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General Information Area: 779,452 sq km (300,948 sq miles). Population: 64,385,000 (1999). Population Density: 82.6 per sq km. Capital: Ankara. Population: 2,937,524 (1997). GEOGRAPHY: 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 per cent 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. Government: Republic since 1923. Head of State: President Ahmet Necdet Sezer since 2000. Head of Government: Prime Minister Abdullah Gül since 2002. Language: Turkish. Kurdish is also spoken by a minority in the southeast. French, German and English are widely spoken in cities and tourist areas. Religion: Muslim with a small Christian minority. Turkey is a secular state which guarantees complete freedom of worship to non-Muslims. Time: GMT + 2 (GMT + 3 from last Sunday in March to Saturday before last Sunday in October). Electricity: 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Communications:   Telephone IDD is available. Country code: 90. Outgoing international code: 00. There is an extensive internal telephone network, but often an interpreter will be needed for more remote areas. To phone from PTT telephone booths, which are found in all areas, telephone cards and tokens are used. Local, intercity and international calls can be made from all PTT offices. Mobile telephone GSM 900 and 1800 band networks exist. Main network providers include Turkcell (website: www.turkcell.com.tr) and TELSIM Mobil Telekomuniksyon (website: www.telsim.com.tr). Coverage is available in most urban areas. Fax All hotels and PTT offices have facilities. Internet Main ISPs include: EfesNet (website: www.efes.net.tr). Internet cafes exist in main urban areas. Telegram These may be sent from all post offices. Post Airmail to Europe takes three days. Turkish post offices are recognisable by their yellow PTT signs. Major post offices open Mon-Sat 0800-2000 and Sun 0900-1900. Small post offices have the same opening hours as government offices. It is also possible to use the ‘Valuables Despatch Service’ for valuable belongings or important documents. Press The main newspapers are Hürriyet, Cumhuriyet, Sabah and Milliyet. English-language daily newspapers include The Turkish Daily News. BBC World Service and Voice of America frequencies: From time to time these change. BBC (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice): MHz 15.58 11.76 9.410 1.413 Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov): MHz 15.21 11.82 9.760 1.197 From www.columbusguides.com, Copyright © 2004 Highbury Columbus Travel Publishing Terms and Conditions apply.