Turkey lies at the crossroads between Europe and Asia; it stretches from the northeast end of the Mediterranean Sea in southeast Europe and southwest Asia. To the north is the Black Sea and to the west is the Aegean Sea. Its neighbours are Greece and Bulgaria to the west, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania to the north and northwest (through the Black Sea), Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east, and Syria and Iraq to the south. The Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus divide the country. Dominated by Greeks, Persians, and Romans in turn throughout the classical era, what is now Turkey was once the seat of the Byzantine Empire. After the Ottoman Empire fell in 1918, Turkey transformed itself into the vibrant, modernising, secular state it is today. As a result of its vibrant history and geography, Turkey is a very varied country.

• The Republic of Turkey is a parliamentary democracy.
• The capital is Ankara and other larger cities are Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Adana and others.
• The head of state is the president, the prime minister is head of government; since 2007, presidents of Turkey are directly elected, and the president appoints the prime minister.
• As of 2011, Turkey has an estimated 78.8 million citizens. The majority of them are ethnically Turkish – 70 to 75% of the population.
• The official language of Turkey is Turkish, which is the most widely-spoken of the languages in the Turkic family, part of the larger Altaic linguistic group. It is related to Central Asian languages such as Kazakh, Uzbek, Turkmen, etc.
• Turkey has a total area of 783,562 square kilometers (302,535 square miles). It straddles the Sea of Marmara, which divides southeastern Europe from southwestern Asia.
• The narrow Turkish Straits seaway between the two continents, including the Dardanelles and the Bosporus Strait, is one of the world’s key maritime passages; it is the only access-point between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This fact gives Turkey enormous geopolitical importance.
• Turkey is among the top twenty economies in the world, although agriculture still accounts for 30% of jobs in Turkey, the economy relies on industrial and service sector output for its growth.
• Turkey has oil and natural gas reserves. It is also a key distribution point for Middle Eastern and Central Asia oil and natural gas moving to Europe and to ports for export overseas.
• Turkey’s coasts have a mild Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers and rainy winters. The weather becomes more extreme in the eastern, mountainous region.