Population : 74.709.410 (2005) Population Density : 97 per qkm.
Language : Turkish. (French, German, Russich and English are widely spoken in cities and tourist areas.)
Capital : Ankara Population : 3.579.710 (2005)
President : Abdullah Gül
Prime minister : Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Largest city : İstanbul
Currency : Neue Türkische Lira
National anthem : İstiklal marşı (Independence march)
Religion : Islam (99,8%,); with a small Christian minority. Turkey is a secular state which guarantees complete freedom of worship to non-Muslims.
Local time : UTC +2
Electricity : 220 V, 50 Hz.
Government : Republic since 1923. Head of State: President. Head of Government: Prime Minister
Geography : Turkey borders the Black Sea and Georgia and Armenia to the northeast, Iran to the east, Iraq to the southeast, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Mediterranean to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west and Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest. Asia Minor (or Anatolia) accounts for 97 per cent of the country and forms a long, wide peninsula 1650km (1025 miles) from east to west and 650km (400 miles) from north to south. Two east-west mountain ranges, the Black Sea Mountains in the north and the Taurus in the south, enclose the central Anatolian plateau, but converge in a vast mountainous region in the far east of the country. It is here that the ancient Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise.
