World Atlas: Turkey

Information about Turkey

Here you can find online selected information about the geography, inhabitants, government, economy and history of Turkey. Included are selected statistics, an overview map and the detailed map of Turkey. But let's start with the flag of Turkey here:

Turkey - Overview:

What you should know about Turkey? Let's start with this: Modern Turkey was founded in 1923 from the remnants of the defeated Ottoman Empire by national hero Mustafa Kemal, who was later honored with the title Ataturk or "Father of the Turks." Under his leadership, the country adopted radical social, legal, and political reforms. After a period of one-party rule, an experiment with multi-party politics led to the 1950 election victory of the opposition Democrat Party and the peaceful transfer of power. Since then, Turkish political parties have multiplied, but democracy has been fractured by periods of instability and military coups (1960, 1971, 1980), which in each case eventually resulted in a return of formal political power to civilians. In 1997, the military again helped engineer the ouster - popularly dubbed a "post-modern coup" - of the then Islamic-oriented government. A coup attempt was made in July 2016 by a faction of the Turkish Armed Forces. Turkey intervened militarily on Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island and has since acted as patron state to the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus," which only Turkey recognizes. A separatist insurgency begun in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a US-designated terrorist organization, has long dominated the attention of Turkish security forces and claimed more than 40,000 lives. In 2013, the Turkish Government and the PKK conducted negotiations aimed at ending the violence, however intense fighting resumed in 2015. Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. In 1963, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community; it began accession talks with the EU in 2005. Over the past decade, economic reforms, coupled with some political reforms, have contributed to a growing economy, although economic growth slowed in recent years. From 2015 and continuing through 2016, Turkey witnessed an uptick in terrorist violence, including major attacks in Ankara, Istanbul, and throughout the predominantly Kurdish southeastern region of Turkey. On 15 July 2016, elements of the Turkish Armed forces attempted a coup that ultimately failed following widespread popular resistance. More than 240 people were killed and over 2,000 injured when Turkish citizens took to the streets en masse to confront the coup forces. In response, Turkish Government authorities arrested, suspended, or dismissed more than 100,000 security personnel, journalists, judges, academics, and civil servants due to their alleged connection with the attempted coup. The government accused followers of an Islamic transnational religious and social movement for allegedly instigating the failed coup and designates the followers as terrorists. Following the failed coup, the Turkish Government instituted a State of Emergency in July 2016 that has been extended to July 2017. The Turkish Government conducted a referendum on 16 April 2017 that will, when implemented, change Turkey from a parliamentary to a presidential system.

Geography of Turkey

Where on the globe is Turkey? The location of this country is Southeastern Europe and Southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria. Total area of Turkey is 783,562 sq km, of which 769,632 sq km is land. So this is quite a large country. How could we describe the terrain of the country? This way: high central plateau (Anatolia); narrow coastal plain; several mountain ranges. The lowest point of Turkey is Mediterranean Sea 0 m, the highest point Mount Ararat 5,137 m. And the climate is temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interio.

Inhabitants of Turkey

Let's take a look how many people live in Turkey. The number is: 80,845,215 (July 2017 est.). So this country is among the most populous in the World. Who lives here? Turkish 70-75%, Kurdish 19%, other minorities 7-12% (2016 est.). What are the languages in Turkey? Turkish (official), Kurdish, other minority languages. And the religions: Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews). How old are the people in average? 30.9 years. We have to add that this number is the median - so one half of the people is older than this, one half is younger. And what is their life expectancy (at birth)? This: 75 years. Where the people live in Turkey? Here: the most densely populated area is found around the Bosporus in the northwest where 20% of the population lives in Istanbul; with the exception of Ankara, urban centers remain small and scattered throughout the interior of Anatolia; an overall pattern of peripheral development exists, particularly along the Aegean Sea coast in the west, and the Tigris and Euphrates River systems in the southeast. The major urban areas of Turkey are: Istanbul 14.164 million; Ankara (capital) 4.75 million; Izmir 3.04 million; Bursa 1.923 million; Adana 1.83 million; Gaziantep 1.528 million (2015).

Government and Economy of Turkey

The capital of Turkey is Ankara and the government type parliamentary republic. Let's take a look at the administrative divisions - 81 provinces (iller, singular - ili); Adana, Adiyaman, Afyonkarahisar, Agri, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Ardahan, Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir, Bartin, Batman, Bayburt, Bilecik, Bingol, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Canakkale, Cankiri, Corum, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Duzce, Edirne, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Hatay, Igdir, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir (Smyrna), Kahramanmaras, Karabuk, Karaman, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kilis, Kirikkale, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Mugla, Mus, Nevsehir, Nigde, Ordu, Osmaniye, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Siirt, Sinop, Sirnak, Sivas, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon (Trebizond), Tunceli, Usak, Van, Yalova, Yozgat, Zonguldak. Regarding the economy of Turkey, important industrial products are textiles, food processing, automobiles, electronics, mining (coal, chromate, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, pape. Important agricultural products are tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, hazelnuts, pulses, citrus; livestock. The most important export commodities are apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, transport equipment and the most important export partners are Germany 9.8%, UK 8.2%, Iraq 5.4%, Italy 5.3%, US 4.7%, France 4.2% (2016). The most important import commodities are machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels, transport equipment and the most important import partners are China 12.8%, Germany 10.8%, Russia 7.6%, US 5.5%, Italy 5.2% (2016). How rich is Turkey and how rich are people in this country? The most important number here is GDP per capita (PPP): $26,500 (2017 est.). This means the living standards are good here. Let's add that this means Gross Domestic Product per person, which is recalculated with respect to the relative cost of local goods and services. And one more important number - population below poverty line: 21.9% (2015 est.).

Map of Turkey