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, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

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:

26.6% (male 9,328,108; female 8,990,742)

15-64 years:

66.8% (male 23,394,465; female 22,650,532)

65 years and over:

6.6% (male 2,078,881; female 2,451,190) (2004 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 (2004 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

• civil law system derived from various European continental legal systems;
• accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations;
• note - member of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), although Turkey claims limited derogations on the ratified European Convention on Human Rights

chief of state:

President Ahmet Necdet SEZER (since 16 May 2000)

head of government:

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN (14 March 2003)

cabinet:

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

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 appointed by the president from among members of parliament

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;
• High Court of Appeals (Yargitay);
• Council of State (Danistay);
• Court of Accounts (Sayistay);
• Military High Court of Appeals;
• Military High Administrative Court

• Democratic Left Party or DSP [Mehmet Zeki SEZER];
• Democratic People's Party or DEHAP [Tuncer BAKIRHAN];
• Justice and Development Party or AKP [Recep Tayip ERDOGAN];
• Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Emin SIRIN];
• Motherland Party or ANAP [leader NA];
• Nationalist Action Party or MHP [Devlet BAHCELI];
• Republican People's Party or CHP (includes the New Turkey Party) [Deniz BAYKAL];
• Felicity Party (sometimes translated as Contentment Party) or SP [Necmettin ERBEKAN];
• Social Democratic People's Party or SHP [Murat KARAYALCIN];
• True Path Party (sometimes translated as Correct Way Party) or DYP [Mehmet AGAR]

note: the parties listed above are some of the more significant of the 49 parties that Turkey had on 1 December 2004

• 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 [Omer BOLAT];
• Moral Rights Workers Union or Hak-Is [Salim USLU];
• Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association or TUSIAD [Omer SABANCI];
• Turkish Confederation of Employers' Unions or TISK [Refik BAYDUR];
• Turkish Confederation of Labor or Turk-Is [Salih KILIC];
• 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

chancery:

2525 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 612-6700

FAX:

[1] (202) 612-6744

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York

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:

• country code - 90;
• 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:

8,671 km

standard gauge:

8,671 km 1.435-m gauge (2,122 km electrified) (2003)

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 has expressed concern over the status of Kurds in Iraq;
• 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