Turkey

Turkey A country partly in Asia and partly in Europe.

Physical

The Asian and European parts of Turkey are separated by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the channel of the Dardanelles. The smaller, European part is bounded by Bulgaria and Greece. The much larger Asian part comprises the whole of Asia Minor and is known as Anatolia. It has the Black Sea on the north, Georgia, Armenia, and Iran on the east, Iraq and Syria on the south, and coasts on the Mediterranean and Aegean seas. Its largest river, the Kizil Irmak, is saline for nearly half its course to the Black Sea. In the east rise the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The plateau is subject to devastating earthquakes, however, lying as it does at a junction of crustal plates.

Economy

Turkey has an expanding industrial sector and prospering agriculture. One of the world's four largest chrome producers, Turkey has rich mineral deposits of coal, antimony, copper, iron ore, sulphur, lead, and zinc. Tourism is expanding.

History

Modern Turkey evolved from the OTTOMAN EMPIRE, which was finally dissolved at the end of World War I. By the Treaty of SÈVRES at the Versailles Peace Conference parts of the east coast of the Aegean around the city of Izmir (Smyrna) were to go to Greece, and the Anatolian peninsula was to be partitioned, with a separate state of ARMENIA created on the Black Sea. The settlement triggered off fierce national resistance, led by Mustafa Kemal. A Greek army marched inland from Izmir, but was defeated. The city was captured, Armenia occupied, and the new Treaty of Lausanne negotiated. This recognized the present frontiers, obliging some one and a half million Greeks and some half-million Armenians to leave the country (July 1923). In October 1923 the new Republic of Turkey was proclaimed, with Kemal as first President. His dramatic modernizing reforms won him the title of ATATÜRK, ‘Father of the Turks’. The one-party rule of his Republican People's Party continued under his lieutenant Ismel Inonu until 1950, when in the republic's first open elections, the free-enterprise opposition Democratic Party entered a decade of power, ending with an army coup. Civilian rule was resumed in 1961, but there was a further period of military rule (1971–73). Atatürk's neutralist policy had been abandoned in 1952 when Turkey joined NATO. Relations with allies, however, were strained by the invasion of CYPRUS (1974). A US trade embargo resulting from this was only lifted in 1978. Tension between left-wing and right-wing factions, hostility to Westernization by the minority Shiites, who seek to enforce Islamic puritanism, and fighting between Turks, Kurds, and Armenians, continued to trouble the country. A military coup, led by General Kenan Evren, overthrew the civilian government of Suleiman Demirel. Under Presidents Evren (1982–87) and Turgut Özal (1987–93) some political stability developed, with rather more concern for human rights. Martial law was lifted in 1987 and the state of emergency ended in 1988, some political parties having been legalized, including a neo-fascist Nationalist Workers' Party. The Kurdish Workers' Party, claiming to speak for Turkey's twelve million Kurds, continued its armed campaign for an independent Kurdistan. Turkey contributed to the GULF WAR, and claimed a loss of revenue of some $6200 million as a result. During 1991–92 it sought to establish a Black Sea Economic Prosperity Zone with former republics and satellites of the Soviet Union. Civilian rule was resumed in 1991, with the re-election of Suleiman Demirel at the head of a coalition. 1993 saw the election of Tansu Çiller (1946– ), Turkey's first woman Prime Minister, and Demirel became President. However, the secular nature of the Turkish state became increasingly challenged by the rise of Islamic fundamentalism. In 1995 a military offensive was launched against the Kurds in northern Iraq, and unrest within the country led to the collapse of Çiller's government. The pro-Islamist Welfare Party won subsequent elections but the two major centre-right parties formed an anti-Islamist coalition. This collapsed in 1996 and a coalition led by the Welfare Party was formed. This coalition resigned in 1997 and was replaced by a new one led by the centre-right Motherland Party. In 1999 this was replaced by a coalition led by Ecevit Bulent. In 1989 the European Community postponed consideration of Turkey's application for membership (1987), in part as a result of its human rights violations.

Capital:	Ankara
Area:	779,452 sq km (300,948 sq miles)
Population:	64,567,000 (1998 est)
Currency:	1 Turkish lira = 100 kurush
Religions:	Muslim (principally Sunni) 99.0%; Eastern Orthodox 0.3%; other Christian and Jewish 0.5%
Ethnic Groups:	Turkish 85.7%; Kurdish 10.6%; Arab 1.6%; Greek, Armenian, and other 2.1%
Languages:	Turkish (official); Kurdish; Arabic
International Organizations:	UN; OECD; NATO; Council of Europe; CSCE