Turkey is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of Southeastern Europe. The country is enclosed by three sees: Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. Turkey, being a full member of EU since 2005, still maintains close cultural, political, economic and industrial relations with the Eastern world, particularly with the states of the Middle East and Central Asia, through membership in organizations such as the OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) and ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization). Turkey is a founding member of the OECD and the G-20 major economies. Meanwhile, Turkey is classified as a developed country by the CIA and as a regional power by political scientists and economists worldwide. So, let's consider the situation with ICT progress, and subsequently, e-commerce sector development.
Turkey Today
Area: Approx 780,000 sq km (300,000 sq miles)
Population: 71.9m (July 2008 est)
Capital city: Ankara
People: Majority Turks. Minorities recognised under the Turkish Constitution: Jews, Armenians and Greeks. Other ethnic peoples include Kurds, Circassians and Bosnians.
Language: Turkish (official), Kurdish
Religion: Muslim
Currency: Turkish Lira (TL)
Major political parties: AKP (Justice and Development Party), CHP (Republican People's Party), MHP (Nationalist Action Party), DSP (Democratic Left Party), and DP (Democrat Party).
Government: Parliamentary republic
Head of State: President Abdullah Gul
Prime Minister: Recep Tayyip Erdogan (AKP)
Foreign Minister: Prof Ahmet Davutoglu (AKP)
Membership of international groupings/organisations: UN, NATO, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an Associate Member of the Western European Union, and a candidate for accession to the European Union (negotiations started on 3 October 2005).
Economy
GDP:US$747.7 billion in 2008
GDP per capita: US$9,818 in Q1 2009 (PPP Adjusted GPD per capita is $12,730 for 2008)
Annual Growth: 6.8% between in 2002 and 2007, 1.1% in 2008
Inflation: Year-on-year CPI as of October 2009: 5.08%
Major Industries: Automotive, textiles, iron & steel, clothing, white goods
Major trading partners: Russia, Germany, Italy, France, UK
Exchange rate: 2.47 Turkish Lira - 1 Pound Sterling (as of November 2009)
Following a three-year $10 billion stand-by agreement with the IMF which ended in May 2008, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has recently also decided to lend to Turkey.
