Welcome To Turkey

Welcome to Turkey, a peninsula that juts out toward the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean, forming a land bridge that connects Asia and Europe. The majority of Turkey lies on the Asian side, called Asia Minor or Anatolia, while the smaller portion of the country, on the European continent, is named Thrace. Anatolia and Thrace are separated by the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits.

Turkey shares borders with eight countries; Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast.

Turkey is a relatively young democracy that overthrew and succeeded the Ottoman Empire, which was once a major power that lasted for over 600 years and reigned over most of South-eastern Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. After diligent planning and organizing throughout 1919, Turkey’s War of Independence erupted in 1920 and soldiers fought against Britain, France, Italy and Greece until the Treaty of Lausanne was signed and the Republic of Turkey founded in 1923. This was possible thanks to the genius of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and his ability to mobilise the people to revolt.

The Republic of Turkey was founded in accordance with Ataturk’s six main principles, the basic tenets of Kemalism—Republicanism, Nationalism, Populism, Secularism, Stateism, and Reformism—which were in fact the driving force behind many of the revolutionary reforms that followed. Through a series of political, social, legal, educational and cultural, and economic reforms, it was intended to shed the Ottoman legacy and build the young Republic of Turkey as a modern, democratic, and secular state. The Turkish flag is the white crescent and star on a red background; legend has it was fashioned based on the reflection of the new moon and a lone star on the pool of blood from the many fallen soldiers that fought and died in the War of Independence. The country maintains its secular tradition and remains a democratic state, despite the trials and tribulations that have accompanied several military coups over the course of the past 80 plus years.

Ankara is the capital of present day Turkey, which is divided into seven geographical regions and 81 provinces, which are then further divided into municipalities. Turkey’s head of state is the President, currently Abdullah Gul, who was elected by the Grand National Assembly for a single, seven-year term. The Grand National Assembly is comprised of 550 members from different political parties, elected by popular vote. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in office since 2003.