Information regarding the country (as of April 2003)
 
 Name of the Country
 Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti)
 
 Climate
 Anatolia: continental
 south and west coast: Mediterranean
 
 Location
 3% located in Europe ("Thrace")
 97% located in Asia Minor ("Anatolia")
 
 Size of the country
 814.578 sqkm, this is about 2,3 fold as big as Germany
 
 Capital
 Ankara (about 3.6 Mio. habitants
 
 Population
 74.709.410 (2006)
 
 Language
 Turkish. In vast parts of the Southeast and East also different Kurdish dialects are spoken.
 
 
 Religion
 Since ottoman times majoritarian Muslim with growing interest (today about 99%), majoritarian Hanefites (Sunnite, "orthodox" orientation of the Islam), alongside about 15-20 Mio Alevites ("heterodox" orientation of the Islam). Laical concept of the state, that is strict isolation of state and religion (Islam), but control of religious matters through department for religious matters. Protection of some non-Muslim minorities through contract of Lausanne (1923): Armenian people (about 70,000), Greek-Orthodox (max. 3,000) and Jews (about 25,000). Besides Roman-Catholic and with Rome united Churches (max. 20,000) and Syrian-Orthodox (about 15,000).
 
 National Holiday
 October 29: "Day of the Republic" (Proclamation of Republic of Atatürk 1923)
 
 Form of state/government
 Republic / parliamentarian democracy
 
 head of state
 President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, assumption of office May 17, 2000; term in office 7 years; election through national assembly; substitute Bülent Arinc
 
 Head of Government
 prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (AKP), since March 11, 2003
 
 Foreign Secretary
 Abdullah Gül (AKP), since March 14, 2003
 
 Parliament
 Turkish Great National Assembly (Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi/TBMM): one Chamber, 550 chairs, legislative period 5 years, last election on November 3, 2002, president of the parliament: Bülent Arinc (AKP)
 
 Governing Party
 AKP (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi – Party for Justice and Development, chairman: Recep Tayyip Erdogan), 365 representatives
 
 Opposition
 CHP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi – Republican People's Party, chairman: Deniz Baykal), 177 representatives
 DYP (Dogru Yol Partisi – Party of the Right Direction, chairman: Mehmet Agar) 3 representatives
 ANAP (Party of the Mother Country, chairman: Ali Talip Özdemir), 1 representative
 Independent: 4 representatives
 
 Trade Union Federations
 Türk-Is (moderate, about 2.13 Mio members)
 DISK (left of center, about 0.35 Mio members)
 Hak-Is (Islamic, about 0.36 Mio members)
 
 Structure of Administration
 
 Central. Graduation in 81 provinces with one governor each (Vali) as highest organ. Elected majors in the cities (Belediye Baskani), who have just limited competences. Finances are apportioned from Ankara, the cities have only very small receipts by themselves.
 
 Membership in international organizations
 United Nations (1945) with special organizations,
 NATO (1952)
 Council of Europe (1952)
 OECD (1948)
 Organization of Islamic States/Organization Islamic Conference (OIC), 1969
 EC-Association-Contract (1963)
 EC-Customs-Union since January 1, 1996
 EC Candidate Country since December 10/11, 1999 (European Council Helsinki)
 associated member of WEU (1995-2000)
 
 Most Important Media
 Very differentiated media-"landscape" with broad spectrum of opinions: many state and private, national, regional and local radio- and TV-channels, which are broadcasted terrestrial, via satellite or cable, numerous daily and weekly newspapers and other time periods with different orientation with a small circulation.
 
 Media Companies:
 Aydin-Dogan-Group (et al. biggest daily newspaper Hürriyet, Milliyet, Kanal D, CNN-Türk)
 Dinc-Bilgin-Group (Sabah, ATV, et al.)
 Ihlas-Group (Türkiye, TGRT, et al.)
 Cukurova-Group (Show-TV, Aksam)
 Dogus-Group (NTV)
 Cem-Uzan-Group (Star, Star-TV)
 different internet providers
 
 Gross National Product
 per capita income (2001) 148.1 billion USD (2001) 2,160 USD
 
 Country Code
 0090
 
 Time
 CET + 1
 Weekly day of rest is Sunday
 
 Electricity
 220 V
 
 Mail:
 Your mail will be on the way for about 3-5 days. You will recognize the Turkish Post by yellow signs saying PTT. Main Post Offices are open from Mon-Sat 8 am until midnight and Sun from 9 am until 7 pm. Small Post Offices have the same opening times as administration offices.