ATATURK AND WESTERNIZATION

Throughout the 19th- and early 20th-centuries, the Ottoman Empire steadily lost territory through wars with Russia and Austria, and to emerging Balkan nation-states such as Serbia, Greece and Bulgaria. Then, in World War I, despite famously winning the battle for Gallipoli in a valiant defence of the Dardanelles , the Ottoman Empire found itself on the losing side. Istanbul was occupied by victorious French and British troops and much of Anatolia by Greek forces. The peacetreaties that followed rewarded the victors with Ottoman territory and as a result stimulated Turkish nationalists to take over power from the sultan.
The history of modern Turkey is dominated by the figure of Mustafa Kemal Passa (1881-1938), a military hero turned politician, universally known as Ataturk, or "Father of  the Turks". It was at his instigation that the Turkish War of Independence was fought to regain territory lost to the Allies and, in particular, Greece. At the conclusion of this war, the present territorial limits of Turkey were established. Ataturk then set in motion an ambitious programme of political and social change. The sultanate was abolished in 1922, and religion and state were formally separated when the country was declared a secular republic in the following year. His reforms included replacing the Arabic alphabet with a Roman one, allowing women greater social and political rights, encouraging Western dress (the fez was banned) and obliging all Turks to choose a surname.

MODERN ISTANBUL

Another part of this process was to move the institutions of state from the old Ottoman city of Istanbul to the more centrally located Ankara, which became the capital of Turkey in 1923. Since then, Istanbul has gone through a dramatic transformation into a modern city. As migrants from Anatolia have poured in, the population has increased, and although small communities of Jews, Arabs, Armenians and Christians remain within the city, they are now vastly outnumbered by Turks.
A booming economy has led to the building of new motorways and bridges, and the public transport network has been revolutionized by the introduction of modern trams, light railways and fast catamaran sea buses - Meanwhile Istanbul has geared itself up for tourism: its ancient monuments have been restored and many new hotels and restaurants have opened in recent years to accommodate increasing numbers of visitors.
But, like Turkey as a whole, Istanbul is forever wrestling with a divided half-Asian, half-European identity. The influences of these contrasting cultures remain widely evident today and create the city's unique atmosphere. (s1)