REPUBLIC OF TURKEY

Capital: Ankara Largest City: Istanbul Official Language: Turkish Demonym: Turkish Government: Parliamentary Republic Founder: Mustafa Kemal Ataturk President: Abdullah Gul Prime Minister: Recep Tayyip Erdogan Speaker of the Parliament: Cemil Cicek President of the Constitutional Court: Hasim Kilic Legislature: Grand National Assembly Succession: To the Ottoman Empire Treaty of Lausanne: July 24, 1923 Declaration of Republic: October 29, 1923 Area: 783,562 km (37th) Population: (2011 estimates) 78,785,548 (18th) Currency: Turkish Lira
2

known officially as the Republic of Turkey is a Eurasian country located 97% in Asia (mostly in theAnatolian peninsula) and 3% in East Thrace in Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries:Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan(the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. TheMediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west;

and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. geostrategic importance.
[10]

Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant

[11][12]

Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population areMuslims.[13] The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languagesare spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who comprise 18% of the population.
[14]

Turks began migrating into the area now called Turkey (derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, i.e. "Land of the Turks") in the 11th century. The process was greatly accelerated by the Seljuk victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert.[15] Several small beyliks and theSeljuk Sultanate of Rm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol Empire's invasion. Starting from the 13th century, the Ottoman beylik united Anatolia and created an empire encompassing much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed following its defeat in World War I, parts of it were occupied by the victorious Allies. A cadre of young military officers, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatrk and his colleagues, organized a successful resistance to the Allies; in 1923, they would establish the modern Republic of Turkey with Atatrk as its first president. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with an ancient cultural heritage. Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West through membership in organizations such as the Council of Europe, NATO, OECD, OSCE and the G-20 major economies. Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the European Economic Community since 1963 and having reached a customs union agreement in 1995. Turkey has also fostered close cultural, political, economic and industrial relations with the Middle East, the Turkic states of Central Asia and the African countries through membership in organizations such as the Turkic Council, Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture, Organisation of Islamic Cooperationand the Economic Cooperation Organization. Given its strategic location, large economy and military strength, Turkey is a major regional power.

ETYMOLOGY:
The name of Turkey, Trkiye in the Turkish language, can be divided into two components: theethnonym Trk and the abstract suffix iye meaning "owner", "land of" or "related to" (derived from the Arabic suffix iyya, which is similar to the Greek and Latin suffixes ia). The first recorded use of the term "Trk" or "Trk" as an autonym is contained in the Orkhon inscriptions of the Gktrks (Celestial Turks) of Central Asia (c. 8th century CE). Tukin has been attested as early as 177 BCE as a name given by the Chinese to the people living south of the Altay Mountains of Central Asia. The English word "Turkey" is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia (c. 1369).[17] The Greek cognate of this name, Tourkia, was originally used by the Byzantines to describe medieval Hungary[18][19][20] (as the Hungarians and Turks have ancestral links) but they later began using this name to define the Seljuk-controlled parts of Anatolia in the centuries that followed the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.

HISTORY:
The history of Turkey refers to the history of the country now called Turkey. Although the lands have an ancient history, Turkic migration to the country is relatively new. The Turks, a society whose language belongs to the Turkic language family started moving from their original homelands to the modern Turkey in the 11th century. After the Turkic Seljuq Empire defeated forces of the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Manzikert, the process was accelerated and the country
[1] was referred to as 'Turchia' in the Europe as early as the 12th century. The Seljuq dynasty controlled Turkey until the

country was invaded by theMongols following the Battle of Kosedag. During the years when the country was under Mongol rule, some small Turkish states were born. One of these states was the Ottoman beylik which quickly controlled Western Anatolia and conquered much of Rumelia. After finally conquering Istanbul, the Ottoman state would become a large empire, called the Turkish Empire in Europe. Next, the Empire expanded toEastern Anatolia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Central Europe and North Africa. Although the Ottoman Empire's power and prestige peaked in the 16th century; it did not fully reach the technological advance in military capabilities of the Western powers in the 19th century. Nevertheless, Turkey managed to maintain independence though some of its territories were ceded to its neighbours and some small countries gained independence from it. FollowingWorld War I in which Turkey was defeated, most of Anatolia and Eastern Thrace was occupied by the Allied powers including the capital cityIstanbul. In order to resist the occupation, a cadre of young military officers formed a government in Ankara. The elected leader of the Ankara Government, Mustafa Kemal organized a successful war of independence against the Allied powers. After the liberation of Anatolia and theEastern Thrace, the Republic of Turkey was established in 1923 with capital city Ankara. Turkic migration Before the Turkic settlement, the local population of Anatolia had reached an estimated level of 12 to 14 million people during the late Roman Period.
[2][3][4]

The migration of Turks to the country of modern Turkey occurred during the

main Turkic migration across most of Central Asiaand into Europe and the Middle East which was between the 6th and 11th centuries. Mainly Turkic people living in the Seljuk Empire arrived Turkey in the eleventh century. The Seljuks proceeded to gradually conquer the Anatolian part of the Byzantine Empire. In the following centuries, the local population began to be assimilated into the Turkish people. More Turkic migrants began to intermingle with the local inhabitants over years, thus the Turkish-speaking population was bolstered. Seljuq Dynasty The House of Seljuk was a branch of the K n k O uz Turks who resided on the periphery of the Muslim world, north of the Caspian and Aral Seas in the Yabghu Khaganate of the O uz confederacy[5] in the 10th century. In the 11th century, the Turkic people living in the Seljuk Empire started migrating from their ancestral homelands towards the eastern regions of Anatolia, which eventually became a new homeland of O uz Turkic tribes following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The victory of the Seljuks gave rise to the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, a separate branch of the largerSeljuk Empire Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. Mongol Rule In 1243, the Seljuk armies were defeated by the Mongols in the Battle of Kosedag, and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rm became a vassal of the Mongols. This caused the Seljuks to lose its power. Hulegu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan founded the Ilkhanate in the southwestern part of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanate State ruled Anatolia by Mongol military governors. Last Seljuk sultan died in 1308. The Mongol invasion of Transoxiana, Iran, Azerbaijan and Anatolia caused Turkomens to move to Western Anatolia. [7] The Turkomens founded some Anatolian principalities (beyliks) under the Mongol dominion in Turkey.[8] The most powerful beyliks were the Karamano lu (or theKaramanid) and
[6]

and to

some Turkish principalities (beyliks), mostly situated towards the Eastern Anatolia which were vassals of or at war with

the Germiyan in the central area. Along the Aegean coast, from north to south, stretched Karesi, Saruhan, Ayd no lu, Mente e and Teke principalities. The Candaro lu (also called sfendiyaro lu) controlled the Black Sea region round Kastamonu and Sinop.[9] The Beylik of Ottoman Dynasty was situated in the northwest of Anatolia, around S t, and it was a small and insignificant state at that time. The Ottoman beylik would, however, evolve into the Ottoman Empire over the next 200 years, expanding throughout the Balkans, Anatolia.[ Ottoman Dynasty The Ottoman beylik's first capital was located in Bursa in 1326. Edirne which was conquered in 1361 [11]was the next capital city. After largely expanding to Europe and Anatolia, in 1453, the Ottomans nearly completed the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital, Constantinople during the reign of Mehmed II. This city has become the capital city of the Empire following Edirne. The Ottoman Empire would continue to expand into the Eastern Anatolia, Central Europe, the Caucasus, North and East Africa, the islands in the Mediterranean, Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian peninsula in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Ottoman Empire's power and prestige peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. The empire was often at odds with the Holy Roman Empire in its steady advance towards Central
[12] Europe through the Balkans and the southern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In addition, the Ottomans

were often at war with Persia over territorial disputes. At sea, the empire contended with the Holy Leagues, composed of Habsburg Spain, the Republic of Venice and the Knights of St. John, for control of the Mediterranean. In the Indian Ocean, the Ottoman navy frequently confrontedPortuguese fleets in order to defend its traditional monopoly over the maritime trade routes betweenEast Asia and Western Europe; these routes faced new competition with the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 marked the beginning of the Ottoman decline; some territories were lost by the treaty: Austria received all of Hungary and Transylvania except the Banat; Venice obtained most of Dalmatia along with the Morea (the Peloponnesus peninsula in southern Greece); Poland recovered Podolia.
[13]

Throughout the 19th and early

20th centuries, the Ottoman Empire continued losing its territories, including Greece, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and the Balkans in the 19121913 Balkan Wars. Faced with territorial losses on all sides the Ottoman Empire forged an alliance with Germany who supported it with troops and equipment. The Ottoman Empire joined the World War I on the side of the Central Powers, after granting two German warships as refugees. On October 30, 1918, the Armistice of Mudros was signed, followed by the imposition of Treaty of Svres on August 10, 1920 by Allied Powers, which was never ratified. The Treaty of Svres would break up the Ottoman Empire and force large concessions on territories of the Empire in favour of Greece, Italy, Britain and France. Republic era The occupation of some parts of the country by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I prompted the establishment of the Turkish national movement. the Treaty of Svres.
[14] [12]

Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, a military commander who had distinguished

himself during the Battle of Gallipoli, the Turkish War of Independence was waged with the aim of revoking the terms of By September 18, 1922, the occupying armies were expelled. On November 1, the newly founded parliament formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of Ottoman rule. The Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923, led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923, in the new capital of Ankara.
[12]

Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first President of Turkey and subsequently introduced many radical

reforms with the aim of founding a new secular republic from the remnants of its Ottoman past.[12] According to the Law on

Family Names, the Turkish parliament presented Mustafa Kemal with the honorific surname "Atatrk" (Father of the Turks) in 1934. Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II but entered on the side of the Allies on February 23, 1945, as a ceremonial gesture and in 1945 became a charter member of the United Nations.
[15]

Difficulties faced byGreece after the

war in quelling a communist rebellion, along with demands by the Soviet Union for military bases in the Turkish Straits, prompted the United States to declare the Truman Doctrine in 1947. The doctrine enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece, and resulted in large-scale U.S. military and economic support. against Soviet expansion into the Mediterranean. Following a decade ofintercommunal violence on the island of Cyprus and the Greek military coup of July 1974, overthrowing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as a dictator, Turkey invaded the Republic of Cyprus in 1974. Nine years later the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was established. Turkey is the only country that recognises the TRNC military coups d'tat in1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997.
[18] [17] [16]

After participating with the United Nations forces in the Korean War, Turkey joined NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark

The single-party period was followed by multiparty democracy after 1945. The Turkish democracy was interrupted by In 1984, the PKK began an insurgency against the Turkish
[19]

government; the conflict, which has claimed over 40,000 lives, continues today.

Since the liberalization of the Turkish

economy during the 1980s, the country has enjoyed stronger economic growth and greater political stability.[

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of secularism.
[43]

Turkey's constitution governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main

principles of government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralized state. The President of the Republic is the head of state and has a largely ceremonial role. The president is elected for a fiveyear term by direct elections. Abdullah Gl was elected as president on August 28, 2007, by a popular parliament round of votes, succeeding Ahmet Necdet Sezer.
[44]

Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers which make up the government, while the legislative power is vested in the unicameral parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, and the Constitutional Court is charged with ruling on the conformity of laws and decrees with the constitution. TheCouncil of State is the tribunal of last resort for administrative cases, and the High Court of Appeals for all others.
[45]

The prime minister is elected by the parliament through a vote of confidence in the government and is most often the head of the party having the most seats in parliament. The current prime minister is the former mayor of stanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdo an, whose conservative AK party won an absolute majority of parliamentary seats in the 2002 general elections, organized in the aftermath of the economic crisis of 2001, with 34% of the suffrage. In the 2007 general elections, the AKP received 46.6% of the votes and could defend its majority in parliament.
[47]

Although the ministers do not have to be members of the parliament, ministers with parliament membership

are common in Turkish politics. In 2007, a series of events regarding state secularism and the role of the judiciary in the legislature has occurred. These included the controversialpresidential election of Abdullah Gl, who in the past had been involved with Islamist parties;[48] and the government's proposal to lift the headscarf ban in universities, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court, leading to a fine and a near ban of the ruling party.[49] Universal suffrage 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 political parties in the country.
[50]

The

Constitutional Court can strip the public financing of political parties that it deems anti-secular or separatist, or ban their existence altogether.
[51][52]

There are 550 members of parliament who are elected for a four-year term by a party-list proportional representation system from 85 electoral districts which represent the 81 administrative provinces of Turkey( stanbul is divided into three electoral districts, whereas Ankara and zmir are divided into two each because of their large populations). To avoid a hung parliament and its excessive political fragmentation, only parties winning at least 10% of the votes cast in a national parliamentary election gain the right to representation in the parliament.
[50]

Because of this

threshold, in the 2007 elections only three parties formally entered the parliament (compared to two in 2002).[53][54] Human rights in Turkey have been the subject of much controversy and international condemnation. Between 1998 and 2008 the European Court of Human Rights made more than 1,600 judgements against Turkey for human rights violations, particularly the right to life and freedom from torture. Other issues such as Kurdish rights, women's rights and press freedom have also attracted controversy. Turkey's human rights record continues to be a significant obstacle to future membership of the EU.[55] The Turkish Journalists Association says that 58 of the country's journalists have been imprisoned. A U.S. State Department spokesman, Philip Crowley, said that the United States had "broad concerns about trends involving intimidation of journalists in Turkey." Politics of Turkey takes place in a framework of a strictly secular parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of Turkey is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. ThePresident of Turkey is the head of state who holds a largely ceremonial role but with substantial reserve powers. Turkey's political system is based on a separation of powers. Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers. Legislative power is vested in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Its current constitution was adopted on 7 November 1982after the Turkish constitutional referendum. Executive branch The function of head of state is performed by the president (Cumhurba kan ). A president is elected every five years on the principle ofuniversal suffrage according to the current constitution. The president does not have to be a member of parliament, but he/she must be over 40 years old and hold a bachelor's degree. The current president Abdullah Gl was elected by Parliament on 28 August 2007.[1] Executive power rests with the president, the prime minister (Ba bakan) and the Council of Ministers (Bakanlar Kurulu) (Cabinet Erdo an III). The ministers don't have to be members of Parliament (an example is Kemal Dervi ). The prime minister is appointed by the President and approved through a vote of confidence (gvenoyu) in the Parliament. The prime minister is Recep Tayyip Erdo an, whose conservative Justice and Development Party won a majority of parliamentary seats in the 2011 general elections. Legislative branch Legislative power is invested in the 550-seat Grand National Assembly of Turkey (Trkiye Byk Millet Meclisi), representing 81 provinces. The members are elected for a four-year term by mitigated proportional representation with an election threshold of 10%. To be represented in Parliament, a party must win at least 10% of the national vote in a national parliamentary election. Independent candidates may run, and to be elected, they must only win 10% of the vote in the province from which they are running. The threshold is set to be reduced.[2] The current Speaker of the Parliament is Cemil iek. Judicial branch The freedom and independence of the Judicial System is protected within the constitution. There is no organization, person, or institution which can interfere in the running of the courts, and the executive and legislative structures must

