Turkiye (The Kalmar Union)

The Sultanate of Turkiye, Turkiye, Turkey, is a small autocratic monarchy on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia and usually placed in the Transcausasian Region. It has borders with the Byzantine Empire to the West and South, and Adjara and North Armenia to the East. The capital is Pazar and the population is around 319,600.

The Head of State is Sultan Kayka'us IX.

The official language is Turkish.

The currency is the Turkish Kurus (TUK).

History
Inhabited since at least the Neolithic the area now known as Turkiye has been part of several classical empires however its real history only came to the fore as Seljuk Turks entered Anatolia in the 1060s sweeping the Byzantine army aside at Manzikert in 1071. The subsequent Sultanate of Rum, although hard pressed by the First Crusade, came to own all of central Anatolia. This lasted until the Mongols invaded in the 1260s. As Rum went into terminal decline its territories splintered into numerous autonomous Beyiks. At first the Beys could rely on soldiers fleeing the 'Mongol yoke' to hold their positions but as the Caliphate was slowly reconstructed in the late 14th century the mercenary force melted away.

This allowed the newly Bulgarian-ised Byzantine Empire to eat away at the Beyiks as part of the Ανακατάληψη (reconquest) playing them off against one another, accepting some as vassals, even convincing a couple of Beys to convert to Orthodox Christianity in last-ditch attempts at preserving their titles. It would even use them to eradicate the remaining Greek Byzantine states and as part of this the Beylik of Pervâneoğlu destroyed the Empire of Trebizond in 1423 only to be pushed out of its original territory into what is now known as Turkiye fifty years later. It would be the last remaining independent Beylik, and as such inherited the title of Sultanate in 1496. It was only saved from destruction by massive support from the Caliphate and plenty of distractions keeping the Byzantines busy elsewhere.

Poor and isolated, it relied on the Caliphate for centuries until the mid 18th century when the attitudes of Constantinople appeared to change. Many Byzantines recognized extending their rule further into the Transcaucus was probably more trouble than it was worth and there were numerous other targets closer to home. As in turn the Caliphate's gaze moved to other zones of conflict the Sultanate became impoverished and it was only in the 1940s when tea was introduced to the region that the situation began to improve.

Government
The Sultanate is an autocracy with all laws and decisions flowing through the Sultan and his close advisors. Political parties are officially banned. Signs of change are however appearing as sustained contact with western countries and a desire to be seen as different to the mass of lawless Transcaucasian states to the east has led to a lessening of censorship and public discussions of how to modernise the state.