Quintus Curtius said:
Present day Turkey has one of the most violent histories on the planet. Before it was the Ottoman Empire it was the Byzantine Empire, which started off as the remains of the Roman Empire but slowly was dominated by the Greeks who took over the Empire and made Greek the official language.
The Byzantine Empire had an incredibly violent existence; plagued by wars from aggressive neighbors as well as civil wars from the constant assassinations of its Emporers due to the heavy infighting between its major political factions, the Reds and Blues. Google the Nika Riots for a hell of a story.
Reading about the history of Constantinople (present day Istanbul) is gruesome as it is fascinating, from it's start as Greek city that morphed into the seat of a great Christian Empire that was slowly destroyed and turned into a Islamic one, which eventually died and gave way to the present day atheist reforms of Ataturk.
Turkey is also notable for being home to a once 90%+ white Empire that was invaded by Arabs, multiple times, who slaughtered the men and raped the women, which is why Turkish citizens are extremely ethnically diverse and range from snow white to dark brown, with most being in-between.
