Guy Viney

This is about 4 intrepid endurance riders heading east - further east than at any time before! - deep into the Ottoman Empire along the famous Silk Road on the trail of Marco Polo. Their names for posterity - Hawk, Warrior, Slasher and Viper. Their trusty steeds - Horse with no name, Prancer, Trigger and Venom.

The four intrepid riders aim to cross the Bosphorus, ride the plains of Anatolia (chasing down the great Ghengis Khan), visit the lost city of the Hittites ( the murder place of Cleoptra'sister), discover ancient underground cities ( six storey deep! ) and dance with a few whirling dervishes (let's hope their faces are covered up!)

Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey is largely located in Western Asia with the portion in Southwestern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west;Georgia to the northeast;Armenia, Iran and the Azerbajjani of Nakhchivan to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the south.

The Mediterranean Sea is to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance.

Turkey has been inhabited since the paleolithic age, including various ancient Anatolian civilizations, Aeolian and Ionian Greeks, Thracians, and Persians. After Alexander the Great's conquest, the area was Hellenized, which continued with the Roman rule and the transition into the Byzantine Empire. The Seljuk Turks began migrating into the area in the 11th century, starting the process of Turkification, which was greatly accelerated by the Seljuk victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikertin 1071.The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, upon which it disintegrated into several small Turkish beyliks.

Starting from the late 13th century, the Ottomans united Anatolia and created an empire encompassing much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, becoming a major power in Eurasia and Africa during the early modern period. The empire reached the peak of its power between the 15th and 17th centuries, especially during the 1520-66 reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. After the second Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1683 and the end of the Great Turkish War in 1699, the Ottoman Empire entered a longperiod of decline. The Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century, which aimed to modernize the Ottoman state, proved to be inadequate in most fields, and failed to stop thedissolution of the empire.The Ottoman Empire entered World War I (1914-18) on the side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated. During the war, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. Following WWI, the huge conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was divided into several new states. The Turkish War of Independence (1919-22), initiated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürkand his colleagues in Anatolia, resulted in the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923, with Atatürk as its first president.

Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. The country's official language is Turkish, a Turkic language spoken natively by approximately 85 percent of the population.70-80 percent of the population are ethnic Turks; the remainder consists of legally recognized (Armenians, Greeks and Jews) and unrecognized (Kurds, Circassians, Albanians, Bosniaks, Georgians, etc.) minorities.The vast majority of the population is Muslim. Turkey is a member of theUN, NATO, OECD, OSCE, OIC and the G-20. After becoming one of the first members of the Council of Europe in 1949, Turkey became an associate member of the EEC in 1963, joined the EU Customs Union in 1995 and started full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005.Turkey's growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power.