Turkey is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian
peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern
Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the
northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia,
Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and
Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus
are to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea
is to the north.
Separating Anatolia and Thrace are the Sea of Marmara and the
Turkish Straits (the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles), which are
commonly reckoned to delineate the boundary between Europe and
Asia,[4] thereby making Turkey a country of significant geostrategic
importance.[5][6] Ethnic Turks form the majority of the population,
followed by the Kurds. The predominant religion in Turkey is
Islam and its official language is Turkish.
.
The Seljuk Turks migrated into Asia Minor from Central Asia
starting in the eleventh century, a process greatly accelerated
by the Seljuk victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle
of Manzikert. In the thirteenth century, the Mongol Empire invaded
and conquered the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. Starting in
the fifteenth century, the Ottoman dynasty rose to power, soon
creating a technologically and culturally advanced empire encompassing
much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. After
the Ottoman Empire collapsed following its defeat in World War
I, parts of it were briefly occupied by the victorious Allies.
A cadre of young military officers, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,
organized a successful resistance to the Allies; in 1923, they
would found the modern republic of Turkey with Atatürk as
its first president.
Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic,
with an ancient and historical cultural heritage. Turkey has
become increasingly integrated with the West through membership
in organizations such as the Council of Europe, NATO, OECD,
OSCE and the G-20 major economies. Turkey began full membership
negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an
associate member of the European Economic Community since 1963
and having reached a customs union agreement in 1995. Turkey
has also fostered close cultural, political, economic and industrial
relations with the Eastern world, particularly with the Middle
East and the Turkic states of Central Asia, through membership
in organizations such as the Organisation of the Islamic Conference
and Economic Cooperation Organization. Turkey is classified
as a developed country[7] by the CIA and as a regional power[8][9]
by political scientists and economists worldwide.
