Franchises | Franchise Opportunities | Franchise Fix

The Republic of Turkey is located in Southeastern Europe and Southwestern Asia surrounded by the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Turkey is said to be the link between the Middle East and Europe. Turkey is slightly larger than Texas and covers an area of 780,580 sq. kilometers. The total population is 76.8 million and is growing at a rate of 1.31% with 69% living in urban areas. The capital of Ankara has a population of 3.9 million with other main cities including Istanbul (11.3 mil), Izmir (2.6 mil), Bursa (1.5 mil), and Adana (1.5 mil). The people are governed by a republican parliamentary democracy and are 99.8% Muslim (mostly Sunni). The official language is Turkish with the secondary language being Kurdish and the local currency is the Turkish Lira. Turkey is a member of the UN, NATO, an associate member of the European Community and holds a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for the 2009-10 term. In 2005 it began talks about membership with the European Union.Turkey?s economy has a balanced mix of modern industry, namely textiles and clothing, and traditional agriculture. Continued economic reforms and the possibility of EU membership make Turkey a promising country for foreign investment. Turkey’s main trade partners include Germany, Russia, UK, China, Italy, France, Spain, and the US. Its primary imports are machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels, and transport equipment. Exports include apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, and transport equipment. Turkey’s GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) is $906.5 billion and is growing at a real rate of 1.5% with an inflation rate of 10.2%. Turkey ranked 59th out of 181 countries in the World Bank Group?s Ease of Doing Business Ranking.

CURRENCY EXCHANGE RATE

05/14/09 $1 = 1.58 TRY