obey the courts' decisions. The courts, which are independent in discharging their duties, must explain each ruling on the basis of the provisions of the Constitution, the laws, jurisprudence, and their personal convictions. The Judicial system is highly structured. Turkish courts have no jury system; judges render decisions after establishing the facts in each case based on evidence presented by lawyers and prosecutors. For minor civil complaints and offenses, justices of the peace take the case. This court has a single judge. It has jurisdiction over misdemeanors and petty crimes, with penalties ranging from small fines to brief prison sentences. Three-judge courts of first instance have jurisdiction over major civil suits and serious crimes. Any conviction in a criminal case can be taken to a court of Appeals for judicial review. All courts are open to the public. When a case is closed to the public, the court has to declare the reason. Judge and prosecution structures are secured by the constitution. Except with their own consent, no judge or prosecutor can be dismissed, have his/her powers restricted, or be forced to retire. However, the retirement age restrictions do apply. The child courts have their own structure. A judge can be audited for misconduct only with the Ministry of Justice's permission, in which case a special task force of justice experts and senior judges is formed. The High Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors (HSYK) is the principal body charged with responsibility for ensuring judicial integrity, and determines professional judges acceptance and court assignments. Minister of justice, Sadullah Ergin is the natural head of the Council according to the current constitution. Turkey adopted a new national "Judicial Networking System" (UYAP). The court decisions and documents (case info, expert reports, etc.) will be accessible via the Internet. Turkey accepts the European Court of Human Rights' decisions as a higher court decision. Turkey also accepts as legally binding any decisions on international agreements. There are several supreme courts with different subjects: Yarg tay acts as the supreme court of judiciary tribunals (criminal and civil justice). Dan tay is the highest of administrative courts. Anayasa Mahkemesi examines the constitutionality of laws, decrees having the force of law (decretloi), changes of parliamentary by-laws and several other acts of the parliament. Say tay (Court of Accounts) is the court which examines the incomes and expenses of the administrative bodies and which acts in the name of parliament. The Military Court of Cassation (Askeri Yarg tay) and The Military High Court of Administration (or the Supreme Military Administrative Court) (Askeri Yksek dare Mahkemesi) are the highest bodies to which appeals of decisions of military courts are to be made. Political principles of importance in Turkey The Turkish Constitution and most mainstream political parties are built on the following principles:    Kemalism Laicism Modernization Conservatism Neo-liberalism Islamism Pan-Turkism Socialism Communism

Other political ideas have also influenced Turkish politics and modern history. Of particular importance are:      

Anarchism

These principles are the continuum around which various and often rapidly changing political parties and groups have campaigned (and sometimes fought). On a superficial level, the importance which state officials attach to these principles and their posts can be seen in their response to breaches of protocol in official ceremonies. Political parties and elections Since 1950, parliamentary politics has been dominated by conservative parties. Even the ruling AK Party, although its core cadres root from the Islamist current, tends to identify itself with the "tradition" of DP. The leftist parties, most notable of which is CHP, with a stableelectorate, draw much of their support from big cities, coastal regions, professional middleclass, and minority groups such as Alevis andKurds. The AK Party won 46.76% of the vote giving them 341 parliamentary seats. CHP received 20.64%, which translating to control of 110 seats.MHP took third place with 14.33%, giving the party 71 seats. The independents (whose majority are the leftist pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party candidates) won 28 seats. The DTP is the successor to the previous proKurdish party, the DHP. Independent candidates are not subject to the 10% threshold constraint placed on political parties.
[4][5]

European Union officials welcomed the AK Party's sweeping victory, describing it as "a mandate for the reforms it wants Turkey to complete during its membership talks."[6] The AK Party nonetheless lacks the two-thirds majority in parliament necessary to push through legislation. Factor of the military Since Mustafa Kemal Atatrk founded the modern secular Republic of Turkey in 1923, the Turkish military has perceived itself as the guardian of Atatrklk, the official state ideology. The TAF still maintains an important degree of influence over Turkish politics and the decision making process regarding issues related to Turkish national security, albeit decreased in the past decades, via the National Security Council. The military has had a record of intervening in politics. Indeed, it assumed power for several periods in the latter half of the 20th century. It executed coups d'tat in 1960, in 1971, and in 1980. Most recently, it maneuvered the removal of an Islamic-oriented prime minister,Necmettin Erbakan, in 1997.
[7]

On 27 April 2007, in advance of the 4 November 2007 presidential election, and in reaction to the politics of Abdullah Gl, who has a past record of involvement in Islamist political movements and banned Islamist parties such as the Welfare Party, the army issued a statement of its interests. It said that the army is a party to "arguments" regarding secularism; that Islamism ran counter to the secular nature of the Turkish Republic, and to the legacy of Mustafa Kemal Atatrk. The Army's statement ended with a clear warning that the Turkish Armed Forces stood ready to intervene if the secular nature of the Turkish Constitution is compromised, stating that "the Turkish Armed Forcesmaintain their sound determination to carry out their duties stemming from laws to protect the unchangeable characteristics of the Republic of Turkey. Their loyalty to this determination is absolute."
[8]

Contrary to outsider expectations, the Turkish populace is not uniformly averse to coups; many welcome the ejection of governments they perceive as unconstitutional.[9][10] Members of the military must also comply with the traditions of secularism, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom report in 2008, members who performed prayers or had wives who wore the headscarf, have been charged with lack of discipline.
[11]

Paradoxically, the military has both been an important force in Turkeys continuous Westernization but at the same time also represents an obstacle for Turkeys desire to join the EU. At the same time, the military enjoys a high degree of

popular legitimacy, with continuous opinion polls suggesting that the military is the state institution that the Turkish people trust the most.
[12]

Over a hundred people, including several generals, have been detained or questioned since July 2008 with respect to Ergenekon, an alleged clandestine, ultra-nationalist and security forces.
[14] [13]

organization with ties to members of the country's military

The group is accused ofterrorism in Turkey.[15] [16]

On 22 February 2010 more than 40 officers arrested and then were formally charged with attempting to overthrow the government with respect to alleged "Sledgehammer" plot . They include four admirals, a general and two colonels, some of them retired, including former commanders of the Turkish navy and air force (three days later, the former commanders of the navy and air force were released).

FOREIGN RELATIONS
Foreign relations of the Republic of Turkey are the Turkish government's policies in its external relations with the international community. Historically, based on the Western-inspired reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatrk, such policies have placed heavy emphasis on Turkey's relationship with the Western world, especially in relation to the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. The post-Cold War period has seen a diversification of relations, with Turkey seeking to strengthen its regional presence in the Balkans, the Middle East and the Caucasus, as well as its historical goal of EU membership. Under the AK Party government, Turkey's influence has grown in the Middle East based on the strategic depth doctrine, also called Neo-Ottomanism Europe European Union The Turkish application to join the European Economic Community (now the European Union) as an associate member in 1959 soon resulted in associate membership in 1963, with full membership being acknowledged as the final goal. However, problems in foreign policy such as the Cyprus conflict and the internal political turbulence from the 1970s until the early 1980s forced Turkey to delay applying for full membership of the European Community until 1987. The application was rejected, although the E.C. did say that Turkish membership could occur at some point in the future. An EU-Turkey Customs Union came into effect on 1 January 1996, allowing goods to travel between Turkey and the EU member stateswithout customs restrictions, although it crucially stopped short of lifting restrictions in areas such as agriculture. The European Union confirmed Turkey's status as candidate for membership at the European Council's Helsinki Summit in 1999. Theaccession talks did not follow immediately, however, as the EU said Turkey had to make significant reforms, particularly in the field of human rights, before the talks could begin. Turkey's current administration has identified EU membership as its top priority, and has taken many and sometimes controversial reform packages through the Parliament aimed at gradually harmonizing Turkey with EU standards. Since October 2005, Turkey has formally started accession negotiations with the EU and these will be based on the acquis communautaire. Formal Country Relations Began Austria See AustrianTurkish relations From the middle ages until the twentieth century today's Austria and Turkey were thecore regions within much larger empires. Austria was the seat of the House of Habsburgand Notes

Turkey was ruled by the House of Osman (also known as the Ottoman Dynasty). The Habsburg and Ottoman states were both large multi-ethnic conglomerations sustained by conquest. These rival empires waged frequent wars against each other over control of much Central Europe and the Balkans. Belarus 1992-05-25 See BelarusianTurkish relations  Turkey was the first country to recognize Belarus on 16 December 1991 after the declaration of its independence on 25 August 1991.    Belarus has an embassy in Ankara. Turkey has an embassy in Minsk. Both countries are full members of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).  Belgium Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Belarus

See BelgianTurkish relations  Belgium has an embassy in Ankara, a consulategeneral in Istanbul and two consulates in Antalya and zmir.[3][4]   14 October Turkey has an embassy in Brussels and a consulategeneral in Antwerp.[5][6][7] See also Turks in Belgium

See DenmarkTurkey relations  The relations date back 250 years and actually started in the field of trade in 18thcentury. On 14 October 1756, an Agreement of Friendship and Trade was signed by the Sultan Osman III and the King Frederick V. In 1758, Denmark has appointed an extraordinary representative to the Ottoman Empire.      Today, Denmark has an embassy in Ankara and an honorary consulate in Istanbul.[9] Turkey has an embassy in Copenhagen.[10] See also Turks in Denmark Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Turkey Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Denmark

Denmark

1756

[8]

Finland

1920-05-20

See FinnishTurkish relations   Turkey recognized the independence of Finland on 21 February 1918. Finland has an embassy in Ankara and an honorary consulate general in Istanbul and other honorary consulates in Belek, Bodrum and Izmir.    Turkey has an embassy in Helsinki.[12] See also Turks in Finland Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs about political, economical and commercial relations with Finland  Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland about relations with Turkey
[11]

France

See FrenchTurkish relations Turkey has an embassy in Paris and consulates general in Lyon, Marseille andStrasbourg. France has an embassy in Ankara.

Germany

See GermanTurkish relations Based on good Turkish-German relations from the 19th century onwards, Germany promoted a Turkish immigration to Germany. However, large scale didn't occur until the 20th century. Germany suffered an acute labor shortage after World War II and, in 1961, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) officially invited Turkish workers to Germany to fill in this void, particularly to work in the factories that helped fuel Germany's economic miracle. The German authorities named these people Gastarbeiter (German forguest workers). Most Turks in Germany trace their ancestry to Central and EasternAnatolia. Today, Turks are Germany's largest ethnic minority and form most of Germany's Muslim minority.

Holy See

1868

See Holy See Turkey relations   The Holy See has a nunciature in Ankara. Turkey has an embassy in Rome.

Hungary

See HungarianTurkish relations    Hungary has an embassy in Ankara and a consulategeneral in Istanbul.[13] Turkey has an embassy in Budapest.[14] Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Hungary

Ireland

See Ireland Turkey relations     Ireland has an embassy in Ankara.[15] Turkey has an embassy in Dublin.[16] See also Turks in Ireland Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Ireland

Italy

1856

See ItalianTurkish relations  Italy has an embassy in Ankara, a general consulate in Istanbul, a consulate zmirand 3 honorary consulates in * Turkey has an embassy in Rome and a general consulate in Milan.[17]   Italian embassy in Ankara Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Italy

Malta

See MalteseTurkish relations  Malta is represented in Turkey through accrediting a Maltese Ambassador resident inValletta to Turkey and through its consulate general in Istanbul.   Turkey is represented in Malta through its embassy in Valletta. Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Malta

Poland

See PolishTurkish relations    Poland has an embassy in Ankara, and a general consulate in Istanbul.[18] Turkey has an embassy in Warsaw. Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Poland

Portugal

See PortugueseTurkish relations Turkey's 161 years of political relations with Portugal date back to the Ottoman period when

Viscount de Seixal was appointed as an envoy to Istanbul. Diplomatic relations ceased during World War I and were re-established in the Republican period in 1926. A resident embassy was established in 1957. Portugal has an embassy in Ankara. embassy in Lisbon. Both countries are full members of NATO.  Spain Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Portugal
[19]

Turkey has an

See SpanishTurkish relations Spain has an embassy in Ankara. Turkey has an embassy in Madrid.[20]  Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Spain

Sweden

See SwedishTurkish relations  Sweden, which will take over the rotating presidency of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in July, 2009, supports Turkey's European Unionmembership.  Sweden's Green Party has criticized France and Germany's opposition to Turkey's membership.[23][24]      In 12 June 2008, the Parliament of Sweden refused to call 1915 events asgenocide.[25] See also Turks in Sweden Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Sweden Turkish embassies in Sweden Swedish embassy in Ankara
[21][22]

United Kingdom

See Turkey United Kingdom relations Both countries currently maintain relations via the British Embassy in Ankara[26] and the Turkish Embassy in London.[27] Turkey and the United Kingdom maintain strong bilateral relations.[28] The President of Turkey Cevdet Sunay paid a state visit to the United Kingdom in November 1967.[29] ThePresident of Turkey Kenan Evren paid a state visit to the United Kingdom in July 1988.[29]HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom paid state visits to Turkey in October 1971, and in May 2008.[30] Britain and Turkey are both members of the G20, and Britain supports the accession of Turkey to the European Union.

