Turkiye

Airports

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

30 major transport aircraft (1985)

Highways

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)

Inland waterways

about 1,200 km

Merchant marine

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

1,738 km crude oil; 2,321 km refined products; 708 km natural gas

Ports

Iskenderun, Istanbul, Mersin, Izmir

Railroads

8,401 km 1.435-meter standard gauge; 479 km electrified

Telecommunications

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

Branches

Land Forces, Navy, Air Force, Gendarmerie, Coast Guard

Defense expenditures

3.9% of GDP, or $2.9 billion (1989 est.)

Military manpower

males 15-49, 14,413,944; 8,813,430 fit for military service; 597,547 reach military age (20) annually

Agriculture

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

Aid

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

revenues $12.1 billion; expenditures $14.5 billion, including capital expenditures of $2.08 billion (FY88 est.)

Currency

Turkish lira (plural--liras); 1 Turkish lira (TL) = 100 kurus

Electricity

14,064,000 kW capacity; 40,000 million kWh produced, 720 kWh per capita (1989)

Exchange rates

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

$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%

External debt

$36.3 billion (November 1989)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP

$75 billion, per capita $1,350; real growth rate 1.8% (1989 est.)

Illicit drugs

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

$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 7.4% (1988)

Industries

textiles, food processing, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron minerals), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

68.8% (1989)

Overview

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

15.8% (1988)

Climate

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

Coastline

7,200 km

Comparative area

slightly larger than Texas

Disputes

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

subject to severe earthquakes, especially along major river valleys in west; air pollution; desertification

Extended economic zone

in Black Sea only--to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the USSR;

Land boundaries

2,715 km total; Bulgaria 240 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 331 km, Syria 822 km, USSR 617 km

Land use

30% arable land; 4% permanent crops; 12% meadows and pastures; 26% forest and woodland; 28% other; includes 3% irrigated

Natural resources

antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, sulphur, iron ore

Note

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

mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central plateau (Anatolia)

Territorial sea

6 nm (12 nm in Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea)

Total area

780,580 km2; land area: 770,760 km2

Administrative divisions

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

Ankara

Communists

strength and support negligible

Constitution

7 November 1982

Diplomatic representation

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

president, Presidential Council, prime minister, deputy prime minister, Cabinet

Flag

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

29 October 1923 (successor state to the Ottoman Empire)

Judicial branch

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

derived from various continental legal systems; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Legislative branch

unicameral Grand National Assembly (Buyuk Millet Meclisi)

Long-form name

Republic of Turkey

Member of

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

Anniversary of the Declaration of the Republic, 29 October (1923)

Political parties and leaders

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

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

Type

republican parliamentary democracy

Birth rate

29 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate

8 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Ethnic divisions

85% Turkish, 12% Kurd, 3% other

Infant mortality rate

74 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Labor force

18,800,000; 56% agriculture, 30% services, 14% industry; about 1,000,000 Turks work abroad (1987)

Language

Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic

Life expectancy at birth

64 years male, 67 years female (1990)

Literacy

70%

Nationality

noun--Turk(s); adjective--Turkish

Net migration rate

0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Organized labor

10-15% of labor force

Population

56,704,327 (July 1990), growth rate 2.2% (1990)

Religion

98% Muslim (mostly Sunni), 2% other (mostly Christian and Jewish)

Total fertility rate

3.6 children born/woman (1990)