QUICK FACTS
Official Name: Republic of Turkey
Capital: Ankara
Financial Center: Istanbul
Government Type: Republican Parliamentary
Democracy
Head of State: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
(since 2014)
Head of Government: Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoglu (since 2014)
Ruling Party: The Justice and Development Party
(AKP) leads the government
Land Mass: 770,760 km² (297,592 mi²)
Sea and Water: 9,820 km² (3,792 mi²)
Currency: Turkish lira (TRY=100 kurus)
Major cities: Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir (out
of 81 cities)
Language: Turkish (official), other languages
Time zone: Two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean
Time (GMT)
Telephone Code: +90
STRATEGIC LOCATION
Neighboring Countries are Greece and Bulgaria
at West; Georgia and Armenia at Northeast; Syria and Iraq at Southeast; and
Azerbaijan and Iran at East
Control of the Bosphorus and access to
the Black Sea
Eurasian country 97% on the Asia
Minor Peninsula (Anatolia) and 3% on the European Balkan Peninsula
(Eastern Trace)
TRADING HUB
56 countries, 1.5 billion customers by a 4-hours
flight from Turkey
Geographic advantage as a gateway to European, Middle
Eastern, North African and Central Asian markets
POPULATION
Turkey’s population by 2016 is 78.7 million with
median age of 31
The largest youth population compared with
the EU 27 countries
Over 29 million labor force
LARGE DOMESTIC MARKET
Cell phone penetration rate in households: 96.1% (2014)
Internet access rate in households: 69.5% (2015)
Internet access rate in enterprises: 92.5% (2015)
Computer usage rate in households: 54.8% (2015)
Credit card users: 58.2 million people (2015)
Cars registered to the traffic: 10.59 million
(2015)
ECONOMY
17th largest economy in the world in terms of
GDP PPP (2014)
6th largest economy compared with the EU in
terms of GDP PPP (2014)
GDP in current prices: USD 800 billion (2014)
GDP per capita in current prices: USD
10,404 (2014)
GDP growth on 2014 was 2.9%
FOREIGN TRADE
Total volume of exports was USD 143.9
billion in 2015.
Total volume of imports was USD 207.2
billion in 2015.
Main product groups in exports are motor
vehicles, machinery, steel, textile, food products andbeverages as
of 2015.
Main product groups in imports are chemicals, basic
metals, machinery, motor vehicles and textiles as of 2015.
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
Total FDI inflow: USD 12.5 billion in
2014
Countries with the highest FDI in Turkey: Austria (13%), Luxemburg (11%), Netherlands (10%), UK(9%), Spain (7%)
and Germany (6%) between 2008-2012
FDI Inflows from 2008 to 2012 has been the highest for the financial intermediation sector; this followed by manufacturing, energy, wholesale and retail trade, and construction sector.
GLOBAL TRADE AND MEMBERSHIPS
Customs Union with the EU since 1996
Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with countries
including Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Chile, Croatia, EFTA member countries
(Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), Egypt, Georgia, Israel,
Jordan, South Korea, Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mauritus, Palestine,
Serbia, Syria, Tunisia
Member of G-20, OECD, NATO, WTO, non-permanent
member of UN Security Council
INVESTMENT CLIMATE
Foreign capital firms increased to 46,760 in 2015 from 6,700 in 2003
Equal treatment for all investors
International arbitration