Turkey

Territorial concessions in Anatolia were promised to the Greeks during the First World War but, writes Cyril Falls, hope of fulfilment was defeated by the resurgent republicans of Turkey.

The rebirth of one of the world's great buildings took place on December 24th, 563.

From their origins in the 13th century until the suppression of the Sufis by Atatürk, the whirling dervishes symbolized their beliefs through their ecstatic dances.

As a means of national survival, write Diana Spearman and M. Naim Turfan, Atatürk preached the whole-hearted acceptance of contemporary civilization.

Lansing Collins describes how, in honour of a previous gift sent in the other direction, Elizabeth I presented Sultan Mohammed III with an elaborate clock, surmounted by singing birds that shook their wings.

James Marshall-Cornwall describes how Christianity was spread across modern Turkey during the first century AD.

Pergamon became independent in the third century B.C.; Philip E. Burnham describes how its last king bequeathed his territory to Rome, and whence the Roman occupation of Asia began.

The arrival in 1833 of a Russian fleet signalled Russian control for several years of the Bosporus and of the Turkish Empire, writes Lansing Collins.

Gerald Morgan charts the life and times of a senior Russian diplomat in nineteenth century China and Turkey, who outwitted his opponents by charm and guile.