Geography

Area – 780,580km²

Back to top

Weather

Turkey has all sorts of weather. There is a big difference between the coast and the mountains.

Coast

Summer
Winter

Mountains and High areas

Summer
Winter

The temperature and rain also change a lot during the year.

Back to top

People

Population

People (Ethnic Groups)

Religion

Back to top

Local Traditions

In Turkey it is rude to blow your nose in front of people - you should turn away.

A lot of people in Turkey are Muslim and so there are a lot of Muslim traditions, for example

• People do not eat pork
  
• People do not drink alcohol
  
• During Ramadan, a big Muslim festival, Muslims do not eat, drink or smoke between sunrise and sunset
  
• Muslims worship in a mosque, they do not wear shoes in the mosque

• Women wear a long dress and cover their hair
• Women sometimes go to school and work but usually only in the cities

Back to top

Language

Turkish is the main language in Turkey. It looks a little bit like English.

People also speak Arabic, Kurdish and English.

Back to top

Food

Turkey is famous for its food. It is normal to have three 'sit–down–meals' a day.

The Turks use wheat flour to make hundreds of different types of bread and pastry, e.g. ekmek (ordinary white bread), pide (flat bread), simit (sesame seed rings), manti (dumplings) and borek (pastries).

Turkish people eat Meze at the start of the meal. They are starters. People usually drink raki at the same time. Raki tastes of anise and it is the national drink.

Kebabs were first eaten by Turkish people who used to live in the wild. They cooked their meat over their camp fires. There are different kinds of kebab. They have different names because they are cooked differently.

Back to top

Politics

President – Ahmet Necdet Sezer

Prime minister – Redep Tayyip Erdogan. The president chooses the prime minister.

Turkey has a government called the Turkish Grand National Assembly. The Turkish people decide who is in the government.

Back to top