Turkey

Turkey (Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey, is a n  that stretches across the n peninsula in  and   in the  region of. Turkey borders eight countries: to the northwest;  to the west,  to the northeast;,  (the  of ), and  to the east; and  and  to the southeast. The, as is , is to the south; the and  are to the west; and the  is to the north. Separating Anatolia and Trakya are the and the, which are commonly reckoned to delineate the border between  and , thereby making Turkey.

Because of its strategic location astride two continents, has a unique blend of  and  tradition. A powerful regional presence in the Eurasian landmass with strong cultural and economic influence in the area between the in the west and  in the east,  in the north and the  in the south, Turkey has come to acquire increasing strategic significance.

Turkey, a, is a , , , whose  was established in 1923 under the leadership of , following the fall of the  in the aftermath of. Since then, Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West while continuing to foster relations with the Eastern world.

Etymology
The name for Turkey in the, Türkiye, can be divided into two words: Türk, which means "strong" in and usually signifying the inhabitants of Turkey or a member of the  or , a later form of "tu-kin", name given by the  to the people living south of the  of  as early as 177 BCE; and the  -iye (derived from ), which means "owner" or "related to". The first recorded use of the term "Türk" or "Türük" as an is contained in the  of the  (Sky Turks) of Central Asia (c. 8th century CE). The English word "Turkey" is derived from the "Turchia" (c. 1369).

Pre-Turkic History of Anatolia
The Anatolian peninsula (also called Asia Minor), comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest continually inhabited regions in the world due to its location at the intersection of Asia and Europe. The earliest settlements such as  (Pottery Neolithic),  ( to Pottery Neolithic), ,  (Pottery Neolithic),  (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A) and  are considered to be among the earliest human settlements in the world. The settlement of starts in the Neolithic and continues into the. Through recorded history, Anatolians have spoken, and  languages, as well as many languages of uncertain affiliation. In fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European and  languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical center from which the Indo-European languages have radiated. The first major empire in the area was that of the, from the 18th through the 13th century BCE. Subsequently, the ns, an Indo-European people, achieved ascendancy until their kingdom was destroyed by the in the 7th century BCE. The most powerful of Phrygia's successor states were, and. The Lydians and Lycians spoke languages that were fundamentally Indo-European, but both languages had acquired non-Indo-European elements prior to the Hittite and periods.

The west coast of Anatolia was meanwhile settled by the, one of the. The entire area was conquered by the Persian during the 6th and 5th centuries and later fell to  in 334 BCE. Anatolia was subsequently divided into a number of small (including, , , and ), all of which had succumbed to  by the mid-1st century BCE. In 324 CE, the Roman emperor chose  to be the new capital of the Roman Empire, renaming it  (later  and ). After the fall of the, it became the capital of the (Eastern Roman Empire).

Turks and the Ottoman Empire


The House of Seljuk was a branch of the Kinik who in the 9th century resided on the periphery of the, north of the  and s in the Yabghu ate of the Oğuz confederacy. In the 10th century, the Seljuks migrated from their ancestral homelands into the eastern Anatolian regions that had been an area of settlement for Oğuz Turkic tribes since the end of the first millennium.



Following their victory over the Byzantine Empire in the in 1071, the Turks began to abandon their nomadic roots in favour of a permanent role in Anatolia, bringing rise to the Seljuk Empire. In 1243, the Seljuk armies were defeated by the and the power of the empire slowly disintegrated. In its wake, one of the Turkish principalities governed by was to evolve into the Ottoman Empire, thus filling the void left by the collapsed Seljuks and.

The Ottoman Empire interacted with both and  cultures throughout its 623-year history. In the 16th and 17th centuries, it was among the world's most powerful political entities, often locking horns with the powers of eastern Europe in its steady advance through the and the southern part of the. Following, the Ottoman Empire entered through the  in 1914, and was ultimately defeated. After the war, the victorious sought the  through the.

