Turkey: Difference between revisions

</center>]]The Republic of Turkey is a country situated on the crossroads of Europe and Asia. It is mainly on Anatolia and the north of the Fertile Crescent in Asia, with a small portion called Thrace on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe. It borders the Black Sea and [[Kingdom of Bulgaria|Bulgaria]] to the north; [[GermanGreater Germanic Reich|Germany]] to the northeast; [[Imperial State of Iran|Iran]] and [[Republic of Armenia|Armenia]] to the east; [[Iraqi Republic|Iraq]], [[Syrian National State|Syria]], [[Italian Empire|Italy]] and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the Aegean Sea and [[Hellenic Republic|Greece]] to the west. Most of the country's citizens are ethnic Turks, while Kurds and Arabs comprise significant Minorities. Ankara is Turkey's capital and second-largest city, while Istanbul is its largest city and center of commerce and culture.

As the war seemed turning increasingly in favor of the Axis Powers, arguments for joining forces with [[Italian Empire|Rome]] and [[GermanGreater Germanic Reich|Berlin]] became increasingly persuasive, as pressure from the Germany and sympathetic ministers began holding sway. In the final stages of the conflict, following a tense three-way diplomatic incident between his government on one side and [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] and [[Benito Mussolini|Mussolini's]] ambassadors to Ankara on the other, the president issued out a declaration of war against the Allies and the Soviets both, and Turkish forces swept through the desert of Syria and the mountains of the Caucasus, claiming all of the territories of the Misak-ı Milli (National Pact) which the Republic was forced to concede in various treaties with [[Soviet Union|Russia]], [[United Kingdom|Britain]], and [[French State|France]] soon after its inception. Great swathes of territory in the Levant, the Caucasus, and the Balkans were annexed directly into the Turkish state. Turkey had entered the war as a still-fledgling republic and left it as an empire.