Turkey (country)

A

Population Characteristics

Turkey’s population is 71,158,647 (2007 estimate), giving a population density of 92 people per sq km (239 people per sq mi). Some 67 per cent of the people lived in urban areas in 2005, compared with 25 per cent in 1945. The highest population concentrations are in İstanbul and in the coastal regions.

B

Principal Cities

The population of İstanbul is 9,451,000 (2000); of Ankara, the capital, 3,023,000 (2000). İzmir has 2,409,000 people (2000); Adana, 1,294,000 (2000); and Bursa, 1,304,000 (2000).

C

Religion

Islam ceased to be the official state religion of Turkey in 1928, when the country became a secular state. Nevertheless, 99 per cent of the population is Muslim—primarily Sunni, although large numbers of Shiites are found in the south-east. Christians account for less than 0.1 per cent of the population. The Jewish community is estimated to number around 25,000.

D

Language

The official language of Turkey is Turkish, an Altaic language spoken by the majority of the population as a first or second language. However, around 33 other languages are spoken in Turkey. In the European part of the country Balkan Gagauz Turkish is the most widely spoken language, followed by Bulgarian, which is spoken by Muslim Pomaks. Armenian, Balkan Romani (an Indo-Iranian language), Serbian, Domari (spoken by Roma [Gypsies] in Turkey), and Tosk Albanian are among some of the languages indigenous to European Turkey.

In the Asian part of Turkey, aside from Turkish the most widespread language is Kurmanji, an Indo-Iranian language also referred to as “North Kurdish”. South Azerbaijani, an Altaic language, is a mother tongue for some, as are North Mesopotamian Spoken Arabic, Kabardian, (a North Caucasian language), Kirmanjki (Indo-Iranian), and Georgian (South Caucasian), among others.

E

Education

At the birth of the republic more than 90 per cent of the people were illiterate. Atatürk’s major reforms included a far-reaching educational programme, and the first constitution stated that “primary education is obligatory for all Turks and shall be gratuitous in government schools”. By 2005 87.6 per cent of the adult population could read and write. Primary education through the first five grades is compulsory. In 2000 some 8.01 million pupils attended primary schools, 3.5 million students attended general secondary schools, and 1.3 million students attended technical and vocational schools. In 2002–2003, 3.6 per cent of gross national product (GNP) was allocated to education. Around 1.16 million students attended higher education institutions. Entrance to Turkey’s 70 or so universities is extremely competitive. Major institutions are the University of İstanbul (1453); Aegean University (1955), at İzmir; and the University of Ankara (1946) and Middle East Technical University (1956), at Ankara.