Bibliography

Non-fiction Book (dedicated to our country):
1. Lyle, Gary. Major World Nation-Turkey. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2000
2. Piazza, Francesca. Turkey in Picture. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 2005

Non-fiction Book:
1. Wagner, Heather Creation of Modern Middle East. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2003

Reference:
1. "Turkey." World Book Encyclopedia. 2002 ed.
2. "Turkey" World Book Encyclopedia. 1992 ed.

Websites:
1. Turkey. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey
2. Turkish Food. Anonymous. http://turkishcook.com/TurkishFoodForum/

Culture

Turkey has a population of about 74,816,000 people. About 85% of the people are descendants of Asian people called Turks. About 48% of Turkey's people live in cities and towns, and about 52% live in rural areas. More than 90% of all Turks speak Turkish, the country's official language. About 6% speak Kurdish, and the rest speak Arabic, Greek, or one of the other languages of the minority groups. Turkey is lucky in that it has a richness and variety in cultural and natural resources and the preservation and development of these have been stipulated by law. Many organizations have been set up in connection with this subject and preservation has now become a subject that concerns many organizations, institutions and people. Turkey has approximately 2,700 historical ruins some dating back to prehistoric times and 41,000 works of culture.

Religion:
More than 98% of the Turkish people are Muslims. However, Turkey as no state religion, and the Constitution guarantees religious freedom. The population thus includes members of the Armenian Apostolic and Greek Orthodox churches, Roman and Eastern Catholics, and Jews. One of the most controversial issues in Turkey is whether Turkish society should be organized on a religious basis. Islamic law provides specific rules for all areas of life-economic, political, and social. In the 1920s, the government made religion a private matter, restricting it to personal morals and behavior. But many Turks objected. Today, the dispute continues over what part of Islam should have in Turkish life. Turkey has a democratic government and strong tradition of secularism. Nevertheless, the Turkish state's interpretation of secularism has resulted in religious freedom violations for many of Turkey's citizens. The 2009 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom report placed Turkey on its Watch List' with countries such as Afghanistan, Cuba, the Russian Federation, and Venezuela.

Government

Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of secularism. Turkey's constitution governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main principles of government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralized state. Turkey's political system is based on a separation of powers. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Its current constitution was adopted on November 7, 1982 after a period of military rule, and enshrines the principle of secularism. Since 1950, parliamentary politics has been dominated by conservative parties. Turkey's official name is the Republic of Turkey, its government has 550 members of the legislative branch, the Grand National Assembly, representing 81 provinces. Women didn't have almost any civil rights before the 1920s. Thanks to Atatürk, the founder of the Republic, who believed in the necessity of complete equality between women and men, all the political rights considered to be the foundation of citizenship rights were recognized for women in Turkey in a very short period of time. Women in Turkey obtained the right to vote and be elected in municipal elections in 1930 and in parliamentary elections in 1934. Prior to that date, the number of countries where women had the right to vote and be elected as members of parliament was 28 and the number of countries where women actually were elected as members of parliament was 17. When it is taken into consideration that women obtained the right to vote in 1944 in France, in 1945 in Italy and in 1948 in Belgium, it appears that Turkey was way ahead compared with many countries. The principle of the equality of women-men has been adopted in the Constitution and in the laws of Turkey. The equal treatment of women-men within the legal framework was provided by the adoption of the Swiss Civil Code. Only recently, it has been realized that some of the decrees are insufficient for today's society. A commission formed by the Ministry of Justice, of the professors of civil law, has been authorized to prepare a draft bill which is sensitive to gender, which takes into consideration the amendments made in the laws related to the family in European countries, and also international agreements sign- ed by the Republic of Turkey. The Commission completed its studies and announced the new Turkish Civil Draft Bill on 17 February 1998. The most important changes envisaged through this proposal are as follows: establishing equality for both genders in terms of marriageable age by raising such age to 17 for both sexes, the joint representation of marital unity by both of the partners, joint decision-making regarding the couples residence and the opportunity for equal ownership of all assets procured during the span of marriage, removal of the act of adultery from the Penal Law, the right to use the maiden name before the husband's name and the right to work without permission of the husband.

What about checks & balance?:
The constitution, which brought for the first time a full text of civil and political rights under constitutional protection along with an improved system of checks and balances in Turkish history, was approved by a referendum held on 10 October 1961. With the establishment of the first Court of Constitution that created a new paradigm shift by scrutinizing the parliamentary rulings as the "checks" organ in 1961 and the addition of a Senate to the parliament, the Turkish Grand National Assembly was re-opened after the general elections, nominated and voted Cemal Gürsel as the fourth president of Turkey.

Repression:
According to Turkish military records, Kurdish rebellions have been taking place in Anatolia for over two centuries. The main rebellion which dominates the history of the Kurds in Turkey is that of the 1925 rebellion in Kurdistan region of Turkey which was led by Sheikh Said. The repression and aggression of Kemalist secularism followed and all public manifestations of Kurdish identity was outlawed which, in turn, prepared Kurds for more rebellion.