Cyprus The Republic of Cyprus was established by the 195960 Agreements between Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom as a partnership state between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. In 1963 violence erupted on the island following attempts to amend constitutional safeguards for Turkish Cypriots, leading to a separation of the two communities. A UN Peacekeeping Force (UNFICYP) was dispatched to the island in March 1964. On 15 July 1974, the military Junta then ruling Greece staged a coup d'tat in Cyprus which was aimed at materializing Enosis-Union with Greece- through an armed takeover of the island. This led to Turkeys military intervention under the Treaty of Guarantee. Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktas and Greek Cypriot leader Glafcos Clerides reached an agreement in Vienna on 2 August 1975 for the "exchange of populations" under the auspices of the UN and this agreement was implemented by the mediation of the UN peace-keeping force. The two sides reached the first high level agreement following a meeting

between Denktas and Makarios on 12 February 1977. This four article agreement envisaged the establishment of a bicommunal federal republic on the island. However, in the north of the island Turkish Cypriots established on 15 November 1983 the defacto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Turkey. Turkey refers to the government of the Republic of Cyprus as the "Greek Cypriot Administration" and its presidents as "Greek Cypriot leaders."[31] A comprehensive peace plan negotiated with the full support of the international community was submitted to simultaneous but separate referenda in the North and South of Cyprus on 24 April 2004. While the Turkish Cypriots voted in favor of the Annan Plan by casting 67% of their votes, the Greek Cypriots rejected the solution with a No vote of 76%. Republic of Cyprus represented by Greek Cypriots acceded to the EU on 1 May 2004. This in turn has led to tension with Turkey's own EU membership aspirations, with the Republic of Cyprus blocking eight chapters due to Turkey's refusal to open its ports to Greek Cypriot shipping.
[32]

Turkey's position is that its ports will only be opened when the EU upholds its

promise to end the economic isolation of the Turkish Cypriots. The conflict has had wider ramifications in the EU-NATO relationship, with Turkey a NATO member blocking Cyprus from participating in EU-NATO meetings, and reducing the scope of talks only those to operations on which the EU and NATO are acting together.
[33]

Turkey announced its support for the 2004 Annan Plan for Cyprus. The plan was accepted by the Turkish Cypriots (but not by 2/3, although a simple majority was needed), but overwhelmingly (3/4) rejected by the Greek Cypriots. Turkey continues to recognize the TRNC at the expense of the Cypriot government in the south, and thus far, the Turkish Embassy in (north) Nicosia is the only official diplomatic mission in the TRNC. The issue of recognition became a thorn in Turkey's candidacy for European Union membership, particularly after the internationally-recognized south was admitted to the Union in 2004. Acting in conformity with its statement during the EU's Brussels summit of 17 December 2004, Turkey signed the additional protocol to the Ankara Agreement on 29 July 2005, before commencing accession talks with the EU. The protocol, which extends the 1963 Ankara Agreement to all members of the European Union (including Cyprus), was signed by exchange of letter between Turkey, the EU term presidency and the EU Commission. Simultaneously, Turkey issued a statement to the effect that the signature, adoption and implementation of the protocol would not in any way constitute recognition of the government of the Republic of Cyprus (which Turkey calls the Greek Cypriot Administration.)
[34]

In its 2007 annual handbook, the Turkish government states that "as a result of the policies pursued by the EU member, GCA [Cyprus], Turkish EU relations which would otherwise progress along their natural course suffer a number of problems" Greece Aegean disputes constitute one of the main reasons for the fluctuating course of Turkish-Greek relations. There is a series of interconnected problems between Turkey and Greece, all emanating from the Aegean Sea. The length of territorial waters, demarcation of the continental shelf, determination of maritime search and rescue zones, air space disputes, militarization of the Eastern Aegean Islands in breach of international agreements, the status of certain Aegean islets which, Turkey claims, were not ceded to Greece by international agreements and the absence of an agreement defining maritime borders with Greece in the Aegean are the major disputes between the two countries. These disputes remain unresolved mainly because of a lack of common understanding between the two sides regarding the "existence" and "methods of solution" of the problems. Rejecting the existence of other disputes, Greece notes that the only dispute in the Aegean is the continental shelf issue and claims that it can only be resolved by jurisprudence.
[

Turkey's stated view is that the Aegean Sea is a common sea and that no sovereignty rights should be claimed over the open seas and international airspaces in the Aegean Sea. However, the Greek insistence of viewing the whole of the Aegean as a Greek Sea and its incessant disregard of Turkish rights and interests complicate the solution of these disputes. Since August 1999, Turkey and Greece have conducted a series of "Confidence Building Measures" to improve relations concerning these matters. Balkans Turkey has close historical, cultural, economic and political ties with the Balkan states, which are important for Turkey as they are the country's gateway to continental Europe. Turkey attaches importance to the creation of an atmosphere of mutual understanding and peaceful co-habitation through closer ties with the Balkan countries, which would lead to the preservation of peace and stability in the region. Turkey has participated in NATO operations and peacekeeping missions, contributing to the KFOR and the UN police mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), as well as the EU-led police mission Proxima in the Republic of Macedonia. Turkey is also contributing to the EUFOR-ALTHEA. For the reconstruction efforts Turkey is part of launching the Southeastern European Cooperation Process (SEECP), and the Multinational Peace Force Southeast Europe (MPFSEE)/Southeastern Europe Brigade (SEEBRIG). Turkey also plays a role in regional economic initiatives as well as the Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe initiated by the EU and the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI). Formal Country Relations Began Albania See AlbanianTurkish relations    Albania has an embassy in Ankara and a general consulate in Istanbul.[35] Turkey has an embassy in Tirana.[36] Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs describes relations between Turkey and Albania as "excellent".[37] Bulgaria See BulgarianTurkish relations  Bulgaria has an embassy in Ankara, 2 general consulates in Istanbul and Edirne and a chancellery in Bursa.[38]    Bosnia Turkey has an embassy in Sofia and 2 general consulates in Plovdiv and Burgas.[39] See also Turks in Bulgaria, Bulgarian embassies in Turkey Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Bulgaria Notes

See Bosnia HerzegovinaTurkish relations Between relation Bosnians and Turkey, start in 1990s formally.

Greece

See Greco-Turkish relations, Aegean dispute Turkey and Greece have clashed for decades over the status of Aegean islands and over the extent of territorial waters and airspace. The tensions came to the brink of war on a number of occasions, most recently in 1996, when Greek and Turkish warships faced each other close to the disputed Imia-Kardak rocks. Only U.S. and NATO intervention subsided the conflict. In February 1999, relations between Greek officials and Abdullah calan(holding a

Greek Cypriot passport) and the role of the Greek Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, where calan was captured by agents of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization(M T) caused crisis in relations between the two countries for a period of time; but relations have since improved, particularly following the earthquakes that struck both countries in 1999. However, the Imia/Kardak issue sprang up again on a smaller scale in 2004. Kosovo See KosovanTurkish relations On 17 February 2008, Turkey became one of the first countries to announce officially aboutrecognition of sovereign Kosovo. Turkey turned its coordination office in Pristina into an embassy after a cabinet decision to open a mission in Kosovo. The decision comes in accordance with the reciprocity principle common in diplomatic relations, when Kosovo announced that it was planning to open one of its first foreign missions in Ankara.[40] The population of Kosovars
[clarification needed]

living in Turkey is said to be much more than those

living in Kosovo.[41][unreliable source?] Kosovo is the home country of Mehmet Akif Ersoy, writer of the Turkish National Anthem, and many others. There are 20,000 Turksliving in Kosovo.[42] Also Turkish is one of the official regional languages of Kosovo. Macedonia See MacedonianTurkish relations Due to historical and cultural mutualities and human bonds, Macedonia and Turkey have very close and friendly relations. Macedonia has an embassy in Ankara and a consulategeneral in Istanbul, while Turkey has an embassy in Skopje and a consulate-general inBitola. Moldova See MoldovanTurkish relations     Romania Moldova has an embassy in Ankara.[43] Turkey has an embassy in Chi in u. There are around 11,000 Turks who live in Moldova. Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Moldova

See RomanianTurkish relations     Romania has an embassy in Ankara and two consulates-general in Istanbul and zmir.[44] Turkey has an embassy in Bucharest and a consulate-general in Constan a. See also Turks of Romania Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Romania

Serbia

See SerbianTurkish relations Turkish Defense Minister Vecdi Gnl and Serbian Defense Minister Dragan utanovac met in Ankara on 12 May 2009 to sign a defence cooperation agreement. Gnl stated that, Although we do not have a common border, we see Serbia as a neighbour, and, Turkey desires to maintain and improve its relations with Serbia the most, among all the other Balkan states. utanovac confirmed that, There are a lot of things to do in this field, Turkey or Serbia.
[45]

and, We

are thinking of taking some initiatives in the defense industry together, like co-production in

Russia Following immediately after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, relations between the two nations dramatically and strongly improved; although disagreements regarding the border dispute over the Caucasus and support of each other's lifelong historical adversaries both linger. Russia is somewhat skeptical of Turkey's admission in to the European Union and hasrecognized the Armenian Genocide which has the potential of damaging its relations with Turkey, but both countries are key strategic partners in the Transcaucasian region. Turkish Prime Minister Erdo an flew to Sochi, Russia, for a 16 May 2009 working visit withRussian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at which he stated, Turkey and Russia have responsibilities in the region. We have to take steps for the peace and well being of the region. This includes the Nagorno-Karabakh problem, the Middle East dispute, the Cyprus problem. Putin responded that, Russia and Turkey seek for such problems to be resolved and will facilitate this in every way, but, As for difficult problems from the past and the Karabakh problem is among such issues a compromise should be found by the participants in the conflict. Other states which help reach a compromise in this aspect can play a role of mediators and guarantors to implement the signed agreements. Whilst on the subject of energy security Erdo an stated that, The agreement on gas supplies through the so-called Western route signed in 1986 is expiring in 2012. We have agreed today to immediately start work to prolong this agreement. reciprocal visit to Turkey in June Ukraine Turkey and Ukraine have a long chronology of historical, geographic, and cultural contact. Diplomatic relations between both countries were established in early 1990s when Turkey became one of the first states in the world to announce officially about recognition of sovereign Ukraine.[50] Turkey has an embassy in Kiev and a consulate general in Odessa.[51] Ukraine has an embassy in Ankara and a consulate general in Istanbul.[52] Turkey is a full member of NATO and Ukraine is a candidate. Also both countries are BLACKSEAFOR and BSECmembers. United States Friendship between Turkey and the United States dates to the late 19th century, when Turkey was part of the Ottoman Empire, and was officially sealed by a treaty in 1830. The close relationship between the modern Republic of Turkey and the United States began with the Second Cairo Conference on 46 December 1943, and the agreement of 12 July 1947 which implemented theTruman Doctrine. As part of the cooperative effort to further improve Turkish economic and military self-reliance, the United States has loaned and granted Turkey more than $12.5 billion in economic aid and more than $14 billion in military assistance. Turkey participated with the United States during the Korean War of the early 1950s, providing active military support to the U.S. forces. During the Gulf War of 1990, the Turkish Armed Forcescontributed to the coalition forces, and Turkey supported the initiatives of the U.S. in the region. Turkey has hosted the Incirlik Air Base, a major operations base of the United States Air Force, since 1954. Following its membership in 1952, Turkey became the bulwark of NATO's southeastern flank, directly bordering Warsaw Pact countries and risking nuclear war on its soil during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the post Cold War environment, though still committed to its close relations with Washington, Turkey became a more independent actor. Although Turkey supported the United States in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, there was strong domestic opposition to the Iraq War. A government motion to allow U.S. troops to attack Iraq from Turkey's border failed to reach the necessary majority. This led to a cooling in relations between the U.S. and Turkey and fears of a permanent rift due to the situation in Iraq.[53] Turkey is particularly cautious about an independent Kurdish state arising from a destabilised Iraq; it has previously fought an insurgent war on its own soil, in which an estimated
[47][48]

Putin made a

37,000 people lost their lives, against the PKK (listed as a terrorist organization by a number of states and organisations, including the U.S. and the EU).
[54][55]

This led the Turkish government to put pressure on the U.S. to clamp down on
[56]

insurgent training camps in northern Iraq, without much success.

On 17 October 2007, the Turkish Parliament voted in

[57]

favour of allowing the Turkish Armed Forces to take military action against the PKK terrorists based in northern Iraq. response, U.S. President George W. Bush stated that he did not believe it's in Turkey's interests to send troops into Iraq.[58]

In

The U.S. and Turkey have had a Joint Economic Commission and a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement for several years. In 2002, the two countries indicated their joint intent to upgrade bilateral economic relations by launching an Economic Partnership Commission. In 2005, Turkish exports to the U.S. totaled $4.9 billion, and U.S. exports to Turkey totaled $5.3 billion. According to leaked diplomatic cables, Erdo an was described by US diplomats as having "little understanding of politics beyond Ankara" and as surrounding himself with an "iron ring of sycophantic (but contemptuous) advisors". He is said to be "isolated", and that his MPs and Ministers feel "fearful of Erdogan's wrath".[59] Diplomats state that "he relies on his charisma, instincts, and the filterings of advisors who pull conspiracy theories off the web or are lost in neo-Ottoman Islamist fantasies".
[60]

Erdogan responded strongly to the claims, threatening a lawsuit. He rejects the allegations of having

"eight secret accounts in Swiss banks," stating that the people responsible for the leaks will "be crushed under these claims, will be finished and will disappear." South Caucasus The former Soviet republics in the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) are important for Turkey politically, economically, socially and culturally. The government develops policies in this region taking into account its strategic importance, due to its energy resources and pipeline corridors, and collaborates with its South Caucus neighbours in the BSEC, the OSCE and the Council of Europe. Armenia Armenia-Turkey relations have long been strained by a number of historical-political issues including Turkish dispute of the Armenian Genocide during World War I. Recriminations over the terrorist actions of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) in the 1970s and 80s. Turkey's active and openly bias towards Azerbaijan before, during and after the Nagorno Karabagh War, and potential border disputes between the two states, and there are currently no formal diplomatic relations between the two modern states. Turkey recognised the state of Armenia soon after its 1991 independence, but failed to establish formal diplomatic relations. Issues came to a head in 1993 when Turkey sided with its Turkic ally Azerbaijan over the Nagarno-Karabakh War by closing its borders with Armenia and were exacerbated by subsequent pipeline and infrastructure projects that bypassed Armenia, and Armenias controversial decision to re-commission the dangerously outdated Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant just 16 km from Turkeys border. In the wake of the 2007 murder of Armenian intellectual Hrant Dink by a Turkish terrorist, and the ensuing scandal in which his killer was pictured while holding up a Turkish flag, flanked by smiling government employees,
[62]

tens of

thousands of Turkish citizens marched throughout the country in protest. The subsequent diplomatic thaw saw Turkish
[63] President Abdullah Gl become the first ever Turkish leader to visit Armenia and the announcement of a provisional

roadmap for normalising diplomatic ties. relations on 10 October 2009.

[65]

[64]

It was announced that Turkey and Armenia agreed to establish diplomatic

However those diplomatic efforts to normalise the relations have faltered. Armenia

suspended the ratification process due to preconditions set forth by Turkey.

