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

Land boundaries: 2,715 km total; Bulgaria 240 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 331 km, Syria 822 km, USSR 617 km

Coastline: 7,200 km

Maritime claims
Extended economic zone: in Black Sea only--to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the USSR
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; high 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: 56,704,327 (July 1990), growth rate 2.2% (1990)

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: 29 births/1000 population (1990)

Death rate: 8 deaths/1000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1000 population (1990)

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

Infant mortality rate: 74 deaths/1000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 64 years male, 67 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 3.6 children born/woman (1990)

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; note--there may be four new provinces named Aksaray, Bayburt, Karaman, and Kirikkale

Independence: 29 October 1923 (successor state to the 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 at age 21

Executive branch: Chief of State--President Turgut OZAL (since 9 November 1989; Head of Government--Prime Minister Yildirim AKBULUT (since 9 November 1989; Deputy Prime Minister Ali BOZER (since 31 March 1989)

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

Judicial branch: Court of Cassation

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, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

Diplomatic representation
In the us: Ambassador Nuzhet KANDEMIR; 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 Morton ABRAMOWITZ; Embassy at 110 Ataturk Boulevard, Ankara (mailing address is APO New York 9,254--0001; telephone p90o (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: accounts for 20% of GDP and employs majority of population; products--tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, pulses, citrus fruit, variety of animal products; self-sufficient in food most years

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

Industrial production growth rate: 7.4% (1988)

Labor force:

Unemployment rate: 15.8% (1988)

Budget: revenues $12.1 billion; expenditures $14.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.08 billion (FY88 est.)

Fiscal year: calendar year

Exports: $11.7 billion (f.o.b., 1988)
Commodities: industrial products 70%, crops and livestock products 25%
Partners: FRG 18.4%, Iraq 8.5%, Italy 8.2%, US 6.5%, UK 4.9%, Iran 4.7%

Imports: $14.3 billion (c.i.f., 1988)
Commodities: crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, metals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, plastics, rubber, mineral fuels, fertilizers, chemicals
Partners: FRG 14.3%, US 10.6%, Iraq 10.0%, Italy 7.0%, France 5.8%, UK 5.2%

Debt external: $36.3 billion (November 1989)

Exchange rates: Turkish liras (TL) per US$1--2,314.7 (November 1989), 1,422.3 (1988), 857.2 (1987), 674.5 (1986), 522.0 (1985)

Electricity
Capacity: 14,064,000 kW capacity; 40,000 million kWh produced, 720 kWh per capita (1989)

Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: 3.9% of GDP, or $2.9 billion (1989 est.)

Airports: 119 total, 112 usable; 69 with permanent-surface runways; 3 with runways over 3,659 m; 30 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 28 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: 327 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,972,465 GRT/5,087,620 DWT; includes 6 short-sea passenger, 1 passenger, 1 passenger-cargo, 193 cargo, 1 container, 4 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 3 refrigerated cargo, 1 livestock carrier, 35 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 15 chemical tanker, 2 liquefied gas, 4 combination ore/oil, 1 specialized tanker, 55 bulk, 4 combination bulk, 1 specialized liquid cargo

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

Illicit drugs: one of the world's major suppliers of licit opiate products; government maintains strict controls over areas of opium poppy cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate