Area
779,452 sq km (300,948 sq miles)
Population
69,757,000 (official estimate 2002)
Population
Density
89.5 per sq km
Capital
Ankara
Population of Ankara
3,208,000 (official estimate 2002)
Geography
Turkey borders Georgia and the Black Sea and Armenia to the northeast,
Iran to the east, Iraq to the southeast, Mediterranean and the Syrian
Arab Republic 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, surround 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 since 2003.
Language
Turkish.
Kurdish is also spoken by a minority in the southeast. German, French
and English are widely spoken in cities and tourist areas.
Religion
Muslim with a small Christian minority. Turkey is a secular state
which assures complete freedom of worship to non-Muslims.
Time Zone
GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last
Sunday in October).
Electricity
220 volts AC, 50Hz. |