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan-Turkey relations have always been strong with the two often being described as "one nation with two states" due to a common culture and history, and the mutual intelligibility of Turkish and Azerbaijani. Turkey has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity and realize its economic potential arising from the rich natural resources of theCaspian Sea. Today, the relationship with Azerbaijan represents the "most important bilateral partnership" in current Turkish foreign policy while Azerbaijan foreign policy affirms its relationship with Turkey as one of its most enduring bilateral relationships, as evidenced in aligned political affairs, mutual cooperation in the areas of trade, commerce, finance, technology, diaspora, academics, as well as the arts and sciences; the sharing of government and military intelligence, and joint combat operations and peacekeeping missions carried out between Azerbaijani Armed Forces and Turkish Armed Forces.
[67][68]

All this however has recently come under threat due to tensions arising from the possible normalization of diplomatic ties between Turkey and Armenia which Azerbaijan fears will mean the loss of key leverage in the resolution of the NagornoKarabakh War. Georgia Turkey has a close partnership relations with Georgia. Turkish citizens can use the Batumi Airport in Georgia, which is run by Turkey's Tepe-Akfen-Vie consortium (TAV), without a visa or passport. Turkey views the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts as a potential danger to peace and stability in the entire region. The resolution of these problems is essential for the preservation of peace and stability in the area. Turkey has shown a readiness to be a negotiator for the Abkhazian conflict. Middle East and North Africa Mustafa Kemal Atatrk created a radical shift in Turkish domestic and foreign policy by instituting a strong tradition of secular democracy, which had its roots in the West. Atatrk was an admirer of Enlightenment in many ways and made numerous reforms to modernize Turkey, based on the principles of positivist and rationalist Enlightenment, which he believed would foster educational and scientific progress. In this period, Turkey shifted increasingly towards the West, while culturally and ideologically distancing itself from the conservative mindset, practices and traditions of the Middle East, which were regarded by the Turkish revolutionaries as the source of the backwardness that had caused the Ottoman Empire to collapse. Although Mustafa Kemal Atatrk established a secular, modern country he never formed alliances with Western countries, rather he strengthen relationship with Middle Eastern and Asian countries by forming Treaty of Saadabad, The Baghdad Pact, also forming regional alliance, Balkan Pact. In The New Turkey (Granta Books, 2005) BBC correspondent Chris Morris claims that Turkeys secular democracy, its application for EU membership and its close relationship with the United States have long been regarded in Tehran, Baghdad and Damascus with intense suspicion. Islamists look at the secular state which buried the caliphate and think betrayal; and Arab nationalists still havent forgotten that Turks are their former colonial rulers. But theres been a thaw, especially since the AKP came to power, and the new Turkish model trying to mix greater democracy and Islam together is now the subject of curiosity and not a little envy. Egypt Egypt and Turkey are bound by strong religious and historical ties. For five centuries, Egypt was part of the Ottoman Empire, with the seat of the Caliphate in Istanbul and the seat of culture in Cairo. Turkey established diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1925 at the level of Charge d Affaires and upgraded its mission in Cairo to Ambassadorial level in 1948. Both countries have embassies and consulate generals in each other's capitals. Both countries have signed a free trade

agreement in December 2005. Both countries are full members of the Union for the Mediterranean. A natural gas deal between Egypt and Turkeythe largest joint Egyptian-Turkish project to date, estimated to cost $4 billionis being implemented. On 16 April of 2008, Egypt and Turkey signed a memorandum of understanding to improve and further military relations and cooperation between the two countries. Turkey and Egypt are among the leading countries of both the Middle East and Mediterranean regions, and are often said to be key in middle-east peace. Iran Turkish-Iranian relations have essentially been peaceful since 1923. There are an estimated 12 to 21 million Turkic speakers in Iran (the Iranian Azeris and Turkmens) who mostly live in the northern regions of the country. However, a period of coldness in bilateral relations existed following the 1979 Iranian Revolution due to the conflicting ideologies of secular Turkey and theocratic Iran. and militant groups in Turkey.
[72] [56]

Ankara has long suspected Iran's support for Islamist organizations

Nevertheless, the economic and political relations between the two countries have

significantly improved in the recent years. Today, Iran and Turkey cooperate in a wide variety of fields that range from fighting terrorism and drug trafficking, and promoting stability in Iraq and Central Asia. Both countries have strongly advocated Iraqi territorial integrity since the beginning of the 2003 Iraqi invasion.
[73]

Iran and Turkey also have very close

economic relations. Both countries are part of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and both were once members of the CENTO alliance. Turkey receives a significant number of Iranian tourists every year,[74][75] while Iran is a major natural gas supplier of Turkey. Turkish construction companies have undertaken important projects in Iran, such as the new Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran. Iraq Facing strong domestic opposition in Turkey, a government motion to allow U.S. troops to attack Iraq from Turkey's border failed to reach the necessary majority in 2003. A primary concern for Turkey was an independent Kurdish state 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 PKK (listed as a terrorist organization by a number of states and organisations, including the U.S. and the EU).[54] 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.
[57]

On 22 February 2008, the Turkish Armed

Forces launched a ground operation in northern Iraq against the PKK terrorists in a move described as the first significant Turkish ground offensive into Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.[77] The ground offensive was preceded by air strikes of the Turkish Air Force against the PKK camps in northern Iraq, which began on 16 December 2007.
[78]

Turkey's armed forces stepped up their offensive against Kurdish terrorists in northern Iraq on 27 February 2008
[79]

amid rising diplomatic tensions between Baghdad and Ankara. February 2008.
[80]

The Turkish military pulled out of northern Iraq on 29

Turkish troops fired artillery shells into northern Iraq on 5 March 2008.

Israel and Palestinian territories Turkey was the first country with a Muslim majority to formally recognize the State of Israel, on 28 March 1949; before Israel was admitted to the United Nations on 11 May 1949. The Palestinian Question in Turkish Foreign Policy from the 1950s to the 1990s, International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Volume 25, No.: 1, February 1993 and also, http://www.smi.uib.no/pao/hawas.html</ref> The founders of the State of Israel and prominent Israeli politicians such as David Ben-Gurion, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and Moshe Shertok had all studied in the leading Turkish schools of Istanbul in their youth, namely Galatasaray Lisesi and Istanbul University. The history of the Jewish-Turkish relations dates back to the medieval Khazar Empire. The nobility class of the Khazar Turks converted to Judaism at some point between the last decades of the 8th and the early decades of the 9th centuries AD.[82] Later, in the 14th16th centuries, the Ottoman Sultan Beyazid II invited the Sephardic Jews fleeing

the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisitions to settle in the Ottoman Empire. The later record of warm relations dates to the 19th century, when the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, himself of Jewish origin, supported the Ottoman Empire in numerous disputes, particularly in the Berlin Congress of 1878. During the 1930s and 1940s, theRepublic of Turkey again served as a safe haven for the European Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazi-perpetrated Holocaust.
[83]

Turkish diplomat, Selahattin Ulkumen, is honoured as one of the Righteous Among The Nations for his work in rescuing Jews from Nazi officials on the island of Rhodes, by issuing them Turkish visas and later arranging for their transport to Turkish territory. Another diplomat, Necdet Kent, also rescued Jews from Nazi authorities, for which he was awarded a special medal by the government of the State of Israel. Israel has been a major supplier of arms to Turkey. Military, strategic, and diplomatic cooperation between Turkey and Israel is accorded very high priority by the governments of both countries, which share concerns with respect to the regional instabilities in the Middle East.[84][85][86]In the book Israel's Secret Wars,[page needed] Benny Morris provides an account of how Mossad operatives based in Turkey infiltrated into Iraq and orchestrated a number of Iraqi Kurdish uprisings to weaken the Iraqi government. It has been reported that the Israeli Mossad played a major role in the capture of the PKK leader Abdullah calan in 1999.[87] The Israeli and Turkish navies have conducted joint exercises. Turkey also provides its large air space (something Israel lacks) to the jets of the Israeli Air Force for training purposes, particularly the area around the Konya Air Base in central Anatolia. There is a plan to build a massive pipeline from Turkey to supply water, electricity, gas and oil to Israel.
[88]

In 2000, Israel and Turkey signed a Free Trade Agreement.[89]

In the beginning of 2006, the Israeli Foreign Ministry characterized its relations with Turkey as "perfect". However, in February 2006, a visit paid by Khaled Meshal, leader of the newly elected Hamas, changed this status. Israeli diplomats went so far as to compare this visit to a possible official visit of Abdullah calan (the imprisoned PKK leader) to Israel, but Turkish authorities immediately denounced this comparison as "irresponsible and erroneous". After Khaled Meshal paid an official visit to Russia, Turkish-Israeli relations entered a "cooling down" process. Some have suggested that this was only a public relations stunt to show the Islamic world that Turkey was on their side because Turkey had been silent in major issues important to Arabs and the Islamic community such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the Lebanon crisis. New tensions arose in Turkish-Israeli relations during the Israel's attack on Gaza in 20082009. Turkey's Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdogan became among the most outspoken critics of Israel's conduct in the war, referring to its military operations as a "crime against humanity".
[91]

Although at political and military levels the two nations enjoy a close

relationship, mass opinion in Turkey is generally sympathetic towards the Palestinians. Relations suffered a further blow when during the World Economic Forum in Davos at 29 January 2009, Prime Minister Erdogan walked out of the forum in protest, frustrated that he had not been given enough time to reply to Israeli President Shimon Peres. Erdogan harshly criticised the President, stating Israel knew "very well how to kill". Turkey has strong cultural and linguistic ties with the predominantly Turkic nations of Central Asia since Turks originated in Central Asia themselves. Economic and political relations are developing rapidly, and are likely to grow even more quickly with Turkey's recent elimination of visa requirements for citizens of the Central Asian Turkic republics. The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) has formed an alliance of trade between Turkey and the Central Asian states. Turkey is even working on developing solid relations with the other nations of the region, namely Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Afghanistan AfghanistanTurkey relations have always been warm due to strong ethnic and historical links between the two modern states. Afghanistan was the second country to recognize the Republic of Turkey, after the Soviet Union, establishing diplomatic contacts whilst the Turkish War of Independence was still being waged. Turkey has participated in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since its inception in 2001 and is responsible for maintaining security

around Kabul, providing training for the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police and has undertaken a number of reconstruction projects in the fields of education, health and agriculture in the province of Vardak. Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited Ankara on 4 April 2002 and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo an made a reciprocal visit to Kabul a short time later. Kazakhstan Turkey recognized Kazakhstan on 16 December 1991, on the same day Kazakhstan declared its independence. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on 2 March 1992. These relations have developed positively on the international stage as well as in commerce and strategic affairs.[106] Kazakhstan has an embassy in Ankara and a consulate general in Istanbul. Turkey has an embassy in Almaty and a branch office in Astana. Kyrgyzstan Turkish President Abdullah Gl made a 2628 June official visit to Bishkek where he met with Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev andPrime Minister Igor Chudinov to discuss bilateral relations, with Gl stating, We have determined that we have a joint will with regard to our bilateral relations and multilateral relations. We share the conviction that we attach great importance to the stability of Afghanistan in particular and that we should provide all sorts of assistance regarding this issue.[107][108] Gl subsequently announced, in a speech at theInternational Atatrk-Alatoo University (IAAU), that, Kyrgyzstan is our ancestral homeland. We have felt at home in our ancestral homeland while we have been in Kyrgyzstan, and added, in a speech to the Jogorku Kenesh, that, You are being represented in Europe through us, and were being represented in the Commonwealth of Independent States through you. I believe that this is important.
[109]

He also laid the foundation stone for the new Turkish Embassy in Bishkek.

Turkey is one of Kyrgyzstan's major trade partners. It is estimated that some 30% of all imported goods sold at Bishkek's Dordoy Bazaarcome from Turkey.[110] It is estimated that some 400500 Kyrgyzstan traders engage in "shuttle trade", regularly traveling to Turkey to purchase goods for sale in their (or others') shops in Kyrgzstan's markets. With their knowledge of Kyrgyz and Uzbek languages, and many Istanbul merchant's familiarity with Russian, many Kyrgyzstan traders sometimes manage to do their purchasing in Turkey without having to learn the Turkish language.[110] There is academic exchange between the two countries as well. Turkey provides support for a number of universities in Kyrgyzstan, while many scholars from Kyrgyzstan are attracted to the opportunities to teach in Turkey. Republic is in Turkic Council. Tajikistan Turkey recognized the independence of Tajikistan on 16 December 1991 and established diplomatic relations on 29 January 1992. The Turkish Embassy in Dushanbe was opened in 4 August 1992 and the Tajik Embassy in Ankara was opened in 16 October 1995. Turkeys relations with Tajikistan are considered within the framework of relations with other Central Asian republics but developed more slowly due to Tajikistans internal war between 1992 and 1997. During this period the Turkish embassy in Dushanbe was the only diplomatic mission which remained open and the visit of Turkish Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel was the only high level visit to Tajikistan. Americas Argentina   Argentina has an embassy in Ankara.[111] Turkey has an embassy in Buenos Aires.
[112] [110]

Also, Kyrgyz

Turkey's staunch support for fellow NATO member United Kingdom during the Falklands War and recognition of the "Armenian Genocide" by the Argentine parliament due to strong Armenian ethnic lobbying has soured relations between the two countries.

Barbados Turkey has a non-resident ambassador in Caracas, Venezuela. The Barbadian Government does not have foreign accreditation for Turkey. Barbados and Turkey formally established joint diplomatic relations on 20 September 1972.
[113]

Barbadian and Turkish economic trade are not very significant, however as of April 2009 both countries have discussed the desire for expanding a bilateral framework for possible cooperation in tourism.[114][115] The diplomatic representative of Turkey, Nihat Akyol and his Barbadian counterpart the Minister of Foreign Affairs revealed that they could "provide support to each other" and that they should not view each other as "competitors". Brazil Brazil has an embassy in Ankara. Trade Organization (WTO). Canada Canada has an embassy in Ankara. Turkey has an embassy in Ottawa. The recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the Canadian parliament has soured relations between the two countries.[119] Chile Chile was the first country in Latin America which recognized Turkey with the Friendship Treaty, on 30 January 1926.
[120] [118] [117] [114][116]

Turkey has an embassy in Braslia. Both countries are full members of the World

In Santiago, there can be found the Turkish Republic

[121][122]

Square, Atatrk College

and Atatrk monument.[123] The Turkish embassy in Chile is the first embassy of Turkey
[123][124]

opened in Latin America. In addition Turkey includes a Chile Square in Ankara inaugurated on 18 September 1970 that contains the Bernardo O'Higgins Monument. Mexico Mexico has an embassy in Ankara.[125] Turkey has an embassy in Mexico City.[126] Both countries are full members of the OECD. Asia Formal Country Relations Began Bangladesh Relations have been excellent since Turkey recognised Bangladesh soon after independence. The trade volume between the two countries have grown as did Bangladeshi exports and has been in Bangladesh's favour throughout their economic relationship. Bangladesh was one of the only six countries to support the Turkish invasion of Cyprus during a UN vote on the matter. On the issue of Cyprus, Bangladesh at multilateral organisations such as the UN, use this as an opportunity to defend the rights of the Turkish minority. They also supported the creation of the Developing 8 Countries with six other nations with large Muslim populations. China See ChineseTurkish relations Turkey recognized the PRC on 5 August 1971. Turkey pursues One-China policy and recognizes the PRC as the sole legal representative of China. The PRC has an embassy Notes The Pablo Neruda square in Turkey was inaugurated in 2007.[123]

inAnkara, and a consulategeneral in Istanbul. Turkey has an embassy in Beijing and 2 consulatesgeneral in Hong Kong and Shanghai. India See IndianTurkish relations Despite its close supportive bond with its geopolitical rival, Pakistan, Turkey's relations with India have always been generally friendly and stable, though at certain times cold. The two nations have been in contact with each other since the early times of the Ottoman Empire; Turkey and India work closely with each other to fight cultural terrorism in the Middle East, Central, and South Asia. India was also one of many countries to recognize the newlyindependent Turkey and send political aid to combat the subsequent poverty and benefit the war effort. Indonesia See IndonesianTurkish relations Indonesia has an embassy in Ankara.
[127]

Turkey has an embassy in Jakarta.

