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Turkey: Countries
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Turkey is at the northeast end of the Mediterranean Sea in southeast Europe and southwest Asia. To the north is the Black Sea and to the west is the Aegean Sea. Its neighbors are Greece and Bulgaria to the west, Russia, Ukraine, and Romania to the north and northwest (through the Black Sea), Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east, and Syria and Iraq to the south. The Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus divide the country. Turkey in Europe comprises an area about equal to the state of Massachusetts. Turkey in Asia is about the size of Texas.
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Straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey tries to be a bridge between West and East. The portion of Turkey's land in Europe may be small (about 5 percent), but the country's largest city, Istanbul, is there. With 9.7 million people, Istanbul is the third most populous European urban area, after Moscow and Paris. The Asian part of Turkey is dominated by the dry plateau of Anatolia; the coastal areas of Anatolia consist of fertile lowlands. The country, especially northern Turkey, suffers from severe earthquakes. Mount Ararat, the highest point in Turkey at 5,137 meters (16,854 feet), is the biblical resting-place of Noah's ark.
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Turkey's explosive economic growth in the mid-1990s had significant repercussions on the country's environment. Economic growth and energy consumption have gone hand-in-hand, and the effect has been an increasing air pollution in cities that are already suffering from high pollution levels. Although Turkey is beginning to take steps to improve air quality, the increased number of automobiles on Turkish streets is hampering this effort.
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The U.S. and Turkey for several years have had a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, which last met in Washington in April 2007. In 2002, the two countries indicated their joint intent to upgrade bilateral economic relations by launching an Economic Partnership Commission, which last convened in Ankara in February 2007. In 2006, Turkish exports to the U.S. totaled about $5.4 billion, and U.S. exports to Turkey totaled $5.7 billion.
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In February 2001, Turkey passed the long-anticipated Electricity Market Law, which paves the way for a free market in power generation and distribution in the country. Among other things, the legislation (which President Sezer signed into law in July 2001) calls for: 1) TEAS to be broken up into separate generation, distribution, and trade companies; 2) trade and generation companies to be privatized, while transmission remains in state hands; and 3) a new regulatory board to be set up which will oversee the Turkish power market, set tariffs, issue licenses, and prevent uncompetitive practices. The new law throws into doubt the fate of dozens of BOT and TOR (transfer-of-operating-rights) power projects. In May 2002, the Energy Ministry put six power plants (Orhaneli, Hamitabat, Catalagzi, Soma A-B, and Ergil) and nine distribution grids on sale, transferring their assets to the country's privatization authority. Overall... progress has been slower than expected in implementing the 2001 Law. Current plans are for Turkey's power distribution and generation network to be privatized by the end of 2006, with the country being divided into 17-20 power distribution areas.
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Turkey maintained its close ties with the United States in the early 1970s and at the same time cultivated better relations with the USSR. Largely as a result of U.S. pressure, the growing of opium poppies in Turkey was banned in 1971 (effective 1972), although in 1974 the government announced it would allow cultivation of opium poppies under state control for medical purposes only. In mid-1974, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus following a Greek-oriented coup there, and they gained control of 30% of the island. Also in the early 1970s, the discovery of oil on the continental shelf under the waters surrounding the Greek Islands caused further conflict between Greece and Turkey. Largely because of the diplomatic intervention of the United States, Great Britain, and the United Nations, war between the two countries was averted.
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