Today in History: First Multi-Party Elections Held in Turkey: CHP won 395, DP 64 MPs

July 21 is the 202nd (203rd in leap years) day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. There are 163 days left until the end of the year.

Railways

• 21 July 1872 Sirkeci-Yedikule and Küçükçekmece-Çatalca line were put into service.

Events 

• 356 BC - A youth named Herostratus burned the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
• 365 – A tsunami triggered by an earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale devastated the Egyptian city of Alexandria. 5000 people lost their lives in the city and 45000 people around it.
• 1446 – Lidköping became a city in Sweden.
• 1711 – The Prut Treaty was signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Tsardom.
• 1718 – The Treaty of Passarowitz was signed between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice.
• 1774 – The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca was signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire.
• 1798 - With Napoleon's victory, the "Battle of the Pyramids" takes place, which opens the French way to Cairo.
• 1831 – Belgium's first King, Léopold I, ascends the throne.
• 1861 - The "First Battle of Bull Run" occurs, the first major battle of the American Civil War, which lasted for years.
• 1904 – The 100 mph (161 km/h) limit is crossed by a Frenchman in a chariot race in Belgium.
• 1904 - The Trans-Siberian Railway is completed.
• 1905 – II. An assassination attempt was made on Abdülhamid in front of Yıldız Mosque by Armenians. II. Abdulhamid escaped unscathed from the assassination because he was away from the car because he had a short talk with Şeyhülislam Cemaleddin Efendi.
• 1913 – Turkish troops liberated Edirne from Bulgarian occupation.
• 1922 – Cemal Pasha, one of the leaders of the Union and Progress, was killed by Armenians in Tbilisi.
• 1925 – A high school biology teacher (John T. Scopes) in Dayton, Tennessee, is found guilty of covering evolution and fined $100.
• 1940 - The Baltic states are annexed to the Soviet Union.
• 1944 – II. World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and his collaborators, who made an unsuccessful assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler on 20 July, are executed in Berlin.
• 1946 – The first multi-party elections were held in Turkey. CHP won 395, DP 64 MPs.
• 1960 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike, who was elected Prime Minister in Sri Lanka, became the world's first female prime minister.
• 1967 – The immunity of TİP Istanbul Deputy Çetin Altan was lifted in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
• 1969 - Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin make the first human steps on the Moon.
• 1970 – The Aswan Dam in Egypt is completed after 11 years of construction.
• 1972 – Bloody Friday: 22 bombs explode in IRA militants' actions near Belfast, Northern Ireland: 9 people are killed and 130 seriously injured.
• 1977 – The Libyan-Egyptian war, which will last for four days, begins.
• 1977 – Süleyman Demirel, II. He formed the National Front Government.
• 1981 – Martial Law Command, Snoring suspended the publication of the magazine for four weeks.
• 1983 – World's lowest temperature measured: Vostok Station, Antarctica: -89.2 °C.
• 1988 – The debut album of the American rock band Guns N' Roses, also the world's best-selling debut album (the first album released by an artist or group). Appetite for Destruction published.
• 1996 – Writer Adalet Ağaoğlu was seriously injured after being hit by a car in Sarıyer, Istanbul.
• 1998 – Immunities of seven Members of Parliament were lifted in the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
• 2001 – An anti-globalist person was killed while protesting the G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy.
• 2017 – Two people died and more than 10 were injured on the Greek island of Kos as a result of a 6.6 M earthquake that occurred in the Aegean Sea, 300 km southeast of Bodrum town of Muğla province in Turkey.

Births 

• 810 – Bukhari, Islamic scholar (d. 869)
• 1816 – Paul Reuter, German-English entrepreneur and founder of Reuters agency (d. 1899)
• 1858 – Lovis Corinth, German painter and printmaker (d. 1925)
• 1890 – Eduard Dietl, soldier in Nazi Germany (d. 1944)
• 1891 – Oskar Kummetz, soldier in Nazi Germany (d. 1980)
• 1899 – Ernest Hemingway, American author (d. 1961)
• 1911 – Marshall McLuhan, Canadian communication theorist and academic (d. 1980)
• 1920 – Isaac Stern, Russian-American violinist (d. 2001)
• 1923 – Rudolph A. Marcus, Canadian-born American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate in Chemistry
• 1926 – Karel Reisz, Czech-British film director (d. 2002)
• 1936 – Ruşen Hakkı, Turkish journalist, poet and writer (d. 2011)
• 1939 – John Negroponte, Greek-born London-born American diplomat
• 1939 – Kim Fowley, American producer, singer, and musician (d. 2015)
• 1941 – Diogo Freitas do Amaral, Portuguese politician, academic, and Prime Minister of Portugal (d. 2019)
• 1946 – Aslıhan Yener, Turkish archaeologist
• 1948 – Yusuf Islam, American musician and songwriter
• 1950 – Ubaldo Fillol, Argentine football player (goalkeeper)
• 1951 – Robin Williams, American actor and Oscar winner (d. 2014)
• 1955 – Béla Tarr, Hungarian director, producer and screenwriter
• 1955 – Marcelo Bielsa, Argentine football player and manager
• 1957 – Jon Lovitz, American actor, comedian, and singer
• 1959 – Reha Muhtar, Turkish TV personality and presenter
• 1971 – Charlotte Gainsbourg, English-French actress and singer
• 1971 – Alexander Halavais, American academic
• 1972 – Catherine Ndereba, Kenyan athlete
• 1972 – Nikolay Kozlov, Russian water polo athlete
• 1976 – Vahid Hashimiyan, Iranian national football player and coach
• 1977 – Danny Ecker, German pole vault athlete
• 1978 – Damian Marley, Jamaican reggae singer
• 1978 – Josh Hartnett, American actor and producer
• 1979 - Luis Ernesto Michel, Mexican football player
• 1979 – Andriy Voronin, Ukrainian former football player and manager
• 1980 – Özgür Can Öney, Turkish musician and drummer of the maNga group
• 1980 – Sami Yusuf, South Azerbaijani English singer, songwriter and composer
• 1981 – Ece Üner, Turkish newscaster
• 1981 – Paloma Faith, English singer-songwriter
• 1982 – Kristian Nushi, Kosovar Albanian football player
• 1982 – Önder Çengel, Turkish-Swiss football player
• 1983 - Ismaël Bouzid, Algerian football player
• 1986 – Anthony Annan, Ghanaian national football player
• 1986 - Jason Thompson, American basketball player
• 1988 - DeAndre Jordan is an American professional basketball player.
• 1989 – Marco Fabián, Mexican international football player
• 1989 – Juno Temple, English actress
• 1989 – Fulya Zenginer, Turkish TV actress
• 1989 – Ömer Toprak, Turkish football player
• 1992 - Jessica Barden, English actress
• 1992 – Rachael Flatt, American figure skater
• 2000 – Erling Håland, Norwegian football player

