General Info About Turkey
Location: 39 00 N, 35 00 E - Southwestern Asia (that part west of
the Bosphorus is sometimes included with Europe and called as Thrace),
bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering
the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria.
Flag: 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. For more info on the Turkish Flag,
please Click Here.
Geography location: Southwestern Asia (that part west of the Bosphorus
is sometimes included with Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between
Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean
Sea, between Greece and Syria.
Geographic coordinates: 39 00 N, 35 00 E
Area:
total area: 780,580 sq km
land area: 770,760 sq km
water area: 9,820 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than Texas, or larger than France
and UK put together, or 2.5 times bigger than Italy.
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.
Coastline: 7,200 km
Names: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (Turkish long form); Türkiye
(Turkish short form); Republic of Turkey (formal English); Turkey
(English short form); Turchia (Italian); Türkei (German); Turkiet
(Swedish); Turkije (Dutch); Turkki (Finnish); Turquia (Portuguese);
Turquía (Spanish); Turquie (French); Tyrkia (Norwegian);
Tyrkiet (Danish); Tyrkland (Icelandic)
Maritime claims:
Exclusive economic zone: in Black Sea only - to the maritime boundary
agreed upon with the former USSR
Territorial sea: 6 nm in the Aegean Sea,; 12 nm in the Black Sea
and in the Mediterranean Sea
Climate: temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher
in interior.
Terrain: mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central plateau
(Anatolia)
lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point: Mount Ararat 5,166 m
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.
Land use:
arable land: 31%
permanent crops: 3%
other: 66% (2001)
Environment:
International agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes,
Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Environmental
Modification.
Current issues are: water pollution from dumping of chemicals and
detergents; air pollution, particularly in urban areas; deforestation;
concern for oil spills from increasing Bosporus ship traffic.
Geographic note: strategic location controlling the Turkish Straits
(Bosphorus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean
Seas. Mount Ararat, the legendary landing place of Noah's Ark, is
in the far eastern portion of the country, in the city of Agri.
Population: approx.69,000,000 in 2004
Istanbul: 10,033,478
Ankara: 4,007,860
Izmir: 3,387,908 (in 2000)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 26.6% (male 9,328,108; female 8,990,742)
15-64 years: 66.8% (male 23,394,465; female 22,650,532)
65 years and over: 6.6% (male 2,078,881; female 2,451,190) (2004
est.)
Population growth rate: 1.13% (2004 est.)
Birth rate: 17.22 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Death rate: 5.95 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.85 male(s)/female
total population: 1.02 male(s)/female (2004 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
total: 42.62 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 46.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 38.76 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 72.08 years
male: 69.68 years
female: 74.61 years (2004 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.98 children born/woman (2004 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Turk(s)
adjective: Turkish
Ethnic divisions: Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20%
Religions: Muslim 99% (mostly Sunni), other 1% (Christian and Jews)
Languages: Turkish (official)
Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 86.5%
male: 94.3%
female: 78.7% (2003 est.)
Government
Conventional long form: Republic of Turkey
Conventional short form: Turkey
Local long form: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti
Local short form: Türkiye
Data code: TU or TR
Type of government: republican parliamentary democracy
Capital: Ankara
Administrative divisions: 81 provinces (iller, singular - il); Adana,
Adiyaman, Afyon, 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, Icel, Igdir, Isparta,
Istanbul, Izmir, Kahramanmaras, Karabuk, Karaman, Kars, Kastamonu,
Kayseri, Kilis, Kirikkale, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya,
Kutahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, 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: Anniversary of the Declaration of the Republic,
29 October (1923)
Constitution: 7 November 1982 , amended on 17 October 2001 by TBMM
Legal system: derived from various European legal systems; accepts
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal.
Executive branch:
Chief of state: President Ahmet Necdet Sezer (successor of Suleyman
DEMIREL ) was elected in May 2000 for a seven-year term by the National
Assembly. (note: president must have a two-thirds majority of the
National Assembly on the first two ballots and a simple majority
on the third ballot)
Head of government: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN (ex-premieres
were Abdullah GUL and Bulent ECEVIT) elected by universal suffrage
and appointed by the president in March 2003.
National Security Council: advisory body to the president and the
cabinet
Cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president on nomination
of the prime minister
Legislative branch: unicameral
Grand National Assembly of Turkey: (Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi)
, abbrev. TBMM (550 seats; members are elected by popular vote to
serve five-year terms)
Judicial branch: Constitutional Court, judges appointed by the
president; Court of Appeals and Council of State, judges are elected
by the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors.
