TURKEYMore about Turkey Information about travelling to TurkeyTurkey is located in 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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Facts about Turkey
General info about Turkey
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. 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.
Languages spoken Turkish (official), Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, Kabardian
note: there is also a substantial Gagauz population in the European part of Turkey What about drugs? key transit route for Southwest Asian heroin to Western Europe and, to a lesser extent, the US - via air, land, and sea routes; major Turkish and other international trafficking organizations operate out of Istanbul; laboratories to convert imported morphine base into heroin exist in remote regions of Turkey and near Istanbul; government maintains strict controls over areas of legal opium poppy cultivation and over output of poppy straw concentrate; lax enforcement of money-laundering controls Ethnic division Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20% (estimated) HIV/AIDS prevalence rate less than 0.1%; note - no country specific models provided (2001 est.) Climate temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior 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 Economy Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with a traditional agriculture sector that still accounts for more than 35% 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. The largest industrial sector is textiles and clothing, which accounts for one-third of industrial employment; it faces stiff competition in international markets with the end of the global quota system. However, other sectors, notably the automotive and electronics industries, are rising in importance within Turkey's export mix. Real GNP growth has exceeded 6% in many years, but this strong expansion has been interrupted by sharp declines in output in 1994, 1999, and 2001. The economy is turning around with the implementation of economic reforms, and 2004 GDP growth reached 9%, followed by roughly 5% annual growth from 2005-07. Inflation fell to 7.7% in 2005 - a 30-year low - but climbed back to 8.5% in 2007. Despite the strong economic gains from 2002-07, which were largely due to renewed investor interest in emerging markets, IMF backing, and tighter fiscal policy, the economy is still burdened by a high current account deficit and high external debt. Further economic and judicial reforms and prospective EU membership are expected to boost foreign direct investment. The stock value of FDI currently stands at about $85 billion. Privatization sales are currently approaching $21 billion. Oil began to flow through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline in May 2006, marking a major milestone that will bring up to 1 million barrels per day from the Caspian to market. In 2007, Turkish financial markets weathered significant domestic political turmoil, including turbulence sparked by controversy over the selection of former Foreign Minister Abdullah GUL as Turkey's 11th president and the possible closure of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). Economic fundamentals are sound, marked by moderate economic growth and foreign direct investment. Nevertheless, the Turkish economy may be faced with more negative economic indicators in 2009 as a result of the global economic slowdown. In addition, Turkey's high current account deficit leaves the economy vulnerable to destabilizing shifts in investor confidence. Environment water pollution from dumping of chemicals and detergents; air pollution, particularly in urban areas; deforestation; concern for oil spills from increasing Bosporus ship traffic Cities in Turkeyadana adilcevaz afsin afyonkarahisar agva ahlat akcaabat akcakoca akdagmadeni akhisar aksaray aksehir alaca alanya alasehir aliaga amasya anamur ankara antakya antalya ardahan ardesen artvin babaeski bafra bahce batman bayburt belen bergama besikduzu beysehir biga bilecik bingol birecik bismil bitlis bodrum bolu bor boyabat bozova bozuyuk bucak bulancak burdur burhaniye bursa buyukcavuslu can canakkale canta carsamba catalca cay cayeli celaliye cerkezkoy cermik cesme ceyhan cine cizre corlu corum cubuk cumra degirmen demirci denizli derik develi devrek dinar dortyol durusu duzce edirne edremit elbistan elmadag emet emirdag erbaa ercis erdemli eregli ergani erzincan erzurum esenyurt eskil eskisehir fatsa fethiye gaziantep gebze gediz gelibolu gemlik genc gerede giresun goksun golcuk golkoy gonen gorele gumushane gumusyaka gurgentepe gursu hadimkoy hakkari hayrabolu hendek horasan idil igdir imamoglu inegol iskenderun iskilip islahiye isparta istanbul izmir izmit iznik kadirli kahramanmaras kahta kaman karabuk karacabey karacakoy karakose karaman karamursel kars kastamonu kavakli kayseri kemalpasa kesan keskin kestel kilis kirac konya korfez kozan kozluk kula kulu kumburgaz kumluca kurtalan kutahya luleburgaz malatya malazgirt malkara manavgat manisa mardin marmaris menemen mersin merzifon midyat milas mimarsinan mudanya mugla muratbey mus mustafakemalpasa mut nazilli nevsehir nigde niksar nizip nusaybin odemis of oltu ordu orhangazi ortakoy osmaniye pasinler patnos rize safranbolu salihli samandag samsun sarkikaraagac sebinkarahisar selcuk selimpasa sereflikochisar serik seydisehir siirt sile silifke silivri silopi silvan simav sinop sirnak sivas siverek soke solhan soma sorgun suhut suluova sungurlu suruc susehri susurluk talas tarsus tatvan tekirdag tepecik terme tire tokat tosya trabzon tunceli turgutlu turhal unye urfa urla usak uzumlu uzunkopru van vezirkopru viransehir yakuplu yalova yalvac yenisehir yerkoy yozgat yuksekova zile zonguldak |
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The Cheers Travel World / Turkey travel