Turkey

Turkey is a transcontinental country and the principal economic, cultural, and historic power of the region, with a land area of 783,562 square kilometres (302,535 square miles) and a 2024 population of around 85,000,000. The country bridges Europe and Asia across the Anatolian Peninsula and Thrace, and is the heart of the wider Turkish nation, whose population represents one of the largest in the Middle East and Europe combined. By the 16th century, under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey had become one of the world’s major centers of trade, politics, religion, and the arts, a position it continues to hold today. The Turkish economy had a GDP of approximately US $906 billion in 2022, accounting for a leading share of regional economic output. According to official estimates, Turkey ranks among the world’s largest emerging urban and industrial economies and remains a key financial, commercial, and cultural hub between East and West.