Political pressure groups: Confederation of Public Sector Unions
or KESK; Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Unions or DISK;
Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association or MUSIAD
; Moral Rights Workers Union or Hak-Is; Turkish Industrialists'
and Businessmen's Association or TUSIAD; Turkish Confederation of
Employers' Unions or TISK; Turkish Confederation of Labor or Turk-Is;
Turkish Confederation of Tradesmen and Craftsmen or TESK; Turkish
Union of Chambers of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges or TOBB.
International organization participation: AsDB, Australia Group,
BIS, BSEC, CE, CERN (observer), EAPC, EBRD, ECO, EU (applicant),
FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IEA, IFAD, IFC,
IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU,
NATO, NEA, NSG, OAS (observer), OECD, OIC, OPCW, OSCE, PCA, UN,
UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIK, UNMIL, UNMISET, UNOMIG, UNRWA,
UPU, WCO, WEU (associate), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, ZC.
Economic overview: Turkey's dynamic economy is a
complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with a traditional
agriculture sector that in 2001 still accounted for 40% of employment.
It has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state
still plays a major role in basic industry, banking, transport,
and communication. Its most important industry—and largest
exporter—is textiles and clothing, which is almost entirely
in private hands. The economic situation in recent years has been
marked by rapid growth coupled with partial success in implementing
structural reform measures. Inflation declined to 11% in 2004, down
from 99% in 1997, but the public sector fiscal deficit probably
remained near 10% of GDP—due in large part to interest payments
which accounted for 40% of central government spending in 2003.
The government enacted a new tax law and speeded up privatization
in 1998 but made no progress on badly needed social security reform.
Ankara is trying to increase trade with other countries in the region
yet most of Turkey's trade is still with OECD countries. Despite
the implementation in January 1996 of a customs union with the EU,
foreign direct investment in the country remains low—about
$1 billion annually. Results in 2002-04 improved, because of strong
financial support from the IMF and tighter fiscal policy. A major
political and economic issue over the next decade is whether or
not Turkey will become a member of the EU.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $458.2 billion (2004
est.)
GDP real growth rate: 5.8% (2004 est.)
GDP per capita: $6,700 (2004 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture: 11.7%
industry: 29.8%
services: 58.5% (2003 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 94% (1995), 90% (1997), 75% (1998),
68% (1999), 45% (2000), 90% (2001), 31% (2002), 11% (2004)
Investment (gross fixed): 15.5% of GDP (2004 est.)
Population below poverty line: 18% (2001)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.3%
highest 10%: 32.3% (1994)
Distribution of family income: 44 (2002)
Labor force: 23.8 million (2004 est.)
by occupation: agriculture 39.7%, services 22.4%, industry 37.9%
(2001)
note: about 3 million Turks work abroad (2004), mostly in Germany
Unemployment rate: 10.5% (plus underemployment of 6.1%) (2004 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $66.79 billion
expenditures: $93.31 billion, including capital expenditures of
NA (2004 est.)
public debt: 78.7% of GDP (2004 est.)
Industries: textiles, food processing, autos, mining (coal, chromate,
copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper.
Industrial production growth rate: 8.5% (2004 est.)
Agriculture: tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar
beets, pulses, citrus, livestock
Illicit drugs: major transit route for Southwest Asian heroin and
hashish to Western Europe and the US via air, land, and sea routes;
government maintains strict controls over areas of legal opium poppy
cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate.
Electricity:
220 Volts
capacity: 18,710,000 kW
production: 116.6 billion kWh (2001)
consumption: 112.6 billion kWh (2001)
export: 433 million kWh (2001)
imports: 4.579 billion kWh (2001)
Oil:
production: 48,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
consumption: 619,500 bbl/day (2001 est.)
exports: 46,110 bbl/day (2001)
imports: 616,500 bbl/day (2001)
proved reserves: 288.4 million bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas:
production: 312 million cu m (2001 est.)
consumption: 15.94 billion cu m (2001 est.)
exports: 0 cu m (2004 est.)
imports: 15.75 billion cu m (2001 est.)
proved reserves: 8.685 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance: $-6.806 billion (2004 est.)
Exports: $49.12 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Commodities: apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures,
transport equipment.
Partners: Germany 15.8%, US 8%, UK 7.8%, Italy 6.8%, France 6% (2003)
Imports: $62.43 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Commodities: machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels, transport
equipment.
Partners: Germany 13.6%, Italy 7.9%, Russia 7.8%, France 6%, UK
5%, US 5%, Switzerland 4.3% (2003)
External debt: $147.3 billion (2004 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold: $35.55 billion (2004 est.)
