Communications
Airports [time series]
119 total, 112 usable; 69 with permanent-surface runways; 3 with runways over 3,659 m; 30 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 28 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Civil air [time series]
30 major transport aircraft (1985)
Roadways (Highways) [time series]
49,615 km total; 26,915 km bituminous; 16,500 km gravel or crushed stone; 4,000 km improved earth; 2,200 km unimproved earth (1985)
Waterways (Inland waterways) [time series]
about 1,200 km
Merchant marine [time series]
327 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 2,972,465 GRT/5,087,620 DWT; includes 6 short-sea passenger, 1 passenger, 1 passenger-cargo, 193 cargo, 1 container, 4 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 3 refrigerated cargo, 1 livestock carrier, 35 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 15 chemical tanker, 2 liquefied gas, 4 combination ore/oil, 1 specialized tanker, 55 bulk, 4 combination bulk, 1 specialized liquid cargo
Pipelines [time series]
1,738 km crude oil; 2,321 km refined products; 708 km natural gas
Iskenderun, Istanbul, Mersin, Izmir
Railways (Railroads) [time series]
8,401 km 1.435-meter standard gauge; 479 km electrified
Telecommunication systems (Telecommunications) [time series]
fair domestic and international systems; trunk radio relay network; 3,100,000 telephones; stations--15 AM; 45 (60 repeaters) FM; 61 (476 repeaters) TV; communications satellite earth stations operating in the INTELSAT (1 Atlantic Ocean) and EUTELSAT systems; 1 submarine telephone cable
Defense Forces
Military and security forces (Branches) [time series]
Land Forces, Navy, Air Force, Gendarmerie, Coast Guard
Military expenditures (Defense expenditures) [time series]
3.9% of GDP, or $2.9 billion (1989 est.)
Military manpower [time series]
males 15-49, 14,413,944; 8,813,430 fit for military service; 597,547 reach military age (20) annually
Economy
Agricultural products (Agriculture) [time series]
accounts for 20% of GDP and employs majority of population; products--tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets, pulses, citrus fruit, variety of animal products; self-sufficient in food most years
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-88), $2.2 billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $7.9 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $665 million; Communist countries (1970-88), $4.5 billion
Budget [time series]
revenues $12.1 billion; expenditures $14.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.08 billion (FY88 est.)
Exchange rates (Currency) [time series]
Turkish lira (plural--liras); 1 Turkish lira (TL) = 100 kurus
Electricity [time series]
14,064,000 kW capacity; 40,000 million kWh produced, 720 kWh per capita (1989)
Exchange rates [time series]
Turkish liras (TL) per US$1--2,314.7 (November 1989), 1,422.3 (1988), 857.2 (1987), 674.5 (1986), 522.0 (1985)
Exports [time series]
$11.7 billion (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--industrial products 70%, crops and livestock products 25%; partners--FRG 18.4%, Iraq 8.5%, Italy 8.2%, US 6.5%, UK 4.9%, Iran 4.7%
Debt - external (External debt) [time series]
$36.3 billion (November 1989)
Fiscal year [time series]
calendar year
Real GDP (purchasing power parity) (GDP) [time series]
$75 billion, per capita $1,350; real growth rate 1.8% (1989 est.)
Illicit drugs [time series]
one of the world's major suppliers of licit opiate products; government maintains strict controls over areas of opium poppy cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate
Imports [time series]
$14.3 billion (c.i.f., 1988); commodities--crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, metals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, plastics, rubber, mineral fuels, fertilizers, chemicals; partners--FRG 14.3%, US 10.6%, Iraq 10.0%, Italy 7.0%, France 5.8%, UK 5.2%
Industrial production growth rate (Industrial production) [time series]
growth rate 7.4% (1988)
Industries [time series]
textiles, food processing, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron minerals), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper
Inflation rate (consumer prices) [time series]
68.8% (1989)
Economic overview (Overview) [time series]
The economic reforms that Turkey launched in 1980 continue to bring an impressive stream of benefits. The economy has grown steadily since the early 1980s, with real growth in per capita GDP increasing more than 6% annually. Agriculture remains the most important economic sector, employing about 60% of the labor force, accounting for almost 20% of GDP, and contributing about 25% to exports. Impressive growth in recent years has not solved all of the economic problems facing Turkey. Inflation and interest rates remain high, and a large budget deficit will continue to provide difficulties for a country undergoing a substantial transformation from a centrally controlled to a free market economy. The government has launched a multimillion-dollar development program in the southeastern region, which includes the building of a dozen dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to generate electric power and irrigate large tracts of farmland. The planned tapping of huge quantities of Euphrates water has raised serious concern in the downstream riparian nations of Syria and Iraq.
