Geographical Location

Being located at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa, makes Turkey one of the most geopolitcally strategic countries of the world. Because of having the shortest intercontinental routes, it is where the Eastern and Western civilizations meet. The center of major trade and migration routes, Turkey has Georgia, Armenia, Nahkcivan and Iran to the east, Bulgaria and Greece to the west and Iraq and Syria to the South. Turkey is surrounded by the Black Sea, the Aegean and the Mediterrean. The Marmara Sea, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles are distinctive features of the Turkish geography.

Located between 36 and 42 degrees North latitude and 26 and 45 degrees east longtitude, with an area of 783.602 square kilometers, Turkey has a land surface area larger than all its neighbors except for Iran, and larger than all its European countries except for the Russian Federation. 3% of the landmass is located in Europe and is called Thrace, and the 97% in Asia is called Anatolia, and the total time difference between the easternmost and westernmost points is 76 minutes. Turkey has total land borders od 2.875 km and a coastline of 8.333 km.

Climate

Turkey is located in temperate climatic zone, an done can enjoy the four seasons and different climates simultaneously.

Besides, Turkey is also affected by the Mediterranean climate,characterized by hot and arid summers. However, due to its location in the Eastern Mediterranean basin and its elevated landmass, which brings a more abundant precipitation, is differs from dry subtropical areas.

A more moderate and rainy maritime climate predominates in the Black Sea region. In the central regions a stepe climate is observed, with dry and hot summers and cold and snowy winters. In the Eastern Anatolia, the summers are cool and the winters are icy and snowy. In the Southeastern Anatolia, while the summers are hot and dry, there is not too much cold weather during winter.

The Population

According to the “Adress Based Population Registration System (ABPRS)” results in 2009, the total population of Turkey was 72.561.312. The province with the highest concentration of population (17.8%) is Istanbul (12.915158), the lowest being Bayburt (74.710). After Istanbul, the most populated of the 81 provinces are Ankara (6.4%), İzmir (5.3%) and Bursa (3.5%). 75.5 % of the total population resides in urban areas.

Of the total population, 49.7 million are female and, 50.3 million are male, the 0-14 age goup represents 26%, the 15-64 age group represents 67% and the over 65 age group has a 7% share.

The Language

The official language of the Republic of Turkey is Turkish. Turkish, which is an agglutinative tongue, together with Mongolian, Manchu-Tungusic, Korean and Japanese, forms the Altaic language family.

In an area of 12 million square kilometers, which stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, the North Sea in the North to the Persian Gulfin the South, the Turkish language, along with its dialects, is the fifth most widely spoken language by 220 million people.

The first written sources of the Turkish language are the Orkhun Inscriptions, erected in the 7th-8th century. Its development in Anatolia started in the 13th century. The Turkish of Turkey that is the most spoken form of Turkish among Turkish literary languages, is used as a spoken, literary, medium of instruction, scientific, cultural and artistic language by over 75 million people worldwide.

Throughout history, Gokturk, Uighur and Arab alphabets were used and after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, a transformation was made to the Turkish Alphabet, prepared by according to the vowel structure of Turkish, with the Alphabet reform made by the great leader Ataturk, in 1928.