Turkey

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Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye) is a country at the meeting point of Europe and Asia. The area of modern Turkey is about 780,000 square kilometres. Its population is about 69 million. Turkey's official language is Turkish.

Turkey has 81 provinces. It is governed as a democracy with many parties. The Turkish currency is New Turkish Lira (Yeni Türk Lirası). Its abbreviation is YTL.

The capital city is Ankara, a city in the central Anatolia plateau. The economic and industrial center is Istanbul, on the Bosphorus straits, and was in the past known as Constantinople.

Turkey was founded in 1923 by Atatürk as the Republic of Turkey after the war of independence. Before that, Turkey was part of the Ottoman Empire. Ataturk introduced many changes that made Turkey more modern and western.

Because of its important location, throughout history it has been the home of many civilisatons, including the Hittites and the Byzantine Roman Empire. Many important events in the early history of Christianity took place in what is now Turkey.

Modern Turkey has a strong and varied economy. Its temperate climate allows the growing of many kinds of food crops, and livestock and forestry are important industries. There is a strong manufacturing sector making electronics, cars, clothing and textiles for home and for other countries.

These days Turkey is a popular tourist destination. It has hundreds of kilometres of beautiful beaches on its Aegean and Mediterranean coasts, and many important historical sites.

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Countries and territories of Europe
Albania - Andorra - Austria - Azerbaijan1 - Belarus - Belgium - Bosnia and Herzegovina - Bulgaria - Croatia - Cyprus2 - Czech Republic - Denmark - Estonia - Finland - France - Germany - Georgia1 - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Latvia - Liechtenstein - Lithuania - Luxembourg - Malta - Moldova - Monaco - Netherlands - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Republic of Macedonia - Romania - Russia1 - San Marino - Serbia and Montenegro - Slovakia - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey1 - Ukraine - United Kingdom - Vatican City
Dependencies: Akrotiri and Dhekelia2 - Faroe Islands - Gibraltar - Guernsey - Jan Mayen - Jersey - Isle of Man - Svalbard
Unrecognised countries: Abkhazia | Nagorno-Karabakh2 | South Ossetia | Transnistria | Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus2
1. Country partly in Asia. 2. Geographically in Asia, but often counted as part of Europe for cultural and historical reasons.


Countries and territories of Asia

Afghanistan | Armenia2 | Azerbaijan | Bahrain | Bangladesh | Bhutan | Brunei | Cambodia | China (PRC) | Cyprus2 | East Timor | Gaza Strip | Georgia2 | Hong Kong3 | India | Indonesia | Iran | Iraq | Israel | Japan | Jordan | Kazakhstan | Kuwait | Kyrgyzstan | Laos | Lebanon | Macau3 | Malaysia | Maldives | Mongolia | Myanmar | Nepal | North Korea | Oman | Pakistan | Philippines | Qatar | Russia1 | Saudi Arabia | Singapore | South Korea | Sri Lanka | Syria | Taiwan (ROC) | Tajikistan | Thailand | Turkey1 | Turkmenistan | United Arab Emirates | Uzbekistan | Vietnam | West Bank | Yemen

1. Includes territory in both Europe and Asia. 2. Usually thought of as Asia, but sometimes counted as part of Europe for cultural and historical reasons. 3. Special territories.

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