Political parties and leaders: True Path Party or DYP [Tansu CILLER];
Motherland Party or ANAP [Mesut YILMAZ]; Welfare Party or RP
[Necmettin ERBAKAN]; Democratic Left Party or DSP [Bulent ECEVIT];
Nationalist Action Party or MHP [Tugrul TURKES]; New Party or YP
[Yusuf Bozkurt OZAL]; Republican People's Party or CHP [Deniz BAYKAL];
Workers' Party or IP [Dogu PERINCEK]; Nation Party or MP [Aykut
EDIBALI]; Democrat Party or DP [Murat UZMAN]; Grand Unity Party or BBP
[Muhsin YAZICIOGLU]; Rebirth Party or YDP [Hasan Celal GUZEL];
People's Democracy Party or HADEP [Murat BOZLAK]; Main Path Party or
ANAYOL [Gurcan BASER]; Democratic Target Party or DHP [Abdulkadir
Yasar TURK]; Liberal Democratic Party or LDP [Besim TIBUK]; New
Democracy Movement or YDH [Huseyin ERGUN]; Labor Party or EP [Abdullah
Levent TUZER]; Democracy and Peace Party or DBP [Refik KARAKOC];
Freedom and Solidarity Party or ODP [Ufuk URAS]; Peace Party or BP
[Mehmet ETI]; Democratic Mass Party or DKP [Serafettin ELCI]; Democrat
Turkey Party or DTP [Husamettin CINDORUK]
Political pressure groups and leaders: Turkish Confederation of Labor
or Turk-Is [Bayram MERAL]; Confederation of Revolutionary Workers
Unions or DISK [Ridvan BUDAK]; Moral Rights Workers Union or Hak-Is
[Salim USLU]; Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association or
TUSIAD [Muharrem KAYHAN]; Turkish Union of Chambers of Commerce and
Commodity Exchanges or TOBB [Fuat MIRAS]; Turkish Confederation of
Employers' Unions or TISK [Refik BAYDUR]; Independent Industrialists
and Businessmen's Association or MUSIAD [Erol YARAR]
International organization participation: AsDB, BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE,
CERN (observer), EBRD, ECE, ECO, ESCAP, FAO, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC,
ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IEA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO,
Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NACC, NATO, NEA,
OECD, OIC, OSCE, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM,
UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNOMIG, UNPREDEP, UNRWA, UPU, WEU (associate), WFTU,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Nuzhet KANDEMIR chancery : 1714 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036 telephone: [1] (202) 659-8200 consulate(s) general: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New York
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Marc GROSSMAN embassy : 110 Ataturk Boulevard, Ankara mailing address: PSC 93, Box 5000, APO AE 09823 telephone: [90] (312) 468-6110 FAX: [90] (312) 467-0019 consulate(s) general: Istanbul consulate(s): Adana
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
Economy
Economy - overview: Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry and commerce along with traditional village agriculture and crafts. The economy has a strong and rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major role in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication. The current economic situation is marked by strong growth coupled with worsening imbalances. Real GDP expanded by about 7% in 1996 but inflation rose to 80%, the current account deficit reached about 3% of GDP, and the public sector fiscal deficit probably topped 10% of GDP, leading to speculation that the country could be headed toward a repeat of its 1994 financial crisis. To some extent, Ankara is caught in a vicious circle because half of all central government revenue in 1996 went to pay interest on the national debt. The government that took office in July 1996 - an unusual coalition of Prime Minister ERBAKAN's Islamic Welfare Party and Deputy Prime Minister CILLER's conservative True Path Party - is trying to solve the fiscal problem by greatly accelerating Turkey's privatization program. It has proposed a balanced budget for 1997, although this is widely regarded as over optimistic because it is based on earning more privatization revenue in one year than Turkey has earned over the last decade. Ankara is trying to increase trade with other countries in the region but most of Turkey's trade is still with OECD countries. Despite the implementation in January 1996 of a customs union with the EU, foreign direct investment in the country totaled only about half a billion dollars, perhaps because potential investors were concerned about the prospects for economic stability.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $379.1 billion (1996 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 7% (1996 est.)