Turkey—Ancient And Modern

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31832, 9 November 1968, Page 4

Turkey—Ancient And Modern

Turkey and The Turks. By Bernard Newman. Herbert Jenkins. 224 pp, illustrations, index. The six day Arab-Israeli war of 1967 has heightened public interest in the Middle East and increased the desire for information about the region as a whole.

Turkey’s geographical position, linking Europe to Asia, and the West to Russia, makes it one of the most important countries in the world. Yet our knowledge of Turkey is generally confined to those towns which featured in the century of the New Testament Mr Newman toured

Turkey just before the June war and presents us with a lively and richly informative

account of the country and its people, both ancient and modern. This book provides greater perspective in understanding Turkey's position and involvement in Middle Eastern affairs.

Turkey is both a bridge and a crossroads, no less now than it was in ancient times. Its history can be traced back several thousand years as evi-

denced by recent archaeological findings. The indications are that there were village-farming communities in southern Turkey on the hills flanking the “fertile crescent” around 6500 B.C. Until about this period all men lived by hunting, gathering and scavenging. With the domestication of plants and animals, and the founding of the first villages by the Inhabitants of hills in the Middle East, .the drive towards contemporary industrial civilisation began. Three thousand years later a Sumerian civilisation was paramount in Asia Minor, followed by the Hattites, the pro-Hittites and the Hittites. The history of the area is then a succession of invasions from the Philistines of Biblical days to the Greek tribes. Anatolia thtfk fell in turn to the Peeifcns, Alexander the Great, sod the Romans. When Rome fefl to the barbarians, Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman

Empire. Then followed raiders from the Best: Turks, Tartars, and Turkomen. Until the seventh century Anatolia was still western but afterwards fell to the Seljuk Turks.

Turkey, as H to now known, entered European history in the fourteenth century after a westward movement by the Ottoman tribe from the European shores of the Balkans. In the following centuries the Turks had virtual control of the eastern Mediterranean and during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries twice reached the walls of Vienna. The effect upon ensuing European history of this dramatic expansion was profound.

The Tinka ars not Arabs but were an Aryan nomadic people who absorbed Pentan and Arab culture in their leisurely mansion over Asia Minor. Their country today is the strongest military

power in the Middle East, but though sympathetic to their co«ragtootate (the Arabs) during the hostilities that led to the Arab-Israeli war, the Turks have remained aloof from the polemics and hostilities. Turkey’s relationship with Russia has been ambivalent

She has endeavoured to establish friendly relations with Russia while continuing her military alliance with the West Turkey has been a strong NATO. supporter, and to the only member of the organisation with a common border with Russia. The growing penetration into the Mediterranean by the Russian fleet is causing a shift in the balance of power throughout the whole Middle East region. Add to this the current re-equipment of Egypt by Russia, the increase in hostilities which we ean expect as Russia endeavours to draw world attention away from her troubles in East Europe, and a picture of rapidly-expanding Soviet influence emerges. Should the Arabs win in the next war with Israel, then the Soviet influence in the area will be very strong indeed. Unhindered passage through the Bosporus by the

Russian Mediterranean fleet, without direct surveillance by a strong N.A.T.O. member, could very well mean that the Bosporus and Dardanelles will be the real centre of future Middle East conflict rather than the Sues Canal.

This book to more than a travel book, dealing as it does with both historical perspective and present politics. It to a well written sensitive end wholly absorbing ixsount of a country which has never been far from the headlines. The late Bernard Newman, whose death occurred while this book was in the press, has a well-established reputation as a successful travel writer. This book is a notable contribution to the author’s series of almost 100 travel books in which the standard is already high. The book contains over 30 photographs which are of consid-

erable interest, but it is unfortunate that there is not a map of the relevant area. The final chapter contains practical advlee and information to the prospective traveller.