2. A country of sun and history, Turkey is located where the three
continents making up the old world, Asia, Africa and Europe are closest
to each other and straddle the point where Europe and Asia meet
Asia
Europe
Africa
Turkey
3. It covers an area of
814,000 sq km,
of which mos of in Asia.
4. Its neighbours are
Greece and Bulgaria to the north-west,
Armenia and Georgia to the north-east,
Iran and Iraq to the south-east
and Syria to the south.
6. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is universally known as the founding father of the
modern state of Turkey.
He was also his country’s first President.
His surname, Ataturk, means the ancestor of Turks.
This name was given to him by the first Turkish parliement for his
achievements and for his invaluable contributions to the birth and
modernization of the Turkish Republic.
Ataturk teaching Turkish
with the new alphabet
7. Flag of Turkey
Color of the flag of Turkey is red.
A white crescent and a star dominate the foreground. It is fondly referred to as
‘Ay Yildiz’ (Turkish for moon star).
8. The official language is Turkish.
Turkish is written in the Latin alphabet and is spoken by at least
150 million people around the world.
• English is widely spoken in
Turkey. There are many high
schools and universities where
the curriculum is based on
English.
• German and French are other
commonly spoken foreign
languages.
9. Approximately 99 % of the Turkish population is Moslem.
However, everyone in Turkey has freedom of religion and beliefs.
10. Political Structure• The republic of Turkey is based on a secular, democratic,
pluralistic and parliamentary system. The Grand National
Assembly is elected by popular vote, and the nation is
governed by the Council of Ministers headed by the
Prime Minister
13. TL ( Turkish Lira)
is the currency unit of Turkey
A new currency unit became effective in Turkey from 1st January 2005.
The new currency unit is TL, which stands for Türk Lirasi, or in
English, Turkish Lira. There is also to be a smaller unit called Kurus.
TL bank notes: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200
Coins: 5, 10, 25, 50 Kurus and 1 Lira
23. The culture of Turkey is derived from various elements of the Ottoman
Empire, European and the the Islamic traditions. The nation was
modernized by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, as he successfully transformed a
religion-driven former Ottoman Empire into a modern nation-state .