Background : Southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria.

Turkey joined the UN in 1945 and in 1952 it became a member of NATO. In 1964, Turkey became an associate member of the European Community; over the past decade, it has undertaken many reforms to strengthen its democracy and economy, enabling it to begin accession membership talks with the European Union.

Capital : Ankara

Climate : temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior

Currency : New Turkish lira (YTL) since Jan 2005

Terrain : high central plateau (Anatolia); narrow coastal plain; several mountain ranges

Natural Resources : coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, antimony, mercury, gold, barite, borate, celestite (strontium), emery, feldspar, limestone, magnesite, marble, perlite, pumice, pyrites (sulfur), clay, arable land, hydropower

Population : 69,660,559 (July 2005 est.)

Languages : Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek

Industries : textiles, food processing, autos, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper

Government type : republican parliamentary democracy