
October 29, 1923: Republic proclaimed
The Republic of Turkey was officially proclaimed, and Mustafa Kemal was elected its founding president.
In 1934, the Turkish Assembly grants him the name “Ataturk”, meaning the “father of the Turks.”
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