TURKEY. Republic of Turkey
A state located in Asia and Europe. Area - 779,452 thousand km², of which in Europe - 23.7 thousand km². It has land borders with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Greece, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. It shares an economic zone and continental shelf border in the Black Sea with the Russian Federation and Ukraine, and also has a territorial waters border with Georgia. It is washed by the waters of the Black, Aegean, and Mediterranean Seas. The Asian and European parts of the country are separated by the Sea of Marmara and the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits. The capital is Ankara (about 5 million with suburbs), the largest city is Istanbul (about 11 million with suburbs). Administratively, the country is divided into 81 provinces (il). Population - 72 million (2004), mainly Turks, as well as Kurds, Laz, Arabs, Circassians, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and other nationalities.
The official language is Turkish. The dominant religion is Islam (Sunni direction). The currency unit - since January 1, 2005 - "new Turkish lira" (YTL), as of July 1, 2005, 1 US dollar = 1.35 YTL.
Diplomatic relations of the Republic of Turkey with the Russian Federation (RSFSR) were established on June 1, 1920. Between the two countries, on March 16, 1921, an "indefinite Treaty of Friendship and Brotherhood" was concluded; on May 25, 1992 - a Treaty on the Principles of Relations between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey.
National holidays: state holiday - October 29 - Republic Day (1923), others: August 30 - Victory Day, April 23 - National Sovereignty and Children's Day, May 19 - Commemoration of M. K. Atatürk and Youth and Sports Day.
Turkey is a republic. The current constitution was adopted in a referendum in November 1982. The head of state is the president (since May 2000 - A. N. Sezer), elected by parliament for a term of 7 years. Legislative power belongs to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) - a unicameral parliament (550 deputies), elected by universal suffrage for a term of 5 years through direct elections on a proportional basis (with a 10% representation threshold). On November 3, 2002, early parliamentary elections were held in Turkey, as a result of which only two political parties entered the GNAT: the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP). The Speaker of Parliament is B. Arınç (AKP), elected in November 2002 for a two-year term, re-elected in October 2004 for a three-year term.
The executive power is exercised by the president and the government - the Council of Ministers headed by the prime minister. Currently, the ruling party is the AKP led by R. T. Erdoğan (who took office on March 14, 2003), which received a vote of confidence in December 2002.
Political parties: as of January 1, 2005, more than 50 parties are registered in the country, the activities of which are regulated by the constitution and the Law on Political Parties. It is prohibited to create parties based on ethnic criteria, as well as openly clerical and fascist parties.
Due to permitted and practiced resignations and transitions of deputies from one party to another, including to those not represented in the legislative body, as of November 1, 2005, 6 parties are represented in parliament: the Justice and Development Party (AKP) - 356 deputies, the Republican People's Party (CHP) - 154, the Motherland Party (MP) - 22, the True Path Party (TPP) - 4, the Social Democratic People's Party (SDPP) - 4, the People's Ascendancy Party (PAP) - 1, independents - 5, vacancies - 4.
The largest trade union association: the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türk-İş), a member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), and the Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions (DİSK), which faced judicial persecution in the 1980s after the military coup in Turkey on September 12, 1980.
The Turkish state was formed in Asia Minor in the 14th century. As a result of conquest wars in the 14th-16th centuries, a vast Ottoman Empire was established. By the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, it fell into decline and became a semi-colony of European powers.
The national liberation movement of the Turkish people (1918-23) led to the establishment of the first republic in the Middle East (proclaimed on October 29, 1923). Its first president was the prominent statesman and military leader Mustafa Kemal (who received the surname Atatürk - "father of the Turks" in 1934), advocating for the national independence of the country. Under his leadership, a number of progressive bourgeois-democratic reforms were carried out in Turkey.
In 1947, the Turkish government signed an agreement with the USA for military assistance to Turkey under the "Truman Doctrine," and in 1948 - for economic assistance under the "Marshall Plan." In 1952, Turkey joined NATO (having the second-largest military force in the alliance), and in 1959 signed an agreement with the USA on military cooperation, granting Washington the right to have military bases on Turkish territory - mainly military-technical intelligence and the largest aviation base in the region, Incirlik (Adana) on the Mediterranean coast. Currently, the US-Turkish agreement on cooperation in "joint defense and economy" from 1980 is in effect, as well as the "Memorandum of Trust" from 1982.
The ongoing confrontation in the southeastern part of the country, where the Kurdish population resides compactly, negatively affects the domestic political situation. Since the mid-1980s, fighters from the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK, founded in 1978), as well as successor parties, have been engaged in episodic armed struggle against Turkish security forces. Its main demands include recognition of Kurdish rights to autonomy and discussions by the authorities on a political solution to the Kurdish problem (PKK leader A. Öcalan was arrested in 1999, convicted, and is held in solitary confinement on an island in the Sea of Marmara).