Republican era


The and  by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I prompted the. Under the leadership of, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the , the  was waged with the aim of revoking the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres. By, the occupying armies were repelled and the country saw the birth of the new Turkish state. On, the formally abolished the ate, thus ending 623 years of Ottoman rule. The of 1923 led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the  of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on , in the new capital of.

Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first and subsequently introduced  with the aim of founding a new secular republic from the remnants of its Ottoman past. According to the Law on Family Names, the Turkish parliament presented Mustafa Kemal with the honorific name "Atatürk" (Father of the Turks) in 1934.

Turkey entered on the side of the  on,  as a ceremonial gesture and became a charter member of the United Nations in 1945. Difficulties faced by after the war in quelling a, along with demands by the  for military bases in the , prompted the  to declare the  in 1947. The doctrine enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece, and resulted in large-scale US military and economic support.

After participating with United Nations forces in the, Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the. Following a decade of on the island of  and the subsequent Athens-inspired, Turkey  in 1974. Nine years later (TRNC) was established. TRNC is recognised only by Turkey.

Following the end of the in 1945, the  witnessed tensions over the following decades, and the period between the 1960s and the 1980s was particularly marked by  that resulted in a number of military , ,  and a. The liberalization of the Turkish economy that started in the 1980s changed the landscape of the country, with successive periods of high growth and crises punctuating the following decades.

Government and politics
Turkey is a. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of. governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main principles of government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralized state.

The is the  and has a largely ceremonial role. The president is elected for a seven-year term by the parliament but is not required to be one of its members. The last President,, was elected on , after having served as the President of the. He was succeeded on  by. is exercised by the and the  which make up the government, while the  power is vested in the unicameral parliament, the. The is independent of the executive and the legislature, and the Constitutional Court is charged with ruling on the conformity of  with the constitution. The is the tribunal of last resort for administrative cases, and the  for all others. The Prime Minister is elected by the parliament through a vote of confidence in his government and is most often the head of the that has the most seats in parliament. The current Prime Minister is the former mayor of İstanbul,, whose conservative won an absolute majority of parliamentary seats in the , organized in the aftermath of the economic crisis of 2001, with 34% of the suffrage. In the, AKP received 46.6% of the votes and could defend its majority in parliament. Neither the Prime Minister nor the Ministers have to be members of the parliament, but in most cases they are (one notable exception was, the Minister of State in Charge of Economy following the financial crisis of 2001; he is currently the president of the ).

for both sexes has been applied throughout Turkey since 1933, and every Turkish citizen who has turned 18 years of age has the right to vote. As of 2004, there were 50 registered, whose ideologies range from the to the. The Constitutional Court can strip the public financing of political parties that it deems anti-secular or, or ban their existence altogether.

There are 550 members of parliament who are elected for a four-year term by a system from 85 electoral districts which represent the 81 administrative  (İstanbul is divided into three electoral districts whereas Ankara and  are divided into two each because of their large populations). To avoid a and its excessive political fragmentation, only parties that win at least  cast in a national parliamentary election gain the right to representation in the parliament. As a result of this threshold, the 2007 elections saw three parties formally entering parliament (compared to two in 2002). However due to a system of alliances and independent candidatures, seven parties are currently represented in parliament. Independent candidates may run; however, they must also win at least 10% of the vote in their circonscription to be elected.

Foreign relations
Turkey is a founding member of the (1945), the  (1961), the  (1973) and the  (1999).

In line with its traditional Western orientation, relations with have always been a central part of Turkish foreign policy. Turkey became a member of the in 1949, applied for associate membership of the  (predecessor of the EU) in 1959 and became an associate member in 1963. After decades of political negotiations, Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in 1987, became an associate member of the in 1992, reached a  with the EU in 1995 and has officially begun  with the EU on. It is believed that the accession process will take at least 15 years due to Turkey's size and the depth of disagreements over certain issues. These include disputes with EU member over Turkey's 1974 military intervention to prevent the island's. Since then, Turkey does not recognize the essentially Greek Cypriot Republic of Cyprus as the sole authority on the island, but instead supports the Turkish Cypriot community in the form of the de facto.

