779,452 sq km (300,948 sq miles).

62,510,000 (official estimate 1997).

80.7 per sq km.

Ankara

2,890,025 (1996).

Turkey borders the Black Sea and Georgia and Armenia to the northeast, Iran to the east, Iraq to the southeast, Syria and the Mediterranean to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west and Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest. Asia Minor (or Anatolia) accounts for 97% of the country and forms a long, wide peninsula 1650km (1025 miles) from east to west and 650km (400 miles) from north to south. Two east–west mountain ranges, the Black Sea Mountains in the north and the Taurus in the south, enclose the central Anatolian plateau, but converge in a vast mountainous region in the far east of the country. It is here that the ancient Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise.

Republic since 1923. Head of State: President Süleyman Demirel since 1993. Head of Government: Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit since 1999.

Turkish. French, German and English are widely spoken in cities.

Muslim with a small Christian minority. Turkey is a secular state which guarantees complete freedom of worship to non-Muslims.

GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October).

220 volts AC, 50Hz.