The industrialization policy pursued in Turkey during the rule of M. K. Atatürk, as well as in the 1960s-70s (including with active technical assistance from the USSR), based on the state sector (about 50% of GDP), led to the creation of basic industrial sectors in the country - energy, mining, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, chemistry, oil refining, automotive, etc. At the same time, the widespread use of direct and indirect subsidies for the state sector led to disruptions in intra-economic balances, causing an increase in inflationary processes and currency difficulties. The structural crisis in the economy, sharply aggravated by the end of the 1970s, was accompanied by rising social discontent, a strike movement, destabilization of political life, and the rampage of terror from right-wing extremist and leftist organizations.
An attempt made in January 1980 to initiate deep structural reforms in the economy (the author of the program was then the head of the Cabinet of Ministers T. Özal) faced the inability of political structures - the government and parliament - to ensure their decisive and consistent implementation.
In September 1980, the top leadership of the armed forces carried out a military coup.
The National Security Council of Turkey, formed by the generals, headed by Chief of General Staff K. Evren (president of the country from 1982-89), ensured the continuation of economic reforms, introducing T. Özal into the government as vice-prime minister (he served in this position until mid-July 1982).
As a result of the elections held in November 1983, a transition to civilian rule was implemented, with the Motherland Party (MP) reflecting the interests of large Turkish industrial and banking capital, led by T. Özal, gaining a majority in parliament. He continued the course of economic modernization of the country as prime minister (1983-87, 1987-89) and then as president (1989-93).
The policy of economic liberalism based on private entrepreneurship and market mechanisms allowed the economy to emerge from crisis during the 1980s, giving it dynamism and export-oriented direction in major sectors of industry, banking, and services, ensuring real growth in population income by the end of the decade and the transition to the convertibility of the Turkish lira.
The country's leadership announced its intention to make Turkey a full member of the European Union (Ankara has been an associated member of the Common Market - EEC since 1963) and to achieve a level comparable to Western European countries. Since 1949, it has been a member of the Council of Europe, and since 1961 - of the OECD. In 1987, Turkey officially applied to the EU for membership as a full member for the first time. Since January 1, 1996, a Customs Union Agreement has been in effect between Turkey and the EU. According to the decision of the EU summit in December 2004, "pre-accession" negotiations for Turkey's EU membership were launched on October 3, 2005.
Turkey signed the Final Act of the Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in 1975, is a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (1969), the Organization for Economic Cooperation (1987), the Organization of Black Sea Economic Cooperation (1992), and is an associated member of the Western European Union (1992), among the founding countries of the UN (1945).
Turkey is an industrial-agricultural country, ranking among the top 25 countries in the world by GDP production (approximately $300 billion in 2004). The economic growth rate in 2004 was 9.9% (the share of industry in GDP - 29.1%, agriculture - 13.4%). GDP per capita - $4,172, inflation - 9.3%. Gold and foreign exchange reserves - $53 billion. Annually extracted (million tons): coal - over 2, brown coal - over 50, oil - 2.5; produced (million tons): steel - over 18; generated over 140 billion kWh of electricity. Approximately 100 thousand trucks and about 300 thousand passenger cars are produced.
Annual agricultural production: wheat - over 20 million tons, barley - about 8 million tons, raw cotton - about 2 million tons, hazelnuts - 525 thousand tons; tobacco - 250 thousand tons. Livestock (million): cattle - 25, sheep - over 60, including goats - 18, sheep - 27.
The length of railways is over 8 thousand km, paved roads - about 65 thousand km. The tonnage of the merchant marine fleet is over 4 million tons.
In recent years, Turkey has been visited by over 15 million tourists annually, with revenues from international tourism exceeding $12 billion.
Exports (over $65 billion) consist of more than 80% of manufactured goods. The main import items (over $97 billion): oil, industrial raw materials, machinery, and equipment. Main trading partners: Germany, Italy, France, other EU countries, Russia, the USA. New forms of Russian-Turkish trade and economic cooperation are actively developing, including through the establishment of joint ventures and construction by Turkish firms of various facilities in Russia.
The unemployment rate is about 10% of the economically active population. More than 2.5 million Turks work abroad (in Germany and other European countries, as well as in Middle Eastern countries).
There are more than 60 universities in the country: Istanbul University, Istanbul Technical University, Bosphorus University, Galatasaray University (both in Istanbul), Ankara University, Middle East Technical University (Ankara), Izmir University; major private universities - Bilkent (Ankara), Yeditepe, Fatih (both in Istanbul), and others. The literacy rate is 83% of the adult population.
The largest national newspapers: "Hürriyet" (over 700 thousand copies), "Sabah" (over 500 thousand), "Milliyet" (over 500 thousand), "Zaman" (300 thousand), "Cumhuriyet" (over 70 thousand), and others. The daily circulation exceeds 4 million copies.
The state television and radio broadcasting corporation (TRT) operates, as well as a large number of private television and radio companies.