Country Information on Turkey

Terrain Seven distinct topographical areas dominate Turkey's landscape - the Black Sea Region with its cascading rivers and steep and rocky coast, the Marmara Region comprising a central plain of rolling terrain surrounded by mountains of moderate height, the forested and fertile Aegean Region, the Mediterranean Region with mountains rising up behind the coastline, the less mountainous Central Anatolia Region, the mountainous Eastern Anatolia Region with Turkey's highest elevation, Mount Ararat (5,166 m), and the Southeastern Anatolia Region, characterized by wild or barren wasteland. Climate The Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. The Anatolian plateau is cooler in summer than the coastal areas and quite cold in winter, dominated by continental climatic conditions with extreme annual temperature variation. The Black Sea coast is mild and rainy in summer, and chilly and rainy in winter. Mountainous eastern Turkey is very cold and snowy in winter and only pleasantly warm in summer. The south-east is dry and mild in winter and very hot in summer, with temperatures above 45°C not unusual. Fauna/Flora There are still considerable forests in Eastern Anatolia, the Black Sea area and along the Mediterranean coast, west of Antalya. Turkey has similar animal life to that in the Balkans and much of Europe: bears, deer, jackals, lynx, wild boars, wolves and rare leopards. The beautiful Van cat is a native: it has pure white fur and different-coloured eyes - one blue, one green. Bird life is exceptionally rich, with eagles, vultures and storks staking out airspace, as well as rare species such as the bald ibis. History/Politics Around BC 2500, the Hattis were living in city kingdoms in Anatolia, and by BC 2000, all of them became subjects to Hittite rulers. Between BC 2250 and 2000, German, Latin, Iranian, Cimmerian, Indian and Hellenic tribes moved to the area. In 395 AD, Roman Emperor Theodosum I divided the empire and made his son Arcadius Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, which was to last one thousand years until Ottoman Emperor Mehmet II conquered Istanbul in 1453. As the first Ottoman stronghold, the Anatolian March Principality was to last from 1300 - 1366, and, after successful campaigns, the Balkan Kingdom was established (1365 - 1403). Ottoman rule from 1566 to 1792 was marked by a loss of superiority. In 1699, the Ottomans had to give up territories in the Balkans by the Treaty of Karlowitz. When Napoleon invaded the Ottoman province of Egypt in 1798, the empire was in decline already. By the 19th century, grave misrule made ethnic nationalism very appealing. The subject peoples of the Ottoman Empire revolted, often with the encouragement and assistance of European powers. After bitter fighting in 1832, the Kingdom of Greece was formed; the Serbs, Bulgarians, Romanians, Albanians, Armenians and Arabs would all seek independence soon after. In 1918, the victorious Allies set to carving up Turkey. The War of Independence lasted from 1920 to 1922, ending in a bitterly won Turkish victory and the abolition of the sultanate. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk undertook the job of completely remaking Turkish society. By the time he died in 1938, a constitution had been adopted, polygamy abolished and the fez, mark of Ottoman backwardness, was prohibited. Constantinople became Istanbul and women obtained the right to vote and to serve in parliament. Atatürk's successor, Ismet Inönü managed a precarious neutrality in World War II, then oversaw Turkey through the transition to a true democracy. The opposition Democratic Party won the election in 1950. In 1960, and again in 1970, an overreaching Democratic Party was brought back into line by watchful army officers, who deemed the government's autocratic ways a violation of the constitution. In 1980, political infighting and civil unrest brought the country to a halt. In 1983, free elections saw Turgut Özal's centre-right party take power and oversee a business boom which lasted throughout the 1980s. Özal's untimely death in 1993 removed a powerful, innovative force from Turkish politics and set the scene for uncertainty to seep back in: the rest of the decade has seen unstable coalitions formed between unlikely bedfellows and resurgent support for the religious right. In early 1998, Turkey's Constitutional Court banned the Islamic-oriented Welfare Party. Bülent Ecevit was elected new prime minister in June 1999. Economy Turkey has a dynamic economy that is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with traditional village agriculture and crafts. The country has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication. Its most important industry?and largest exporter?is textiles and clothing, which is almost entirely privately-owned. Major industries are agriculture, motor vehicles, petroleum, engineering, tourism. Gross domestic product growth amounted to -3% in 2000. Culure Ottoman literature and court music were mostly religious. Visual arts were curtailed by the Muslim dictum that forbids representation of any being 'with an immortal soul', so Islamic artists tended to the non-representative arts. Turkish museums are full of delicate coloured tiles, graceful glass vases, carved wooden mosque doors, glittering illuminated Korans, intricate jewellery and sumptuous costumes. Atatürk changed Turkey's cultural picture overnight, encouraging representative painting, sculpture, literature, opera, dance and drama.