Basic facts about turkey

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Turkey
conventional short form: Turkey
local long form: Turkiye Cumhuriyeti
local short form: Turkiye
Capital:
name: Ankara
geographic coordinates: 36-42 N, 26-45 E
time difference: UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
Flag description:
red with a vertical white crescent (the closed portion is toward the hoist side) and white five-pointed star centered just outside the crescent opening
Currency (code):
Turkish lira (YTL); old Turkish lira (TRL) before 1 January 2005
Exchange rates:
Turkish liras per US dollar -1.3910 ( March, 2007 ), 1.4286 (2006), 1.3436 (2005), 1.4255 (2004), 1.5009 (2003), 1.5072 (2002)
note: on 1 January 2005 the old Turkish lira (TRL) was converted to new Turkish lira (YTL) at a rate of 1,000,000 old to 1 new Turkish lira
Location:
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
Area:
total: 780,580 sq km
land: 770,760 sq km
water: 9,820 sq km
Land boundaries:
total: 2,648 km
border countries: Armenia 268 km, Azerbaijan 9 km, Bulgaria 240 km, Georgia 252 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 352 km, Syria 822 km
Population:
70,413,958 (July 2006 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Turk(s)
adjective: Turkish
Religions:
Muslim 99.8% (mostly Sunni), other 0.2% (mostly Christians and Jews)
Languages:
Turkish (official), Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, Kabardian
note: there is also a substantial Gagauz population in the European part of Turkey