Turkey – key data
Area: 783,562 km² (of which land: 769,632 km², water: 13,930 km²)
Population: 78.8 million (July 2011 estimate, CIA). Composition: Turks 70-75%, Kurds 18%, other minorities 7-12% (2008 estimate)
Population density: 101 people per km²
Population growth: 1.235% per year (2011, CIA)
Capital: Ankara (4.4 million residents, 2008)
largest city: Istanbul (12.6 million residents, 2008)
Highest point: Mount Ararat, 5,166 m
Lowest point: Mediterranean Sea, 0 m
Form of government: Turkey has been a republic since 1923. The Turkish constitution dates from 1982, the last constitutional amendment was made in 2007. The Turkish houses of Parliament(Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi) consists of a chamber with 550 members. These MPs are directly elected every four years, the Turkish President is also elected directly every five years. Turkey has been independent since October 29, 1923.
Administrative division: 81 provinces (ili, plural: iller): Adana, Adiyaman, Afyonkarahisar, Agri, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Ardahan, Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir, Bartin, Batman, Bayburt, Bilecik, Bingol, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Canakkale, Cankiri, Corum, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Duzce, Edirne, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Hatay, Igdir, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir (Smyrna), Kahramanmaras, Karaman, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kilis, Kirikkale, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mersin (Icel), Mugla, Mus, Nevsehir, Nigde, Ordu, Osmaniye, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Siirt, Sinop, Sirnak, Sivas, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon (Trebizond), Tunceli, Usak, Van, Yalova, Yozgat and Zonguldak
Head of State: President Abdullah Gül, since August 28, 2007
Head of Government: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo? An, since March 14, 2003
Language: the official language in Turkey is Turkish. In the southeastern part of the country, the Kurds also speak Kurdish, other languages in the country are Arabic, Greek and Armenian. In regions and cities visited by tourists, German, English and / or French are also spoken.
Religion: Muslims 99.8% (mostly Sunnis), others 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)
Local time: CET +1 h. Between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October there is summer time in Turkey (CET + 2 hours).
The time difference to Central Europe is + 1 hour in both winter and summer.
International phone code: +90
Internet identifier:.tr
Mains voltage: 220 V, 50 Hz
Turkey Geography
The Republic of Turkey is a country in Southeast Europe and the Middle East. It borders on that in the north Black sea and in the south to the Mediterranean. Turkey has the following neighboring countries: Greece in the west, Bulgaria in the north, Georgia and Armenia in the northeast, Iran in the east and Iraq and Syria in the south. The total area of Turkey is 783,562 square kilometers, of which 23,764 square kilometers are on the European Part is omitted.
About 90% of Turkey consists of mountains. The entire Asian part of the country is criss-crossed by the mountain belts of the Pontic Mountains in the north and the Taurus Mountains in the south. The Anatolian highlands, which partly consist of barren steppe landscape, spread out between the two mountain ranges. The European part, on the other hand, consists of a plain interspersed with hills that reach a height of up to 1000 meters. The coasts in the west and south of the country are the most fertile regions Turkey, where about two thirds of the total population live. The favorable climate and excellent soil conditions make these coastal regions into areas that are used intensively for agriculture, industry and tourism.
One of the major Turkish landscapes is the southern Marmara area, which includes the regions of the Dardanelles, eastern Thrace or the European part of Turkey, the Bosporus and the area in the south of the Marmara Sea. While the region between the capital Istanbul on the Bosphorus and Izmit further to the east consists mainly of a flat plateau, the area south of the Marmara Sea presents itself with elevations and depressions that mostly run parallel to the coast.
The Marmara region merges into another large landscape in the south – the Aegean region or the Egegegebiet. This extends from the coast of the Aegean Sea to the Western Anatolian mountain threshold. The Aegean coast is characterized by a large number of large and small bays. Of the many large and small islands in front of it, only a few belong to the Turkish national territory. This region is also criss-crossed by ditches on whose fertile soils olives, wine, cotton, grain and tobacco thrive.
The Mediterranean area is also one of the most important regions in Turkey. Two large bays, those of Antalya and those of Mersin determine this region, which therefore has a completely different appearance than the much-fragmented Aegean coast. Immediately on the coast rises the steeply rising mountain range of the Taurus, whose rugged rocky foothills make some coastal regions difficult to access. To the east, the Taurus Mountains recede from the coast, which is why the area between Antalya and Alanya looks much friendlier and is also called the “Turkish Riviera” because of its flat sandy beaches. In the east of Alanya, between the limestone mountains of the Central Taurus and the coast, there is a flatter, wooded mountainous area, which is criss-crossed by many valleys and slopes steeply to the sea.
The Great Ararat, located in the Ararat highlands in Eastern Anatolia, is Turkey’s highest mountain at 5,166 meters. Located near the border with Armenia and Iran, it is considered to be the mountain Noah is said to have landed on after the end of the Flood.
The most important rivers in Turkey include the Kizilirmak, which is around 1,355 kilometers long, the Firat or Euphrates, Sakarya, Murat and Karasu, both source rivers of the Euphrates, as well as the Dicle and Tigris.
Turkey climate
According to bridgat, the most important climatic differences for Turkey vacationers are between the coast and the inland. On the coast there are mostly moderate temperatures in winter while it is hot and dry in summer. The inland winters are very cold, the summers very hot. The further east you aretravelthe stronger these climatic extremes become. Much of eastern Turkey is impassable from December to April due to snow, and temperatures drop to -12 ° C. Temperatures in the eastern part of the country rise rapidly in July and August and can reach 45 ° C in summer, which can make traveling to eastern Turkey very uncomfortable.
Two to three times as much falls on the Black Sea coast Precipitation as in the national average. The temperatures here are moderate, reminiscent of Central Europe.
