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TURKEY

CAPITAL: ANKARA
LARGEST CITY: ESTAMBUL

GEOGRAPHY

Turkey is a transcontinental[194] Eurasian country. Asian Turkey, which includes 97 percent


of the country, is separated from European Turkey by the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara,
and the Dardanelles. European Turkey comprises 3 percent of the country.[195] The territory
of Turkey is more than 1,600 kilometres (990 miles) long and 800 kilometres (500 miles)
wide, with a roughly rectangular shape.[196] It lies between latitudes 35 and 43 N, and
longitudes 25 and 45 E. Turkey's land area, including lakes, occupies 783,562 square
kilometres (302,535 square miles),[197] of which 755,688 square kilometres (291,773 square
miles) are in Southwest Asia and 23,764 square kilometres (9,175 square miles) in
Europe.[196] Turkey is the world's 37th-largest country in terms of area. The country is
encircled by seas on three sides: the Aegean Sea to the west, the Black Sea to the north
and the Mediterranean to the south. Turkey also contains the Sea of Marmara in the
northwest.[198]

HISTORY
The occupation of Istanbul and zmir by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I prompted
the establishment of the Turkish National Movement. Under the leadership of Mustafa
Kemal Pasha, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the Battle of
Gallipoli, the Turkish War of Independence was waged with the aim of revoking the terms
of the Treaty of Svres.[79]
By 18 September 1922 the occupying armies were expelled,[80] and the Ankara-based
Turkish regime, which had declared itself the legitimate government of the country on 23
April 1920, started to formalise the legal transition from the old Ottoman into the new
Republican political system. On 1 November 1922, the Turkish
Parliament in Ankara formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of
monarchical Ottoman rule. The Treaty of Lausanne of 24 July 1923 led to the international
recognition of the sovereignty of the newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the successor
state of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on 29 October 1923
in Ankara, the country's new capital.[81] The Lausanne treaty stipulated a population
exchange between Greece and Turkey, whereby 1.1 million Greeks left Turkey for Greece
in exchange for 380,000 Muslims transferred from Greece to Turkey.[82]
Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first President and subsequently introduced many
radical reforms with the aim of transforming the old religion-based and multi-
communal Ottoman state system (constitutional monarchy) into an essentially
Turkish nation state (parliamentary republic) with a secularconstitution.[83] With the Surname
Law of 1934, the Turkish Parliament bestowed upon Mustafa Kemal the honorific surname
"Atatrk" (Father of the Turks).[79]
Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II, but entered the closing stages of the
war on the side of the Allies on 23 February 1945. On 26 June 1945, Turkey became
a charter member of the United Nations.[84] Difficulties faced by Greece after the war in
quelling a communist rebellion, along with demands by the Soviet Union for military bases
in the Turkish Straits, prompted the United States to declare the Truman Doctrine in 1947.
The doctrine enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and
Greece, and resulted in large-scale US military and economic support. Both countries were
included in the Marshall Plan and OEEC for rebuilding European economies in 1948,[85] and
subsequently became founding members of the OECD in 1961
POLITICS
Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in
1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of secularism.[116] Turkey's
constitution governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main principles of
government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralised state. The President of the
Republic is the head of state and has a largely ceremonial role. The president is elected for
a five-year term by direct elections and Tayyip Erdoan is the first president elected by
direct voting.
Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers which
make up the government, while the legislative power is vested in the unicameral
parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the
executive and the legislature, and the Constitutional Court is charged with ruling on the
conformity of laws and decrees with the constitution. The Council of State is the tribunal of
last resort for administrative cases, and the High Court of Appeals for all others
ECONOMY
Turkey has the world's 17th largest GDP by PPP[216] and 18th largest nominal GDP.[217] The
country is among the founding members of the OECD and the G-20.[149][155]
Turkey has a sizeable automotive industry, which produced over 1.3 million motor vehicles
in 2015, ranking as the 14th largest producer in the world.[219] Turkish shipbuilding exports
were worth US$1.2 billion in 2011.[220] The major export markets are Malta, Marshall
Islands, Panama and the United Kingdom. Turkish shipyards have 15 floating docks of
different sizes and one dry dock.[220] Tuzla, Yalova, and zmit have developed into dynamic
shipbuilding centres.[221] In 2011, there were 70 active shipyards in Turkey, with another 56
being built.[221] Turkish shipyards are highly regarded both for the production of chemical
and oil tankers up to 10,000 dwt and also for their mega yachts.[221]
Turkish brands like Beko and Vestel are among the largest producers of consumer
electronics and home appliances in Europe, and invest a substantial amount of funds for
research and development in new technologies related to these fields.[222][223][224]
Other key sectors of the Turkish economy are banking, construction, home appliances,
electronics, textiles, oil refining, petrochemical products, food, mining, iron and steel,
and machine industry. In 2010, the agricultural sector accounted for 9 percent of GDP,
while the industrial sector accounted for 26 percent and the services sector for 65
percent.[9] However, agriculture still accounted for a quarter of employment.[225] In 2004, it
was estimated that 46 percent of total disposable income was received by the top 20
percent of income earners, while the lowest 20 percent received only 6 percent.[226] The rate
of female employment in Turkey was 30 percent in 2012,[227] the lowest among all OECD
countries.[228]
Foreign direct investment (FDI) was $8.3 billion in 2012, a figure expected to rise to $15
billion in 2013.[229] In 2012, Fitch Group upgraded Turkey's credit rating to investment
grade after an 18-year gap;[230] this was followed by a ratings upgrade by Moody's in May
2013, as the service lifted Turkey's government bond ratings to the lowest investment
grade Baa3.[231][232] In September 2016, Moody's cut Turkey's sovereign debt to junk
status.[233]
In the economic crisis of 2016 it emerged that the huge debts incurred for investment
during the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government since 2002 had mostly been
consumed in construction, rather than invested in sustainable economic growth.[234] Private
bank debts in Turkey were 6.6 billion TL in 2002 and had increased to 385 billion TL by the
end of 2015.[234] As of January 2017, the U.S. dollar rose to 3.73 and the euro also spiked
against the Turkish lira with a record at 3.93

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