Turkey, officially known as Republic of Turkey, is gateway between Europe and Asia. It shares its borders with Iraq, Iran, Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan. In addition, this Eurasian country is surrounded by Aegean Sea, Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea. The location of this country at the crossroads of Asia and Europe makes it significantly geostrategic important country. The official language is Turkish spoken by majority of its population. Other languages include Arabic and Kurdish. The largest religion in this country is Islam and people belong to different sects of Islam i.e. Sunni, Shia etc. The culture of this country is unique as it is influenced by cultures and civilization from North Africa to China and Russia. Its culture is a combination of heavily diverse elements that is derived from different cultures of West Asian regions, southeastern European and central Asian tradition. However, its culture reflects the cultural diversity and richness as it is shaped by its deep roots in Middle East.
Its economy is defined as emerging economy by IMF and considered among developed countries of the world. Political scientists and Economists rate this country as the newly industrialized country in the world. It is interesting to know that it is one of the leading producers of textiles, transportation equipments, electric and home appliances, agricultural products and motor vehicles.
Turkey is one of the most favorite tourism destinations for visitors as it has wonderful sceneries and rich historical legacies. Here, the focus of tourism is on different historical places and on seaside resorts. In past few years, is has become popular place for culture and heath care tourism attracting more than 30 million visitors every year. This makes Turkey as 6th most popular tourist destination of the World.
The most popular sport of this country is Football. In 2002, FIFA world cup which was held in Japan and Korea, Turkish football team finished third. Beside football, Basketball and volleyball are also very popular sports. On the other hand, it has variety of traditional sports. The traditional sports of this country includes camel wrestling, oil wrestling, game of jeered and Kafkasor bull fighting.