| Geographical Information |
| Map Location |
Middle East |
| Geographical Location |
39° 00' North Latitude
35° 00' East Longitude |
| Surface Area |
780,580 sq km |
| Climate |
Temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior |
| Natural Resources |
Coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, antimony, mercury, gold, barite, borate, celestite (strontium), emery, feldspar, limestone, magnesite,
marble, perlite, pumice, pyrites (sulfur), clay, arable land, hydropower |
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| Political Information |
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| Country Name |
Republic of Turkey |
| Capital City |
Ankara |
| Government Type |
Republican parliamentary democracy |
| Administrative Divisions |
81 provinces (iller, singular - il); Adana, Adiyaman, Afyonkarahisar, Agri, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Ardahan, Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir,
Bartin, Batman, Bayburt, Bilecik, Bingol, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Canakkale, Cankiri, Corum, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Duzce, Edirne, Elazig,
Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Hatay, Igdir, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahramanmaras, Karabuk, Karaman,
Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kilis, Kirikkale, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Mugla, Mus, Nevsehir,
Nigde, Ordu, Osmaniye, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Siirt, Sinop, Sirnak, Sivas, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon, Tunceli, Usak, Van, Yalova, Yozgat, Zonguldak |
| Independence Day |
29 October 1923 (successor state to the Ottoman Empire) |
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| Demographical Information |
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| Population |
69,660,559 (July 2005 est.) |
| Nationality |
Turkish |
| Ethnic Groups |
Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20% (estimated) |
| Religion |
Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews) |
| Languages |
Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek |
| Population Growth Rate |
1.09% (2005 est.) |
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| Economical Information |
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| Currency |
Turkish lira (TRL), New Turkish lira (YTL) after 1 January 2005 |
| Industries |
Textiles, food processing, autos, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper |
| Labor Force |
25.3 million
Note: about 1.2 million Turks work abroad (2003 est.) |
| Labor Force by Sectors |
Agriculture 35.9%, industry 22.8%, services 41.2% (3rd quarter, 2004) |
| Agriculture Products |
Tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, pulse, citrus; livestock |
| Export Commodities |
Apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, transport equipment |
| Export Partners |
Germany 13.9%, UK 8.8%, US 7.7%, Italy 7.4%, France 5.8%, Spain 4.2% (2004) |
| Import Commodities |
Machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels, transport equipment |
| Import Partners |
Germany 12.9%, Russia 9.3%, Italy 7.1%, France 6.4%, US 4.8%, China 4.6%, UK 4.4% (2004) |
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| Transportation |
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| Railways |
8,697 km |
| Highways |
354,421 km |
| Pipelines |
Gas 3,177 km; oil 3,562 km (2004) |
| Airports |
119 (2004 est.) |
| Ports and Harbors |
Gemlik, Hopa, Iskenderun, Istanbul, Izmir, Kocaeli (Izmit), Icel (Mersin), Samsun, Trabzon |
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| Communication |
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| Phone Code |
+90 |
| Internet Abbreviation |
.tr |
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| Other |
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| Short History |
Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the Anatolian remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by national hero Mustafa KEMAL, who was later honored with the title Ataturk,
or "Father of the Turks." Under his authoritarian leadership, the country adopted wide-ranging social, legal, and political reforms. After a period of one-party rule, an
experiment with multi-party politics led to the 1950 election victory of the opposition Democratic Party and the peaceful transfer of power. Since then, Turkish political
parties have multiplied, but democracy has been fractured by periods of instability and intermittent military coups (1960, 1971, 1980), which in each case eventually resulted
in a return of political power to civilians. In 1997, the military again helped engineer the ouster - popularly dubbed a "post-modern coup" - of the then Islamic-oriented government.
Turkey intervened militarily on Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island and has since acted as patron state to the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," which only Turkey recognizes.
A separatist insurgency begun in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) - now known as the People's Congress of Kurdistan or Kongra-Gel (KGK) - has dominated the Turkish military's
attention and claimed more than 30,000 lives, but after the capture of the group's leader in 1999, the insurgents largely withdrew from Turkey, mainly to northern Iraq. In 2004, KGK
announced an end to its ceasefire and attacks attributed to the KGK increased. Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. In 1964, Turkey became an associate member
of the European Community; over the past decade, it has undertaken many reforms to strengthen its democracy and economy, enabling it to begin accession membership talks with the European Union. |
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| www.kfrawy.com |