[128]

This

relationship began in the 16th century when the Muslim sultan of Java requested help from the Ottoman Turkish Caliph to resist the Portuguese colonization attempts in the region, which was replied with a large contingent of ships and soldiers whose efforts to help their Muslim brothers mark to this day the close relationship between Indonesia and Turkey. Japan 1924 See JapaneseTurkish relations     Malaysia 1964 Japan has an embassy in Ankara and a consulate-general in Istanbul.[129] Turkey has an embassy in Tokyo.[130] There are 10,000 Turks living in Japan. Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the relations with Japan

See MalaysianTurkish relations    Turkey has an embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia has an embassy in Ankara. Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Malaysia

Mongolia

See MongolianTurkish relations   Mongolia has an embassy in Ankara.

[131] [132]

Turkey has an embassy in Ulan Bator.

Pakistan

See PakistaniTurkish relations One Nation Two States is the phrase that best describes the relations between Turkey and Pakistan.
[133]

Relations between Pakistan and Turkey are exemplary.

[134]

Both nations Both countries

maintain extensive cultural, commercial, strategic and military cooperation.

[135]

have a deep bond of brotherhood as Turks have always loved the Pakistanis and Pakistanis have always loved Turks.[136][137] Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called Pakistan his second home.
[138]

Pakistan and Turkey are close allies and support each other

on a number of issues including the Kashmir dispute and Cyprus, as well as the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. Pakistan, in turn, is one of the only countries in the world which fully and consistently supports Turkish positions on many issues, such asCyprus and Armenia. Both are members of the ECO, and citizen's attitudes towards one another are warm.

Despite Pakistan's friendly ties to Greece, and Turkey's ties to India, both countries regard each other's relations as more important and close to those with Greece and India. Pakistan has an embassy in Ankara, a Consulate-General in Istanbul and an honorary consulate in Izmir whereas, Turkey has an embassy in Islamabad, a Consulate-General inKarachi and honorary consulates in Lahore, Peshawar, Sialkot and Faisalabad. Vietnam See TurkishVietnamese relations    Africa There has been a revival in Turkeys relation with Africa after 1998. Initially this revival came as a passive attempt, but after 2005 it became an offensive interest in developing relations with the continent. The recent Turkey-Africa Cooperation Summit in 2008 marks the latest stage in Turkeys keen interest in developing relations with Africa, and should be seen as a turning point.[141] Ethiopia Ethiopia has an embassy in Ankara. Turkey has an embassy in Addis Ababa since 1925. Turkey was the sixth country to open an embassy in Ethiopia. Today the relations between the two countries are described as excellent, both politically and economically.
[142]

Turkey has an embassy in Hanoi.[139] Vietnam has an embassy in Ankara.

[140]

Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with Vietnam

In December 2008, Turkey sent a trade delegation to Ethiopia, which met with the Prime Minister,
[143]

the Minister of Trade and Industry Girma Biru, and the President of the Oromia Region Abadula Gemeda, as well as visited Turkish-owned textiles factories in Ethiopia. rehabilitate and extend its railway system.[144] South Africa  Diplomatic relations were established at consular level in 1991 and consulates-general were opened in Istanbul and Johannesburgrespectively.      Both consulates were closed following the upgrading of relations to ambassadorial level in October 1992. South Africa has an embassy in Ankara. Turkey has an embassy in Pretoria. See also Turks in South Africa Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs about relations with South Africa
[147]

A senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who attended the

discussion, expressed the hope that Turkey could share its experience and provide assistance to ongoing efforts to

Pacific Australia Diplomatic relations between the two countries established in 1967. Australia has an embassy inAnkara since 1968, a consulate-general in Istanbul and a consulate in anakkale. Turkey has an embassy in Canberra since 1967 and two consulates-general in Melbourne and Sydney. The first encounter of Turkey and Australia was on the battlefields of anakkale, the scene was that of a fierce one, but at the same time, a gentlemanly war. This has created a bond of mutual respect, admiration and friendship. New Zealand The relationship between Turkey and New Zealand is excellent, with great mutual respect based on the ANZAC traditions forged in the Battle of Gallipoli. Governor-General of New Zealand Sir Anand Satyanand visited Turkey for the annual

commemoration of Anzac Day on 25 April 2009 stating that his country was Turkeys traditional ally, and the Gallipoli battles commemorated, are the first example of friendship created on the battlefield. This understanding owes its existence mostly to the peace building words of Atatrk. He also wished Turkey luck with its EU accession bid and waited on the successful outcome for prospective trade opportunities. International organizations Turkey is a founding member of the UN (1945),[149] the OECD (1961),[150] the [Organisation of Islamic Cooperation|OIC]] (1969),
[151] [148]

theOSCE (1973),[152] and the G20 industrial nations (1999). Turkey is a member state of the Council of

Europe (1949) and NATO (1952) as well as being in full accession negotiations with the European Union since 2005, having been an associate member since 1963. Turkey is also an associate member of the Western European Union since 1992 and signed the E.U. Customs Union agreement in 1995. Turkey entered NATO in 1952 and serves as the organization's vital eastern anchor, controlling the Turkish Straits which lead from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and sharing a border with Syria, Iraq, and Iran. A NATO headquarters is located in zmir, and the United States has maintained air forces at the Incirlik Air Base in the province of Adana. Turkey is also a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995. It has signed free trade agreements with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), Israel, and many other countries. In 1992, Turkey and 10 other regional nations formed the BSEC to expand regional trade and economic cooperation. Military The Turkish Armed Forces consists of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The Gendarmerieand the Coast Guard 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.[62] The Turkish Armed Forces is the second largest standing armed force in NATO, after the U.S. Armed Forces, with a combined strength of just over a million uniformed personnel serving in its five branches. strongest military power of the Middle East region besides Israel. to fifteen months, dependent on education and job location. does not offer a civilian alternative to military service. Turkey is one of five NATO member states which are part of the nuclear sharing policy of the alliance, together with Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands.[66] A total of 90 B61 nuclear bombs are hosted at the Incirlik Air Base, 40 of which are allocated for use by the Turkish Air Force.
[67] [64] [15] [63]

Turkey is considered to be the

Every fit male Turkish citizen otherwise not barred is required to serve in the military for a period ranging from three weeks Turkey does not recognise conscientious objection and

In 1998, Turkey announced a program of modernization worth US$160 billion over a twenty year period in various projects including tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, submarines, warships andassault rifles. the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Turkey has maintained forces in international missions under the United Nations and NATO since 1950, including peacekeeping missions in Somalia and formerYugoslavia, and support to coalition forces in the First Gulf War. Turkey maintains 36,000 troops in northern Cyprus; their presence is supported and approved by the de facto local government, but the Republic of Cyprus and the international community regard it as an illegal occupation force, and its presence has also been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions. Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since 2001.
[63][71] [70] [68]

Turkey is a Level 3 contributor to

Turkey has had troops

deployed in Afghanistan as part of the U.S. stabilization force and the UN-authorized, NATO-commanded International In 2006, the Turkish parliament deployed a peacekeeping force of Navy patrol vessels and around 700 ground troops as part of an expanded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the wake of the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.[72]

The Chief of the General Staff is appointed by the president and is responsible to the prime minister. The Council of Ministers is responsible to 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. Administrative divisions The capital city of Turkey is Ankara. The territory of Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. The provinces are organized into 7 regions for census 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 custom are the provinces of Hatay(capital: Antakya), Kocaeli (capital: zmit) andSakarya (capital: Adapazar ). Provinces with the largest populations are Istanbul (13 million), Ankara (5 million), zmir (4 million), Bursa (3 million) and Adana (2 million).
[74] The biggest city and the pre-Republican capital Istanbul is the financial, economic and cultural heart of the country. An [62]

The actual commander of the

armed forces is the Chief of the General Staff General I k Ko aner since August 30, 2010.

estimated 75.5% of Turkey's population live in urban centers. populations less than 100,000.

[75]

In all, 19 provinces have populations that exceed 1 million

inhabitants, and 20 provinces have populations between 1 million and 500,000 inhabitants. Only two provinces have

GEOGRAPHY
Turkey is situated in Anatolia and the Balkans, bordering the Black Sea, betweenBulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria. The geographic coordinates of the country lie at: 3900 N3500 E
[1] The area of Turkey is 783,562 km2 (302,535 sq mi); land: 770,760 km2 (297,592 sq mi), water: 9,820 km2 (3,792 sq mi).

Turkey extends more than 1,600 km (994 mi) from west to east but generally less than 800 km (497 mi) from north to south. Total land area is about 783,562 km2 (302,535 sq mi), of which 756,816 km2 (292,208 sq mi) are in Asia and 23,764 km (9,175 sq mi) in Europe (Thrace). Anatolia (Turkish: Anadolu) is a large, roughly rectangular peninsula situated bridge like between Europe and Asia. The Anatolian part of Turkey accounts for 97% of the country's area. It is also known as Asia Minor, Asiatic Turkey or the Anatolian Plateau. The term Anatolia is most frequently used in specific reference to the large, semiarid central plateau, which is rimmed by hills and mountains that in many places limit access to the fertile, densely settled coastal regions. The European portion of Turkey, known as Thrace (Turkish: Trakya), encompasses 3% of the total area but is home to more than 10% of the total population. Istanbul, the largest city of Europe and Turkey, has a population of 11,372,613. Thrace is separated from the Asian portion of Turkey by the Bosporus (Turkish: stanbul Bo az ), the Sea of Marmara(Turkish: Marmara Denizi), and the Dardanelles (Turkish: anakkale Bo az ). Continent Region Coordinat es Area Ranked 37th EuropeAsia Southern EuropeWestern Asia 3900 N 3500 E
2

783,562 km (302,535 sq mi) 98% land 2 % water Borders Total land borders: 2,648 km Armenia 268 km, Azerbaijan 9 km,Bulgaria 240 km, Georgia 252 km,Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq3 52 km, Syria 822 km Highest point Lowest point Longest river Largest lake Mount Agr (Ararat) 5,137 m Mediterranean Sea 0m K z l rmak 1,350 km Van 3,755 km (1,449.81 sq mi
2

External boundaries Land boundaries: 2,627 km (1,632 mi) border countries: Greece 206 km (128 mi), Bulgaria240 km (149 mi), Georgia 252 km (157 mi),Armenia 268 km (167 mi), Nakhchivan(Azerbaijan) 9 km (6 mi), Iran 499 km (310 mi),Iraq 331 km (206 mi), Syria 822 km (511 mi). Coastline: 7,200 km (4,474 mi) Maritime claims:exclusive economic zone: in Black Sea only: to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the former USSR territorial sea: 6 nmi (11.1 km; 6.9 mi) in the Aegean Sea; 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) in Black Sea and in Mediterranean Sea Surrounded by water on three sides and protected by high mountains along its eastern border, the country generally has well-defined natural borders. Its demarcated land frontiers were settled by treaty early in the twentieth century and have since remained stable. The boundary with Greece was confirmed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, which resolved persistent boundary and territorial claims involving areas in Thrace and provided for a population exchange (see: War of Independence). Under the agreement, most members of the sizable Greek-speaking community of western Turkey were forced to resettle in Greece, while the majority of the Turkish-speaking residents of Thrace who were not forced out during the Balkan wars were removed to Turkey. The boundary with Bulgaria was confirmed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Since 1991 the more than 500 km (311 mi) boundary with the former Soviet Union, which was defined in the 1921 Treaty of Moscow (1921)and Treaty of Kars, has formed Turkey's borders with the independent countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Despite Armenia's loss of territory as a result of the treaty, Armenia, as a legal successor to the Armenian SSR, declared its loyalty to the Treaty of Kars and all agreements inherited by the former Soviet Armenian government after its independence.
[2]

The boundary with Iran was confirmed by the Kasr-i Sirin treaty in 1638. The boundary with Iraq was confirmed by the Treaty of Angora (Ankara) in 1926. Turkey's two southern neighbors, Iraq and Syria, had been part of the Ottoman Empire up to 1918. According to the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey ceded all its claims to these two countries, which had been organized as League of Nations mandates under the

governing responsibility of Britain and France, respectively. Turkey and Britain agreed the boundary in the Treaty of Angora (Ankara). Turkey's boundary with Syria has not been accepted by Syria. As a result of the Treaty of Lausanne, the former Ottoman Sanjak (province) of Alexandretta (present-day Hatay Province) was ceded to Syria. However, in June 1939 the people of Hatay had formed a new independent State and immediately after, the parliament voted to unite with Turkey. Since achieving independence in 1946, Syria has harbored a lingering resentment over the loss of the province and its principal towns of Antakya and skenderun (formerly Antioch and Alexandretta). This issue has continued to be an irritant in SyrianTurkish relations. Geology Turkey's varied landscapes are the product of a wide variety of tectonic processes that have shaped Anatolia over millions of years and continue today as evidenced by frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. Except for a relatively small portion of its territory along the Syrian border that is a continuation of the Arabian Platform, Turkey geologically is part of the great Alpine belt that extends from theAtlantic Ocean to the Himalaya Mountains. This belt was formed during the Tertiary Period (about 65 million to 1.6 million B.C.), as the Arabian, African, and Indiancontinental plates began to collide with the Eurasian plate. This process is still at work today as the African Plate converges with the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate escapes towards the west and southwest along strike-slip faults. These are the North Anatolian Fault Zone, which forms the present day plate boundary of Eurasia near the Black Sea coast, and the East Anatolian Fault Zone, which forms part of the boundary of the North Arabian Plate in the southeast. As a result, Turkey lies on one of the world's seismically most active regions.[citation needed] However, many of the rocks exposed in Turkey were formed long before this process began. Turkey contains outcrops of Precambrian rocks, (more than 540 million years old; Bozkurt et al., 2000). The earliest geological history of Turkey is poorly understood, partly because of the problem of reconstructing how the region has been tectonically assembled by plate motions. Turkey can be thought of as a collage of different pieces (possibly terranes) of ancient continental and oceanic lithosphere stuck together by younger igneous, volcanic and sedimentary rocks.) During the Mesozoic era (about 250 to 65 million years ago) a large ocean (Tethys Ocean), floored by oceanic lithosphere existed in-between the supercontinents of Gondwana and Laurasia (which lay to the south and north respectively; Robertson & Dixon, 2006). This large oceanic plate was consumed at subduction zones (see subduction zone). At the subduction trenches the sedimentary rock layers that were deposited within the prehistoric Tethys Ocean buckled, were folded, faulted and tectonically mixed with huge blocks of crystalline basement rocks of the oceanic lithosphere. These blocks form a very complex mixture or mlange of rocks that include mainly serpentinite, basalt,dolerite and chert (e.g. Bergougnan, 1975). The Eurasian margin, now preserved in the Pontides (the Pontic Mountains along the Black Seacoast), is thought to have been geologically similar to the Western Pacific region today (e.g. Rice et al., 2006). Volcanic arcs (see volcanic arc) and backarc basins (see back-arc basin) formed and were emplaced onto Eurasia as ophiolites (see ophiolite) as they collided with microcontinents (literally relatively small plates of continental lithosphere; e.g. Ustaomer and Robertson, 1997). These microcontinents had been pulled away from the Gondwanan continent further south. Turkey is therefore made up from several different prehistorical microcontinents.
[citation needed]

During the Cenozoic (Tertiary about 65 to 1.6 million years) folding, faulting and uplifting, accompanied by volcanic activity and intrusion of igneous rocks was related to major continental collision between the larger Arabian and Eurasian plates (e.g. Robertson & Dixon, 1984).