History

While modern Turkey is a relatively young republic having been founded upon the remains of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, it is an ancient land, the cradle of civilization and the center of world history. The site of the first human settlement; the seat of the Greek, Roman and Ottoman Empires; is just a microscopic sampling of Turkey's extraordinary heritage. The Mongolian Empire was torn by internal struggles and soon fell apart. As a result, the Turks' influence in Anatolia continued to grow. During the 1300s, a group of Turks called the Ottomans began to build a mighty empire. In 1326, they seized the Anatolian city of Bursa, which became their capital. By the late 1300s, the Ottomans had conquered the western two-thirds of Anatolia; most of Thrace; and much of the Balkan Peninsula, including Greece. All that remained of the Byzantine Empire was the are aaround Constantinople. Mustafa Kemal, a Turkish military hero, quickly organized a nationalist movement. Under the leadership of Kemal, a nationalist congress met Sivas in Semptember to form a new temporary government. In April 1920, the congress organized the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara and elected Kemal as Assembly president.

What are 3 Significant Facts?:
-1500 B.C.-The Hittites, the earliest known inhabitants of what is now Turkey, ruled in Anatolia.
-1947-Turkey received economic and military aid from the United States to resist Soviet expansion.
-1960-Turkish army units overthrew the government and ruled until free elections were held in 1961.

War of Independence (1919-1923):
Turkish nationalists established modern Turkey as an outcome of the Turkish War of Independence, mostly on what was to become Turkish territory, as of the Treaty of Lausanne. The war resulted in the defeat of Greece in western Turkey, the East Armenian states on the east; (2 November 1920 Treaty of Gümrü), Britain, France, and Georgia.
The Treaty of Lausanne, signed on July 24, 1923, and negotiated by İsmet İnönü on behalf of the Ankara government, established most of the modern boundaries of the country (except the province of Hatay, formerly the Syrian province of Alexandretta, which joined Turkey following a referendum organized in 1939 after having gained its independence from France in 1938). The Treaty of Lausanne also led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the new Republic of Turkey as the successor state of the defunct Ottoman Empire. The Republic of Turkey was founded as a nation-state on the French Revolutionary model.

Fun Fact- Turkey is one of the most advanced Muslim countries in the world. Turkey is the only secular Muslim country amongst all the Muslim countries in the world.

Economy of Turkey

Currency:
In recent years, the chronically high inflation of Turkey has been brought under control and this has led to the launch of a new currency, the Turkish new lira, on January 1, 2005, to cement the acquisition of the economic reforms and erase the vestiges of an unstable economy (1 Turkish lira is equal to 0.655810 U.S. dollars). On January 1, 2009, the New Turkish Lira was renamed once again as the Turkish Lira, with the introduction of new banknotes and coins. As a result of continuing economic reforms, inflation has dropped to 8.2% in 2005, and the unemployment rate to 10.3%. In 2004, it was estimated that 46.2% of total disposable income was received by the top 20% income earners, while the lowest 20% received 6%.

Agriculture (Major Imports & Exports):
The country is among the world's leading producers of agricultural products; textiles; motor vehicles, ships and other transportation equipment; construction materials; consumer electronics and home appliances. In recent years, Turkey had a rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in industry, banking, transport, and communications. Like many economies, Turkey has been affected by the financial crisis of 2007–2010. Turkey's main agricultural products include hazelnuts, tea, tobacco, sugar beets, dates, and livestock. The country's natural resources are coal, chromium, iron, ore, sulfur, copper, and mercury. Because of coal and cigarette smoking, this has caused Turkey to have air pollution. Fortunately, because of large grasslands, sheep and goats are the main livestock and can graze on the grass. Also, the grasslands are good for growing crops like; hazelnuts, tea, tobacco, sugar beets, and even cotton, which is grown mainly on the Cilician Plain and is the most important industrial crop. Yet, most of the cultivated land is used to grow grain. The most important grain crop is wheat. Irrigation is necessary for this because there is little rain.

Exports:

* Apparel
* Foodstuffs
* Textiles
* Metal manufactures
* Transportation equipment

Imports:

* Machinery
* Chemicals
* Semi-finished goods
* Fuels
* Transportation equipment

The Geography

Turkey, known officially as the Republic of Turkey is a Eurasian country. Turkey lies in 6 different regions. the four main regions are; the Black Sea region, the Marmara region, the Aegean region, and the Mediterranean region. Although, its major rivers are the Bosporus, Tigris, and Euphrates. Turkey's major lakes are the Sea of Marmara, Van, Tuz, and Iznik. The exact coordinates of Turkey are 39° 55′ 0″ N, 32° 50′ 0″ E. Turkey receives the shape of its land from Earthquakes and volcanic activity. Also, turkey has a lot of mountains that are good for agriculture. Winters on the plateau are especially severe. Temperatures of −22 °F to −40 °F can occur in eastern Anatolia, and snow may lie on the ground at least 120 days of the year. In the west, winter temperatures average below 34 °F. Summers are hot and dry, with temperatures generally above 86 °F in the day. Annual precipitation averages about 15 in, with actual amounts determined by elevation. May is generally the wettest month, whereas July and August are the driest.