An Introduction to Turkey
The territory of what is now the Republic of Turkey joins Europe and Asia and has been at the centre of many of the great events of history since the Trojan War in the second millennium BC. Istanbul, its largest city, was as Constantinople the centre of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empire for more than a thousand years, and then the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which at its height in the late 16th and early 17th centuries stretched from Gibraltar to the Caspian Sea and from the gates of Vienna to the Yemen, the Upper Nile and the Persian Gulf. See full country profile.Latest Research News from Middle East
GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary republic
AREA: 783,562 sq km
POPULATION: 74,724,269 (July 2011 est.)
MAJOR LANGUAGE: Official Language: Turkish
Some business and general info
The Market Research Industry
Trade and Industry in Turkey
Persian King Darius the Great took his army across the Bosphorus on an enormous bridge made by connecting boats, as did his successor Xerxes I over the Dardanelles (then called the Hellespont) during his invasion of Greece. The strategic significance of the Bosphorus was one of the reasons Roman Emperor Constantine the Great chose to found his new capital there in 300AD.
'Though navigation of the Bosphorus has always therefore been crucial, it is also treacherous. At its minimum width of 700 m between Kandilli Point and Aiyan ships must change course by 45 degrees while allowing for currents of 7-8 knots; while at Yenikoy, they must turn through nearly a right angle. At both, rear and forward views sights are totally blocked prior to and during the course alteration - ships approaching from the opposite direction cannot be seen round these bends. And with the shores of the strait densely populated today (Istanbul has around 11 million inhabitants), there is also very heavy ferry traffic.
According to an August 2010 study by the University of Leeds, UK, the underwater channel of high density water flowing across the floor of the Bosphorus (caused by the difference in density of the two seas) would if it were not submerged constitute the sixth largest river on Earth.
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The territory of what is now the Republic of Turkey joins Europe and Asia and has been at the centre of many of the great events of history since the Trojan War in the second millennium BC. Istanbul, its largest city, was as Constantinople the centre of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine Empire for more than a thousand years, and then the capital of the Ottoman Empire, which at its height in the late 16th and early 17th centuries stretched from Gibraltar to the Caspian Sea and from the gates of Vienna to the Yemen, the Upper Nile and the Persian Gulf.
A new republican Turkish state with something like the modern boundaries was established in 1922-3 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatrk. The state moved towards multi-party parliamentary democracy from 1945 (universal suffrage for both sexes was introduced in 1933 but at the time it was still a one-party state) - and has since suffered several coups d'etat, but from the 1980s politics has generally stabilised. As a western-looking state (it joined NATO in 1952), about 98% Muslim by faith but strongly secular in its constitution and traditions, Turkey holds a unique place in middle eastern and world affairs.Turkey began moving from a heavily state-controlled economy to a more market-driven model around 30 years ago, and it began full membership negotiations with the EU in 2005.
GDP: $1.07 trillion (2011 est.); $16,885 per capita
Religions 96.1% Muslim, 3.2% Irreligious, 0.6% Christianity, 0.1% Other
Currency: Turkish lira; 1 TRY = $US 0.55
Telephone Code: + 90
MR Association(s):
TUAD (Turkish Association of Marketing and Public Opinion Researchers)
Turkey is the 26th largest research market in the world, and the 15th largest in Europe (in which ESOMAR categorises it). 70 percent of MR turnover comes from domestic clients and 30 percent from international. According to the ESOMAR Global Prices Study 2012 the country was the 38th most expensive for carrying out research.
Source: ESOMAR
Turkey is in the world's top 20 for GDP, both nominal and PPP, and is a founding member of the OECD and of the G20. From the early 1980s the economy's rapid growth was interspersed with economic crises, but from 2002 to 2007 it grew at around 7% per annum, with inflation finally under control, and after a recession following the global financial crisis in 2009 growth has now returned.
Despite urbanisation (three quarters of the population live in towns and cities) agriculture still employs a quarter of the workforce; while the service sector now accounts for around two thirds of GDP. Although GDP per capita still stands at around half the EU average, foreign investment is rising and the country's credit rating has actually improved since 2008 - very rare, and partly a reflection of the relative under-exposure of its banks, none of which have gone bust.
2010 exports of $144bn included food, textiles, metals and transport equipment, with Germany taking 9.6% and France, Italy and the UK all taking around 6% and Iraq 5% in 2009. Imports, which totalled $235bn in 2010, are dominated by machinery, chemicals and semi-finished goods, with main partners being Russia (14% in 2009), Germany (10%) and China (9%).
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