TURKISH

Facts

There are 58 million native speakers of modern Turkish living in Turkey (about 80% of the population). Furthermore 22 million native speakers live in a) neighbouring countries such as Bulgaria, Cyprus and Greece, in b) former Soviet republics such as Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan and in c) countries of the European Union, where there are large Turkish communities, e.g. in Germany. The Turkish economy has enjoyed high growth rates during the last few years and has benefited from a stable currency, following the currency reform at the beginning of 2005. Its most important industries include textiles, tourism, automotive and electronics. Turkey is acquiring strategic importance as it hosts or will host important oil and gas pipelines from the Caucasus and Central Asia, bypassing Russia.

Features

The Turkish language has been written in Latin script since 1928. The modern Turkish alphabet comprises 29 letters, where each letter represents a sound:
a b c ç d e f g ğ h ı i j k l m n o ö p r s ş t u ü v y z