Turkey country profile

Facts & Figures

General information about Turkey.
Country Name
:
Republic of Turkey
Government Type
:
Republican parliamentary democracy
Capital
:
Ankara
Chief of state
:
President Abdullah GUL (since 28 August 2007)
Head of government
:
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN (since 14 March 2003)
Legislative Branch
:
Unicameral Grand National Assembly of Turkey or Turkiye Buyuk Millet Meclisi (550
seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
Judicial Branch
:
Constitutional Court; High Court of Appeals (Yargitay); Council of State (Danistay);
Court of Accounts (Sayistay); Military High Court of Appeals; Military High
Administrative Court
Area (total)
:
780,580 sq km
Land Boundaries
:
2,648 km
Border Countries
:
Armenia 268 km, Azerbaijan 9 km, Bulgaria 240 km, Georgia 252 km, Greece 206
km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 352 km, Syria 822 km
Climate
:
Temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior
Natural Resources
:
Coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, antimony, mercury, gold, barite, borate, celestite
(strontium), emery, feldspar, limestone, magnesite, marble, perlite, pumice, pyrites
(sulfur), clay, arable land, h
Population
:
76,805,524 (July 2009 est.)
Population Growth Rate
:
1.312% (2009 est.)
Median age
:
27.7 years
Urban population
:
69% of total population (2008)
Life expectancy at birth
:
71.96 years
Religions
:
Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)
Languages
:
Turkish (official), Kurdish, other minority languages
Terrain
:
High central plateau (Anatolia); narrow coastal plain; several mountain ranges
GDP (PPP)
:
$906.5 billion (2008 est.)
GDP per capita (PPP)
:
$12,000 (2008 est.)
GDP Composition by Sectors
:
Agriculture: 8.5%; Industry: 28.6%; Services: 62.9% (2008 est.)
Agriculture products
:
Tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, hazelnuts, pulse, citrus; livestock
Industries
:
Textiles, food processing, autos, electronics, mining (coal, chromite, copper,
boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper
Exports
:
$131.5 billion(2008)
Imports
:
$204.8 billion (2008)
Country Phone Code
:
+90
Country Domain Extension
:
.tr
Turkish Flag

Turkish Prime Minister

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish President
 Abdullah Gül
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cts__figures.html

Once the centre of the Ottoman Empire, the modern secular republic was
established in the 1920s by nationalist leader Kemal Ataturk.
Straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey's strategically important
location has given it major influence in the region - and control over the entrance to
the Black Sea.
Overview
• Overview
• Facts
• Leaders
• Media
Turkey's progress towards democracy and a market economy was halting in the
decades following the death of President Ataturk in 1938. The army saw itself as
the guarantor of the constitution, and ousted governments on a number of
occasions when it thought they were challenging secular values.
Efforts to reduce state control over the economy also faced many obstacles. After
years of mounting difficulties which brought the country close to economic collapse,
a tough recovery programme was agreed with the IMF in 2002. Since then, Turkey
has seen strong economic growth and a dramatic fall in inflation. However, huge
foreign debt and unemployment remain major burdens.

Turkey must meet strict

conditions for EU
membership
Concerns over the potential for conflict between a secular establishment backed by
the military and a traditional society deeply rooted in Islam resurfaced with the
landslide election victory of the Islamist-based Justice and Development Party (AK)
in 2002.
The secularist opposition has on several occasions since then challenged the
constitutional right of the AK to be the party of government. In March 2008 the
Constitutional Court narrowly rejected a petition by the chief prosecutor to ban the
AK and 71 of its officials, including President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, for allegedly seeking to establish an Islamic state.
In recent years there have been several allegations that members of the military -
which has long seen itself as the guardian of the secular system - have been
involved in plots to overthrow the government.
EU candidacy
Turkey became an EU candidate country in 1999 and, in line with EU requirements,
went on to introduce substantial human rights and economic reforms. The death
penalty was abolished, tougher measures were brought in against torture and the
penal code was overhauled.
Reforms were introduced in the areas of women's rights and Kurdish culture,
language, education and broadcasting. Women's rights activists have said the
reforms do not go far enough and have accused the government of lacking full
commitment to equality and of acting only under EU pressure.
After intense bargaining, EU membership talks were launched in October 2005.
Accession negotiations are expected to take about 10 years. So far, the going has
not been easy.
Turkey has long been at odds with its close neighbour, Greece, over the divided
island of Cyprus and territorial disputes in the Aegean.
The breakthrough in its EU membership talks came just weeks after Turkey agreed
to recognise Cyprus as an EU member - though it qualified this conciliatory step by
declaring that it was not tantamount to full diplomatic recognition.
The Kurdish issue
Turkey is home to a sizeable Kurdish minority, which by some estimates constitutes
up to a fifth of the population. The Kurds have long complained that the Turkish
government was trying to destroy their identity and that they suffer from economic
disadvantage and human rights violations.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the best known and most radical of the Kurdish
movements, launched a guerrilla campaign in 1984 for an ethnic homeland in the
Kurdish heartland in the southeast. Thousands died and hundreds of thousands
became refugees in the ensuing conflict with the PKK, which Turkey, the US and the
European Union deem a terrorist organisation.
Kurdish guerrilla attacks briefly subsided after the 1999 capture of PKK leader
Abdullah Ocalan, but soon began to increase again.
Partly in a bid to improve its chances of EU membership, the government began to
ease restrictions on the use of the Kurdish language form 2003 onwards. As part of
a new "Kurdish initiative" launched in 2009, it pledged to extend linguistic and
cultural rights and to reduce the military presence in the mainly Kurdish southeast
of the country.
Facts
• Overview
• Facts
• Leaders
• Media
• Full name: Republic of Turkey
• Population: 74.8 million (UN, 2009)
• Capital: Ankara
• Largest city: Istanbul
• Area: 779,452 sq km (300,948 sq miles)
• Major language: Turkish
• Major religion: Islam
• Life expectancy: 69 years (men), 74 years (women) (UN)
• Monetary unit: Turkish lira
• Main exports: Clothing and textiles, fruit and vegetables, iron and steel,
motor vehicles and machinery, fuels and oils
• GNI per capita: US $9,340 (World Bank, 2008)
 • Internet domain: .tr
• International dialling code: +90
Leaders
• Overview
• Facts
• Leaders
• Media
President: Abdullah Gul
Abdullah Gul was chosen as president by parliament in August 2007, after months
of controversy over his nomination. He is Turkey's first head of state with a
background in political Islam in a country with strong secularist principles.

