FACTS

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 (only Total) total: 780,580 sq km

Climate: temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior

Terrain: high central plateau (Anatolia); narrow coastal plain; several mountain ranges

Population: 71,892,807 (July 2008 est.)

Main Language (only first): Turkish

Government type: republican parliamentary democracy

Capital (Name): Ankara

Capital (Time Difference): UTC+2

Independence: 29 October 1923 (successor state to the Ottoman Empire)

National holiday: Republic Day, 29 October (1923)