The school year is almost over and my Turkey adventure is set to begin in six weeks...Below are some facts about Turkey:

• Capital-Ankara


• Largest city- Istanbul


• Official languages-Turkish


• Ethnic divisions: Turkish 80%, Kurdish 20%, (Laz, Hemsin, Armenians and Others)


• Religions: Muslim 99% (mostly Sunni), other 1% (Christian and Jews)


• Government-Parliamentary republic


• President-Ahmet Necdet Sezer


• Prime Minister-Recep Tayyip Erdoğan


• Turkey is the Succession to the Ottoman Empire


• War of Independence-May 19, 1919


• Declaration of Republic-October 29, 1923


• Total Area-783,562 km² (37th) 302,535 sq mi


• Population-71,158,647 (17th)


• Total GDP -$708.053 billion (16th)


• Per capita Income-$9,628 (66th)


• Currency- New Turkish Lira