Turkey's secular
establishment was
opposed to Mr Gul's
presidency
The months leading to his eventual election saw street demonstrations, an
opposition boycott of parliament, early parliamentary elections and warnings from
the army, which has ousted four governments since 1960.
Turkish secularists, including army generals, opposed Gul's nomination, fearing he
would try to undermine Turkey's strict separation of state and religion. Secularists
also did not want Turkey's First Lady to wear the Muslim headscarf.
The army top brass and the main opposition Republican People's Party, stayed
away from Mr Gul's swearing-in ceremony.
Mr Gul started in politics in an Islamist party that was banned by the courts, but
later renounced the idea that Islam should be a driving force in politics. In 2001,
along with other moderate members of the Islamist movement, he founded the
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and distanced himself from his past
political leanings.
The party won elections in 2002 and Mr Gul served as stand-in prime minister
before stepping aside for Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr Gul served as foreign minister
under Mr Erdogan and cultivated an image as a moderate politician, acting as an
impassioned voice for reforms to promote Turkey's EU bid.
The government holds most power but the president can veto laws, appoint
officials, and name judges. Voters in a referendum in October 2007 backed plans to
have future presidents elected by the people instead of by parliament.
Prime minister: Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Tayyip Erdogan, who became premier in March 2003, led his Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) to victory in the July 2007 elections.

Prime Minister Erdogan has

set his sights on EU entry
Erdogan called the poll early after the army-backed secular elite blocked his choice
of an ex-Islamist ally as the next president.
The AK Party boosted its share of the vote in the 2007 parliamentary elections to
47% despite opposition efforts to portray his pro-business party, which has Islamist
roots, as a Trojan horse set to turn Turkey into an Iran-style theocracy.
Mr Erdogan's governments have continued reforms and the modernisation of the
country if anything faster and more effectively than most of their predecessors.
Mr Erdogan first became prime minister several months after his party's landslide
election victory in November 2002.
He had been barred from standing in the poll because of a previous criminal
conviction for reading an Islamist poem at a political rally. Changes to the
constitution paved the way for him to run for parliament in 2003.
He identified EU entry as a top priority and introduced reforms which paved the way
for the opening of membership talks in October 2005.
Although the AK has Islamist roots, he insists that it is committed to a secular
state. From a lowly background, Mr Erdogan worked as a street seller to help pay
for an education. He attended Koranic school before studying economics at
university.
As mayor of Istanbul in the mid 1990s he banned alcohol in municipal buildings and
won popularity for improving services.
Media
• Overview
• Facts
• Leaders
• Media
Turkey's airwaves are lively, with some 300 private TV stations - more than a
dozen of them with national coverage - and more than 1,000 private radio stations
competing with the state broadcaster, TRT.
Powerful businesses operate many of the press and broadcasting outlets; they
include the Dogan group, the leading media conglomerate.
PRESS STIRS CONTROVERSY

A 2010 report on an alleged

coup plot sparked a further
crisis between the
government and the military

Turkey jails Kurdish journalist

Turkey warned over media
freedom
For journalists, the military, Kurds and political Islam are highly-sensitive topics,
coverage of which can lead to arrest and prosecution. Rights groups say journalists
have been imprisoned, or attacked by police. It is also common for radio and TV
stations to have their broadcasts suspended for airing sensitive material.
Some of the most repressive sanctions have been lifted as part of reforms intended
to pave the way for EU entry. But under Article 301 of the penal code, it remains a
crime to insult the Turkish nation.
TRT introduced broadcasts in Kurdish, banned for many years, in 2004 as a part of
reforms intended to meet EU criteria on minorities. Kurdish-language TRT 6 TV
launched in 2009. Some overseas-based Kurdish TVs broadcast via satellite.
Around 26.5 million Turks were online by March 2008 (Internetworldstats). Internet
sites have been subject to blocking. They include video-sharing service YouTube,
which was banned over videos deemed to be insulting to the founder of modern
Turkey, Kemal Ataturk.
The press
• Hurriyet - mass-circulation daily, English-language web pages
• Milliyet - mass-circulation daily
• Cumhuriyet - left-wing daily
• Taraf - liberal daily
 • The New Anatolian - English-language
• Today's Zaman - English-language version of daily
• Yeni Asir - daily
• Sabah - daily, English-language pages
Television
• Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) - state broadcaster, operates four
national networks
• Star TV - private, the first station to break state TV's monopoly
• Show TV - private, widely-watched network
• Kanal D - private, widely-watched network
• ATV - private
• Fox - private
• NTV - private
• CNN Turk - Turkish offshoot of well-known news channel
Radio
• Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) - state broadcaster, services include
cultural/educational network TRT 1, popular music network TRT 3 and
Turkish folk/classical music station TRT 4
• Kral FM - popular private network
• Super FM - popular private network
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