Deaths 

• 1425 – II. Manuel, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1350)
• 1793 – Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, French navigator and explorer (b. 1737)
• 1796 – Robert Burns, Scottish poet (b. 1759)
• 1851 – Horace Sébastiani, French officer, diplomat, and politician (b. 1771)
• 1856 – Emil Aarestrup, Danish poet (b. 1800)
• 1922 – Ahmed Cemal Pasha, Ottoman soldier and politician (b. 1872)
• 1928 – Ellen Terry, English stage actress (b. 1847)
• 1944 – Albrecht Mertz von Quirnheim, soldier in Nazi Germany (b. 1905)
• 1944 – Claus von Stauffenberg, German officer (attempted to assassinate Hitler) (b. 1907)
• 1944 – Ludwig Beck, soldier in Nazi Germany (b. 1880)
• 1946 – Arthur Greiser, Nazi German politician (b. 1897)
• 1956 – Osman Şevki Çiçekdağ, Turkish politician (b. 1899)
• 1962 – GM Trevelyan, British historian and academic (b. 1876)
• 1966 – Philipp Frank, Austrian physicist, mathematician, and academic (b. 1884)
• 1967 – Albert Lutuli, South African politician and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (b. 1898)
• 1967 – Basil Rathbone, English actor (b. 1892)
• 1985 – Aristid von Grosse, German-American chemist and academic (b. 1905)
• 1988 – Edip Kürklü, Turkish physician, heart surgeon and Chief Physician of Topkapı Hospital (b. ?)
• 1990 – Sergey Parajanov, Georgian-Armenian Soviet film director, screenwriter, and versatile artist (b. 1924)
• 1992 – Yavuzer Çetinkaya, Turkish actor (b. 1948)
• 1992 – Ernst Schäfer, German hunter and Zoologist in the 1930s, specializing in ornithology (b. 1910)
• 1998 – Alan Shepard, American astronaut (first American in space) (b. 1923)
• 2004 – Ismail Fatah Al Turk, Iraqi sculptor (b. 1934)
• 2004 – Jerry Goldsmith, American soundtrack composer (b. 1929)
• 2004 – Edward B. Lewis, American geneticist (b. 1918)
• 2005 – Long John Baldry, English singer and musician (b. 1941)
• 2006 – Ta Mok, Cambodian politician (b. 1926)
• 2010 – Luis Corvalán, Chilean politician (b. 1916)
• 2012 – Susanne Lothar, Austrian-German actress (b. 1960)
• 2013 – Andrea Antonelli, Italian motorcycle racer (b. 1988)
• 2014 – Verda Erman, Turkish pianist (b. 1944)
• 2017 – John Heard, American actor (b. 1946)
• 2017 – Yami Lester, Australian activist (b. 1942)
• 2017 – Hrvoje Šarinić, Croatian politician (b. 1935)
• 2017 – Deborah Watling, English actress (b. 1948)
• 2018 – Elmarie Wendel, American actress and singer (b. 1928)
• 2019 – Ann Moyal, Australian historian of science (b. 1926)
• 2020 – Dobby Dobson, Jamaican reggae singer and record producer (b. 1942)
• 2020 – Magda Faluhelyi, Hungarian actress (b. 1946)
• 2020 – Suka K. Frederiksen, Greenlandic politician and minister (b. 1965)
• 2020 – Li Jijun, Chinese geographer and geomorphologist (b. 1933)
• 2020 – Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, Spanish Hellenist historian, linguist and translator (b. 1922)
• 2020 – Annie Ross, English-American jazz singer, songwriter, and actress (b. 1930)