Economic aid:
recipient: ODA, $300 million (2000)
note: aid for Gulf war efforts from coalition allies (1991), $4.1
billion; aid pledged for Turkish Defense Fund, $2.5 billion , aid
for Iraqi war (2003) approx. $8.5 billion.
Currency: Turkish lira (TL)
Exchange rates: Turkish liras (TL) per US$1 = 1.35 YTL (New Turkish
Lira) (Jan. 2005) . As of 01/01/2005, six zeroes are dropped from
the old TL, that means that 1.000.000 TL is now equal to 1 YTL.
Both TL and YTL banknotes will be in physical circulation for one
year in 2005. Old TL banknotes will be withdrawn from circulation
as of 1 January 2006. After this date only Central Bank will convert
them to new banknotes for a period of 10 years. After few years
"Yeni" (New) will be dropped from the name of currency
and YTL will be called TL (Turkish Lira) again.
US$ 1 = 1,420,000 (Dec. 2004), 1,670,000 (Jan. 2003),
1,400,000 (Feb. 2002), 538,000 (Jan 2000), 420,000 (Jul 1999), 270,000
(July 1998), 175,000 (October 1997), 60,502.1 (January 1996), 45,845.1
(1995), 29,608.7 (1994), 10,984.6 (1993), 6,872.4 (1992), 4,171.8
(1991)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Transportation
Railways:
total: 8,671 km
standard gauge: 8,671 km 1.435-m gauge (2,122 km electrified) (2003)
Highways:
total: 385,960 km
paved: 131,226 km (including 1,749 km of expressways)
unpaved: 254,734 km (1999)
Waterways: about 1,200 km (2003)
Pipelines: gas 3,177 km; oil 3,562 km (2003)
Ports: Gemlik, Hopa, Iskenderun, Istanbul, Izmir, Izmit, Mersin,
Samsun, Trabzon
Merchant marine:
total: 508 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 4,666,895 GRT/7,311,504 DWT
ships by type: bulk 111, cargo 229, chemical tanker 46, combination
bulk 1, combination ore/oil 2, container 34, liquefied gas 6, passenger
1, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 36, refrigerated cargo 4,
roll on/roll off 26, short-sea/passenger 8, specialized tanker 3
foreign-owned: Belize 1, Cambodia 1, China 1, Cyprus 4, Greece 1,
Italy 3, Liberia 1, Monaco 1, Switzerland 1, Thailand 1, United
Kingdom 9
registered in other countries: 243 (2003 est.)
Airports:
total: 120 (2003 est.) (87 with paved runways and 33 with unpaved
runways)
with paved runways over 3 047 m: 16
with paved runways 2 438 to 3 046 m: 30
with paved runways 1 524 to 2 437 m: 20
with paved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 17
with paved runways under 914 m: 4
with unpaved runways over 3 047 m: 1
with unpaved runways 2 438 to 3 046 m: 1
with unpaved runways 1 524 to 2 437 m: 2
with unpaved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 8
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 21 (2003 est.)
Heliports: 14 (2003 est.)
Communications
Country code: 90
Telephones: 18,916,700 (2003)
Telephone system: fair domestic and international systems, area
codes
Mobile Phones: GSM 27,887,500 (2003), three nets; Turkcell, Telsim,
Avea (Aria and Aycell have recently merged)
domestic: trunk microwave radio relay network; limited open-wire
network
international: international service is provided by three submarine
fiber-optic cables in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, linking
Turkey with Italy, Greece, Israel, Bulgaria, Romania, and Russia;
also by 12 Intelsat earth stations, and by 328 mobile satellite
terminals in the Inmarsat and Eutelsat systems (2002). Turkey has
three communication satellites; Turksat 1B (31 degrees East) , Turksat
1C (42 degrees East), and the third one (Turksat 2A).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 16, FM 107, shortwave 6 (2001)
Radios: 19.4 million (1997 est.)
Television broadcast stations: 635 (plus 2,934 repeaters) (1995)
Internet country code: .tr
Internet hosts: 355,215 (2004)
Internet users: 5.5 million (2003)
Defense
Branches: Turkish Armed Forces (TSK): Land Forces, Naval Forces
Command (includes Naval Air and Naval Infantry), Air Force, Coast
Guard Command, Gendarmerie (Jandarma)
Manpower availability:
males age 15-49: 19,828,702 (2004 est.)
males fit for military service: 11,965,262 (2004 est.)
males reach military age (20) annually: 680,673 (2004 est.)
Defense expenditures: $12.155 billion (2003), 5.3% (2003)
Source: CIA - The World Fact book, 2004
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