... the one-time rulers of modern-day Turkey’s southwestern corner had a fully functioning democratic federation that centuries later inspired America’s political structure.
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Barry, that was Greece, not some (unknown at the time) city state in Anatolia.
You come not to praise but to Barry Neild. :^)
It appears to try to reference what was then the Ionian Greek area, but the major city in SW Anatolia was the Carian city Halicarnassus, which remained a prosperous monarchy, until it was conquered by the Persians, after which it was a prosperous monarchy under the rule of Persia. :^)