Turkey

Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye) is a country mostly in Asia, but with a smaller part in Europe. The area of Turkey is about 780,000 square kilometres. Its population is about 72 million. Turkey's official language is Turkish.

Turkey is a democracy. There are 81 cities in Turkey. The Turkish money is New Turkish Lira (Yeni Türk Lirası). Its short name is YTL.

The capital city is Ankara, a city in the central Anatolia. The economic center is Istanbul. In the past Istanbul was known as Constantinople.

Turkey was founded in 1923 by Atatürk after the war of independence. Before that, Turkish Republic was part of the Ottoman Empire. Ataturk made many changes that made Turkey more modern and more western.

Because of its place, in history the land has been home to many civilizations, like the Hittites and the Byzantine Roman Empire. Many important events in the history of Christianity happened in Turkey.

Modern Turkey has a strong economy. It has 7th largest army (4th largest ground army) in the world. Its warm climate lets many kinds of food crops grow, and livestock and forestry are important industries. Turkey is one of the countries in the world that can make enough food to feed itself. There is a strong manufacturing sector making airplanes, electronics, cars, clothing and textiles for home and for other countries.

These days, Turkey is a popular place for tourists to visit. It has hundreds of kilometres of beautiful beaches on its Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, and many important historical places.

1 Religion
2 EU
3 Foreign Relations
4 Language in Turkey
5 Economy
6 Export
7 Turkish lira

[change] Religion

99% of Turkey's people are Muslim. There are also some Jewish and Christian people living in Turkey. But because of the laws in Turkey, the government doesn't have a religion, and everybody is equal in rights.

[change] EU

Turkey wants to join the European Union. The EU says that before Turkey can join, it must resolve its human rights issues first, and also bring its econimical and political system to equal that of the EU. But some say that the reason that Turkey was denied membership was because of its 99% muslim majority.

[change] Foreign Relations

OIC
Pakistan

[change] Language in Turkey

The official language of Turkey is Turkish.

[change] Economy

The economy of Turkey develops every year.Turkey is a member of OECD and G-20.

[change] Export

Turkey exported amounted 73.5 billion dollar in 2005.In 2007 the number got bigger and reached 106 billion dollar.At the date of May 2008 the export of last one year reached more than 110 billion dollar. The main language in Turkey is the Turkish language. However, there are also people who speak Greek, although they are a minority, and some speak Arabic.

[change] Turkish lira

The national currency of Turkey is New Turkish lira, but in 2009 January 1 the word "new" will deleted from the name of currency. Exchange rates 1 dollar=1.25 New Turkish Lira(7 May 2008) 1 euro=1.92 New Turkish Lira(7 May 2008)

v • d • e Countries and territories of Europe
Countries	Albania - Andorra - Armenia - Austria - Azerbaijan¹ - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Cyprus² - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Georgia¹ - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Liechtenstein - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Malta - Moldova - Monaco - Montenegro - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Republic of Macedonia - Romania - Russia¹ - San Marino - Serbia - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey¹ - Ukraine - United Kingdom - Vatican City
Dependencies	Akrotiri and Dhekelia² - Faroe Islands - Gibraltar - Guernsey - Jan Mayen - Jersey - Isle of Man - Svalbard
Unrecognised	Abkhazia
1. Country partly in Asia. 2. Geographically in Asia, but often counted as part of Europe for cultural and historical reasons.

Countries and territories of Asia

Afghanistan · Armenia² · Azerbaijan · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Cambodia · China (PRC) · Cyprus² · East Timor · Gaza Strip · Georgia² · Hong Kong³ · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Macau³ · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Myanmar · Nepal · North Korea · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia¹ · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · South Korea · Sri Lanka · Syria · Taiwan (ROC) · Tajikistan · Thailand · Turkey¹ · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · West Bank · Yemen

1. Includes territory in both Europe and Asia. 2. Usually thought of Europe for cultural, Politically and historical reasons. 3. Special territories.

v • d • e North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Members	Belgium · Bulgaria · Canada · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · France · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Italy · Latvia · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Turkey · United Kingdom · United States
Candidates	Albania · Croatia · Georgia · Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) · *