Basic Information[edit]

Turkey is a country located Southeast of Europe and Southwest of Asia. Turkey borders the
Black Sea and is between Bulgaria and Georgia. Turkey also borders the Aegean Sea and
Mediterranean Sea, between Syria and Greece.Its capital is Ankara. Turkey has and area of
783,562 sq km, with 769,632 sq km donated to land and 13,930 sq km of ocean. The
climate is temperate with hot, dry summers and mild winters. Turkeys population consists of
77,804,122, with a growth rate of 1.272%.The birth rate in Turkey is 18.28 births/1,000
population and a death rate of 6.1 deaths/1,000 pop. Turkey's population also consists of
695,376 males and 666,026 females.
Turkey's natural resources consist of coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, antimony, mercury,
gold, emery, feldspar, limestone, marble, pyrites (sulfur), clay, arable land, and hydro power.
Turkey's produces goods such as, tobacco, cotton, grain olives, sugar beets, hazel nuts,
pulse, citrus, and livestock. The language spoken in Turkey is officially Turkish, however
their are other nationalities that exist and speak other languages other then Turkish. These
nationalities include Kurdish (ranging in 18%) and others ranging in 7-12%. Turkey's
composition includes 8.8% donated to agriculture, industry (25.7%), and services (65.5%).
Currently, Turkey's unemployment rate is 12.4% as of 2010, in 2009 it was 14.1%. [1]

Brief History[edit]
Modern Turkey was first founded in 1923, after Mustafa Kemal Atatrk defeated former
emperor Ottoman. In 1950 his rule lead to the election of the opposing democrat party,
which led to a peaceful transfer of power. Since then, Turkey had been living in peace with
its new government, until it began to fracture . This was due to instability and intermittent
military coups. Power however was restored and returned to the people. Also in 1945
Turkey joined the UN and in 1954 Turkey became a member of NATO.
In 1974 Turkey intervened in Cypress to prevent Greek hostile forces from taking over and
inhabiting the island. As a result Cypress has been a patron to the Turkish Republic of
Northern Cypress, which is only recognized by Turkey. In 1984, the Kurdistan Workers party
(or now Peoples Congress or Kurdistan, PKK, or Kongra-Gel KGK) began a separatists
insurgency which claimed 30,000 lives and gained the millitaries attention since 1999. In
1999, the leader of the insurgency was kidnapped by the Turkish military and the KGK

withdrew to Nothern Iraq. This did not mark the end of this ordeal though because in 2004
KGK ended its cease fire agreement and thus attacks on KGK increased.

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Economic Development, Health, and Education[edit]

Economic Development: Industry is one of Turkey's most successful sectors, in fact the
country is driven by industry. Even though agriculture holds 30% of Turkey's employment,
industry is still the most popular business in the country. Turkey earns a GPD exchange rate
of $729.1 billion. Turkey also earns the following:
GPD Purchasing power: 958.3 billion (2010) compared to 893.1 billion (2009) GPD Grouth
rate: 7.3% (2010), compared to -4.7 (2009) GPD Per Capita: $12,300 (2010) compared to
11,600 (2009) Composition by sector: Agriculture: 8.8%, Industry: 25.7%, and services:
65.5% Labor force by occupation: Agriculture: 29.5%, Industry: 24.7%,and Services: 45.8%
Turkey's Unemployment rate ranks in 12.4% in 2010, which is an improvement from 2009
when the unemploymeny rate was 14.1%. The population below the poverty line is 17.11%
Health: Turkey suffers from air pollution in urban areas. Turkey also suffers from chemical
spills in the water and detergents leading to water pollution and poisoning. There are also
oil spills in the Black Sea, which add to the water pollution. Turkey, overall does not have
much of a healthy environment in certain areas. Surprisingly, Turkey's life expectancy at
birth for the total population is 72.23 years (70.37 years for males and 74.19 years females).
The infant mortality rates for the entire population are 24.84 deaths/1000 population (25.89
for males and 23.73 for females). Turkey is known to have citizen's that are not living with
AID's or any citizen that have died from AID's.
Education: Turkey boasts that at age 15 and over can read and write. The total population
that is educated ranks at 87.4% with males ranking highest at 95.3% and females ranking at
79.6%. The total school life expectancy in Turkey is 12 years, very similar to our American
system. In Turkey, mens' school life expectancy is 12 years, where as females life
expectancy is 11 years. In Turkey 2.9% of its GPD is spent on an education.

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