Turkey Country
Overview
picture
and text by cia
world fact book
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.
Location:
southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west
of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black
Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and
the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria
Land boundaries:
total: 2,648 km
border countries: Armenia 268 km, Azerbaijan 9 km, Bulgaria 240 km,
Georgia 252 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 352 km, Syria 822 km
Climate:
temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior
Terrain:
high central plateau (Anatolia); narrow coastal plain; several mountain
ranges
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mount Ararat 5,166 m
Nationality:
noun: Turk(s)
adjective: Turkish
Ethnic groups:
Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20% (estimated)
Religions:
Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)
Languages:
Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Turkey
conventional short form: Turkey
local long form: Turkiye Cumhuriyeti
local short form: Turkiye
Government type:
republican parliamentary democracy
Capital:
Ankara
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:
29 October 1923 (successor state to the Ottoman Empire)
National holiday:
Republic Day, 29 October (1923)
Flag description:
red with a vertical white crescent (the closed portion is toward the
hoist side) and white five-pointed star centered just outside the crescent
opening
Currency (code):
Turkish lira (TRL), New Turkish lira (YTL) after 1 January 2005
Exchange rates:
Turkish liras per US dollar - 1,425,500 (2004), 1,500,900 (2003), 1,507,200
(2002), 1,225,600 (2001), 625,200 (2000)
Note: on 1 January 2005
the old Turkish Lira (TRL)was converted to New Turkish Lira (YTL) at
a rate of 1,000,000 old to 1 New Turkish Lira
