At a glance

Official Name:
Republic of Turkey

Capital:
Ankara

Population:
71,892,807 (July 2008 est.) 

Languages:
Turkish (official), Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, Kabardian

Religion:
Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)

Life Expectancy:
Male: 70    Female: 75

Currency:
Turkish lira (TRY); old Turkish lira (TRL) before January 1, 2005

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity):
$888 billion (2007 est.)

National Holidays:
Jan 1, New Year’s Day;
April 23, National Independence and Children’s Day;
May 19, Ataturk Commemoration and Youth Day;
August 30, Victory Day;
October 28 and 29, Republic Day;
September through October, Ramazan Seker Bayrami

Industries:
textiles, food processing, autos, electronics, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper.

Turkey

Turkey was founded by national hero Mustafa Kemal who aided the country in developing a wide-ranging social, legal and political reform. In 1950, after a long period of one party rule, the Democratic Party was elected and brought along with it a peaceful transfer of power. This transfer of power seemed to be short lived however, as years of instability and government problems seemed to plague the country. Perhaps, one of the most influential insurgent groups were the Kurdistan Workers' Party who claimed thousands of lives before fleeing to Iraq in 2004 after the capture of their leader in the late 1990s. Currently, Turkey is working on strengthening its democracy and economy in order to gain membership into the European Union.