Turkey has a coastline on the Mediterranean Sea in the south and east, as well as the Black Sea to its north. It shares borders with Armenia and Iran in the east, Azerbaijan (at Nakhchivan) in the southeast, Georgia in the northeast, Bulgaria, and Greece to its northwest, while Iraq lies at Turkey's southwest point meeting Syria.
Turkey covers an area of 783,562 km² and has a population of 83.2 million people (in 2020), the largest city is Istanbul, and the national capital is Ankara.
Turkish is the official language, Kurdish is spoken by Kurdish people, and Arabic by Turkish Arabs.
Turkey is world-renowned for the Blue Mosque, the New Mosque, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (now a mosque once again), the Bosporus Bridge which connects Asia with Europe, the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Döner kebab, İskender kebap, Baklava, and Turkish coffee and tea; the Evil eye (Nazar); Tulips, Turkish carpets; the Turkish bath (hammam); whirling dervishes (Sufi dance moves).
The Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, replacing the dynastic and theocratic Ottoman system with its Sultanates and Caliphates. The new republic was based on a secular democratic, pluralist, and parliamentary system.
In 1945 Turkey joined the UN and became a member of NATO in 1952.
In recent years, Turkey has become a major tourist destination in Europe.
In 2020, Turkey exported a total of $177B, making it the number 29 exporter in the world.