Present-day earthquakes range from barely perceptible tremors to major movements measuring five or higher on the open-ended Richter scale. Turkey's most severe earthquake in the twentieth century occurred in Erzincan on the night of December 2829, 1939; it devastated most of the city and caused an estimated 160,000 deaths. Earthquakes of moderate intensity often continue with sporadic aftershocks over periods of several days or even weeks. The most earthquake-prone part of Turkey is an arc-shaped region stretching from the general vicinity of Kocaeli to the area north of Lake Van on the border with Armenia and Georgia. Turkey's terrain is structurally complex. A central massif composed of uplifted blocks and downfolded troughs, covered by recent deposits and giving the appearance of a plateau with rough terrain, is wedged between two folded mountain ranges that converge in the east. True lowland is confined to the Ergene Plain in Thrace, extending along rivers that discharge into the Aegean Sea or the Sea of Marmara, and to a few narrow coastal strips along the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea coasts.[citation needed] Nearly 85% of the land is at an elevation of at least 450 meters; the average and median altitude of the country is 1,332 and 1,128 meters, respectively. In Asiatic Turkey, flat or gently sloping land is rare and largely confined to the deltas of the K z l River, the coastal plains of Antalya and Adana, and the valley floors of the Gediz River and the Bykmenderes River, and some interior high plains in Anatolia, mainly around Tuz Gl (Salt Lake) andKonya Ovasi (Konya Basin). Moderately sloping terrain is limited almost entirely outside Thrace to the hills of the Arabian Platform along the border with Syria. More than 80% of the land surface is rough, broken, and mountainous, and therefore is of limited agricultural value (see Agriculture, ch. 3). The terrain's ruggedness is accentuated in the eastern part of the country, where the two mountain ranges converge into a lofty region with a median elevation of more than 1,500 meters, which reaches its highest point along the borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran. Turkey's highest peak, Mount Ararat (A r Da ) 5,137 meters high is situated near the point where the boundaries of the four countries meet. Regions According to worldofturkey.com The 1st Geography Congress, held in Ankara between 621 June 1941, divided Turkey into seven regions after long discussions and work. These geographical regions were separated according to their climate, location, flora and fauna, human habitat, agricultural diversities, transportation, topography and so on. At the end, 4 side regions and 3 inner regions were named according to their neighborhood to the four seas surrounding Turkey and positions in Anatolia. Distinct contrasts between the interior and periphery of Turkey are manifested in its landform regions, climate, soils, and vegetation. The periphery is divided into the Black Sea region, the Marmara region, the Aegean region, and the Mediterranean region. The interior is divided into three regions: Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia and Southeastern Anatolia. Black Sea Region The Black Sea region has a steep, rocky coast with rivers that cascade through the gorges of the coastal ranges. A few larger rivers, those cutting back through the Pontic Mountains (Do u Karadeniz Da lar ), have tributaries that flow in broad, elevated basins. Access inland from the coast is limited to a few narrow valleys because mountain ridges, with elevations of 1,525 to 1,800 meters in the west and 3,000 to 4,000 meters in the east in Kakar Mountains, form an almost unbroken wall separating the coast from the interior. The higher slopes facing northwest tend to be densely forested. Because of these natural conditions, the Black Sea coast historically has been isolated from Anatolia. Running from Zonguldak in the west to Rize in the east, the narrow coastal strip widens at several places into fertile, intensely cultivated deltas. The Samsun area, close to the midpoint, is a major tobacco-growing region; east of it are

numerous citrus groves. East of Samsun, the area around Trabzon is world-renowned for the production of hazelnuts, and farther east the Rize region has numerous tea plantations. All cultivable areas, including mountain slopes wherever they are not too steep, are sown or used as pasture. The mild, damp climate of the Black Sea coast makes commercial farming profitable. The western part of the Black Sea region, especially the Zonguldak area, is a center of coal mining and heavy industry. The North Anatolian Mountains in the north are an interrupted chain of folded highlands that generally parallel the Black Sea coast. In the west, the mountains tend to be low, with elevations rarely exceeding 1,500 meters, but they rise in an easterly direction to heights greater than 3,000 meters south of Rize. Lengthy, troughlike valleys and basins characterize the mountains. Rivers flow from the mountains toward the Black Sea. The southern slopesfacing the Anatolian Plateauare mostly unwooded, but the northern slopes contain dense growths of both deciduous and evergreen trees. Marmara Region The European portion of Turkey consists mainly of rolling plateau country well suited to agriculture. It receives about 520 millimeters of rainfall annually. Densely populated, this area includes the cities of Istanbul and Edirne. The Bosphorus, which links the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, is about twenty-five kilometers long and averages 1.5 kilometers in width but narrows in places to less than 1000 meters. There are two suspension bridges over the Bosphorus, both its Asian and European banks rise steeply from the water and form a succession of cliffs, coves, and nearly landlocked bays. Most of the shores are densely wooded and are marked by numerous small towns and villages. The Dardanelles Strait, which links the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea, is approximately forty kilometers long and increases in width toward the south. Unlike the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles has fewer settlements along its shores. The Saros Bay is located near the Gallipoli peninsula and is famous for its clean beaches. It is a favourite spot among scuba divers for the richness of its underwater fauna and is becoming increasingly popular due to its vicinity to Istanbul. The most important valleys are the Kocaeli Valley, the Bursa Ovasi (Bursa Basin), and the Plains of Troy (historically known as the Troad.) The valley lowlands around Bursa is densely populated. Aegean Region Located on the western side of Anatolia, the Aegean region has a fertile soil and a typically Mediterranean climate; with mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The broad, cultivated valley lowlands contain about half of the country's richest farmlands. The largest city in the Aegean Region of Turkey is zmir, which is also the country's third largest city and a major manufacturing center; as well as its second largest port after Istanbul. Olive and olive oil production is particularly important for the economy of the region. The seaside town of Ayval k and numerous towns in the provinces of Bal kesir, zmir and Ayd n are particularly famous for their olive oil and related products; such as soap and cosmetics. The region also has many important centers of tourism which are known both for their historic monuments and for the beauty of their beaches; such as Assos, Ayval k, Bergama, Foa, zmir,e me, Sardis, Ephesus, Ku adas , Didim, Miletus, Bodrum, Marmaris, Data a nd Fethiye. Mediterranean Region Toward the east, the extensive plains around Adana (Cicillian plains orTurkish: ukurova), Turkey's fifth most populous city, consist largely of reclaimed flood lands. In general, rivers have not cut valleys to the sea in the western part of the region. Historically, movement inland from the western Mediterranean coast was difficult. East of Adana, much of the coastal plain has limestone features such as collapsed caverns and sinkholes. Between Adana and Antalya, the Taurus

Mountains rise sharply from the coast to high elevations. Other than Adana, Antalya, and Mersin, the Mediterranean coast has few major cities, although it has numerous farming villages. Paralleling the Mediterranean coast, the Taurus Mountains (Turkish:Toros Da lar ) are Turkey's second chain of folded mountains. The range rises just inland from the coast and trends generally in an easterly direction until it reaches the Arabian Platform, where it arcs around the northern side of the platform. The Taurus Mountains are more rugged and less dissected by rivers than the Pontus Mountains and historically have served as a barrier to human movement inland from the Mediterranean coast except where there are mountain passes such as the historic Cilician Gates (Glek Pass), northwest of Adana. Central Anatolia Region Stretching inland from the Aegean coastal plain, the Central Anatolian occupies the area between the two zones of the folded mountains, extending east to the point where the two ranges converge. The plateau-like, semiarid highlands of Anatolia are considered the heartland of the country. The region varies in elevation from 600 to 1,200 meters from west to east. The two largest basins on the plateau are the Konya Ovasi and the basin occupied by the large salt lake, Tuz Gl. Both basins are characterized by inland drainage. Wooded areas are confined to the northwest and northeast of the plateau. Rain-fed cultivation is widespread, with wheat being the principal crop. Irrigated agriculture is restricted to the areas surrounding rivers and wherever sufficient underground water is available. Important irrigated crops include barley, corn, cotton, various fruits, grapes, opium poppies, sugar beets, roses, and tobacco. There also is extensive grazing throughout the plateau. Central Anatolia receives little annual rainfall. For instance, the semiarid center of the plateau receives an average yearly precipitation of only 300 millimeters. However, actual rainfall from year to year is irregular and occasionally may be less than 200 millimeters, leading to severe reductions in crop yields for both rain-fed and irrigated agriculture. In years of low rainfall, stock losses also can be high. Overgrazing has contributed to soil erosion on the plateau. During the summers, frequent dust storms blow a fine yellow powder across the plateau. Locusts occasionally ravage the eastern area in April and May. In general, the plateau experiences extreme heat, with almost no rainfall in summer and cold weather with heavy snow in winter. Frequently interspersed throughout the folded mountains, and also situated on the Anatolian Plateau, are well-defined basins, which the Turks call ova . Some are no more than a widening of a stream valley; others, such as the Konya Ovasi, are large basins of inland drainage or are the result of limestone erosion. Most of the basins take their names from cities or towns located at their rims. Where a lake has formed within the basin, the water body is usually saline as a result of the internal drainagethe water has no outlet to the sea. Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia Regions Eastern Anatolia, where the Pontus and Taurus mountain ranges converge, is rugged country with higher elevations, a more severe climate, and greater precipitation than are found on the Anatolian Plateau. The region is known as the AntiTaurus, and the average elevation of its peaks exceeds 3,000 meters. Mount Ararat, at 5,137 meters the highest point in Turkey, is located in the Anti-Taurus. Many of the Anti-Taurus peaks apparently are recently extinct volcanoes, to judge from extensive lava flows. Turkey's largest lake, Lake Van, is situated in the mountains at an elevation of 1,546 meters. The headwaters of three major rivers arise in the Anti-Taurus: the east-flowing Aras, which pours into the Caspian Sea; the south-flowing Euphrates; and the south-flowing Tigris, which eventually joins the Euphrates in Iraq before emptying into the Persian Gulf. Several small streams that empty into the Black Sea or landlocked Lake Van also originate in these mountains.

In addition to its rugged mountains, the area is known for severe winters with heavy snowfalls. The few valleys and plains in these mountains tend to be fertile and to support diverse agriculture. The main basin is the Mus Valley, west of Lake Van. Narrow valleys also lie at the foot of the lofty peaks along river corridors. Southeast Anatolia is south of the Anti-Taurus Mountains. It is a region of rolling hills and a broad plateau surface that extends into Syria. Elevations decrease gradually, from about 800 meters in the north to about 500 meters in the south. Traditionally, wheat and barley were the main crops of the region, but the inauguration of major new irrigation projects in the 1980s has led to greater agricultural diversity and development. Land use Land use: arable land: 32% permanent crops: 4% permanent pastures: 16% forests and woodland: 26% other: 22% (1993 est.) Irrigated land: 36,740 km (1993 est.) Elevation extremes: lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m highest point: Mount Ararat 5,137 m Natural hazards Very severe earthquakes, especially in northern Turkey, occur along an arc extending from the Sea of Marmara to Lake Van. On August 17, 1999, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring 44,000. Environment Current issues Water pollution from dumping of chemicals and detergents; air pollution, particularly in urban areas; deforestation; concern for oil spills from increasing Bosporus ship traffic. International agreements Air Pollution, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Environmental Modification

ECONOMY:
The economy of Turkey is largely developed. The country is among the world's leading producers of agricultural products; textiles; motor vehicles, ships and other transportation equipment; construction materials; consumer electronics and home appliances. In recent years, Turkey had a rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in industry, banking, transport, and communications.

Currency Fiscal year Trade organisation s

Turkish lira (TRY)[1] calendar year G-20 major economies, OECD, EU Customs Union, WTO, ECO, BSEC

Statistics GDP $1.116 trillion[2] (2010)

GDP growth 8.9% (2010) GDP per capita GDP by sector Inflation (CPI 3.99%[4] (March 2011) ) Gini index 41 (2008) $10,399[3] (Nominal) (2010) $13,464[3] (PPP) (2010) agriculture: 9.4%; industry: 25.9%;services: 64.7% (2009 est.)

Labour force 25.3 million (2009 est.) note: about 1.2 million Turks work abroad Labour force agriculture: 29.5%, industry: 24.7%, services: 45.8%[5] (2005) by occupation Unemploym 10.5%[6] (June 2010) ent Main industries textiles, food processing, autos,electronics, tourism mining (coal,chromate, copper, boron), steel,petroleum, constructi on, lumber, paper Ease of Doing Business Rank External Exports Export goods Main export partners Imports $185.49 billion (2010)[8] Germany 9.6%, France 6.1%, U.K.5.8%, Italy 5.8%, Iraq 5% (2009 est.) $113.93 billion (2010)
[8]

65th

[7]

apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, transport equipment

Import goods

machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels, transport equipment

Main import Russia 14%, Germany 10%, China9%, U.S. 6.1%, Italy 5.4%, France 5% (2009 est.) partners FDI stock Gross external debt Public finances Public debt Revenues Expenses 48.5% of GDP (2009 est.) $145.3 billion (2009) $180.6 billion (2009) Standard & Poor's:[9] $205 billion (31 December 2009 est.) $274 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

Credit rating 

BB+ (Domestic) BB (Foreign) BBB- (T&C Assessment) Outlook: Positive[10]  Ba2 Outlook: Positive  BB+ Outlook: Positive Foreign reserves US$92.170 billion (March 2011)[11 Fitch:[10] Moody's:[10]

Macro-economic trends Turkey has the world's 15th largest GDP-PPP

[2]

and 17th largest Nominal GDP.[12] The country is a founding member of

the OECD (1961) and one of the G-20 major economies(1999). Since December 31, 1995, Turkey is also a part of the EU Customs Union. Mean graduate pay was $10.02 per manhour in 2010. The CIA classifies Turkey as a developed country.[13] Turkey is often classified as anewly industrialized country by economists and political scientists;[14][15][16] while Merrill Lynch, the World Bank and The Economist magazine describe Turkey as an emerging market economy.[17][18][19] The World Bank classifies Turkey as an upper-middle income country in terms of the country's per capita GDP in 2007.
[19]

According to a survey by Forbes magazine,Istanbul, Turkey's financial capital, had a total of 28 billionaires as of

March 2010 (down from 35 in 2008), ranking 4th in the world behind Moscow (50 billionaires), New York City(60 billionaires) and London (32 billionaires).