Unemployment rate [time series]
15.8% (1988)
Geography
Climate [time series]
temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior
Coastline [time series]
7,200 km
Area - comparative (Comparative area) [time series]
slightly larger than Texas
Disputes - international (Disputes) [time series]
complex maritime and air (but not territorial) disputes with Greece in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question; Hatay question with Syria; ongoing dispute with downstream riparians (Syria and Iraq) over water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR
Environment - current issues (Environment) [time series]
subject to severe earthquakes, especially along major river valleys in west; air pollution; desertification
Extended economic zone [time series]
in Black Sea only--to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the USSR;
Land boundaries [time series]
2,715 km total; Bulgaria 240 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 331 km, Syria 822 km, USSR 617 km
Land use [time series]
30% arable land; 4% permanent crops; 12% meadows and pastures; 26% forest and woodland; 28% other; includes 3% irrigated
Natural resources [time series]
antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, sulphur, iron ore
strategic location controlling the Turkish straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas; Turkey and Norway only NATO members having a land boundary with the USSR
Terrain [time series]
mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central plateau (Anatolia)
Maritime claims (Territorial sea) [time series]
6 nm (12 nm in Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea)
Area (Total area) [time series]
780,580 km2; land area: 770,760 km2
Government
Administrative divisions [time series]
67 provinces (iller, singular--il); Adana, Adiyaman, Afyon, Agri, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir, Bilecik, Bingol, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Canakkale, Cankiri, Corum, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Edirne, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Hatay, Icel, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahraman Maras, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mugla, Mus, Nevsehir, Nigde, Ordu, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Siirt, Sinop, Sivas, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon, Tunceli, Urfa, Usak, Van, Yozgat, Zonguldak; note--there may be four new provinces named Aksaray, Bayburt, Karaman, and Kirikkale
Capital [time series]
Ankara
Political parties (Communists) [time series]
strength and support negligible
Constitution [time series]
7 November 1982
Diplomatic representation in the US (Diplomatic representation) [time series]
Ambassador Nuzhet KANDEMIR; Chancery at 1606 23rd Street NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 387-3200; there are Turkish Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York; US--Ambassador Morton ABRAMOWITZ; Embassy at 110 Ataturk Boulevard, Ankara (mailing address is APO New York 09254--0001); telephone [90] (4) 126 54 70; there are US Consulates General in Istanbul and Izmir, and a Consulate in Adana
Executive branch [time series]
president, Presidential Council, prime minister, deputy prime minister, Cabinet
red with a vertical white crescent (the closed portion is toward the hoist side) and white five-pointed star centered on the hoist side
Independence [time series]
29 October 1923 (successor state to the Ottoman Empire)
Judicial branch [time series]
Court of Cassation Chief of State--President Turgut OZAL (since 9 November 1989); Head of Government--Prime Minister Yildirim AKBULUT (since 9 November 1989); Deputy Prime Minister Ali BOZER (since 31 March 1989)
Legal system [time series]
derived from various continental legal systems; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Legislative branch [time series]
unicameral Grand National Assembly (Buyuk Millet Meclisi)
Country name (Long-form name) [time series]
Republic of Turkey
International organization participation (Member of) [time series]
ASSIMER, CCC, Council of Europe, EC (associate member), ECOSOC, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IDB--Islamic Development Bank, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, IPU, ITC, ITU, NATO, OECD, OIC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO
National holiday [time series]
Anniversary of the Declaration of the Republic, 29 October (1923)
Political parties (Political parties and leaders) [time series]
Motherland Party (ANAP), Yildirim Akbulut; Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP), Erdal Inonu; Correct Way Party (CWP), Suleyman Demirel; Democratic Left Party (DLP), Bulent Ecevit; Prosperity Party (RP), Necmettin Erbakan; National Work Party (MCP), Alpaslan Turkes; Reform Democratic Party (IDP), Aykut Edibali
Suffrage [time series]
universal at age 21 Grand National Assembly--last held 29 November 1987 (next to be held November 1992); results--ANAP 36%, SHP 25%, CWP 19%, others 20%; seats--(450 total) ANAP 283, SHP 81, CWP 56, independents 26, vacant 4
Government type (Type) [time series]
republican parliamentary democracy
People
Birth rate [time series]
29 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate [time series]
8 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Ethnic groups (Ethnic divisions) [time series]
85% Turkish, 12% Kurd, 3% other
Infant mortality rate [time series]
74 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Labor force [time series]
18,800,000; 56% agriculture, 30% services, 14% industry; about 1,000,000 Turks work abroad (1987)
Languages (Language) [time series]
Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic
Life expectancy at birth [time series]
64 years male, 67 years female (1990)
Literacy [time series]
70%
Nationality [time series]
noun--Turk(s); adjective--Turkish
Net migration rate [time series]
0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Organized labor [time series]
10-15% of labor force
Population [time series]
56,704,327 (July 1990), growth rate 2.2% (1990)
Religions (Religion) [time series]
98% Muslim (mostly Sunni), 2% other (mostly Christian and Jewish)
Total fertility rate [time series]
3.6 children born/woman (1990)