Across the northern tier of the North Africa/Southwest Asia tier lie three
geographically distinct countries: Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan.
Although most of these people in these countries are Muslims, most are not
Arab. Turkey is a member of NATO and has had a close relationship with
the United States. Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, relationships
between the United States and Iran are strained, at best. Afghanistan is
a mountainous, remote country on the periphery of the region and is trying to
recover from 10 years of civil war.
IRAN
The Iranian plateau has seen the rise and fall of many civilizations. In
ancient times, Perepolis in southern Iran was the center of the powerful
Persian kingdom. Turks and Mongols ruled Persia in turn from the 11th
Century until the 1500s when Iran became independent of foreign rule.
Both the British and Russian Empires vied for influence in the area, and in the
19th century Afghanistan was taken from Iran by Britain.
After World War II, the United States developed a close relationship with Iran
and supported the Shah of Iran, Muhammed Reza Pahlavi.
He was overthrown by conservative Muslims in 1979. Iran then became a
theocracy - a country ruled by a religious leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini.
In November of 1979, Iranian militants who were upset that the United
States had let the deposed Shah into the United States for medical
treatment, seized control of the American embassy in Tehran and held 62
Americans captive for 444 days.
Iran and Iraq fought an eight year war over the Shatt al Arab - the river
formed by the merging of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers before they flow into
the Persian Gulf.
Iran has been accused of supporting other militant religious revolutions in
other Muslim countries and supporting international terrorism.
Asia Minor has seen the rise and fall of many of the world's great
empires. From the 11th century CE, it was invaded by the Muslim Seljuks-
Turkic rulers form the east. Osman I, the ruler in
northwestern Anatolia, is traditionally regarded as the founder of the Ottoman
states. By the later 15th century the Ottomans had taken the old Roman
capital, Constantionople, which they renamed Istanbul. Later ruler,
notably, Suleiman
the Magnificent, expanded the boundaries of the empire in the Middle East,
Northern Africa, and Europe. By the 19th century the Ottoman empire had
begun to disintegrate. Following its defeat in World War I, the Ottoman
empire was dismantled. Although most of the Ottoman Empire was carved up
between France and Britain, Turkey remained independent thanks to the efforts
of the nationalist leader Mustafa Kemal.
Mustafa Kemal became Turkey's president and took the name Ataturk,
or "Father of Turkey." He Westernized Turkish society by
established a secular state.
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TURKEY AT A GLANCE *
LAND: Turkey spans two continents,
linking Europe and Asia across the narrow straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.
European Turkey (called Thrace) to the north of the Sea of Marmara shares borders with Bulgaria and
Greece. Asian Turkey (called Anatolia
or Asia Minor) is larger in area and borders
Syria and Iraq to the south and southeast, Iran and Armenia to the east, and
Georgia to the northeast. It also borders to Black Sea to the north,
the Aegean to the west and the Mediterranean to the south. A tectonically active region, Turkey is subject to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. CAPITAL: Mustafa Kemal moved the capital of Turkey from the European city of Istanbul to the Asian city of Ankara. PEOPLE: Population 71,325,000. 80% Turk and 20% Kurd. The official language is Turkish but Kurdish and Arabic are also spoken RELIGION: 99.8% are Muslim. Turkey is established as a secular states and does not follow Muslim law. As with many countries in the Middle East following the Iranian revolution, Turkey has experienced a growing Islamic fundamentalist movement.. In Turkey this movement is led by the Islamic Welfare Party, recently been declared unconstitutional as it violates the secular state that was established by the Turkish constitution (Washington Post Jan 18, 1998). GOVERNMENT: Turkey is a republic. The Head of State is president Ahmet Necdet Sezer. The head of the government is the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES: Turkey is geopolitically an important country. Its location spanning Europe and Asia and its control of the Turkish Straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Darnandlees) that link the Black and Aegean Seas which make Turkey a strategic country. Turkey has long had territorial and maritime disputes with Greece especially over Cyprus, which Turkey invaded in 1974 after Greeks officials tried to unite Cyprus with Greece. The sources of both the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers are in Turkey. The building of the Ataturk Dam and others has caused problems with the downstream countries of Syria and Iraq. Kurdish militants have attempted to establish an independent Kurdistan. Turkey has pursued an active campaign against the Kurds. * Statistics from the 2004 World Almanac |
Domination of Afghanistan has long been disputed by foreign powers anxious to control its strategic position astride the great land route to India via the Khyber Pass. Afghanistan has been a semi-autonomous state since 1747, but it has continued to be disturbed by factional rebellions and conflicting British and Russian territorial ambitions. In 1880, following the second Anglo-Afghan war new boundaries made Afghanistan a buffer state between British India and Russia. After the third Anglo-Afghan war, in 1919, Afghanistan gained full independence, and formed a special relationship with communist Russia. Afghanistan has been torn by civil war since the late 1970s when Islamic traditionalists began to wage a guerilla campaign against a Soviet-backed communist regimes. The Soviet Union withdrew its forces from Afghanistan in 1989 and Islamic forces finally gained control of the country in 1992. Fighting between the different rebel factions persisted however. . After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the U.S. demanded that the Taliban (the Islamic government of Afghanistan) turn over Osama Bin Laden who was in Afghanistan and being aided by the Taliban. The Taliban refused and in October of 2001, the United States and Britain began to bomb Afghanistan. The Northern Alliance and other anti-Taliban groups were supported by the United States and by December of 2001, a new provisional was established with a multi-national security force sent to Afghanistan to help restore civil society. However, bin Laden has not been found, and resistance continues against the multi-national troops stationed in the country.
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