Turkey - Simple Directory

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Official name: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (Republic of Turkey)
Head of State: President Ahmet Necdet Sezer (since May 2000)
Head of government: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (AKP) (appointed by the President; took office on 14 Mar 2003)
Ruling party: Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP) (Justice and Development Party) (since Nov 2002)
Area: 779,452 square km
Population: 76.06 million (2004)
Capital: Ankara
Official language: Turkish
Currency: Yeni Turk Lirasi (New Turkish Lira)(YTL) (The new Turkish lira (YTL) was introduced on 1 Jan 2005, to replace the old Turkish lira (L). YTL1.00 = L1,000,000. The YTL is divided into 100 kurus. The old currency will be withdrawn from circulation, but will still be accepted through 2005.)
Exchange rate: L1,462,500.00 per US$ (Nov 2004)
GDP per capita: US$3,313 (2003)
GDP real growth: 5.00% (2003)
Labour force: 22.58 million (2003)
Unemployment: 10.20% (2003)
Inflation: 24.50% (2003)
Balance of trade: -US$18.13 billion (2003)
Foreign debt: US$147.26 billion (2003)

Historical profile

Founded by Constantine the Great in AD330, Turkey (or Asia Minor as it was known) was for more than 1,000 years the heartland of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. From the eleventh century, invasions from Central Asia led to the Islamic Turkification of the region, headed by the Ottomans, a name derived from their fourteenth century leader Osman Gazi, who had masterminded the comprehensive defeat of the Byzantines at the Battle of Baphaeon in 1301.

1453 The Ottomans gradually expanded their areas of territorial control, creating the Ottoman Empire.

1500–1900s The Ottoman Empire attempted to widen its territorial control into the Mediterranean and Central Europe. This led to conflicts with the major European powers, including the Habsburgs and the Russians. Successive wars eventually undermined the Ottoman Empire.

1914 Turkey fought in the First World War on the side of the Germans. The majority of Ottoman possessions came under British or French control after the war.

1921 Democratic parliamentary government was provided for in the constitution.

1923 The Republic of Turkey was established as the successor to the multi-national Ottoman Empire. Mustafa Kemal, renamed Atatürk (Father of all the Turks) in 1934, led the country in the war of national liberation (1920–22), following the dismemberment of the empire by the entente powers at the end of the First World War. The independence of the Turkish state was recognised by the Treaty of Lausanne on 24 July 1923. Atatürk was elected as the republic's first president. He remained head of state until his death in 1938.

Sweeping changes were made in all areas – legal, political, social and economic. The Islamic legal codes were replaced by Western ones. Turkey is the only Muslim country where the principle of secularism is written into the constitution.

1945 Atatürk's successor, Ismet Inonu, kept Turkey out of the Second World War, except for the last four months, and was responsible for the introduction of multi-party politics.

1950 The first free elections were held.

1952 Turkey joined NATO.

1960 The government was overthrown in a military coup.

1961 A constitution was approved by referendum, elections were held and civilian rule was restored.

1971 There was a period of military supervision of government after a wave of strikes and unrest.

1973 Return to civilian rule.

1974 Turkey invaded northern Cyprus.

1978 Political unrest resulted in martial law in 13 provinces.

1980 Martial law was declared throughout the country.

1981 All political parties were disbanded.

1982 A new constitution was approved by referendum.

1983 New political parties were allowed, subject to strict rules. The Anavatan Partisi (ANAP) (Motherland Party) won the parliamentary election and Turgut Ozal became president.

1987 Martial law, which had continued in many provinces, ended, enabling Turkey to become a full and active member of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in addition to being an associate member of the EU.

1991 The national elections were won by Süleyman Demirel and the right-wing Dogru Yol Partisi (DYP) (True Path Party).

1993 Following the death of Turgut Ozal, Süleyman Demirel became president. Tansu Ciller triumphed in the leadership elections for the DYP and became Turkey's first ever woman prime minister.

1995 The general election resulted in a coalition government led, for the first time, by an Islamist prime minister. The Islamist Refah Partisi (RP) (Welfare Party) formed a coalition with the DYP.

1996 Necmettin Erbakan was appointed prime minister.

1997 The coalition government led by Erbakan collapsed and a government which included the ANAP, the Demokratik Sol Partisi (DSP) (Democratic Left Party) and the Demokrat Türkiye Partisi (DTP) (Democratic Turkey Party) was formed, with the ANAP's Mesut Yilmaz as prime minister.

1998 The RP was declared illegal and was banned. Its MPs joined the newly-formed Fazilet Partisi (FP) (Virtue Party) which became the largest single party in parliament. Yilmaz's government lost a vote of no-confidence and was forced to resign early.

1999 A coalition government led by Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit (DSP) won a vote of confidence. An earthquake in Istanbul and the Marmara region killed around 15,000 people.

2000 After the failure of a move to change the constitution to allow Demirel to continue as president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer was elected.

2001 The FP was banned. Turkey's parliament voted to change the constitution to help bring it closer to the constitutions in EU countries. Two international construction companies, Impregilo of Italy and Balfour Beatty of the UK, withdrew from the plan to construct a dam on the Tigris river.

2002 To meet EU conditions on opening membership talks, parliament voted for wide reforms, including rights for the Kurdish language. The far-right Milliyetçi Hareket Partisi (MHP) (Nationalist Movement Party) withdrew from the coalition, leading to snap parlimentary elections, which were won by the reformist Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi (AKP) (Justice and Development Party), led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Prime Minister Ecevit resigned and Abdullah Gül (AKP) was appointed prime minister by the President.

2003 Abdullah Gül resigned and Recep Tayyip Erdogan (AKP) became prime minister on 14 March. His government won a vote of confidence on 23 March. In June, a US State Department report said that Turkish authorities had not done enough to stop human trafficking. On 21 June, parliament adopted a package of human rights reforms to comply with EU criteria for starting membership talks. The legislation grants practice cultural rights for Kurds and other ethnic groups, including education and broadcasting in languages other than Turkish. Laws were passed in August to reduce the ability of the army to interfere in politics and to give a partial amnesty to fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

2004 In January, Turkey banned the death penalty. In June, four Kurdish members of parliament, including Leyla Zana, were freed, pending their appeal against convictions in 1994 and, for the first time, Turkish television began broadcasting programmes in Kurdish and Arabic. EU leaders agreed to open talks in October 2005 on Turkey's EU accession and Turkey agreed that it would recognise Cyprus as an EU member before its accession talks started.

2005 On 1 January, the new Turkish lira, Yeni Turk Lirasi (YTL), was introduced (six zeroes had been removed from the old lira). The European Commission (EC) received a letter on 29 March from Turkey, agreeing to extend a free trade accord with the EU, including Cyprus and the other nine members that joined in May 2004. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, which will carry one million barrels per day of Caspian oil to Western markets, opened on 25 May.

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