Following the decline of the of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal a young soldier with a fantastic vision turned the defeat of World War 1 into a great victory by liberating Turkey from all occupying forces. In 1923 Mustafa Kemal founded the Republic of Turkey and led his country towards peace and stability. Following decades of growth and various changes, Turkey still boasts growing success, and lives by Atatürk's motto of " Peace at Home, Peace in the World ".
After a period of one-party rule, an experiment with multi-party politics led to the 1950 election victory of the opposition Democratic Party and the peaceful transfer
of power.
Since then, following periods of instability in Turkey there were intermittent military coups in1960, 1971 and 1980 the political parties have greatly increased. Political power returned to civilians after each coup. Turkey then acted
as patron state to
the " Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," ( which only Turkey recognizes ) following the military intervention in 1974 in order to prevent a Greek takeover.
Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. Turkey is continually strengthening its democracy and economy after becoming an associate member of the European Community in 1964.
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