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Facts About Turkey
Flag of Turkey Map of Turkey
Official Name:
Turkiye Cumhuriyeti (Republic of Turkey)

Capital:
Ankara

Area:
779,452 sq km (300,948 sq miles)
 
Population:
70,413,958 (2006 estimate)

Largest cities, with population:
Istanbul 9,451,000 (2000 estimate)
Ankara 3,023,000 (2000 estimate)
Izmir 2,409,000 (2000 estimate)
Adana 1,294,000 (2000 estimate)
Bursa 1,304,000 (2000 estimate)

Geography:
Turkey borders the Black Sea and Georgia and Armenia to the northeast, Iran to the east, Iraq to the southeast, Syria 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 and forms a long, wide peninsula 1650km (1025 miles) from east to west and 650km (400 miles) from north to south.

Two east-west mountain ranges, the Black Sea Mountains in the north and the Taurus in the south, enclose the central Anatolian plateau, but converge in a vast mountainous region in the far east of the country. It is here that the ancient Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise.

Government:
Republic since 1923

Head of State:
President Ahmet Necdet Sezer since 2000

Head of Government:
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

National Assembly:
550 deputies

Religion:
Islam, a small Christian minority. Turkey is a secular state which guarantees complete freedom of worship to non-Muslims.

Time:
GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).

Flag:
The red color, the star and the crescent emblem of the Turkish flag traditionally represent Islam as well as Turkey and Ottoman Empire. The star and crescent first appeared together in 1793, and, except for a brief period during the early 1920s, have remained the same ever since.

Official Language:
Turkish
 

Life expectancy:

Total 72.62 years (2006 estimate)
Female 75.18 years (2006 estimate)
Male 70.18 years (2006 estimate)

Infant mortality rate:
39 deaths per 1,000 live births (2006 estimate)

Population per physician:
833 people (1999)

Population per hospital bed:
385 people (1999)

Literacy rate:
Total 86.5 percent (2003 estimate)
Female 78.7 percent (2003 estimate)
Male 94.3 percent (2003 estimate)

Education expenditure as a share of gross national product (GNP):
4 percent (1999-2000)

Number of years of compulsory schooling:
8 years (2000)

Number of students per teacher, primary school:

28 students per teacher (1997)

Gross domestic product (GDP, in U.S.$):
$148 billion (2001)

GDP per capita (U.S.$):
$2,230 (2001)

GDP by economic sector:
Agriculture, forestry, fishing 13.8 percent (2001)
Industry 25.6 percent (2001)
Services 60.7 percent (2001)

Number of workers:
31,909,131 (2001)

Workforce share of economic sector:
Agriculture, forestry, fishing 46 percent (1999)
Industry 21 percent (1999)
Services 34 percent (1999)

Unemployment rate:
8.3 percent (2000)

National budget (U.S.$):
Total revenue $55,945 million (2000)
Total expenditure $78,587 million (2000)
 
Agriculture:
Cotton, tobacco, wheat, fruit, nuts, barley, sunflower and other oilseeds, maize, sugar beets, potatoes, tea, olives, livestock

Mining:
Chromium, boron, copper, petroleum, natural gas, lignite, bauxite, iron ore, manganese, antimony, lead, zinc, sulfur

Manufacturing:
Textiles, food products, refined petroleum, iron and steel, industrial chemicals

Major exports:
Textiles, iron and steel, dried fruits, leather garments, tobacco, petroleum products

Major imports:
Machinery, crude petroleum, transportation vehicles, iron and steel, chemical products

Major trade partners for exports:

Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Italy, and France

Major trade partners for imports:
Germany, Italy, United States, Russia, and France

Electricity production:
Electricity from thermal sources 79.30 percent (2001 estimate)
Electricity from hydroelectric sources 20.39 percent (2001 estimate)
Electricity from nuclear sources 0 percent (2001 estimate)
Electricity from geothermal, solar, and wind sources 0.31 percent (2001 estimate)

Number of radios per 1,000 people:
562 (2000 estimate)

Number of telephones per 1,000 people:
285 (2001)

Number of televisions per 1,000 people:
443 (2000 estimate)

Number of Internet hosts per 10,000 people:
16 (2001)

Daily newspaper circulation per 1,000 people:
111 (1996)

Number of motor vehicles per 1,000 people:
85 (1999)

Paved road as a share of total roads:
34 percent (1999)