1987 Edition

Boundary disputes

none; complex maritime and air (but not territorial) disputes with Greece in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question with Greece; Hatay question with Syria; potential dispute with downstream riparians (Syria and Iraq) over water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

Climate

temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior

Coastline

7,200 km

Comparative area

about twice the size of California

Environment

subject to severe earthquakes, especially along major river valleys in west; air pollution; desertification

Extended economic zone

200 nm in Black Sea only

Land boundaries

2,574 km total

Land use

30% arable land; 4% permanent crops; 12% meadows and pastures; 26% forest and woodland; 28% other; includes 3% irrigated

Special notes

strategic location controlling Turkish Straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas; Turkey and Norway only NATO members having a boundary with USSR

Terrain

mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; central plateau (Anatolia)

Territorial sea

6 nm (12 nm in Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea)

Total area

400 km Black Sea Mediterranean Sea

780,580 km?; land area: 770,760 km?

Ethnic divisions

85% Turkish, 12% Kurd, 3% other

Infant mortality rate

15.3/1,000 (1984)

Labor force

18.5 million (1986); 58.3% agriculture, 28.7% service, 13.0% industry and energy; about 1 million Turks work abroad (1986); effective unemployment rate estimated to be over 20% (1986)

Language

Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic

Life expectancy

57

Literacy

70%

Nationality

noun—Turk(s); adjective— Turkish

Organized labor

10-15% of labor force

Population

52,987,778 (July 1987), average annual growth rate 2.23%

Religion

98% Muslim (mostly Sunni), 2% other (mostly Christian and Jewish)

Administrative divisions

67 provinces

Branches

executive—President empowered to call new elections, promulgate laws (elected for a seven-year term); unicameral legislature (400-member Grand National Assembly); independent judiciary

Capital

Ankara

Communists

strength and support negligible

Elections

according to the 1982 Constitution, elections to the Grand National Assembly to be held every five years; most recent election 6 November 1983; byelection held 28 September 1986 Political parties and leaders: military leaders banned all traditional parties from taking part in the parliamentary election of November 1983 and banned many prominent party leaders from taking part in politics for five to 10 years; three new parties allowed to take part in the election—Motherland Party (ANAP), Turgut Ozal; Populist Party (PP), Necdet Calp; Nationalist Democracy Party (NDP), Ulk Sdylemezoglu; additional parties permitted to take part in local elections in March 1984—Social Democratcy Party (SODEP), Erdal [nén; Correct Way Party (CWP), Husamettin Cinderuk; SODEP and PP merged in 1985 to form the Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP) now headed by Erdal inén; Democratic Left Party (DLP) founded in 1985 under Rahsan Ecevit

Government leaders

Gen. Kenan EVREN, President (since 1982); Turgut OZAL, Prime Minister (since 1983)

Legal system

derived from various continental legal systems; constitution adopted in November 1982; accepts compulsory 1CJ jurisdiction, with reservations

Member of

ASSIMER, Council of Europe, EC (associate member), ECOSOC, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAC, ICAO, IDA, IDB—Islamic Development Bank, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, IPU, ITC, ITU, NATO, OECD, OIC, Economic Cooperation Organization, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WSG, WTO

National holiday

Republic Day, 29 October

Official name

Republic of Turkey

Suffrage

universal over age 21 Turkey (continued)

Type

republican parliamentary democracy

Voting strength

(1983 election) Grand National Assembly—Motherland Party, 211 seats; Populist Party, 117 seats; Nationalist Democracy Party, 71 seats; as of March 1987, Grand National Assembly— Motherland Party, 251 seats; Social Democratic Populist Party, 65 seats; Correct Way Party, 35 seats; Democratic Left Party, 24 seats; independents, 24 seats; vacant, 2 seats

Agriculture

main products—cotton, tobacco, cereals, sugar beets, fruits, nuts, and livestock products; self-sufficient in food in average years; a legal producer of opium poppy for the pharmaceutical trade

Crude steel

3.5 million tons produced, 70 kg per capita (1984)

Electric power

9,765,000 kW capacity; 38,490 million kWh produced (1986), 740 kWh per capita (1986)

Exports

$7,958 million (f.0.b., 1985); cotton, tobacco, fruits, nuts, metals, livestock products, textiles, clothing, cement, leather, glass, ceramics

GNP

$52.9 billion, $1,020 per capita; 7.8% real growth, 6.3% average annual real growth (1984-86); inflation rate 33.7% (1986)

Imports

$1],344 million (c.i.f., 1985); crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, metals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, plastics, rubber, mineral fuels, fertilizers, chemicals

Major industries

textiles, food processing, mining (coal, chromite, copper, boron minerals), steel, petroleum, construction

Major trade partners

(1986) exports— 18.2% FRG, 11.7% Iran, 10.7% Iraq, 6.6% Italy, 5.4% US; imports—15.9% FRG, 10.6% US, 8.4% lraq, 7.7% Italy, 5.6%

Natural resources

antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, oil