Turkiye

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

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

total:

39.78 cu km/yr (15%/11%/74%)

per capita:

544 cu m/yr (2001)

• 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:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.84 male(s)/female

total population:

1.02 male(s)/female (2008 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 one seven-year terms; 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 [Nurettin DEMIRTAS];
• 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, 2004)

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 the SEA-ME-WE-3 submarine cable and by submarine fiber-optic cables in the Mediterranean and Black Seas that link 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)

males age 16-49:

20,213,205

females age 16-49:

19,432,688 (2008 est.)

males age 16-49:

17,011,635

females age 16-49:

16,433,364 (2008 est.)

male:

660,452

female:

638,527 (2008 est.)

• a "National Security Policy Document" adopted in October 2005 increases the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) role in internal security, augmenting the General Directorate of Security and Gendarmerie General Command (Jandarma);
• the TSK leadership continues to play a key role in politics and considers itself guardian of Turkey's secular state;
• in April 2007, it warned the ruling party about any pro-Islamic appointments;
• despite on-going negotiations on EU accession since October 2005, progress has been limited in establishing required civilian supremacy over the military;
• primary domestic threats are listed as fundamentalism (with the definition in some dispute with the civilian government), separatism (the Kurdish problem), and the extreme left wing;
• Ankara strongly opposed establishment of an autonomous Kurdish region;
• an overhaul of the Turkish Land Forces Command (TLFC) taking place under the "Force 2014" program is to produce 20-30% smaller, more highly trained forces characterized by greater mobility and firepower and capable of joint and combined operations;
• the TLFC has taken on increasing international peacekeeping responsibilities, and took charge of a NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) command in Afghanistan in April 2007;
• the Turkish Navy is a regional naval power that wants to develop the capability to project power beyond Turkey's coastal waters;
• the Navy is heavily involved in NATO, multinational, and UN operations;
• its roles include control of territorial waters and security for sea lines of communications;
• the Turkish Air Force adopted an "Aerospace and Missile Defense Concept" in 2002 and has initiated project work on an integrated missile defense system;
• Air Force priorities include attaining a modern deployable, survivable, and sustainable force structure, and establishing a sustainable command and control system (2008)

• 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