General background: Turkey was created in 1923
from the Turkish remnants of the Ottoman Empire. Soon
thereafter the country instituted secular laws to replace
traditional religious fiats. In 1945 Turkey joined the
UN and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. Turkey occupied
the northern portion of Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a
Greek takeover of the island; relations between the
two countries remain strained but have begun to improve
over the past three years. In 1984, the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), a Marxist-Leninist, separatist group, initiated
an insurgency in Southeast Turkey, often using terrorist
tactics to try to attain its goal of an independent
Kurdistan. The group - whose leader, Abdullah OCALAN,
was captured in Kenya in February 1999 and sentenced
to death by a Turkish court - has observed a unilateral
cease-fire since September 1999, although there have
been occasional clashes between Turkish military units
and some of the 4,000-5,000 armed PKK militants, most
of whom currently are encamped in northern Iraq. The
PKK changed its name to the Kurdistan Freedom and Democracy
Congress (KADEK) in April 2002.
Area comparative:
Slightly larger than Texas.
Climate:
Temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters;
harsher in interior.
Terrain: Mostly
mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central plateau
(Anatolia)
Population: 67,308,928 (July 2002 est.)
Ethnic groups: Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20%
Religions: Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other
0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)
Language: Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic,
Armenian, Greek
Government type: Republican parliamentary
democracy
Capital: Ankara
Legal system: Derived from various European
continental legal systems; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations.
Economic overview: Turkey's dynamic economy
is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along
with a traditional agriculture sector that in 2001
still accounted for 40% of employment. It has a strong
and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state
still plays a major role in basic industry, banking,
transport, and communication. The most important industry
- and largest exporter - is textiles and clothing,
which is almost entirely in private hands. In recent
years the economic situation has been marked by erratic
economic growth and serious imbalances. Real GNP growth
has exceeded 6% in most years, but this strong expansion
was interrupted by sharp declines in output in 1994,
1999, and 2001. Meanwhile the public sector fiscal
deficit has regularly exceeded 10% of GDP - due in
large part to the huge burden of interest payments,
which in 2001 accounted for more than 50% of central
government spending - while inflation has remained
in the high double digit range. Perhaps because of
these problems, foreign direct investment in Turkey
remains low - less than $1 billion annually. In late
2000 and early 2001 a growing trade deficit and serious
weaknesses in the banking sector plunged the economy
into crisis - forcing Ankara to float the lira and
pushing the country into recession. Prospects for
2002 are much better, because of strong financial
support from the IMF, tighter fiscal policy, a major
bank restructuring program, and the enactment of numerous
other economic reforms.
Communication/Telephone system: Undergoing
rapid modernization and expansion, especially with
cellular telephones.
Places of interest: There is an enormous variety
of things to see and do ranging from water sports
to mountain trekking, archaeology to night-clubbing
and river rafting.
Travel tips:
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