Turkey is located in southeastern Europe and southwestern Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria. Most of the Turkish landmass is in Asia and is known as Anatolia and 3% is in Europe and known as Thrace. Surrounded by six major bodies of water, Turkey has 8,000 km of coastline (from north to south: the Black Sea, Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus, the strait of the Dardanelles, the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas). Turkey borders Armenia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece, Syria and Iraq. The highest point in Turkey is Mount Ararat at 5,166 meters and the source of both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is in Turkey.

Turkey is a secular, democratic state governed by the rule of law; committed to the nationalism of its founding father Atat¸rk and based on the principle of the separation of powers. The executive power is in the hands of the president and the Council of Ministers, the legislative body is the Grand National Assembly, and the judicial branch is made up of independent, supreme and judiciary courts.

Turkey is a world leader in the production of hard-shell nuts (especially hazelnuts), figs, apricots, vegetables, grapes, tobacco, wheat and cotton and is among the leading countries in textiles and ready-to-wear clothing production. The leather processing industry is also very developed.

While 99% of the population of the population is Muslim, Turkey is a secular state that guarantees complete freedom of worship to non-Muslims.