Facts and Figures
Turkey is located where Europe meets
Asia. The name Thrace and Anatolia are the two names
used for the parts on Europe and Asia respectively.
The Republic of Turkey is a democratic,
secular state governed by laws enacted and executed
by the parliament, president and independent judiciaries.
Turkey is surrounded by the Black
Sea in the north, the Mediterranean in the south
and the Aegean Sea in the west adding up to a coastline
of 8333 km (5000 miles). In the northwest an internal
sea, the Sea of Marmara, lies between the straits
of the Dardanelles and Bosphorus.
As of 2000, 67.8 million people call Turkey "home". Ankara is the capital, however Istanbul is the largest and
the best known city in the country with a population of over 12 million.
Turkey is the world's largest producer
of hard-shell nuts, fig and apricot, the fourth
largest in fresh vegetables, grape and tobacco production
and seventh in wheat and cotton production. It is
also one of the world's leading countries in textile
and leather processing industry.
Cahit Arf (mathematics), Feza Gursey
(theoretical physics), Oktay Sinanoglu (molecular
biology/chemistry) and Gazi Yasargil (neurology)
can be named as some of the Turkish scientists with
worldwide eminence.
