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, Climate Change, 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

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.038 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.032 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.84 male(s)/female

total population:

1.019 male(s)/female (2007 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

name:

Ankara

geographic coordinates:

39 56 N, 32 52 E

time difference:

UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

daylight saving time:

+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October

• civil law system derived from various European continental legal systems;
• note - member of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), although Turkey claims limited derogations on the ratified European Convention on Human Rights;
• has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

chief of state:

President Abdullah GUL (since 28 August 2007)

head of government:

• Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN (since 14 March 2003);
• Deputy Prime Minister Cemil CICEK (since 29 August 2007);
• Deputy Prime Minister Hayati YAZICI (since 29 August 2007);
• Deputy Prime Minister Nazim EKREN (since 29 August 2007)

cabinet:

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

elections:

president elected by the National Assembly for a single seven-year term; prime minister appointed by the president from among members of parliament

election results:

Abdullah GUL received 339 votes in the third round of voting on 28 August 2007, after failing to garner the two thirds vote required by law in the first two rounds

note: president-elect 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

• Anavatan Partisi (Motherland Party) or Anavatan [Erkan MUMCU];
• Democratic Left Party or DSP [Mehmet Zeki SEZER];
• Democratic Society Party or DTP [Ahmet TURK];
• Felicity Party or SP [Recai KUTAN] (sometimes translated as Contentment Party);
• Justice and Development Party or AKP [Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN];
• Nationalist Action Party or MHP [Devlet BAHCELI] (sometimes translated as Nationalist Movement Party);
• People's Rise Party (Halkin Yukselisi Partisi) or HYP [Yasar Nuri OZTURK];
• Republican People's Party or CHP [Deniz BAYKAL];
• Social Democratic People's Party or SHP [Murat KARAYALCIN];
• True Path Party or DYP [Mehmet AGAR] (sometimes translated as Correct Way Party);
• Young Party or GP [Cem Cengiz UZAN]

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 [Ismail Hakki TOMBUL];
• 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 Confederation of Employers' Unions or TISK [Tugurl KUDATGOBILIK];
• Turkish Confederation of Labor or Turk-Is [Salih KILIC];
• Turkish Confederation of Tradesmen and Craftsmen or TESK [Dervis GUNDAY];
• Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association or TUSIAD [Omer SABANCI];
• Turkish Union of Chambers of Commerce and Commodity Exchanges or TOBB [M. Rifat HISARCIKLIOGLU]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Nabi SENSOY

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, New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador Ross WILSON

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

agriculture:

35.9%

industry:

22.8%

services:

41.2% (3rd quarter)

lowest 10%:

2%

highest 10%:

34.1% (2003)

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

total:

8,697 km

standard gauge:

8,697 km 1.435-m gauge (1,920 km electrified) (2006)

total:

426,906 km

paved:

177,550 km (includes 1,892 km of expressways)

unpaved:

249,356 km (2004)

males age 20-49:

16,756,323

females age 20-49:

16,051,706 (2005 est.)

males age 20-49:

13,905,901

females age 20-49:

13,335,812 (2005 est.)

males age 18-49:

679,734

females age 20-49:

659,090 (2005 est.)

• in the early 1990s, the Turkish Land Force was a large but badly equipped infantry force;
• there were 14 infantry divisions, but only one was mechanized, and out of 16 infantry brigades, only six were mechanized;
• a subsequent overhaul has produced highly mobile forces with greatly enhanced firepower in accordance with NATO's new strategic concept (2005)

• complex maritime, air, and territorial disputes with Greece in the Aegean Sea;
• status of north Cyprus question remains;
• 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 lesser extent, the US - via air, land, and sea routes;
• major Turkish and other international trafficking organizations operate out of Istanbul;
• laboratories to convert imported morphine base into heroin exist in remote regions of Turkey and near Istanbul;
• government maintains strict controls over areas of legal opium poppy cultivation and over output of poppy straw concentrate;
• lax enforcement of money-laundering controls