Facts About Turkey

Facts About Turkey

Money: Turkish Lira (formerly New Turkish Lira)

Population: 71,892,808 as of July 2008 (estimate) * - source: CIA – The World Fact book.

Geographical size: 814,578sq km - of which 790,200 is in Asia, 24,378 is in Europe.

Ethnic groups: 80% Turkish, 20% Kurdish

Religion: 99.8% Muslim (mostly Sunni), 0.2% Christianity and others

Capital: Ankara (Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, but Ankara is the capital)

National flag: White crescent moon and white star on a red background

Time zone: 7+ hours US Eastern Standard Time, 2+ hours GMT.  

Electricity: 220 volts, 50 Hz. Standard two-pin European plug

Telephone: Country code 90

Internet country code: .tr - Internet access is cheap at cafes and pensions but slow data transfer rates can be frustrating.

Drives on the: right 

Weights and measures: Uses the metric and kilo system

More interesting facts about Turkey

• Two of the ancient wonders of the world – Ephesus and Halicarnassus – were in Turkey
• Turkey boasts more Greek ruins than Greece and more Roman sites than Italy
• Istanbul is the only city in the world built on two continents, Europe and Asia
• Troy, known as the centre of ancient civilization and immortalized in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, is in Turkey
• Turkey shares a border with eight countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Iraq and Syria
• Turkey is the only democratic, secular country - allowing the right to worship any religion - among the Muslim nations in the Middle East
• Turkey has the biggest army in NATO after the United States
• It is illegal to show disrespect to the name or image of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish Republic, or to insult the Turkish government, flag, or security forces.
• Turkey is the world’s leading supplier of processed leather and is ranked the second biggest exporter of jewellery in the world 
• The average age of the population in Turkey is 28.3 years old
• The real St Nicolas – today’s Santa Claus –was thought to be a bishop in Myra, Turkey. 
• The final resting place of Noah´s Ark may have been Mount Ararat in Eastern Turkey.
• The Turks introduced coffee to Europe
• Turkey is surrounded by sea on three sides – the Black Sea in the north, Mediterranean in the south and the Aegean Sea in the west.
• Natural hazards include earthquakes, particularly in northern Turkey
• Agriculture still accounts for 35% of employment in Turkey
• Turkey has almost as many species of flower as Europe combined
• The World Bank classes Turkey’s economy as among the world’s 20 largest

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