The other defining aspect of Turkey's foreign relations has been its ties with the. Based on the common threat posed by the, Turkey joined the NATO in 1952 ensuring close bilateral relations with Washington throughout the. In the post-Cold War environment, Turkey's geostrategic importance shifted towards its proximity to the volatile Middle East. As well as hosting an important American base near the Syrian/Iraq border for US operations in the region, Turkey's status as a secular democracy and its positive relations with Israel made Ankara a crucial ally for Washington. In return, Turkey has benefited from the United States political, economic and diplomatic support. However, in recent years relations have been strained by the ongoing. Facing strong domestic opposition in Turkey, a government motion to allow U.S. troops to attack from Turkey's border failed to reach the necessary majority. A primary concern for Turkey was an independent arising from a destabilised Iraq; it has previously fought an insurgent war on its own soil, in which an estimated 37,000 people lost their lives, against the  (listed as a  organization by, including the U.S. and the EU). The United States reluctance to threaten the relative stability of northern Iraq by launching operations against the PKK led the Turkish parliament to authorise a cross border military operation in 2007.

The independence of the Turkic states of the Soviet Union, with whom Turkey shares a common cultural and linguistic heritage, allowed Turkey to extend its economic and political relations deep into Central Asia. . The most salient of these relations saw the completion of a multi billion dollar oil and gas pipeline from Baku in to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey. The, as it is called, has formed part of Turkey's foreign policy strategy to become an energy conduit to the West. However, Turkey's border with Armenia, a state in the Caucaus, remains closed following its occupation of Azeri territory during the. Relations with Armenia have been further strained by the controversy surrounding the forced deportations and related deaths of hundrends of thousands of Armenians in the last days of the Ottoman Empire, recognised by a number of countries and historians as the. Turkey rejects the term, arguing instead that the deaths were a result of disease, famine and inter-ethnic strife

Military
The consists of the, the  and the. The and the  operate as parts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in peacetime, although they are subordinated to the Army and Navy Commands respectively in wartime, during which they have both internal law enforcement and military functions.

The Turkish Armed Forces is the second largest standing in NATO, after the, with a combined strength of 1,043,550 uniformed personnel serving in its five branches. Every fit heterosexual male Turkish citizen is required to serve in the military for time periods ranging from three weeks to fifteen months, depending on his education and job location ( have the right to be exempt, upon their own personal request).



In 1998, Turkey announced a program of modernization worth some US$31 billion over a ten year period in various projects including s, s, s, s, s and s. Turkey is also a Level 3 contributor to the (JSF) program, gaining an opportunity to develop and influence the creation of the next generation fighter spearheaded by the United States.

Turkey has maintained forces in international missions under the United Nations and NATO since 1950, including missions in  and former, and support to coalition forces in the. Turkey maintains 36,000 troops in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and has had troops deployed in as part of the  and the UN-authorized, NATO-commanded  (ISAF) since 2001. In 2006, the Turkish parliament deployed a peacekeeping force of Navy patrol vessels and around 700 ground troops as part of an expanded (UNIFIL) in the wake of the.

The is appointed by the President, and is responsible to the Prime Minister. The Council of Ministers is responsible to the parliament for matters of national security and the adequate preparation of the armed forces to defend the country. However, the authority to declare war and to deploy the Turkish Armed Forces to foreign countries or to allow foreign armed forces to be stationed in Turkey rests solely with the parliament. The actual Commander of the armed forces is the Chief of the General Staff, who succeeded General on.

The Turkish military has traditionally held a powerful position in domestic Turkish politics, considering itself the guardian of Turkey's secular democracy. It has several times within the last decades forcibly removed elected governments believed to be straying from the principles of the state as established by Ataturk and enshrined in the constitution.

Administrative divisions
The of Turkey is. The territory of Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. The provinces are organized into 7 for  purposes; however, they do not represent an administrative structure. Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 923 districts.

Provinces usually bear the same name as their provincial capitals, also called the central district; exceptions to this are the provinces of (capital: ),  (capital: ) and  (capital: ). Provinces with the largest populations are (+10 million),  (+4 million),  (+3.4 million),  (+2.2 million),  (+2.1 million) and  (+1.85 million).

