Careers, Jobs and Education Resources for: Turkey

Economic Overview

Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with a traditional agriculture sector that still accounts for more than 35% of employment. it has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication. the largest industrial sector is textiles and clothing, which accounts for one-third of industrial employment; it faces stiff competition in international markets with the end of the global quota system. however, other sectors, notably the automotive and electronics industries, are rising in importance within turkey's export mix. real gnp growth has exceeded 6% in many years, but this strong expansion has been interrupted by sharp declines in output in 1994, 1999, and 2001. the economy is turning around with the implementation of economic reforms, and 2004 gdp growth reached 9%, followed by roughly 5% annual growth from 2005-07. inflation fell to 7.7% in 2005 - a 30-year low - but climbed back to 8.5% in 2007. despite the strong economic gains from 2002-07, which were largely due to renewed investor interest in emerging markets, imf backing, and tighter fiscal policy, the economy is still burdened by a high current account deficit and high external debt. further economic and judicial reforms and prospective eu membership are expected to boost foreign direct investment. the stock value of fdi currently stands at about $85 billion. privatization sales are currently approaching $21 billion. oil began to flow through the baku-tblisi-ceyhan pipeline in may 2006, marking a major milestone that will bring up to 1 million barrels per day from the caspian to market. in 2007, turkish financial markets weathered significant domestic political turmoil, including turbulence sparked by controversy over the selection of former foreign minister abdullah gul as turkey's 11th president. economic fundamentals are sound, marked by strong economic growth and foreign direct investment. turkey's high current account deficit leaves the economy vulnerable to destabilizing shifts in investor confidence, however.

Environmental Issues

Water pollution from dumping of chemicals and detergents; air pollution, particularly in urban areas; deforestation; concern for oil spills from increasing bosporus ship traffic

Government Type

Republican parliamentary democracy

Population

71,892,808 (july 2008 est.)

Location

Southeastern europe and southwestern asia (that portion of turkey west of the bosporus is geographically part of europe), bordering the black sea, between bulgaria and georgia, and bordering the aegean sea and the mediterranean sea, between greece and syria

Area

Total: 780,580 sq km land: 770,760 sq km water: 9,820 sq km

Slightly larger than texas

Country Aliases

Conventional long form: republic of turkey conventional short form: turkey local long form: turkiye cumhuriyeti local short form: turkiye

Capital

Name: ankara geographic coordinates: 39 56 n, 32 52 e time difference: utc+2 (7 hours ahead of washington, dc during standard time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last sunday in march; ends last sunday in october

Military Service

20 years of age (2004)

International Disputes

Complex maritime, air, and territorial disputes with greece in the aegean sea; status of north cyprus question remains; syria and iraq protest turkish hydrological projects to control upper euphrates waters; turkey has expressed concern over the status of kurds in iraq; border with armenia remains closed over nagorno-karabakh