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GEOGRAPHY:
Turkey is 774.815 km2. The
Anatolia part is in Asia and
Thrace belongs to Europe
that is why The Bosphorus is said
to be the gate between the two
continents.
Turkey is rich with its rivers,
lakes, mountains and bays apart
from the seas
surrounding the country which are
the Black Sea, the Mediterranean
and the
Aegean Sea. The biggest lake in
Turkey is in the eastern part
which is called
the lake Van which took attention
a few years ago with its so-called
monster.
The highest mountain is again in
the eastern part and it's called
The Agri
Mountain, which is 5,165 meters
high. Kusadasi is in the western
part in the
Aegean region close to the third
biggest city of Turkey,
Izmir. Turkey is
divided into seven regions; the
Black Sea region, the Marmara
region, the Aegean
region, the Mediterranean region,
Central Anatolia, the East
Anatolian and
Southeast Anatolia regions. The
Eastern Anatolian region is the
richest in
numbers. Turkey's largest lake Van
(3,713 square kilometers), and the lakes of Ercek, Cildir and
Hazar are in this region. There
are also many
lakes in the west Taurus mountains
area: the Beysehir and Egirdir
lakes, and the
lakes that contain bitter waters
like the Burdur and Acigoller
lakes. Around the
Sea of Marmara there are Sapanca,
Iznik, Ulubat, Manyas, Terkos,
Kucukcekmece
and Buyukcekmece. In Central
Anatolia there is the second
largest lake in
Turkey, Tuzgolu. The waters of
this lake are shallow and very
salty. As a result
of the several lakes, many dam
lakes were constructed such as the
Ataturk Damlake, Keban, Karakaya, Altinkaya,
Adiguzel, Kilickaya, Karacaoren,
Menzelet,Kapulukaya, Hirfanli, Sariyar and
Demirkopru.Turkey is surrounded by
the Black
Sea in the north, the
Mediterranean in the south and the
Aegean Sea in the west
on three sides. In the northwest
there is an internal sea, the Sea
of Marmara,
between the straits of the
Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. The
length of the
Black Sea coastline in Turkey is
1,595 kilometers. !
The Mediterranean coastline is
1,577 kilometers. The Aegean Sea
coast is over
2,800 kilometers. The coastline of
the Marmara Sea is over 1,000
kilometers
long.
The most important rivers of
Turkey, the Firat (Euphrates) and
Dicle (Tigris)
join together in Iraq and flow
into the Persian Gulf. Turkey's
longest rivers,
the Kizilirmak, Yesilirmak and
Sakarya, flow into the Black Sea.
The Susurluk,
Biga and Gonen pour into the Sea
of Marmara, the Gediz, Kucuk
Menderes, Buyuk
Menderes and Meric into the
Aegean, and the Seyhan, Ceyhan and
Goksu into the
Mediterranean.
Turkey is located in the northern
half of the hemisphere at a point
that is
about halfway between the equator
and the north pole, at a latitude
of 36
degrees N to 42 degrees N and a
longitude of 26 degrees E to 45
degrees E.
Turkey is roughly rectangular in
shape and it is 1,660 kilometers
long and 550
kilometers wide.
The surface of Turkey, including
its lakes and rivers, is 814,578
square
kilometers, of which 790,200 are
in Asia and 24,378 are located in
Europe.The
land borders of Turkey are 2,753
kilometers in total, and
coastlines (including
islands) are another 8,333
kilometers. Turkey has two
European neighboring
countries which are Greece and
Bulgaria and six Asian neighboring
countries
which are Iraq, Iran, Syria,
Armenia, Georgia, Turkish Republic
of Northern
Cyprus.
CLIMATE:
As Turkey is close to the equator
the climate is not so harsh to
make our lives
a misery. Of course the weather
varies region to region but mainly
the western
bits are rainy and warm in
winters, sunny and hot in summers
and the eastern
bits are snowy and cold in
winters, sunny and hot in summers.
The temperature in
the eastern parts is often above
zero degrees in winters and in
summers it is
between 30-35 degrees but in the
eastern parts in winters it does
go down zero
degrees but summers are sometimes
hotter than the western parts. If
hot annoys
you, the best time to visit Turkey
is spring or autumn. But summer is
great if
you want to go back to your
country with a good tan!
Average Temperatures By Region
(in Celsius):
Mediterranean:
17.2
Eastern Anatolia:
8.1
Aegean:
4.3
S. East Anatolia:
16.0
Central Anatolia:
0.7
Black Sea:
12.5
Marmara:
14.2
GOVERNMENT:
October 29, 1923, is the
foundation of Turkish Republic. On
that date, Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk is the founder and
the first president of Turkish
Republic. The
dynastic and theocratic Ottoman
system, with its Sultanate and
Caliphate, thus
came to an end. Ataturk's Turkey
dedicated itself to the
sovereignty of the
national will.
Turkey is a republic which is
directed by a president and the
parliament. The
Turkish Republic is based on a
secular, democratic, pluralist and
parliamentary
system and the concepts of public
peace, national solidarity and
justice where
human rights are protected by law
and loyal to the nationalism of
Ataturk. The
parliamentarians are elected by
the society. The official language
of the Turkey
is Turkish and its capital is
Ankara. A competitive and
pluralistic party system
has been in operation in Turkey
since 1946. The political parties
are an
indivisible and indispensable part
of Turkish political life. All
Turkish
citizens over 18 years of age have
the right to vote in elections and
to take
part in referendums.
ECONOMY:
Agriculture has an important role
in Turkish economy. Turkey does
one of the
most important food exporting in
the world. The main crops are
wheat, rice,
cotton, tea, tobacco, hazelnuts
and fruits. Stock-breeding plays
an important
role as well. The sheep are fed
for their wool and meat. The cows
are for their
meat and milk. Industry and
tourism also have high rates in
the income of
Turkey. Turkish economy is the
16th largest in the world. The
aims of the
economic reform which was
implemented in 1980, were reducing
government
intervention; implementing a
flexible exchange rate policy;
liberalizing import
regulations; increasing exports;
encouraging foreign capital
investment;
establishing free trade zones;
deregulating financial markets;
privatizing State
Economic Enterprises, and
decentralizing government
activities. As a result of
economic reforms based on free
market principles and an
international
orientation, the Turkish economy
has experienced an average growth
rate of almost 5 percent over the past 20
years. With its rapid development,
its young
and well-trained workforce; rich
natural resources; well-developed
infrastructure; improved
transportation, telecommunications
and banking systems;
rapidly growing domestic market;
and dynamic and developed
industry, Turkey is
today an attractive and secure
investment opportunity for foreign
investors. |
