4 submarine cables; satellite earth stations—Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 ARABSAT with back-up control station; coaxial cable to Algeria; radio relay to Algeria, Libya, and Italy
Defense Forces
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force
Military manpower: males 15-49, 1,997,197; 1,149,141 fit for military service; 88,368 reach military age (20) annually
Defense expenditures: 2.7% of GDP, or $235 million (1989 est.)
Turkey
_Turkey.jpg)
See regional map VI
Geography
Total area: 780,580 km²; land area:
770,760 km²
Comparative area: slightly larger than Texas
Land boundaries: 2,715 km total; Bulgaria 240 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 331 km, Syria 822 km, USSR 617 km
Coastline: 7,200 km
Maritime claims:
- Extended economic zone: in Black Sea only to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the USSR
- Territorial sea: 6 nm (12 nm in Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea)
Disputes: complex maritime and air (but not territorial) disputes with Greece in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question; Hatay question with Syria; ongoing dispute with downstream riparians (Syria and Iraq) over water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR
Climate: temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior
Terrain: mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central plateau (Anatolia)
Natural resources: antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, sulphur, iron ore
Land use: 30% arable land; 4% permanent crops; 12% meadows and pastures; 26% forest and woodland; 28% other; includes 3% irrigated
Environment: subject to severe earthquakes, especially along major river valleys in west; air pollution; desertification
Note: strategic location controlling the Turkish straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas; Turkey and Norway only NATO members having a land boundary with the USSR
People
Population: 56,704,327 (July 1990), growth rate 2.2% (1990)
Birth rate: 29 births/1,000 population (1990)
Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1990)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)
Infant mortality rate: 74 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
Life expectancy at birth: 64 years male, 67 years female (1990)
Total fertility rate: 3.6 children born/woman (1990)
Nationality: noun—Turk(s); adjective—Turkish
Ethnic divisions: 85% Turkish, 12% Kurd, 3% other
Religion: 98% Muslim (mostly Sunni), 2% other (mostly Christian and Jewish)
Language: Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic
Literacy: 70%
Labor force: 18,800,000; 56% agriculture, 30% services, 14% industry; about 1,000,000 Turks work abroad (1987)
Organized labor: 10-15% of labor force
Government
Long-form name: Republic of Turkey
Type: republican parliamentary democracy
Capital: Ankara
Administrative divisions: 67 provinces (iller, singular—il); Adana, Adiyaman, Afyon, Ağri, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir, Bilecik, Bingöl, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Çanakkale, Çankiri, Çorum, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Edirne, Elaziğ, Erzincan, Erzurum,Eşkisehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gümüşhane, Hakkâri, Hatay, I̊çel, Isparta, I̊stanbul, I̊zmir, Kahraman Maraş, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kirklareli, Kirşehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kiitahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Muğla, Muş, Nevşehir, Niğde, Ordu, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Siirt, Sinop, Sivas, Tekirdağ, Tokat, Trabzon, Tunceli, Urfa, Uşak, Van, Yozgat, Zonguldak; note there may be four new provinces named Aksaray, Bayburt, Karaman, and Kirikkale
Independence: 29 October 1923 (successor state to the Ottoman Empire)
Constitution: 7 November 1982
Legal system: derived from various continental legal systems; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
National holiday: Anniversary of the Declaration of the Republic, 29 October (1923)
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