The biggest city and the pre-Republican capital is the financial, economic and cultural heart of the country. Other important cities include, , , , , , , , , , , , , and. An estimated 67% of Turkey's population live in urban centers. In all, 12 cities have populations that exceed 500,000, and 48 cities have more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Major cities:
 * - 9,085,599
 * - 3,540,522
 * - 2,732,669
 * - 1,630,940
 * - 1,397,853
 * - 1,294,817
 * - 1,009,126
 * - 936,330

(Population figures are given according to the 2000 census)

Geography and climate
The territory of Turkey is more than 1,600 s (1,000 ) long and 800 km (500 mi) wide, with a roughly rectangular shape. Turkey's area, inclusive of lakes, occupies 783,562 s (300,948 sq mi), of which 755,688 square kilometres (291,773 sq mi) are in and 23,764 square kilometres (9,174 sq mi) in, thus making Turkey a. Turkey's area makes it the world's country, and is about the size of  and the  combined. Turkey is encircled by seas on three sides: the to the west, the  to the north and the  to the south. Turkey also contains the in the northwest.

The European section of Turkey, in the northwest, is, and forms the borders of Turkey with Greece and Bulgaria. The Asian part of the country, (also called Asia Minor), consists of a high central plateau with narrow coastal plains, between the Köroğlu and East-Black Sea mountain range to the north and the  to the south. Eastern Turkey has a more mountainous landscape, and is home to the sources of rivers such as the, and , and contains  and , Turkey's highest point at 5,165 s (16,94 ).

Turkey is geographically divided into seven regions:, , , , , and the. The uneven north Anatolian terrain running along the Black Sea resembles a long, narrow belt. This region comprises approximately one-sixth of Turkey's total land area. As a general trend, the inland Anatolian plateau becomes increasingly rugged as it progresses eastward. Turkey's varied landscapes are the product of complex earth movements that have shaped the region over thousands of years and still manifest themselves in fairly frequent s and occasional eruptions. The and the  owe their existence to the  running through Turkey that led to the creation of the Black Sea. There is an earthquake fault line across the north of the country from west to east, which caused in 1999.

Turkey has a Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and mild, wet and cold winters, though conditions can be much harsher in the more arid interior. Mountains close to the coast prevent Mediterranean influences from extending inland, giving the interior of Turkey a continental climate with distinct seasons. The central Anatolian Plateau is much more subject to extremes than coastal areas. Winters on the plateau are especially severe. Temperatures of −30 to −40 °C (−22 ° to -40 °F) can occur in the mountainous areas in the east, and snow may lie on the ground 120 days of the year. In the west, winter temperatures average below 1 °C (34 °F). Summers are hot and dry, with temperatures generally above 30 °C (86 °F) in the day. Annual averages about 400 s (15 ), with actual amounts determined by elevation. The driest regions are the Konya plain and the Malatya plain, where annual rainfall frequently is less than 300 millimetres (12 in). May is generally the wettest month, whereas July and August are the most dry.

Economy


Turkey is a, a founding member of the and the  which brings together the 20 largest economies of the world.

For most of its republican history, Turkey has adhered to a quasi- approach, with strict government controls over private sector participation, foreign trade, and. However, during the 1980s, Turkey began a series of reforms, initiated by Prime Minister and designed to shift the economy from a statist, insulated system to a more private-sector, -based model. The reforms spurred rapid growth, but this growth was punctuated by sharp s and financial crises in 1994, 1999 (following the earthquake of that year), and 2001, resulting in an average of 4% growth per annum between 1981 and 2003. Lack of additional reforms, combined with large and growing s and widespread, resulted in high , a weak  sector and increased  volatility.

