Turkey - COUNTRY PROFILE
Geography
Most of Turkey is located on the old Roman province of Asia Minor, in the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. However, a small part of the country is in Europe, better known as the Trakya, or Thrace, region. The city of Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, spans both Europe and Asia, and is the only city of its kind in the world. In the north, Turkey borders the Black Sea, and is connected to the Mediterranean via the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles. On the European side, Turkey has borders with Bulgaria and Greece; this border extends through the Aegean Sea towards the south. At the eastern end of Turkey's Mediterranean coast is Syria, then Iraq and Iran. To the north-east is the border with Armenia and Georgia, which is on the Black Sea. Turkey also shares a tiny frontier with the Azeri territory of Nakchevan in the south-east.
Much of Turkey is covered by hills and steppe, whilst the east of the country is very mountainous, especially near the Iranian and Caucasus border regions. The Black Sea coast is known for its temperate climate, while the Mediterranean and Aegean coast is popular with both local and foreign tourists. Much of this coastline is mountainous with many small peninsulas and bays, although further east it is flatter and sandier. The huge lakes of central Turkey are part of the hilly landscape of the region; these hills are interspersed with larger mountains, as can be seen in the inland region of Cappadoccia.
Recent History
Following the Treaty of Sevres, imposed on Turkey after its defeat in World War I, Allied troops occupied much of the country. These troops were finally expelled in 1923 by Turkish nationalists under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who became the first president of the new republic. While president he introduced sweeping reforms, including secularising the state and adopting the Latin alphabet for modern Turkish.
After the results of World War I, Turkey tried to remain neutral through World War II, but ended up joining the war on the Allied side in the closing stages. Even though Turkey stayed out of the war until the very end, it still suffered economically from the war's effects. After World War II, the process of democratisation accelerated. However, the army intervened in 1960, which was the first of the three military coups; the other two coups were in 1971 and 1980.
Government and Politics
Major Political Players
Ahmet Necdet Sezer: President and former Constitutional Court judge. He was not well known to the outside world before his accession to power. He was sworn in on May 16, 2000, and is seen by many as a reformist, though at the same time a strict Kemalist and secularist.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan: Prime Minister and leader of the AKP. Erdogan became prime minister in March 2003 after the AKP-dominated parliament staged a by-election. Erdogan was barred from standing in the November 2002 general election due to a previous criminal conviction for reading an Islamist poem at a political rally. Credited for improving public services while mayor of Istanbul, he is a populist with widespread support from working class Turks.
Abdullah Gul: AKP deputy leader and foreign minister, he previously occupied the post of prime minister before stepping down to allow Erdogan to assume the role. Gul retains considerable influence over both Erdogan and the AKP. Many people feel that he has managed the change of power from himself to Erdogan after the November 2003 elections very well.
Turkey is now a rather robust, if fractious, democracy. The presence of a majority government, by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), has greatly improved stability, and has done much to erase the ill effects of the coalition governments that preceded it. It is unlikely that another coup will take place in the near future, and the political violence of the 1970s and 1980s is very much a thing of the past.
On December 10, 1999, Turkey was officially made a candidate country for membership of the EU. Then, on October 3, 2005, accession talks formally began. While the path to membership is expected to be long and bumpy – few foresee membership inside a decade – the opening of accession talks was undoubtedly an historic moment for both Turkey and the EU.
Population
The Turks are originally a central Asian nomadic tribal people. They wandered into what is now Turkey over the course of several centuries, and by the time of the First Crusade (1096) the Seljuks, a Turkic tribe, had conquered much of Asia Minor. However, it was not until 1453 that Constantinople itself was captured by the Ottoman Empire.
Despite the many forces which have influenced the Turks since then, they have remained almost entirely Muslim (98%), especially since the establishment of the republic. The Turkish Muslims are mostly Sunni, although there is a substantial Shia population - estimates put it around 10%. The rest of the non-Muslim population is a mixture of Jews and a variety of Christian denominations. Many Turks are of mixed race because of the many different ethnicities within the country. For example, to the south-east is a large ethnic Kurdish population and along the southern border with Syria there are many Arabic speakers. In addition, there are populations from the Caucasus and from the Balkans, which have been integrated into the general Turkish population.
Basic education is of quite a high standard in Turkey, with a compulsory eight years of schooling, putting the rate of literacy at about 85% in 2004. However, there are loopholes - as of 2004 approximately 27% of the male population did not finish intermediate school, and only 4% of men complete higher education.
Economy
After a severe economic crisis in 1994, the Turkish economy bounced back some way towards recovery. Real GNP growth hit a peak of 8.3% in 1997, but then growth slowed again. Then, two large earthquakes hit Turkey in 1999, one on August 17 and the other on November 12, which only worsened the economic situation. The overall financial cost for the two earthquakes has been estimated at over $10bn, crippling an economy which was already showing signs of struggling. GDP shrank by about 5% in 1999.
Following this, the government of Bulent Ecevit made many promises both to citizens and international aid organisations. Yet despite some changes, Turkey was hit with two more serious financial crises in late 2000 and early 2001. After this second collapse – in which the currency plummeted and a number of banks collapsed – the Turkish government and IMF set up a recovery programme not only to help the economy stabilise, but also to insure that this type of crisis would not occur again. The central aim of the economic programme was to calm the accelerating rate of inflation to a target of 7% year-on-year rises by 2002. Turkey was unable to reach this goal, but it has been able to go from a 20% inflation rate in 2003 to a target rate of 12% in 2004, with the rate falling to 8% in September 2005. Economic growth has also picked up, as have exports, although there continues to be a worrying current account deficit. The year 2005 was also more successful for the country's privatisation programme, which had become stalled in recent years. The prospect of further economic and political reform on the path to EU membership has also boosted investor confidence.
