Hatay question with Syria;
ongoing dispute with downstream riparians (Syria and Iraq) over water
development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

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

Terrain: mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central plateau
(Anatolia)

Natural resources: antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate,
sulphur, iron ore

Land use:
arable land: 30%
permanent crops: 4%
meadows and pastures: 12%
forest and woodland: 26%
other: 28%

Irrigated land: 22,200 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment:
current issues: water pollution from dumping of chemicals and
detergents; air pollution, particularly in urban areas; deforestation
natural hazards: very severe earthquakes, especially in northern
Turkey, along an arc extending from the Sea of Marmara to Lake Van
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Hazardous Wastes,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands;
signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity, Desertification,
Environmental Modification

Note: strategic location controlling the Turkish Straits (Bosporus,
Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas

@Turkey:People

Population: 63,405,526 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 35% (female 10,815,288; male 11,203,723)
15-64 years: 60% (female 18,723,772; male 19,391,037)
65 years and over: 5% (female 1,764,363; male 1,507,343) (July 1995
est.)

Population growth rate: 1.97% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 25.33 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 5.64 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 45.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.48 years
male: 69.11 years
female: 73.96 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 3.12 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Turk(s)
adjective: Turkish

Ethnic divisions: Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20%

Religions: Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (Christian and
Jews)

Languages: Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990)
total population: 79%
male: 90%
female: 68%

Labor force: 20.4 million
by occupation: agriculture 44%, services 41%, industry 15%
note: between 1.5 million and 1.8 million Turks work abroad (1994)

@Turkey:Go