Background:
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| 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. 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; it holds a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council from 2009-10. 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; it began accession membership talks with the European Union in 2005. |
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Location:
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| 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
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Geographic coordinates:
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39 00 N, 35 00 E
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Map references:
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Area:
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total: 783,562 sq km
country comparison to the world: 44
land:
769,632 sq km
water:
13,930 sq km
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Area - comparative:
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slightly larger than Texas
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Land boundaries:
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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
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Coastline:
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7,200 km
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Maritime claims:
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territorial sea: 6 nm in the Aegean Sea; 12 nm in Black Sea and in Mediterranean Sea
exclusive economic zone:
in Black Sea only: to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the former USSR
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Climate:
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temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior
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Terrain:
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high central plateau (Anatolia); narrow coastal plain; several mountain ranges
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Elevation extremes:
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lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m
highest point:
Mount Ararat 5,166 m
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Natural resources:
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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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Land use:
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arable land: 29.81%
permanent crops:
3.39%
other:
66.8% (2005)
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Irrigated land:
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52,150 sq km (2003)
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Total renewable water resources:
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234 cu km (2003)
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Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural):
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total: 39.78 cu km/yr (15%/11%/74%)
per capita:
544 cu m/yr (2001)
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Natural hazards:
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severe earthquakes, especially in northern Turkey, along an arc extending from the Sea of Marmara to Lake Van
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Environment - current issues:
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water pollution from dumping of chemicals and detergents; air pollution, particularly in urban areas; deforestation; concern for oil spills from increasing Bosporus ship traffic
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Environment - international agreements:
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party to: Air Pollution, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified:
Environmental Modification
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Geography - note:
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strategic location controlling the Turkish Straits (Bosporus, 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 |
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Population:
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| 76,805,524 (July 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 18
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Age structure:
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0-14 years: 27.2% (male 10,701,631/female 10,223,260)
15-64 years:
66.7% (male 25,896,326/female 25,327,403)
65 years and over:
6.1% (male 2,130,360/female 2,526,544) (2009 est.)
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Median age:
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total: 27.7 years
male:
27.4 years
female:
28.1 years (2009 est.)
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Population growth rate:
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1.312% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 102
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Birth rate:
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18.66 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 110
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Death rate:
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6.1 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 161
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Net migration rate:
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0.56 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 64
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Urbanization:
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urban population: 69% of total population (2008)
rate of urbanization:
1.9% annual rate of change (2005-10 est.)
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Sex ratio:
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at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years:
1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years:
1.02 male(s)/female
65 years and over:
0.84 male(s)/female
total population:
1.02 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
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Infant mortality rate:
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total: 25.78 deaths/1,000 live births
country comparison to the world: 85
male:
26.84 deaths/1,000 live births
female:
24.67 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
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Life expectancy at birth:
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total population: 71.96 years
country comparison to the world: 122
male:
70.12 years
female:
73.89 years (2009 est.)
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Total fertility rate:
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2.21 children born/woman (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 117
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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
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less than 0.1%; note - no country specific models provided (2001 est.)
country comparison to the world: 159
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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
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NA (2007 est.)
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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
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NA
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Nationality:
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noun: Turk(s)
adjective:
Turkish
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Ethnic groups:
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Turkish 70-75%, Kurdish 18%, other minorities 7-12% (2008 est.)
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Religions:
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Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)
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Languages:
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Turkish (official), Kurdish, other minority languages
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Literacy:
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definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population:
87.4%
male:
95.3%
female:
79.6% (2004 est.)
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School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education):
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total: 11 years
male:
12 years
female:
11 years (2006)
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Education expenditures:
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4% of GDP (2004)
country comparison to the world: 102
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