Turkiye

• temperate;
• hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters;
• harsher in interior

• high central plateau (Anatolia);
• narrow coastal plain;
• several mountain ranges

• water pollution from dumping of chemicals and detergents;
• air pollution, particularly in urban areas;
• deforestation;
• concern for oil spills from increasing Bosporus ship traffic

party to:

Air Pollution, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Environmental Modification

• strategic location controlling the Turkish Straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas;
• Mount Ararat, the legendary landing place of Noah's Ark, is in the far eastern portion of the country

0-14 years:

27.2% (male 9,422,242; female 9,082,840)

15-64 years:

66.4% (male 22,978,251; female 22,243,477)

65 years and over:

6.4% (male 2,013,926; female 2,368,733) (2003 est.)

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.85 male(s)/female

total population:

1.02 male(s)/female (2003 est.)

noun:

Turk(s)

adjective:

Turkish

conventional long form:

Republic of Turkey

conventional short form:

Turkey

local long form:

Turkiye Cumhuriyeti

local short form:

Turkiye

chief of state:

President Ahmet Necdet SEZER (since 16 May 2000)

elections:

• president elected by the National Assembly for a seven-year term;
• election last held 5 May 2000 (next to be held NA May 2007);
• prime minister and deputy prime ministers appointed by the president

note: a National Security Council serves as an advisory body to the government composed of top military and cabinet officials and presided over by the president

cabinet:

Council of Ministers appointed by the president on the nomination of the prime minister

head of government:

• Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN (14 March 2003);
• note - Abdullah GUL resigned 11 March 2003;
• Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN was given a mandate to form a new government

election results:

Ahmed Necdet SEZER elected president on the third ballot; percent of National Assembly vote - 60%

note: president must have a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly on the first two ballots and a simple majority on the third ballot

• Constitutional Court (judges are appointed by the president);
• Court of Appeals and Council of State (judges are elected by the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors)

• Democratic Left Party or DSP [Bulent ECEVIT];
• Justice and Development Party or AKP [Recep Tayip ERDOGAN];
• Motherland Party or ANAP [Ahmet Mesut YILMAZ];
• Nationalist Action Party or MHP [Devlet BAHCELI];
• Republican People's Party or CHP [Deniz BAYKAL];
• True Path Party (sometimes translated as Correct Way Party) or DYP [Tansu CILLER];
• Young Party or GP [Cem UZAN]

• Confederation of Public Sector Unions or KESK [Sami EVREN];
• Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Unions or DISK [Suleyman CELEBI];
• Independent Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association or MUSIAD [Erol YARAR];
• Moral Rights Workers Union or Hak-Is [Salim USLU];
• Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association or TUSIAD [Muharrem KAYHAN];
• Turkish Confederation of Employers' Unions or TISK [Refik BAYDUR];
• Turkish Confederation of Labor or Turk-Is [Bayram MERAL];
• Turkish Confederation of Tradesmen and Craftsmen or TESK [Dervis GUNDAY; Turkish Union of Chambers of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges or TOBB [M. Rifat HISARCIKLIOGLU]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Dr. Osman Faruk LOGOGLU

FAX:

[1] (202) 612-6744

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York

chancery:

2525 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 612-6700

chief of mission:

Ambassador Eric S. EDELMAN

embassy:

110 Ataturk Boulevard, Kavaklidere, 06100 Ankara

mailing address:

PSC 93, Box 5000, APO AE 09823

telephone:

[90] (312) 455-5555

FAX:

[90] (312) 467-0019

consulate(s) general:

Istanbul

consulate(s):

Adana; note - there is a Consular Agent in Izmir

lowest 10%:

2.3%

highest 10%:

32.3% (1994)

general assessment:

undergoing rapid modernization and expansion, especially with cellular telephones

domestic:

• additional digital exchanges are permitting a rapid increase in subscribers;
• the construction of a network of technologically advanced intercity trunk lines, using both fiber-optic cable and digital microwave radio relay is facilitating communication between urban centers;
• remote areas are reached by a domestic satellite system;
• the number of subscribers to mobile cellular telephone service is growing rapidly

international:

• international service is provided by three submarine fiber-optic cables in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, linking Turkey with Italy, Greece, Israel, Bulgaria, Romania, and Russia;
• also by 12 Intelsat earth stations, and by 328 mobile satellite terminals in the Inmarsat and Eutelsat systems (2002)

total:

8,607 km

standard gauge:

8,607 km 1.435-m gauge (2,131 km electrified) (2002)

total:

385,960 km

paved:

131,226 km (including 1,749 km of expressways)

unpaved:

254,734 km (1999)

• complex maritime, air, and territorial disputes with Greece in the Aegean Sea;
• Cyprus question remains with Greece;
• Syria and Iraq protest Turkish hydrological projects to control upper Euphrates waters;
• Turkey is quick to rebuff any perceived Syrian claim to Hatay province;
• border with Armenia remains closed over Nagorno-Karabakh

• key transit route for Southwest Asian heroin to Western Europe and - to a far lesser extent the US - via air, land, and sea routes;
• major Turkish, Iranian, and other international trafficking organizations operate out of Istanbul;
• laboratories to convert imported morphine base into heroin are in remote regions of Turkey as well as near Istanbul;
• government maintains strict controls over areas of legal opium poppy cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate