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Turkey, known officially as the Republic of Turkey, is a Eurasiancountry that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace(Rumelia) in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Turkey borders eightcountries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west, Georgia to thenortheast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhichevan), and Iran to theeast; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus areto the south; the Aegean Sea and Archipelago are to the west; and the Black Seais to the north. Separating Anatolia and Thrace are the Sea of Marmara and the TurkishStraits (the Bosporus and the Dardanelles), which are commonly reckoned todelineate the border between Asia and Europe, thereby making Turkey transcontinental.

Due to its strategic location astride two continents, Turkey'sculture has a unique blend of Eastern and Western tradition. A powerfulregional presence in the Eurasian landmass with strong historic, cultural andeconomic influence in the area between Europe in the west and Central Asia inthe east, Russia in the north and Southwest Asia in the south, Turkey has cometo acquire increasing strategic significance. Turkish is the sole officiallanguage throughout Turkey and is one of the two official languages of nearby Cyprus,together with Greek. As of 2007, the population of Turkey stood at 70.5 millionwith a growth rate of 1.04 % per annum. Recently, Turkey has also become adestination for numerous immigrants. These immigrants generally migrate fromthe former Soviet Bloc countries, as well as neighboring Muslim states, eitherto settle and work in Turkey or to continue their journey towards the EuropeanUnion.

Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industryand commerce along with a traditional agriculture sector that still accountsfor more than 35% of employment. It has a strong and rapidly growing privatesector, yet the state still plays a major role in basic industry, banking,transport, and communication. The largest industrial sector is textiles andclothing, which accounts for one-third of industrial employment; it faces stiffcompetition in international markets with the end of the global quota system.However, other sectors, notably the automotive and electronics industries, arerising in importance within Turkey's export mix. 

Tourism in Turkey is focused largely on a variety ofarchaeological and historical sites, and on seaside resorts along its Aegeanand Mediterranean coasts. In the recent years, Turkey is also becoming apopular destination for spa and health care tourism. Turkey is the 9th mostvisited country in the world and 7th in Europe. Rapid urbanization of apredominantly young population is creating a severe housing shortage in Turkeywith recent studies highlighting a need for more than 5 million new houses by2010.  This combination of demand and limited supply will continue to pushprices up in the major cities and towns in the foreseeable future.