Turkey
Published on Jan 06, 2016
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Turkey
History Of Turkey
The history of the geographic area occupied by the modern state of Turkey and the history of the
peoples who occupy that state are quite different. Linking the two is the history of the Ottoman
Empire. That empire was a vast, pan-Islamic state that expanded, beginning in the fourteenth
century, from a small Turkish emirate located within the boundaries of the present-day Republic
of Turkey to include holdings across North Africa, southeastern Europe, and most of the Middle East.
Photo by Fikriye Kaya
GEOGRAPHY
Thrace, the westernmost, European segment of Turkey,
forms the south-easternmost extremity of Europe, east of Bulgaria and Greece. Some 8 percent of Turkey’s territory is in Thrace. The total area of Turkey is 780,580 square kilometers, including 9,820 square kilometers of
water. he land boundaries of Turkey are as follows: with Syria, 822 kilometers; Iran, 499 kilometers; Iraq, 352 kilometers; Armenia, 268 kilometers; Georgia, 252 kilometers; Bulgaria, 240 kilometers; Greece, 206 kilometers; and Azerbaijan, 9 kilometers. Turkey has 7,200 kilometers of coastline on the Mediterranean Sea,
Aegean Sea, Black Sea, and Sea of Marmara.
Photo by Werner Kunz
Topography & Climate
Turkey’s extremities are divided into the Black Sea coastline region, the Aegean coastline region, the Mediterranean coastline region, and the Arabian Platform along the Syrian border in the south. The interior is divided into the Pontus mountain range, which lines most of the Black Sea coastline; the Taurus mountain range, which extends from the Mediterranean coast north of Cyprus to east-central Anatolia; the Anatolian Plateau, which dominates the interior of western Anatolia; and the eastern highlands, which dominate far eastern Anatolia, east of the Pontus and Taurus chains. Turkey's longest rivers, the Kızılırmak, Sakarya, and Yeşilırmak, flow northward from the interior of the country into the Black Sea. The Aegean and Mediterranean coastal regions have cool, rainy winters and hot, moderately dry summers, with annual precipitation ranging from 580 to 1,300 millimeters.
Photo by Ozgurmulazimoglu
Culture
Approximately 80 percent of the population is Turkish, and an estimated 17 percent, concentrated in the southeast, is Kurdish. Smaller minority groups include Arabs, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and Dönme (a small, separate group of Muslims, concentrated in Edirne and Istanbul, whose forbears converted from Judaism). In recent decades, the Armenian, Greek, and Jewish populations have declined steadily. Because of their numbers and their geographic concentration, the Kurds have been by far the most significant ethnic minority. Key issues are the Kurds’ demand for autonomy and complaints that they are forbidden to learn Kurdish and forced to abandon their customs
Photo by G.OZCAN
Economy
Nonagricultural economic activity is concentrated in four regions, centered, respectively, around the Sea of Marmara, Edirne on the west coast, the Adana–Mersin– İskenderun triangle along the Mediterranean Sea, and Ankara. In 2007 a large share of Turkey’s major enterprises remained in state hands, including all of the transportation, utilities, and communications infrastructure, many basic industries, and about 30 percent of the assets in the banking sector. n 2007 Turkey’s estimated GDP of US$663.4 billion (at the official exchange rate) showed a real increase of 5 percent over the previous year. Inflation has been a chronic problem in Turkey’s economy. Between 1994 and 1999, the average yearly rate was 85 percent.
Photo by UweBKK (α 77 on )
