02/28/2011 General information about Turkey
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Turkey
conventional short form: Turkey
local long form: Turkiye Cumhuriyeti
local short form: Turkiye
Location: Southeastern Europe and Southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria
Geographic coordinates: 39 00 N, 35 00 E
Map references: Middle East
Area: total: 783,562 sq km country comparison to the world: 37 land: 769,632 sq km water: 13,930 sq km
Land boundaries: total: 2,648 km
border countries: Armenia 268 km, Azerbaijan 9 km, Bulgaria 240 km, Georgia 252 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 352 km, Syria 822 km Coastline: 7,200 km
Climate: temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior
Terrain: high central plateau (Anatolia); narrow coastal plain; several mountain ranges
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Mediterranean Sea 0 m highest point: Mount Ararat 5,166 m
Natural resources: coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, antimony, mercury, gold, barite, borate, celestite (strontium), emery, feldspar, limestone, magnesite, marble, perlite, pumice, pyrites (sulfur), clay, arable land, hydropower
Land use: arable land: 29.81% permanent crops: 3.39% other: 66.8% (2005)
Irrigated land: 52,150 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources: 234 cu km (2003)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural): total: 39.78 cu km/yr (15%/11%/74%) per capita: 544 cu m/yr (2001)
Natural hazards: severe earthquakes, especially in northern Turkey, along an arc extending from the Sea of Marmara to Lake Van volcanism: Turkey experiences little volcanic activity; its three historically active volcanoes; Ararat, Nemrut Dagi, and Tendurek Dagi have not erupted since the 19th century or earlier
Government type: republican parliamentary democracy
Capital: name: Ankara
geographic coordinates: 39 56 N, 32 52 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
Administrative divisions: 81 provinces (iller, singular - ili); Adana, Adiyaman, Afyonkarahisar, Agri, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Ardahan, Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir, Bartin, Batman, Bayburt, Bilecik, Bingol, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Canakkale, Cankiri, Corum, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Duzce, Edirne, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Hatay, Igdir, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir (Smyrna), Kahramanmaras, Karabuk, Karaman, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kilis, Kirikkale, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin, Mugla, Mus, Nevsehir, Nigde, Ordu, Osmaniye, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Siirt, Sinop, Sirnak, Sivas, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon (Trebizond), Tunceli, Usak, Van, Yalova, Yozgat, Zonguldak
National holiday: Republic Day, 29 October (1923)
Legal system: 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
Population: 77,804,122 (July 2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 17
Age structure: 0-14 years: 27.2% (male 10,701,631/female 10,223,260) 15-64 years: 66.7% (male 25,896,326/female 25,327,403) 65 years and over: 6.1% (male 2,130,360/female 2,526,544) (2010 est.) Median age: total: 28.1 years male: 27.7 years female: 28.4 years (2010 est.)
Population growth rate: 1.272% (2010 est.) country comparison to the world: 97
Airports: 99 (2010) country comparison to the world: 60
Airports - with paved runways: total: 88 over 3,047 m: 16 2,438 to 3,047 m: 33 1,524 to 2,437 m: 19 914 to 1,523 m: 16 under 914 m: 4 (2010)
Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 11 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 914 to 1,523 m: 6 under 914 m: 4 (2010)
Heliports: 20 (2010)
Pipelines: gas 10,630 km; oil 3,636 km (2009)
Railways: total: 8,697 km country comparison to the world: 23 standard gauge: 8,697 km 1.435-m gauge (1,920 km electrified) (2008)
Roadways: total: 352,046 km country comparison to the world: 19 paved: 313,151 km (includes 2,010 km of expressways) unpaved: 38,895 km (2008)
Waterways: 1,200 km (2008) country comparison to the world: 61
Merchant marine: total: 645 country comparison to the world: 18 by type: bulk carrier 95, cargo 290, chemical tanker 85, combination ore/oil 1, container 40, liquefied gas 6, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 59, petroleum tanker 31, refrigerated cargo 1, roll on/roll off 34, specialized tanker 2 foreign-owned: 3 (Germany 1, Italy 2) registered in other countries: 686 (Albania 1, Antigua and Barbuda 7, Azerbaijan 1, Bahamas 3, Barbados 1, Belize 18, Cambodia 26, Comoros 16, Cook Islands 4, Dominica 1, Georgia 22, Italy 3, Kiribati 3, Liberia 15, Malta 211, Marshall Islands 72, Moldova 18, Mongolia 1, former Netherlands Antilles 8, Panama 79, Russia 104, Saint Kitts and Nevis 22, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 18, Sierra Leone 14, Slovakia 2, Tanzania 7, Togo 4, Turkmenistan 1, Tuvalu 1, UK 1, unknown 2) (2010).
Ports and terminals: Aliaga, Diliskelesi, Eregli, Izmir, Izmit (Kocaeli), Mercin (Icel), Limani, Yarimca
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