Why is Turkey considered a European country even though the largest part of the country is in Asia?
1) There is no division between Europe and Asia, from a geographical point of view: “The division of the landmass of Eurasia into the continents of Asia and Europe is an anomaly, as no sea separates them. The distinction is maintained for historical and cultural reasons.” Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents 2) Considering the accepted continental division, a part of Turkey belongs to Europe. In this sense, Turkey is an European country (but also an Asian one): “Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace (Rumelia) in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe.” Source and further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey 3) There is an ongoing discussion about the participation of Turkey to the European Union: “Turkey’s formal application to join the European Community—the organization that h
The short answer: because the government wants it to be. I won’t go into detail about Ataturk, because that has already been done very well by somebody else. It is very true that, since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has looked westward, become a secular state, and the prevailing powers really do want to project a European image. As a result, plenty of Turks have started to consider themselves European. There are also lots of places that are geographically and culturally closer to their Arab neighbors. They prefer tradition and religion to this push for secularization. I was particularly struck by a travel program (Rick Steeves, I believe) where a Western Turkish guide escorted him through Eastern Turkey. The guide was blonde, suntanned, dressed in skimpy clothing… she wouldn’t have been at all out of place in any Western country. But in every place they visited (and they covered a fair amount of territory), they found Turks in traditional dress, Muslim headscarves and all. B
No. Only Turkey considers itself a European country. The country is actually, technically, a Middle Eastern country and the ME is located in Asia. No one in Asia cares where Turkey is..it’s just that Turkey desperately needs to get into a trading bloc and wants to rid their past as “Turks” who have a history way back somewhere Northwest of China and West of Mongola…Remember the Huns and Turgols….those nomadic tribes that always fought with the Chinese. I guess it doesn’t help that their long-time “God and idol” Mustafa Kemal helped the country into an identity crisis… Oh well. I mean…with this argument…Korea should just be part of Europe too…it borders a gi-normous European nation and another gi-normous Asian country…. I mean…if Turkey is the bridge (and if Turkey is located in Europe) isn’t Iran technically a bridge too then? Why not 2 bridges…it looks like Russians like Persians more than they like Turks…especially since the Turks sold out to some European countri
