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Turkey

OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of Turkey

DATE OF FORMATION: 1923

POPULATION: 72.3 million

DENSITY: 243 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Circassian, Armenian, Greek, Georgian, Ladino

RELIGIONS: Muslim (mainly Sunni) 99%, Other 1%

ETHNIC MIX: Turkish 70%, Kurdish 20%, Other 8%, Arab 2%

GOVERNMENT: Multiparty elections

CURRENCY: new Turkish lira

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Though its territory lies mainly in western Asia, Turkey also includes the region of Eastern Thrace in Europe. It thus controls the entrance to the Black Sea, which is straddled by Turkey's largest city, Istanbul. Most Turks live in the western half of the country. The eastern and southeastern reaches of the Anatolia Plateau are Kurdish regions. Turkey's location gives it great strategic influence in the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East. Turkey lies on a major earthquake fault line, so that many towns are vulnerable to earthquakes such as that which devastated Izmit in 1999.