Country Facts

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Size
• Total area: 783562km2
• Land: km²
• Water: 1.3%

Population
• 2009 estimate 74,816,000
• 2008 census 71,517,100
• Growth rate: 1.01% (2008 est.)
• Birth rate: 16.15 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
• Death rate: 6.02 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
• Life expectancy: 72.62 years (2006 est.)
• male: 70.18 years
• female: 75.18 years
• Fertility rate: 1.92 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Neighboring country
There are the immediate neighboring countries of Turkey:
• Azerbaijan
• Armenia
• Bulgaria
• Georgia
• Greece
• Iran
• Syria
• Iraq

Currency
The official currency: New Turkish Lira (TRY) (introduced on 1 January 2005)
Currency can be exchanged at banks, exchange booths, post offices, airports and ferry ports; banks have the worst rates and highest commissions, but will exchange lesser known foreign currencies. Banks open mainly Monday to Friday, but some are open daily in tourist areas. ATMs are widely available in major cities and tourist areas, but Turkish ATM keypads usually do not have letters of the alphabet on their keys. Most bank branches have ATMs which accept Cirrus and Plus. Major credit cards are widely accepted; the most popular are Visa or MasterCard, but American Express is accepted in many of the more expensive places. Travellers cheques can be exchanged at some banks and currency exchange offices, but are not as welcome as cash or credit cards. US dollars or Euros are preferred. Some pensions and hotels in the most popular destinations accept US dollars as payment.

TRY 1.00 = US$ 0.66; £ 0.41; C$ 0.70; A$ 0.74; R 4.92; € 0.46; NZ$ 0.92.

Politics
Politics of Turkey takes place in a framework of a strictly secular parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Prime Minister of turkey is the head of government, and of a multi-party system.
Turkey's political system is based on a separation of powers. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Its current constitution was adopted on November 7, 1982 after a period of military rule, and enshrines the principle of secularism.

Language
• Official language: Turkish
• Main minority languages: Kurdish, Zaza, Arabic, Laz, Armenian.
• Main immigrant languages: Albanian, Bosnian, Pomak
• Main foreign languages: English (17%), German (4%), French (3%).

Religion
Turkey is officially a secular state with no official religion since the constitutional amendment in 1924.
• Islam (the largest religion-99% of the population-mostly Sunni)
• Christianity
• Judaism

Culture
• The music of Turkey includes elements of Central Asia folk music, Arabic, Persian classic music, ancient Greco-Roman music and modern European and American popular music. Turkey, rich in musical heritage, has developed this art in two areas, Turkish classical music (similar to Greco- Roman) and Turkish folk music (Similar to Central Asian).
• Turkish painting in the western sense only began in the 19th century, with the founding by Osman Hamdi Bey, himself an accomplished painter, of the Academy of Fine Arts.
• It is said that three major kinds of cuisine exist in the world; Turkish, Chinese, and French. Fully justifying its reputation, Turkish Cuisine is always a pleasant surprise for the visitor.
• In their homeland in Central Asia, Turks lived in dome-like tents appropriate to their natural surroundings, and they were nomads. These tents later influenced Turkish architecture and ornamental arts.

Sports
People of Turkey amuse themselves with a number sports events. Among them following are popular:
• Sailing and Boat Trips, Gulet Cruising
• Scuba Diving
• Rafting & Canoeing
• Windsurfing
• Fishing
• Flying & Ballooning
• Caving (Spelunking)
• Hunting
• Football
• Golf
• Skiing
• Mountaineering
• Trekking/Backpacking
• Horseback riding
• Bird-watching (Ornithology)
• Wrestling/Oil Wrestling

Imp cities
The following cities have their own importance to be appeared in as notable places in Turkey though there are more cities to remark.
• Istanbul
• Ankara
• Bursa
• Adana
• Gaziantep
• Konya
• Antalya
• Kayseri
• Mersin
• Eskisihir
• Diyarbakir
• Denizli
• Cizre
• Salihli
• Yalova
• Gemlik
• Talas

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