Since the economic crisis of 2001 and the reforms initiated by the finance minister of the time,, inflation has fallen to single-digit numbers, investor confidence and foreign investment have soared, and unemployment has fallen. Turkey has gradually opened up its markets through economic reforms by reducing government controls on foreign trade and investment and the of publicly-owned industries, and the liberalisation of many sectors to private and foreign participation has continued amid political debate. The GDP growth rate for 2005 was 7.4%, thus making Turkey one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Turkey's economy is no longer dominated by traditional agricultural activities in the rural areas, but more so by a highly dynamic industrial complex in the major cities, mostly concentrated in the western provinces of the country, along with a developed services sector. The agricultural sector accounts for 11.9% of GDP, whereas industrial and service sectors make up 23.7% and 64.5%, respectively. The tourism sector has experienced rapid growth in the last twenty years, and constitutes an important part of the economy. In 2005, there were 24,124,501 to the country, who contributed 18.2 billion USD to Turkey's revenues. Other key sectors of the Turkish economy are construction, automotive industry, electronics and textiles.

In recent years, the chronically high inflation has been brought under control and this has led to the launch of a new currency to cement the acquisition of the economic reforms and erase the vestiges of an unstable economy. On, the  was replaced by the  by dropping off six zeroes (1 YTL= 1,000,000 TL). As a result of continuing economic reforms, inflation has dropped to 8.2% in 2005, and the unemployment rate to 10.3%. With a per capita GDP of 5,062 USD, Turkey  in the world in 2005. In 2004, it was estimated that 46.2% of total disposable income was received by the top 20% income earners, while the lowest 20% received 6%. Turkey's main trading partners are the European Union (59% of exports and 52% of imports as of 2005), the United States, and. Turkey has taken advantage of a, signed in 1995, to increase its industrial production destined for exports, while at the same time benefiting from EU-origin foreign investment into the country. In 2005, exports amounted to 73.5 billion USD while the imports stood at 116.8 billion USD, with increases of 16.3% and 19.7% compared to 2004, respectively. For 2006, the exports amounted to 85.8 billion USD, representing an increase of 16,8% over 2005. The most recent figure for exports is 100.1 billion USD as of September 2007.

After years of low levels of (FDI), Turkey succeeded in attracting 8.5 billion USD in FDI in 2005 and is expected to attract a higher figure in 2006. A series of large privatizations, the stability fostered by the start of, strong and stable growth, and structural changes in the banking, retail, and telecommunications sectors have all contributed to a rise in foreign investment.

Demographics
As of 2005, the population of Turkey stood at 72.6 million with a growth rate of 1.5% per annum. The Turkish population is relatively young, with 25.5% falling within the 0–15 age bracket. According to statistics released by the government in 2005, stands at 68.9 years for men and 73.8 years for women, with an overall average of 71.3 years for the populace as a whole.

is compulsory and free from ages 6 to 15. The rate is 95.3% for men and 79.6% for women, with an overall average of 87.4%. This low figure is mainly due to prevailing feudal attitudes against women in the Arab- and Kurdish-inhabited southeastern provinces of the country.

Article 66 of the defines a "Turk" as anyone who is "bound to the Turkish state through the bond of "; therefore, the legal use of the term "Turkish" as a citizen of Turkey is different from the ethnic definition. The majority of the Turkish population are of. Other major ethnic groups include the, , , and the three officially-recognized minorities (per the treaty of Lausanne) of ,  and. The largest non-Turkic ethnicity is the, a distinct ethnic group traditionally concentrated in the southeast of the country. Minorities other than the three official ones do not have any special group privileges, and while the term "" itself remains a sensitive issue in Turkey, it is to be noted that the degree of within various s outside the recognized minorities is high, with the following generations adding to the  of the Turkish main body. Within that main body, certain distinctions based on diverse origins could be made as well. Reliable data on the exact ethnic repartition of the population is not available, as the Turkish census figures do not include ethnic or racial figures.

Due to a demand for an increased labor force in post-World War II Europe, many Turkish citizens emigrated to (particularly ), contributing to the creation of a. Recently, Turkey has also become a destination for numerous immigrants, especially since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the consequent increase of freedom of movement in the region. These immigrants generally migrate from the former Soviet Bloc countries, as well as neighboring Muslim states, either to settle and work in Turkey or to continue their journey towards the European Union. is the sole throughout Turkey. Reliable figures for the linguistic repartition of the populace are not available for reasons similar to those cited above. The public broadcaster broadcasts programs in local languages and dialects of, ,  and  a few hours a week.