Effect of the Global Financial Crisis Like many economies, the Turkish economy has been affected by the global financial crisis with its Finance Ministry reporting that Turkey's budget deficit swelled to 23.2 billion Turkish liras ($15 billion) in the first half of 2009, 13 times higher than a year earlier.[21] Nevertheless, The Economist points out that:
[18]

Yet in many ways Turkey has weathered the credit crunch better than other emerging economies. Partly thanks to tough regulation, not a single Turkish bank has gone under. That is also because, unlike many Western banks, they have few toxic assets and limited mortgage exposure. So the government has not had to divert public money into rescuing banks. In 2009, the Turkish Government introduced various economic stimulus measures to reduce the impact of the financial crisis such as temporary tax cuts on automobiles, home appliances and housing. As a result, the production of durable consumer goods increased by 7.2%, despite a decrease in automotive production.[22] The Turkish Stock Market and credit rating agencies have responded positively. Share prices in Turkey nearly doubled over the course of 2009. According to The Economist, in the period December 2008 - December 2009 the Turkish stockmarket rose the most in the world after Argentina's stockmarket.[23] On 8 January 2010, International credit rating agency Moody's upgraded Turkey's rating with a notch.[24] The credit rating agency Fitch upgraded Turkeys sovereign rating two notches to BB+. Turkey is one of the few countries that upgraded it's rating with two notches. Main economic sectors Agricultural sector As of March 2007, Turkey is the world's largest producer of hazelnut, cherry, fig, apricot, quinceand pomegranate; the second largest producer of watermelon, cucumber and chickpea; the third largest producer of tomato, eggplant, green pepper, lentil and pistacchio; the fourth largest producer of onion and olive; the fifth largest producer of sugar beet; the sixth largest producer oftobacco, tea and apple; the seventh largest producer of cotton and barley; the eighth largest producer of almond; the ninth largest producer of wheat, rye and grapefruit, and the tenth largest producer of lemon.[25] Turkey has been self-sufficient in food production since the 1980s. The agricultural output has been growing at a respectable rate. However, since the 1980s, agriculture has been in a state of decline in comparison to the total economy. The country's large agricultural sector accounted for 29.5% of the employment in 2009.[25]Historically, Turkey's farmers have been fairly fragmented. According to the 1990 Census, "85% of agricultural holdings were under 10 hectares and 57% of these were fragmented into four or more non-contiguous plots."[26] Many old agricultural attitudes remain widespread, but these traditions are expected to change with the EU accession process. Turkey is dismantling the incentive system. Fertiliser and pesticide subsidies have been curtailed and remaining price supports have been gradually converted to floor prices. The government has also initiated many planned projects, such as the Southeastern Anatolia Project (G.A.P project). The advent of the G.A.P promises a very prosperous future for the southeastern agriculture.[27] The program includes 22 dams, 19 hydraulic power plants, and the irrigation of 1.82 million hectares of land.[28] The total cost of the project is estimated at $32 billion.[28] The total installed capacity of power plants is 7476 MW and projected annual energy production reaches 27 billion kWh.[28]

The livestock industry, compared to the initial years of the Republic, showed little improvement in productivity, and the later years of the decade saw stagnation. However, livestock products, including meat, milk, wool, and eggs, contributed to more than of the value of agricultural output. Fishing is another important part of the economy; in 2005 Turkish fisheries harvested 545,673 tons of fish andaquaculture. Industrial sector Consumer electronics and home appliances Turkey's Vestel Electronics is the largest TV producer in Europe, accounting for 21% of all TV sets manufactured and sold on the continent in 2007.
[30]

By January 2005, Vestel and its rival Turkish electronics and white goods brand BEKO
[31]

accounted for more than half of all TV sets manufactured in Europe. was Europe's third largest TV producer in 2005.
[32]

Another Turkish electronics brand, Profilo-Telra,

EU market share of Turkish companies in consumer electronicshas

increased significantly following the Customs Union agreement signed between the EU and Turkey: in color TVs from 5% in 1995 to more than 50% in 2005, in digital devices from 3% to 15%, and in white goods from 3% to 18%. Textiles and clothing Turkish companies made clothing exports worth $13.98 billion in 2006; more than $10.67 billion of which (76.33%) were made to the EU member states.
[33]

And now after changing in the climate the China leads with share rises to 46% and in

some cases China is more than 50% in several clothing categories and Turkey is the second supplier to Europe with a market share of 12.6% after competing with Morocco and Tunisia. Motor vehicles and automotive products Turkey has a large and growing automotive industry, which produced 1,024,987 motor vehicles in 2006,[35] ranking as the 7th largest automotive producer in Europe; behind Germany (5,819,614),France (3,174,260), Spain (2,770,435), the United Kingdom (1,648,388), Russia (1,508,358) andItaly (1,211,594), respectively.[36] In 2008 Turkey produced 1,147,110 motor vehicles, ranking as the 6th largest producer in Europe (behind the United Kingdom and above Italy) and the 15th largest producer in the world.[37][38] The automotive industry is an important part of the economy since the late 1960s. The companies that operate in the sector are mainly located in the Marmara Region. With a cluster of car-makers and parts suppliers, the Turkish automotive sector has become an integral part of the global network of production bases, exporting over $22,944,000,000 worth of motor vehicles and components in 2008. Shipbuilding Turkey is also one of the leading shipbuilding nations; in 2007 Turkish shipyards ranked 4th in the world (behind China, South Korea and Japan) in terms of the number of ordered ships, and also 4th in the world (behind Italy, USA and Canada) in terms of the number of ordered mega yachts. Arms industry Turkey has many modern armament manufacturers. Annual exports reached $832 million in 2009.[42] MKEK, TAI, Aselsan, Roketsan, Fnss, Otokar, and Havelsan are major manufacturers. On July 11 2002, Turkey became a Level 3 partner of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) development program. TAI builds various aircrafts such as F-16 Block 50+ for the TuAF.
[43][44]

Turkey will build new military/intelligence satellites including a 0.8m resolution

reconnaissance satellite (Project Gktrk-1) for use by the Turkish Armed Forces and a 2m resolution reconnaissance

satellite (Project Gktrk-2) for use by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization. Other important products are M TP Altay, Milgem stealth warship, Aselsan zci UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle), T-155 F rt na, J-600T missile, T-129 ATAK, UMTAS, Roketsan Cirit, Panter Howitzer, ACV-300, Otokar Cobra and Akrep, FNSS Pars, TOROS artillery rocket system, Bayraktar Mini UAV, ASELPOD. Construction and contracting sector The Turkish construction and contracting industry is one of the leading, most competitive and dynamic construction/contracting industries in the world. In 2009 a total of 33 Turkish construction/contracting companies were selected for the Top International Contractors List prepared by the Engineering News-Record, which made the Turkish construction/contracting industry the world's 2nd largest, ranking behind those of China. Service sector Transport As of 2009, there were 102 airports (90 with paved runways and 12 with unpaved runways) in Turkey, including the seven international airports in Istanbul,Ankara, zmir, Trabzon, Dalaman, Milas-Bodrum andAntalya.[51] There were also 21 heliports in the country during the same year.[51] The rail network was 8,697 km in 2008, including 2,133 km of electrified track.[51] The Turkish State Railways started building high-speed rail lines in 2003. The first line, which has a length of 533 km fromIstanbul (Turkey's largest metropolis) via Eski ehir toAnkara (the capital) is under construction and will reduce the travelling time from 67 hours to 3 hours and 10 minutes. The Ankara-Eski ehir section of the line, which has a length of 245 km and a projected travel time of 65 minutes, is completed. Trials began on April 23, 2007, and revenue earning service began on March 13, 2009. The Eski ehir-Istanbul section of the line is scheduled to be completed by 2009, and includes the Marmaray tunnel which will enter service in 2012 and establish the first direct railway connection between Europe and Anatolia. In 2006 the country had a roadway network of 426,951 km, including 1,987 km of [[Limited-access road|expressways], ranking 13th in the world.[51] As of 2010, the Turkish merchant marine included 1199 ships (604 registered at home), ranking 7th in the world.[51] Turkey's coastline has 1,200 km of navigable waterways.[51] In 2008, 7,555 kilometres (4,694 mi) of natural gas pipelines and 3,636 kilometres (2,259 mi) of petroleum pipelines spanned the country's territory. Communications As of 2008, there were 17,502,000 operational main line telephones in Turkey, which ranked 18th in the world;[51] while there were 65,824,000 registered cell phones in the country, which ranked 15th in the world during the same year.
[51]

The telecommunications liberalisation process started in 2004 after the creation of the Telecommunication Authority, and is still ongoing. Private sector companies operate in mobile telephony, long distance telephony and Internet access. Additional digital exchanges are permitting a rapid increase in subscribers; the construction of a network of technologically advanced intercity trunk lines, using both fiber-optic cable and digital microwave radio relay, is facilitating communication between urban centers.
[51]

The remote areas of the country are reached by a domestic satellite system, while the number
[51]

of subscribers to mobile-cellular telephone service is growing rapidly.

The main line international telephone service is provided by the SEA-ME-WE-3 submarine cable and by submarine fiberoptic cables in the Mediterranean and Black Seas that link Turkey with Italy, Greece, Israel, Bulgaria, Romania, and Russia.
[51]

In 2002, there were 12 Intelsat satellite earth stations; and 328 mobile satellite terminals in the Inmarsat and
[51]

Eutelsat systems.

As of 2001, there were 16 AM, 107 FM, and 6 shortwave radio stations in the country.

[51]

As of 2008, there were 24,483,000 internet users in Turkey, which ranked 15th in the world; were 2,961,000internet hosts in the country, which ranked 27th in the world. Tourism sector

[51]

while as of 2009, there

Tourism is one of the most dynamic and fastest developing sectors in Turkey. According to travel agencies TUI AG and Thomas Cook, 11 of the 100 best hotels of the world are located in Turkey. $679 per tourist. revenues.
[54] [53] [52]

In 2005, there were

24,124,501 visitors to the country, who contributed $18.2 billion to Turkey's revenues, with an average expenditure of In 2008, the number of visitors rose to 30,929,192, who contributed $21.9 billion to Turkey's Over the years, Turkey has emerged as a popular tourist destination for many Europeans, competing

with Greece,Italy and Spain. Resorts in provinces such as Antalya and Mu la (which are located on the Turkish Riviera) have become very popular among tourists.

Financial sector The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (Trkiye Cumhuriyet Merkez Bankas ) was founded in 1930, as a privileged joint-stock company. It possesses the sole right to issue notes. It also has the obligation to provide for the monetary requirements of the state agricultural and commercial enterprises. All foreign exchange transfers are exclusively handled by the central bank. Originally established as the Ottoman Stock Exchange (Dersaadet Tahvilat Borsas ) in 1866, and reorganized to its current structure at the beginning of 1986, the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) is the sole securities market of Turkey.[55] During the 19th and early 20th centuries,Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Street) in Istanbul was the financial center of the Ottoman Empire, where the headquarters of the Ottoman Central Bank (established as the Bank- Osman in 1856, and later reorganized as the Bank- Osman-i ahane in 1863)[56] and the Ottoman Stock Exchange (1866) were located.
[57]

Bankalar Caddesi continued to be Istanbul's main financial district until the 1990s, when most Turkish banks

began moving their headquarters to the modern central business districts of Levent and Maslak.[57] In 1995, the Istanbul Stock Exchange moved to its current building in the Istinye quarter.[58] The Istanbul Gold Exchange was also established in 1995. The stock market capitalisation of listed companies in Turkey was valued at $161,537,000,000 in 2005 by the World Bank. Until 1991, establishing a private sector bank in Turkey wasn't easy and was subject to strict government controls and regulations. On 10 October 1991 (ten days before the general elections of 20 October 1991) the ANAP government of Prime MinisterMesut Y lmaz gave special permissions to five prominent businessmen (who had close links to the government) to establish their own small-scale private banks. These were Kentbank (owned by Szer); Park Yat r m Bankas (owned by Karamehmet); Toprakbank (owned by Toprak); Bank Ekspres (owned by Betil); andAlternatif Bank (owned by Do an.) They were followed by other small-scale private banks established between 1994 and 1995, during the DYP government of Prime Minister Tansu iller, who introduced drastic changes to the banking laws and

regulations; which made it very easy to establish a bank in Turkey, but also opened many loopholes in the system. In 1998, there were 72 banks in Turkey; most of which were owned by construction companies that used them as financial assets for siphoning money into their other operations. As a result, in 1999 and 2001, the DSP government of Prime Minister Blent Ecevit had to face two major economic crises that were caused mostly by the weak and loosely regulated banking sector; the growing trade deficit; and the devastating zmit earthquake of 17 August 1999. The Turkish lira, which was pegged to the U.S. dollar prior to the crisis of 2001, had to be floated, and lost an important amount of its value. This financial breakdown reduced the number of banks to 31. Prime Minister Blent Ecevit had to call the renowned economist Kemal Dervi to tidy up the economy and especially the weak banking system so that a similar economic crisis would not happen again. At present, the Turkish banking sector is among the strongest and most expansive in East Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. During the past decade since 2001, the Turkish lira has also gained a considerable amount of value and maintained its stability, becoming an internationally exchangeable currency once again (in line with the inflation that dropped to single-digit figures since 2003.) The economy grew at an average rate of 7.8% between 2002 and 2005. Fiscal deficit is benefiting (though in a small amount) from large industrial privatizations. Banking came under stress beginning in October 2008 as Turkish banking authorities warned state-run banks against the pullback of loans from the larger financial sectors.[60]More than 34% of the assets in the Turkish banking sector are concentrated in the Agricultural Bank (Ziraat Bankas ), Housing Bank (Yap Kredi Bankas ), Isbank (Trkiye Bankas ) and Akbank. The five big state-owned banks were restructured in 2001. Political involvement was minimized and loaning policies were changed. There are also numerous international banks, which have branches in Turkey. A number of Arabian trading banks, which practice an Islamic banking, are also present in the country. Government regulations passed in 1929 required all insurance companies to reinsure 30% of each policy with the Mill Reasrans T.A. .(National Reinsurance Corporation) which was founded on February 26, 1929.
[61]

In 1954, life insurance

was exempted from this requirement. The insurance market is officially regulated through the Ministry of Commerce. After years of low levels of foreign direct investment (FDI), in 2007 Turkey succeeded in attracting $21.9 billion in FDI and is expected to attract a higher figure in following years.[62] A series of large privatizations, the stability fostered by the start of Turkeys EU accession negotiations, strong and stable growth, and structural changes in the banking, retail, and telecommunications sectors have all contributed to the rise in foreign investment.
[citation needed]

In recent years, the chronically high inflation has been brought under control and this has led to the launch of a new currency, the "NewTurkish lira", on January 1, 2005, to cement the acquisition of the economic reforms and erase the vestiges of an unstable economy.[63] On January 1, 2009, the New Turkish lira was renamed once again as the "Turkish lira", with the introduction of new banknotes and coins. External trade and investment Turkey is a very large source of foreign direct investment in central and eastern Europe and theCIS, with more than $1.5 billion invested. 32% has been invested in Russia, primarily in the natural resources and construction sector, and 46% in Turkeys Black Sea neighbours, Bulgaria andRomania. Turkish companies also have sizable FDI stocks in Poland, at about $100 million.

