Location
Southeastern Europe/Asia Minor.
Time
GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from endure Sunday in March to endure Sunday in October).
Area
783,562 sq km (302,535 sq miles).
Population
70.6 actor (2008 estimate).
Population Density
93 per sq km.
Capital
Ankara. Population: 3.9 actor (2007 estimate).
Geography
Turkey borders the Black Sea and Georgia and Armenia to the northeast, Iran to the east, Iraq to the southeast, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Mediterranean to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west and Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest. Asia Minor (or Anatolia) accounts for 97% of the country's breadth and forms a long, advanced peninsula 1,650km (1,025 miles) from east to west and 650km (400 miles) from arctic to south. Two east-west abundance ranges, the Black Sea Mountains in the arctic and the Taurus in the south, enclose the axial Anatolian plateau, but assemble in a all-inclusive aerial arena in the far east of the country. It is actuality that the age-old Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise.
Government
Republic back 1923.
Head of State
President Abdullah Gul back 2007.
Head of Government
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan back 2002.
Recent History
Turkey's abridgement has recovered able-bodied from a crisis in 2001. With IMF support, the agilely Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP) government alien structural reforms and across-the-board institutional and amusing reforms in adjustment to admit EU access negotiations in October 2005.
The clip of ameliorate has slowed back amidst criticism over issues such as animal rights and Arctic Cyprus. The government aswell faces burden from the angrily civil military, apprehensive of the AKP's Islamic credentials.
Abdullah Gul became admiral in August 2007 - the country's aboriginal arch of accompaniment with a accomplishments in political Islam.
The Kurdish agitator PKK (Kurdish Workers' Party) bankrupt their 2006 armistice if they ambushed and dead Turkish soldiers abreast the Iraqi bound in September 2007. The consecutive bombing of PKK fighters in arctic Iraq by Turkish warplanes drew all-embracing criticism in backward 2007. Further incursions into Iraqi area were fabricated in aboriginal 2008.
Language
Turkish. Kurdish is aswell announced by a boyhood in the southeast. French, German and English are broadly announced in above cities and day-tripper areas.
Religion
Muslim, mostly Sunni, with a actual baby Christian minority. Turkey is a civil accompaniment which guarantees complete abandon of adoration to non-Muslims.
Electricity
220 volts AC, 50Hz.
Social Conventions
Shaking easily is the accustomed anatomy of greeting. Hospitality is actual important and visitors should account Islamic customs. Informal abrasion is acceptable, but beachwear should be bedfast to the bank or poolside. Smoking is broadly adequate but banned in cinemas, theatres, buses, coaches and dolmuşes (collective taxis).
