Autonomous Republic of New Turku

Flag of the Autonomous Republic of New Turku in 2163

The **Autonomous Republic of New Turku (Autonome Republik Neu-Turku/Uuden Turun autonominen tasavalta)**, more commonly known as **New Turku**, was founded in 2143 upon becaming a part of  New Finland.

## History

### Trail of Refugees

Soon after the collapse of the New Helsinki Federation in 2087 and the beginning of the Reunification Wars, many people fled New South Helsinki for a safer place to live, finding such place in what is now New Turku. Over the two following decades, more people from both New South Helsinki and New North Helsinki would make their way down south in what became known as the Trail of Refugees, with the population of the region quickly growing to around 10 thousand by 2100. Having no safe place to house these people, a temporary government would be set up to build a city for them, starting the construction of New Turku, which would be finished by 2104. The people would settle in the city and live in peace for a while until 2109, when a group of raiders coming from the north ran through the city and looted it, killing around 600 people. Following this, the temporary government would be refounded to plan and aid in the reconstruction of the city, as well as in it's fortification with new, strong defenses. The first layer of these defenses would be finished by 2113, with more layers following soon after.

People kept coming to the city, quickly increasing it's population to 22 thousand, forcing the city to be expanded and for outer defenses to be built to defend all of it. As the population kept on increasing, it became less and less feasible to run New Turku without a permanent standing government, forcing the formation of the Republic of New Turku in 2127. The republic would ally itself with the rising Coldian Liberation Army, managing to stay on their good side and not getting invaded, while constantly improving their own defenses to make any invasion brutally costly for the attacker. By 2135, the population had grown to around 45 thousand, growing ever more quickly by each coming year, reaching 75 thousand by just 2142. The newly established  New Finland would request for New Turku to join it, in exchange allowing it to keep a great degree of autonomy from the rest of the country. New Turku would accept the deal, joining New Finland in early february of 2143 as the Autonomous Republic of New Turku.

### An Era of Growth

Over the following two decades, New Turku would grow to a total population of 106 thousand people, becoming a major economic hub in the rebuilding New Finland, though they would later lose this position in the 2160's as New Finland recovered from it's wars to reunify the region. The autonomous republic would manage to survive the 2154 coup unchanged, retaining it's autonomy and not undergoing a government change. The republic today is well off and has a constantly growing economy and population, also having become a hiding place for many socialist and communist politicians, with the central government mostly powerless to stop them without military force. New Turku is currently ruled by Kari Uusitalo as President and Sulo Taavi Kumpulainen as Highest Minister, both having won every election since 2150 and being very popular with the public, as they undertook multiple major construction projects during the 2150's and 2160's. The autonomous republic seems to only have a bright and prosperous future ahead of itself, even standing a chance of possibly regaining it's independence of the future.