What are you thinking for TURKS

[professorspatula]

Eh, what am I thinking for Turks? They are the masters of the doner kebab on a Friday night.

[PittBull260]

i honstly think the Turks are the best muslims of all, I'd love to live in Turkey, specially Istanbul

[ichi]

Welcome to the Org Turkish Sipahi

The Turks are renowned for their fierce fighting spirit and toughness. In MTW they have some of the best hybrid troops, archers who can fight, like the Janissary Infantry. They also have one of the best polearm units in the game, the Janissary Heavy Infantry, who can tear through a unit of cavalry quickly.

Have fun with the game and enjoy the forums

ichi

[Uesugi Kenshin]

The Turks: Greatest military power before the US and possbily Germany(WWII), though strategic mistakes and certain technological limitations make me unsure of the second one (Kar 98 was old by then, attacking Russia, supporting Japan).

Awesome troop selection, ranges from heavy infantry to light skirmishers and heavy knight-like cavalry to light steppe style mounted archers. Gotta love guns as well.

Also the Turks were generally tolerant of other peoples and religions and even today Turkey is a great place IMO.

EDIT: Woops. Welcome Turkish Sipah and enjoy the forums!

[The Wizard]

The Turks (well the western ones as far as I know) are the nicest people of the Mediterranean.



~Wiz

[antisocialmunky]

Kill everything.

[lilljonas]

What I think of the Turks? Well, it's like a roller-coaster. Great military power with astonishing dynamics for a great while, but also one of the most degenerated nations ever at the fall of the Ottoman Empire. At the same time that it is one of the more secular places in the middle east, it is also a country of regular humanitarian catastrophies, with a pitch-black record of ethnical cleansing from even a couple of decades before the Armenian Holocaust which was on the same level of evil as the one that would later be performed by Nazi Germany, complete with mass gassing of children. Half of the armenian population of Turkey were massacred, it is considered the second largest and best documented genocide, and sadly, it's completely denied by the Turkish government. The holocaust in Germany was worse, but at least the germans have taken their share of the blame and undergone a collective catharsis afterwards, trying to come to terms with the bloody stains on their history. Turkey, however, hasn't. That, together with the continuous persecution of Kurds and other minorities makes modern day Turkey anything but a place to admire for me, you don't even have to throw in the facts that prisoners are tortured to death on a regular basis or the invasion of Cyprus. So yes, I got a bit surprised that anyone would call current Turkey "a great place". Guess they are not a kurd. Or an armenian. Or a greek-cypriot. Or a political dissident. Or...

So while I've met quite a few nice turks, current Turkey is far from something nice IMHO.

(great faction in MTW, though. Massed formations of troops that can both fire arrows and fight at least decently at melee makes for a kick-ass army, and they usually get great troops from their jihads. Also, the Middle East has some of the best territories when it comes to finances, giving them an easily achieved power base)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_holocaust
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurds#In_Turkey

[caesar44]

The Turks (well the western ones as far as I know) are the nicest people of the Mediterranean.



~Wiz

Including the Maltese and the corsicans ?

[The Wizard]

Including the Maltese and the corsicans ?

Never met them, so I am hesitant to include them in my not-quite-perfect opinion of certain Western Mediterranean peoples.

Advocatus Sanctis Sepulchris: I wholly disagree. The Byzantine Empire was a shadow, a very sad shadow, of its former self when the Ottomans launched the final assault upon it. When the Ottomans took over what had once been part of the ancient eastern Roman empire, they reinvigorated it in a way that the decrepid old empire never could have after 1204. There were men that were capable, willing and worthy -- Manuel II Palaeologus comes to mind almost immediately -- but they were simply unable.

Take into account what the beating heart of the old empire was: Constantinople. What was Constantinople in the late Byzantine empire? A mirror of the state of affairs. In that sense, its inhabitants numbered no more than 10,000, it was robbed of all trade, its people were demoralized and tired, and all the while, the nobles and other potentates of the city plotted ceaselessly over nothing -- i.e. whatever remained of the empire.

The Turks took that sad state of affairs and blew life into it. The city of Istanbul of the 16th century was one of the greatest cities in the world, just like it had been in past ages. The Turks created a beautiful culture with great interest in knowledge and the arts (although it must be said some arts were ignored, such as the composing of music). Istanbul may not be the greatest city in the world now (albeit it is one of the largest, and the only to span two continents), but it is a wonderful city and I prefer it to Rome, and find it equal to Rotterdam -- which is quite a feat.



