Country information

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TURKEY TODAY

Country Facts

Area: Approx 780,000 sq km (300,000 sq miles)
Population: 67.8m (according to 1999 census)
Capital city: Ankara
People: Majority Turks. Minorities recognised under the Turkish Constitution: Jews, Armenians and Greeks. Other ethnic peoples include Kurds, Circassians and Bosnians.
Language: Turkish (official), Kurdish
Religion: Muslim
Currency: New Turkish Lira (YTL)
Major political parties: AKP (Justice and Development Party), CHP (Republican People's Party), MHP (Nationalist Action Party), DTP (Democratic Society Party), DSP (Democratic Left Party), BBP (Great Union Party), ODP (Freedom and Solidarity Party) and DP (Democrat Party).
Government: Parliamentary republic
Head of State: President Abdullah Gul
Prime Minister: Recep Tayyip Erdogan (AKP)
Foreign Minister: Ali Babacan (AKP)
Membership of international groupings/organisations: UN, NATO, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an Associate Member of the Western European Union, and a candidate for accession to the European Union (negotiations started on 3 October 2005).

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