Nominally, 99.0% of the Turkish population is, of whom over 75% belong to the branch of Islam. A sizeable minority, about 20% of the Muslim population, is affiliated with the  sect. The mainstream te school of is largely organized by the state, through the  (Religious Affairs Directorate), which controls all s and Muslim clerics. The remainder of the population belongs to other faiths, particularly denominations, ,  and.

There is a strong tradition of. Even though the state has no official religion nor promotes any, it actively monitors the area between the religions. The constitution recognizes for individuals, whereas religious communities are placed under the protection of the state; but the constitution explicitly states that they cannot become involved in the political process (by forming a religious party, for instance) or establish faith-based schools. No party can claim that it represents a form of religious belief; nevertheless, religious sensibilities are generally represented through conservative parties. Turkey prohibits by law the wearing of and theo-political symbolic garments for both genders in government buildings, schools, and universities; the law was upheld by the Grand Chamber of the  as "legitimate" in Leyla Şahin v. Turkey on.

Culture


Turkey has a very diverse culture that is a blend of various elements of the and n,  (which was itself a continuation of both  and  cultures), and  and traditions which started with the  of the Ottoman Empire and continues today. This mix is a result of the encounter of Turks and their culture with those of the peoples who were in their path during from Central Asia to the West. As Turkey successfully transformed from the religion-based former Ottoman Empire into a modern nation-state with a very strong separation of state and religion, an increase in the methods of artistic expression followed. During the first years of the republic, the government invested a large amount of resources into fine arts, such as museums, theatres, and architecture. Because of different historical factors playing an important role in defining the modern Turkish identity, Turkish culture is a product of efforts to be "modern" and Western, combined with the necessity felt to maintain traditional religious and historical values. and form great examples of such a mix of cultural influences. Many schools of music are popular throughout Turkey, from "" to genres, as a result of the interaction between the Ottoman Empire and the Islamic world along with Europe, and thus contributing to a blend of Central Asian Turkic, Islamic and European traditions in modern-day Turkish music. Turkish literature was heavily influenced by and, especially,  during most of the Ottoman era, though towards the end of the Ottoman Empire the effect of both Turkish folk and Western literary traditions became increasingly felt. The mix of cultural influences is dramatized, for example, in the form of the "new symbols [of] the clash and interlacing of cultures" enacted in the work of, winner of the 2006.

Architectural elements found in Turkey are also testaments to the unique mix of traditions that have influenced the region over the centuries. In addition to the traditional present in numerous parts of Turkey, many artifacts of the later, with its exquisite blend of local and Islamic traditions, are to be found throughout the country, as well as in many former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Since the 18th century, Turkish architecture has been increasingly influenced by Western styles, and this can be particularly seen in Istanbul where buildings like the and the  are juxtaposed next to numerous modern skyscrapers, all of them representing different traditions.

The most popular sport in Turkey by far is, with certain professional and national matches drawing tens of millions of viewers on television. Nevertheless, other sports such as and  (following the inclusion of  on the  racing calendar) have also become popular recently. The traditional Turkish national sport has been the (Oiled Wrestling) since Ottoman times.

Government

 * Presidency of the Republic
 * The Grand National Assembly
 * The Prime Minister's Office
 * Ministry of Foreign Affairs
 * Ministry of Interior Affairs
 * Turkish Armed Forces
 * Ministry of Defense
 * Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Public institutions

 * Directorate General of Press and Information
 * Turkish Statistical Institute
 * Central Bank
 * Treasury
 * Competition Authority
 * Undersecretariat of Customs
 * National Intelligence Organisation
 * State Planning Organisation
 * Turkish Standards Institution
 * The Scientific and Technological Research Council

Additional profiles

 * by the BBC News
 * by the CIA Factbook
 * by the Economist
 * by the US Department of State

Other


Turchia