Background: the Ottoman Empire. Soon thereafter the country instituted secular laws to replace

Land boundaries:

Coastline: 7,200 km

Maritime claims
Extended economic zone: 200 nm in Black Sea only
Territorial sea: 6 nm (12 nm in Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea)

Climate: temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior

Terrain: mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; central plateau (Anatolia)

Natural resources: antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, sulphur, iron ore

Land use: 30% arable land; 4% permanent crops; 12% meadows and pastures; 26% forest and woodland; 28% other; includes 3% irrigated

Geography
Note: strategic location controlling the Turkish straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas; Turkey and Norway only NATO members having a land boundary with the USSR

Population: 55,355,831 (July 1989), growth rate 2.1% (1989)

Nationality: noun - Turk(s; adjective - Turkish

Ethnic groups: 85% Turkish, 12% Kurd, 3% other

Languages: Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic

Religions: 98% Muslim (mostly Sunni), 2% other (mostly Christian and Jewish)

Birth rate: 30 births/1000 population (1989)

Death rate: 8 deaths/1000 population (1989)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1000 population (1989)

Environment
Current issues: subject to severe earthquakes, especially along major river valleys in west; air pollution; desertification

Infant mortality rate: 80 deaths/1000 live births (1989)

Life expectancy at birth: 63 years male, 66 years female (1989)

Total fertility rate: 3.7 children born/woman (1989)

Literacy: 70%

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Turkey

Government type: republican parliamentary democracy

Capital: Ankara

Administrative divisions: 67 provinces (iller, singular - il; Adana, Adiyaman, Afyon, Agri, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir, Bilecik, Bingol, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Canakkale, Cankiri, Corum, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Edirne, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Hatay, Icel, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahraman Maras, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mugla, Mus, Nevsehir, Nigde, Ordu, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Siirt, Sinop, Sivas, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon, Tunceli, Urfa, Usak, Van, Yozgat, Zonguldak

Independence: 29 October 1923 (from Ottoman Empire)

National holiday: Anniversary of the Declaration of the Republic, 29 October (1923)

Constitution: 7 November 1982

Legal system: derived from various continental legal systems; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Suffrage: universal over age 19

Legislative branch: Land Forces, Navy, Air Force, Gendarmerie

International organization participation: ASSIMER, CCC, Council of Europe, EC (associate member), ECOSOC, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IDB - Islamic Development Bank, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, IPU, ITC, ITU, NATO, OECD, OIC, Economic Cooperation Organization, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us: Ambassador Sukru ELEKDAG; Chancery at 1606 23rd Street NW, Washington DC 20,008; telephone (202) 387-3,200; there are Turkish Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York; US - Ambassador Robert STRAUSZ-HUPE; Embassy at 110 Ataturk Boulevard, Ankara (mailing address is APO New York 9,254 - 0001; telephone Õ90å (4) 126 54 70; there are US Consulates General in Istanbul and Izmir, and a Consulate in Adana

Flag description: red with a vertical white crescent (the closed portion is toward the hoist side) and white five-pointed star centered on the hoist side

Economy overview: The economic reforms that Turkey launched in 1980 continue to bring an impressive stream of benefits. The economy has grown steadily since the early 1980s, with real growth in per capita GDP increasing more than 6% annually. Agriculture remains the most important economic sector, employing about 60% of the labor force, accounting for almost 20% of GDP, and contributing about 25% to exports. Impressive growth in recent years has not solved all of the economic problems facing Turkey. Inflation and interest rates remain high, and a large budget deficit will continue to provide difficulties for a country undergoing a substantial transformation from a centrally controlled to a free market economy. The government has launched a multimillion-dollar development program in the southeastern region, which includes the building of a dozen dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to generate electric power and irrigate large tracts of farmland. The planned tapping of huge quantities of Euphrates water has raised serious concern in the downstream riparian nations of Syria and Iraq.

Agriculture products: cotton, tobacco, cereals, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, livestock products; self-sufficient in food in most years; a legal producer of opium poppy for the pharmaceutical trade

Industries: textiles, food processing, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron minerals), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper

Industrial production growth rate: 10% (1986)

Labor force:

Unemployment rate: 15.3% (1987)

Budget: revenues $10.16 billion; expenditures $12.01 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.17 billion (FY86)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Exports: $10.2 billion (f.o.b., 1987)
Commodities: industrial products 70%, crops and livestock products 25%
Partners: FRG 19.4%, US 10.6%, Italy 7.8%, Iran 7.6%, Iraq 7.4%, Japan

Imports: $13.3 billion (c.i.f., 1987)
Commodities: crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, metals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, plastics, rubber, mineral fuels, fertilizers, chemicals
Partners: FRG 15.9%, US 10.6%, Italy 7.8%, Iraq 6.9%, Japan 6.2%

Debt external: $40.3 billion (1988)

Exchange rates: Turkish liras (TL) per US$1 - 1,796.8 (December 1988), 1,422.3 (1988), 857.2 (1987), 674.5 (1986), 522.0 (1985)

Electricity
Capacity: 13,402,000 kW capacity; 46,951 million kWh produced, 870 kWh per capita (1988)

Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $3.10 billion, 18.2% of central government budget (1988 est.)

Airports: 121 total, 114 usable; 68 with permanent-surface runways; 3 with runways over 3,659 m; 30 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 27 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Pipelines: 1,738 km crude oil; 2,321 km refined products; 708 km natural gas

Waterways: about 1,200 km

Merchant marine: 338 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,902,804 GRT/4,903,531 DWT; includes 7 short-sea passenger, 1 passenger, 1 passenger-cargo, 205 cargo, 1 container, 5 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 3 refrigerated cargo, 1 livestock carrier, 37 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 17 chemical tanker, 2 liquefied gas, 4 combination ore/oil, 52 bulk, 4 combination bulk

Disputes international: complex maritime and air (but not territorial) disputes with Greece in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question; Hatay question with Syria; ongoing dispute with downstream riparians (Syria and Iraq) over water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR