Getting to know Turkey

Geography of Turkey

Turkey is a transcontinental Eurasian country. 97 percent of Turkey is located in Asia and 3 percent of it is located in Europe. These parts are separated by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus, and the Dardanelles.

Turkey’s land area is about 800,000 square kilometers (about 300,000 square miles). According to the land area, Turkey is the 37th-largest country in the world. Three seas are surrounding this country: The Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west. Turkey also contains the Sea of Marmara in the northwest.

Turkey is bordered by the Black Sea to its north, Greece, and Bulgaria to its northwest, Armenia, the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran to its east, Iraq, and Syria to its southeast, the Mediterranean Sea to its south, the Aegean Sea to its west, and Georgia to its northeast.

Istanbul is the largest city in the country while Ankara is the capital.

Turkey is divided into seven geographical regions: Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Southeastern Anatolia, Mediterranean, Marmara, Aegean, and the Black Sea.

Population of Turkey

In 2018, Turkey’s population was 80.8 million people, which the most populated city was Istanbul having 15 million people.

Language and Race of Turkey

The national language of Turkey is Turkish.

Approximately 70-80 percent of the country’s citizens identify as Turkish, and Kurds are the largest minority 15-20 percent of the population.

Religion in Turkey

Turkey is a secular country with no official religion. However, all public schools hold mandatory religious classes that mostly focus on the Sunni sect of Islam.

About 80.5 percent of Turkish people are Sunni Muslims and about 16.5 percent are Shia Muslims. Other religions have lower percentages.

Economy of Turkey

Turkey has the world’s 13th largest GDP. In 2019, Turkey’s exports were $180.4 billion and its imports were $210.4 billion.

The major export goods of Turkey are Ships, Home Appliances, Electronics, Textiles, Iron, and Steel.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Turkey was $12.4 billion in 2019.

In 2005, because of high inflation, a new currency was launched the name Turkish new lira. One Turkish new lira (TRY) equals 1,000,000 Turkish old lira (TRL). In 2009, the Turkish new lira was renamed back to the Turkish lira with the introduction of new banknotes and coins, but the code of the Turkish new lira (TRY) remains in use for the current Turkish lira in the foreign exchange market.

Tourism in Turkey is an important part of the economy. Turkey is one of the world’s top ten destination countries. Germany and Russia send the most tourists to Turkey.

Politics of Turkey

Turkey is a secular, formerly parliamentary republic that adopted a presidential system with a referendum in 2017. The new system came into effect with the presidential election in 2018. Turkey’s current administration, headed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Administrative Divisions of Turkey

Turkey is divided into 81 provinces (il/vilayet). Each province is divided into districts (ilçe). In total there are 923 districts.

The government representatives are province governors (vali), town governors (kaymakam), and mayors (belediye başkanı). Turkish municipalities have local legislative bodies (belediye meclisi) for decision-making on municipal issues.

The name of Turkey’s provinces is listed below:

1. Adana
2. Adıyaman
3. Afyonkarahisar
4. Ağrı
5. Aksaray
6. Amasya
7. Ankara
8. Antalya
9. Ardahan
10. Artvin
11. Aydın
12. Balıkesir
13. Bartın
14. Batman
15. Bayburt
16. Bilecik
17. Bingöl
18. Bitlis
19. Bolu
20. Burdur
21. Bursa
22. Çanakkale
23. Çankırı
24. Çorum
25. Denizli
26. Diyarbakır
27. Düzce
28. Edirne
29. Elâzığ
30. Erzincan
31. Erzurum
32. Eskişehir
33. Gaziantep
34. Giresun
35. Gümüşhane
36. Hakkâri
37. Hatay
38. Iğdır
39. Isparta
40. İstanbul
41. İzmir
42. Kahramanmaraş
43. Karabük
44. Karaman
45. Kars
46. Kastamonu
47. Kayseri
48. Kilis
49. Kırıkkale
50. Kırklareli
51. Kırşehir
52. Kocaeli
53. Konya
54. Kütahya
55. Malatya
56. Manisa
57. Mardin
58. Mersin
59. Muğla
60. Muş
61. Nevşehir
62. Niğde
63. Ordu
64. Osmaniye
65. Rize
66. Sakarya
67. Samsun
68. Şanlıurfa
69. Siirt
70. Sinop
71. Şırnak
72. Sivas
73. Tekirdağ
74. Tokat
75. Trabzon
76. Tunceli
77. Uşak
78. Van
79. Yalova
80. Yozgat
81. Zonguldak

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