The construction and contracting companies have been significant players, such as Enka, Tekfen, Gama, and gen n aat, as well as the three industrial groups, Anadolu Efes Group, i eCam Group and Vestel Group. The exports reached $115.3 billion in 2007, but imports rose to $162.1 billion, mostly due to the rising demand for energy resources like natural gas and crude oil. billion.
[65] [5]

Turkey targets exports of $200 billion in 2013, and a total trade of at least $450

There has been a considerable shift in exports in the last two decades. Share of natural gas decreased from

74% in 1980 to 30% in 1990 and 12% in 2005. Share of mid and high technology products has increased from 5% in 1980 to 14% in 1990 and 43% in 2005. The main trading partners are the European Union, which accounted for 59% of exports and 52% of imports in 2005,
[66]

the United States,Russia and Japan.[citation needed] Turkey has taken advantage of a customs union with the
[

European Union, signed in 1995, to increase industrial production for exports, while benefiting from EU-origin foreign investment into the country. Natural resources Minerals Turkey is the tenth ranked producer of minerals in the world in terms of diversity. Around 60 different minerals are currently produced in Turkey. The richest mineral deposits in the country are boron salts and Turkeys reserves amount to 72% of the worlds total. According to the CIA World Factbook, other natural resources include coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, uranium, antimony, mercury, gold, barite, borate,celestine (strontium), emery, feldspar, limestone, magnesite, marble, perlite, pumice, pyrites (sulfur), clay, arable land, hydropower, andgeothermal power. Petroleum and natural gas Turkey is an oil and natural gas producer, but the level of production isn't large enough to make the country self-sufficient, which makes Turkey a net importer of both oil and gas. However, the recent discovery of new oil and natural gas fields in the country, particularly off theBlack Sea coast
[citation needed]

of northern Anatolia; as well as in Eastern Thrace, the Gulf of

skenderun and in the provinces of theSoutheastern Anatolia Region near the borders with Syria and Iraq; will help Turkey to reach a higher degree of self-sufficiency in energy production.[68] The pipeline network in Turkey included 1,738 kilometres (1,080 mi) for crude oil, 2,321 kilometres (1,442 mi) for petroleum products, and 708 kilometres (440 mi) for natural gas in 1999. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, the second longest oil pipeline in the world, was inaugurated on May 10, 2005. The pipeline delivers crude oil from the Caspian Sea basin to the port of Ceyhan on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, from where it is distributed with oil tankers to the world's markets. The planned Nabucco Pipeline will also pass from Turkey and provide the European Union member states with natural gas from the Caspian Sea basin. The Blue Stream, a major trans-Black Sea gas pipeline, is operational since November 17, 2005, and delivers natural gas from Russia to Turkey. The TabrizAnkara pipeline is a 2,577 kilometres (1,601 mi) long natural gas pipeline, which runs from Tabriz in northwestern Iran to Ankara in Turkey. The pipeline was commissioned on July 26, 2001. InErzurum, the South Caucasus Pipeline, which was commissioned on May 21, 2006, is linked to the Iran-Turkey pipeline. In the future, these two pipelines will be among the main supply routes for the planned Nabucco Pipeline from Turkey to Europe.

Nuclear energy To cover the increasing energy needs of its population and ensure the continued raising of its living standard, Turkey plans several nuclearpower plants. Nuclear power proposals were presented as early as in the 1960s
[citation needed]

, but

plans were repeatedly canceled even after bids were made by interested manufacturers because of high costs and safety concerns. Turkey has always chosen Candu nuclear reactors because they burn natural uranium which is cheap and available locally and because they can be refueled online. This has caused uneasy feelings among Turkey's neighbours because they are ideal for producing weapons-grade plutonium. Turkey's first nuclear power plants are expected to be built in Mersin's Akkuyu district on the Mediterranean coast; in Sinop's nceburun district on the Black Sea coast; and inK rklareli's neada district on the Black Sea coast.

Geothermal energy Turkey has the fifth highest direct utilization and capacity of geothermal power in the world. Energy security Turkey is a partner country of the EU INOGATE energy programme, which has four key topics: enhancing energy security, convergence of member state energy markets on the basis of EU internal energy market principles, supporting sustainable energy development, and attracting investment for energy projects of common and regional interest.[ Environment With the establishment of the Turkish Environment Ministry on August 9, 1991 (which later merged with the Ministry of Forestry on May 1, 2003, and became the Ministry of Environment and Forestry) Turkey began to make significant progress addressing some of its most pressing environmental problems.[72] The most dramatic improvements were significant reductions of air pollution in Istanbul and Ankara. The most pressing needs are for water treatment plants, waste water treatment facilities, solid waste management and conservation of biodiversity. Regional disparities The country's wealth is mainly concentrated in the northwest and west, while the east and southeast suffer from lower economic production and higher levels of unemployment.

DEMOGRAPHICS
The last official census was in 2000 and recorded a total country population of 67,803,927 inhabitants.
[106]

According to

the Address-Based Birth Recording System of Turkey, the country's population was 73.7 million people in 2010,[107] nearly three-quarters of whom lived in towns and cities. According to the 2009 estimate, the population is increasing by 1.5% each year. Turkey has an average population density of 92 people per km . People within the 1564 age group constitute 67% of the total population; the 014 age group corresponds to 26%; while senior citizens aged 65 years or older make up 7%.
[108] [109]

In 1927, when the first official census was recorded in the Republic of Turkey, the population was 13.6

million.

Life expectancy stands at 71.1 years for men and 75.3 years for women, with an overall average of 73.2 years for the populace as a whole.[110] Education is compulsory and free from ages 6 to 15. The literacy rate is 96% for men and 80.4%

for women, with an overall average of 88.1%.[111] The low figures for women are mainly due to the traditional customs of the Arabs and Kurds who live in the southeastern provinces of the country.
[112]

Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a "Turk" as "anyone who is bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship"; therefore, the legal use of the term "Turkish" as a citizen of Turkey is different from the ethnic definition. However, the majority of the Turkish population are ofTurkish ethnicity. They are estimeted at 7075% by the CIA[1] and at 76.0% by a survey of Milliyetin 2007.
[2]

The Kurds, a distinct ethnic group concentrated mainly in the southeastern provinces of the country, are the largest nonTurkic ethnicity, estimated at about 18% of the population according to the CIA[1] and at 15.7% according to a survey by
[2] the Milliyet daily newspaper. Minorities other than the three officially recognized ones do not have any special group

privileges, while the term "minority" itself remains a sensitive issue in Turkey. Reliable data on the ethnic mix of the population is not available, because Turkish census figures do not include statistics on ethnicity. Other major ethnic groups include the Abkhazians, Albanians, Arabs, Assyrians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Georgians, Hamshenis, Laz,Pomaks (Bulgarians), R oma and the three officially recognized minorities (per the Treaty of Lausanne), i.e. the Armenians, Greeks and Jews. Signed on January 30, 1923, a bilateral accord of population exchange between Greece and Turkey took effect in the 1920s, with close to 1.5 million Greeks moving from Turkey and some 500,000 Turks coming from Greece.[114] Minorities of West European origin include the Levantines (or Levanter, mostly of French, Genoese and Venetian descent) who have been present in the country (particularly in Istanbul[115] and zmir[116]) since the medieval period. Urbanization According to 2010 estimate metropolitan areas in Turkey with the largest populations are stanbul (13.1 million), Ankara (4.4 million), zmir(3.4 million), Bursa (1.9 million), Adana (1.6 million), Gaziantep (1.3 million), Konya (1.0 million) and Antalya (1.0 million).
[117] [113]

An estimated 70.5% of the population live in urban centers.[118] In all, 18 provinces

have populations that exceed 1 million inhabitants, and 21 provinces have populations between 1 million and 500,000 inhabitants. Only two provinces have populations less than 100,000. Language Turkish is the sole official language throughout Turkey. Reliable figures for the linguistic breakdown of the populace are not available for reasons similar to those cited above.[113] According to CIA the Turkish language is spoken by 7075% of people and the Kurdish language by approximately 18% of people.
[citation needed][120]

The public broadcaster TRT broadcasts

programmes in the local languages and dialects of Arabic, Bosnian, Circassian and Kurdish a few hours a week.[121] A public television channel, TRT 6, which airs programs of Kurdish-language most of the time, was opened in early 2009. Religion Turkey is a secular state with no official state religion; the Turkish Constitution provides forfreedom of religion and conscience. included.
[123][124]

Islam is the dominant religion of Turkey, it exceeds 99% if secular people of Muslim background are Research firms suggest the actual Muslim figure is around 98%,[128] or 97%.[10]

[125][126][127]

There are about 120,000 people of different Christian denominations, including an estimated 80,000 Oriental Orthodox,
[129]

35,000 Roman Catholics,[130] 5,000 Orthodox (of them 3,0004,000 being Greeks)[129] and smaller numbers
[131]

of Protestants. Today there are 236 churches open for worship in Turkey. according to the CIA World Factbook.[132]

The Orthodox Church has

beenheadquartered in Istanbul since the 4th century AD. Christians represent less than 0.2% of Turkey's population, There are about 26,000 people who are Jewish, the vast majority of whom are Sephardi.[133]

The Bah' Faith in Turkey has roots in Bah'u'llh's, the founder of the Bah' Faith, being exiled toConstantinople, current-day Istanbul, by the Ottoman authorities. Bah's cannot register with the government officially probably 10
[135] [134]

but there are

to 20

[136]

thousand Bah's, and around a hundred Bah' Local Spiritual Assemblies in Turkey.[137]
[citation needed]

Though there are no exact figures on the Muslim sects, according to a 2006 survey, 82% were identified as Sunni Hanafi, 9.1% Sunni Shafi'i, and 5.7% were Alevi. 20 million.
[138][139]

Though academics suggest the Alevi population may be from 15 to

needed]

Alevi community is sometimes classified within Twelver Shi'a Islam.[citation

According to Aksiyon

magazine, the number of Shiite Twelvers (excluding Alevis) is 3 million (4.2%), and they live in Istanbul, I d r, Kars, Ankara, zmir, Manisa, orum, Mu la, A r and Ayd n.[140] There are also some Sufipractitioners.[141] The highest Islamic religious authority is the Presidency of Religious Affairs(Turkish: Diyanet leri Ba kanl ), it interprets the Hanafi school of law, and is responsible for regulating the operation of the country's 80,000 registered mosques and employing local and provincial imams.[142] The role of religion has been controversial debate over the years since the formation of Islamist parties.
[143]

Turkey was founded upon a strict secular constitution which forbids the influence of any religion, including

Islam. There are sensitive issues, such as the fact that the wearing of the Hijab is banned in universities and public or government buildings as some view it as a symbol of Islam though there have been efforts to lift the ban.
[144][145][146][147]

The vast majority of the present-day Turkish people are Muslim and the most popular sect is
[10]

the Hanafite school of Sunni Islam, which was officially espoused by theOttoman Empire; according to the KONDA Research and Consultancy survey carried out throughout Turkey on 2007: 52.8% defined themselves as "a religious person who strives to fulfill religious obligations" (religious); 34.3 % defined themselves as "a believer who does not fulfill religious obligations" (believer); 9.7% defined themselves as "a fully devout person fulfilling all religious obligations" (fully devout); 2.3% defined themselves as "someone who does not believe in religious obligations" (non-believer/agnostic); and 0.9% defined themselves as"someone with no religious conviction" (atheist).

CULTURE
Turkey has a very diverse culture that is a blend of various elements of the O uz Turkic, Anatolian,Ottoman (which was itself a continuation of both Greco-Roman and Islamic cultures) and Western cultureand traditions, which started with the Westernization of the Ottoman Empire and still continues today. This mix originally began as a result of the encounter of Turks and their culture with those of the peoples who were in their path during their migration from Central Asia to the West.[148][149] 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 modes 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, opera houses and architecture. Diverse historical factors play important roles in defining the modern Turkish identity. Turkish culture is a product of efforts to be a "modern" Western state, while maintaining traditional religious and historical values. Turkish music and literature form great examples of such a mix of cultural influences, which were a result of the interaction between the Ottoman Empire and the Islamic world along with Europe, thus contributing to a blend of Turkic, Islamic and European traditions in modern-day Turkish music and literary arts.[150] Turkish literature was heavily influenced by Persianand Arabic literature during most of the Ottoman era, though towards the end of the Ottoman Empire, particularly after the Tanzimat period, the effect of both Turkish folk and European 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 works of Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature.
[151]

According to Konda public opinion researchers, 70% of Turkish citizens never read books.

[152]

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 Byzantine elements present in numerous parts of Turkey, many artifacts of the later Ottoman architecture, 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. Mimar Sinan is widely regarded as the greatest architect of the classical period in Ottoman architecture. Since the 18th century, Turkish architecture has been increasingly influenced by Western styles, and this can be particularly seen in Istanbul where buildings likeDolmabahe and ra an Palaces are juxtaposed next to numerous modern skyscrapers, all of them representing different traditions. Sports The most popular sport in Turkey is football.
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Turkey's top teams include Galatasaray,Fenerbahe and Be ikta . In

2000, Galatasaray cemented its role as a major European club by winning the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Two years later the Turkish national team finished third in the 2002 World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea, while in 2008 the national team reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 2008 competition. The Atatrk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, while the kr Saraco lu Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2009 UEFA Cup Final. Other mainstream sports such as basketball and volleyball are also popular. Turkey hosted the finals of EuroBasket 2001 and the finals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, winning second place on both occasions; while Efes Pilsen S.K. won the Korac Cup in 1996, finished second in the Saporta Cup of 1993, and made it to the Final Four of Euroleague andSuproleague in 2000 and 2001.[155] Turkish basketball players such as Mehmet Okur andHidayet Trko lu have also been successful in the NBA. Women's volleyball teams, namely Eczac ba , Vak fbank Gne Sigorta andFenerbahe Ac badem, have won numerous European championship titles and medals.
[156] Edirne has hosted The traditional Turkish national sport has been ya l gre (oiled wrestling) since Ottoman times.

the annual K rkp naroiled wrestling tournament since 1361.[157] International wrestling styles governed by FILA such as Freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling are also popular, with many European, World and Olympic championship titles won by Turkish wrestlers both individually and as a national team.[158] Weightlifting has been a successful Turkish sport. Turkish weightlifters, both male and female, have broken numerous world records and won several European,[159] World and Olympic[160] championship titles. Naim Sleymano lu and Halil Mutlu have achieved legendary status as one of the few weightlifters to have won three gold medals in three Olympics. Motorsports are also popular in Turkey. The Rally of Turkey was included to the FIA World Rally Championship calendar in 2003,[161]and the Turkish Grand Prix was included to the Formula One racing calendar in 2005.[162] Other important annual motorsports events which are held at the Istanbul Park racing circuit include the MotoGP Grand Prix of Turkey, the FIA World Touring Car Championship, theGP2 Series and the Le Mans Series. From time to time Istanbul andAntalya also host the Turkish leg of the F1 Powerboat Racingchampionship; while the Turkish leg of the Red Bull Air Race World Series, an air racing competition, takes place above the Golden Horn in Istanbul. Surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, paragliding and other extreme sports are becoming more popular every year.