Country Sheet : Türkiye

Information file

Last Update on 18th December 2024

TÜRKIYE

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In English - version of 18th December 2024

Geography

Area : 783,562 km²

Borders : 2,816 km (Armenia 311 km, Azerbaijan 17 km, Bulgaria 223 km, Georgia 273 km, Greece 192 km, Iran 534 km, Iraq 367 km, Syria 899 km)

Coastline : 7,200 km

Capital : Ankara

Official language : Turkish

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Population

Population : 85,372,377 (2024)

Crude natural change rate : 5.8‰ (2023)

Population repartition: 22% under 15 years old, 9.9%over 65 years old (2023)

Foreign residents: EU nationals 0.2%, non- EU nationals 0.8% (2017)

Crude net migration rate: -4‰ (2023)

First time asylum applicants: 19,017 (2023)

Life expectancy: men 74.7 years, women 80 years (2023)

Religions: Muslim 99.8% (mainly Sunni), other 0.2% (mainly Christian and Jewish)

Ethnic groups: Turks (incl. Alevis) 70 - 75%, Kurds 19%, other minorities 7 - 12% (est. 2016)

Source : Eurostat, The CIA World Factbook

Economy

Currency: Turkish lira (TRY) (exchange rate in November 2024: €1 = TRY 36.36)

GDP: €1,030,513.6 million (2023)

GDP per capita (PPS): €14,010 (2023)

GDP growth : 5.1% (2023)

Inflation: 48.7% (October 2024)

Public debt: 29.3% of GDP (2023)

Unemployment: 8.5% (August 2024)

Stock of foreign direct investment from the entire world: $164.9 billion (2022)

Budget balance: -5.3% of GDP (2023)

Source : Eurostat, FMI, OECD, Trading Economics, Country Economy

Political system

Republic, parliamentary democracy, authoritarian presidential regime (Constitution adopted by referendum on November 7, 1982 and amended in 1995, 2001, 2007 and 2010, 2017). The European Commission for Democracy through Law has estimated that the revision of the Constitution made in 2017 «represents a complete break in the constitutional history of the country. It does not fit into the logic of the separation of powers that characterizes democratic presidential regimes.»

Head of State Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, reelected on May 28th 2023 for a five-year term. The President is simultaneously head of state, head of the executive, head of the armed forces and head of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). He has the right to dissolve Parliament. The AKP government is supported by the MHP, HÜDA PAR and the DSP.

Prime Minister abolition of the post of prime minister following the new 2017 Constitution and transfer of his powers to the presidency.

Vice-president Cevdet Yilmaz

"Monocameral parliamentary system" the Grand National Assembly (Meclis) comprises 600 seats; deputies are elected for 5 years by proportional representation; a threshold of 10% of the vote is required (except for “independent candidates”).

Political representation

Parliamentary composition since 28th May 2023

267 AKP seats (Justice and Development Party, Islamo-conservative)
128 seats CHP (Republican People's Party, Kemalist)
57 seats DEM (Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party, Kurdish)
50 seats MHP (Nationalist Action Party)
30 seats IYI (The Good Party, center-right)
20 seats SP (Saadet, Bliss Party, religious nationalist)
15 seats DEVA (Democracy and Progress Party
7 independent seats
4 seats HÜDA PAR (Free Cause Party, Kurdish Islamist)
4 seats YRP (New Prosperity Party, populist)
3 seats DP (Democratic Party)
3 seats TIP (Workers' Party of Turkey, communist)
2 seats DBP (Democratic Party of the Regions)
2 seats EMEK (Labor Party, communist)
1 seat DSP (Democratic Left Party)
7 seats Vacant

Relations with the EU

Turkey has been a candidate for membership of the European Union since 1987. This status was officially recognized at the Helsinki European Council in December 1999. Accession negotiations began on October 3, 2005, but the steady deterioration in Turkey's situation with regard to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights has seen the country move further and further away from the EU.
In June 2018, the Council announced that accession negotiations had stalled and that neither the opening nor the closing of any further chapters was an option. The last intergovernmental meeting in the enlargement process was held on June 30, 2016. As part of the negotiations, 16 chapters were opened and only one provisionally closed.
An association agreement between the EU and Turkey was concluded back in 1963, with the aim of strengthening economic cooperation and bilateral trade relations. The EU-Turkey customs union has been in force since 1995.