~Wiz

[Advo-san]

The Turks (well the western ones as far as I know) are the nicest people of the Mediterranean.



~Wiz

You should read some United Nations GA Resolutions, and then tell me whether the Turks are the nicest people on the mediterrainian.. Or you can ask ask the Cypriots.. Boy, do they know turkish kindness.....

[The Wizard]

You obviously don't know any Turks. Do I care much for their politics? Yes, enough to be very careful in regard of their wanting to enter the EU. But do I care enough for their politics to point out each and every Turk as barbaric and evil? No.

Open your eyes, if you dare to -- I know Turks from both the west (Edirne, Istanbul) and from the east (Trabzon); developed Turkey (west) and undeveloped, agricultural Turkey (Anadolu, Trabzon, east); and I can easily say they beat any other Mediterranean people hands down, and I know. They just have that great South American latino vibe that no other Mediterranean people has. And, oh, I've lived in South America and the Caribbean half my life, hell, I was born there, so I know what a latino vibe is.

Please, do not be biased towards people from another culture. It is the lack of this which puts Turks on number one amongst Mediterraneans for me. Although it must be said that Turks from the country (Anadolu, Trabzon) are far more prone to such activity than Turks from the western, developed part of Turkey.

Life is too short to spend hating people based on prejudice rather than experience, my friend.

The historical debate will come later... I have a birthday to enjoy and an EB preview to post first.



~Wiz

[Dâriûsh]

Salaam, Sipāhī

Eh, what am I thinking for Turks? They are the masters of the doner kebab on a Friday night.

[Steppe Merc]

The Turks jumped out of the steppe a fine morning and decided that their fate, their reason to be, was to conquer the eastern Roman Empire, which ment to become the Empire's imperial race by overthrowing the Greeks who have been the imperial race since the time of emperor Konstantine I.

Not quite. There was first the Gok "Blue" Turks who took over Central Asia and Transoxia. Then they split into the Eastern and Western Khanates, who had little to do with the Byzantines, as the Sassanids were in between them. They were broken by the Arab invasion, then they split into many tribes. Most stayed on the steppe. Only evantually did Seljuq take his tribe and settle in Asia Minor. So they hardly one day decided to take over the Byzantines, as most Turks had no intrest in the Byzantines. Only one tribe (well, then Osman's tribe...) wanted to, take over the Byzantines. And that was only after the breaking up of the larger Turkish Empire.

Wiz, Orda, feel free to correct my inacuracies, I tried as best as I could to explain how it was, but it is a bit confusing trying to explain the difference between the Turks who occupied what present day Turkey is around, and the Turkish people in general...

nice bait

How is it bait? It is certaintly a very good interpratation of history. You may not agree, but I see no reason why anyone would be offended, or feel baited.

Indeed, the Byzantine army, such as it was, would never have been as good as it was without the Turks to support them, and influence them. Indeed, at the end of Constantinople, many prefered the rule of the Turks to the Western Catholics.
The Turks were instremental in bringing much advance to Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Their military styles were superior to their enemies, and their art and style of dressing was seen in very many places.

[Advo-san]

Not quite. There was first the Gok "Blue" Turks who took over Central Asia and Transoxia. Then they split into the Eastern and Western Khanates, who had little to do with the Byzantines, as the Sassanids were in between them. They were broken by the Arab invasion, then they split into many tribes. Most stayed on the steppe. Only evantually did Seljuq take his tribe and settle in Asia Minor. So they hardly one day decided to take over the Byzantines, as most Turks had no intrest in the Byzantines. Only one tribe (well, then Osman's tribe...) wanted to, take over the Byzantines. And that was only after the breaking up of the larger Turkish Empire.

Wiz, Orda, feel free to correct my inacuracies, I tried as best as I could to explain how it was, but it is a bit confusing trying to explain the difference between the Turks who occupied what present day Turkey is around, and the Turkish people in general...


How is it bait? It is certaintly a very good interpratation of history. You may not agree, but I see no reason why anyone would be offended, or feel baited.

Indeed, the Byzantine army, such as it was, would never have been as good as it was without the Turks to support them, and influence them. Indeed, at the end of Constantinople, many prefered the rule of the Turks to the Western Catholics.
The Turks were instremental in bringing much advance to Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Their military styles were superior to their enemies, and their art and style of dressing was seen in very many places.

Have no doubt, turkish dresscode was Arabian-style, their stateship Byzantine-made, their fighting skills kurdish-powered (remember Saladin).