TURKEY, FLAG OF

national flag consisting of a red field (background) with a central white star and crescent. The flag has a width-to-length ratio of approximately 2 to 3. Various myths are associated with the symbolism of the red colour and the star and crescent, but none really explains their origins. Although the star and crescent are often seen as typical Muslim symbols, in fact they have a history long predating the rise of Islam. Ancient civilizations throughout the Middle East used a crescent moon as a religious symbol, and the ancient city of Byzantium was dedicated to the moon goddess, Diana. A star, emblematic of the Virgin Mary, was added to Diana's crescent symbol when Emperor Constantine I made Christianity the official faith of the Roman Empire and renamed the city Constantinople in his own honour. The crescent and star became associated with Islam when the Muslim Turkic peoples of Central Asia captured the Anatolian peninsula (and, eventually, Constantinople) and added the crescent and star of the latter to their own plain red flags. There were several Turkish flags throughout the centuries of the Ottoman Empire, most of them incorporating the crescent and star and the colours red or green. In June 1793 the flag now used as the Turkish national flag was established for the navy, although its star had eight points instead of the current five. The reduction in the number of star points was made about 1844. That flag design was reconfirmed as the Turkish national banner on June 5, 1936, following the revolution led by Atatrk, who had established a republic in 1923 after the collapse of the Ottoman dynasty. Whitney Smith History For discussion of earlier history of the area, see Anatolia and Ottoman Empire. Kemal and the War of Independence, 191923 Although the legal Ottoman government in Istanbul under the 36th and last Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI Vahideddin (ruled 191822) had decided that resistance to Allied demands was impossible, pockets of resistance remained in Asia Minor after the armistice. These included bands of irregulars and deserters, a number of intact Ottoman units, and various societies for the defense of rights. Resistance was stimulated by the Greek occupation of Izmir (May 15, 1919). At this time Mustafa Kemal was sent on an official mission to eastern Asia Minor, landing at Samsun on May 19. He immediately began to organize resistance, despite official Ottoman opposition. Through the Association for the Defense of the Rights of Eastern Anatolia (founded March 3, 1919), he summoned a congress at Erzurum (JulyAugust) followed by a second congress at Sivas (September) with delegates representing the whole country. A new Association for the Defense of the Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia was established, and an executive committee with Mustafa Kemal as chairman was created to conduct resistance. The official government yielded to Kemalist pressure. The unpopular grand vizier, Damad Ferid Pasa, resigned and was replaced by the more sympathetic Ali Riza Pasa. Negotiations with the Kemalists were followed by the election of a new parliament, which met in Istanbul in January 1920. A large majority in parliament was opposed to the official government policy and passed the National Pact, formulated at Erzurum and Sivas, which embodied the political aims of independence roughly within the October 1918 armistice lines. The Allies countered by extending the occupied area of Istanbul (March 16, 1920) and by arresting and deporting many deputies. Damad Ferid became grand vizier again on April 5 and, with religious support, set out to crush the Kemalists. The economy Port on the Black Sea at Trabzon, Turkey. Since its inception in 1923, Turkey has operated a mixed economy, in which both state and private enterprise have contributed to economic development. The economy has been transformed from a predominantly agricultural one to one in which industry and services are the most productive and rapidly expanding sectors. Until about 1950 the state played the leading role in industrialization, providing most of the capital for structural improvement in railways, ports, and shipping facilities and for the establishment of such basic industries as mining, metallurgy, and chemicals; it also invested in manufacturing, notably in the food-processing, textile, and building-material sectors. Emerging industries were protected by tariff barriers, and foreign investment was discouraged; the economy remained self-contained and somewhat isolated, with foreign trade playing only a minor role. Major political developments of the early postwar periodsuch as the institution of a multiparty democracy and Turkey's adherence to the Western alliancehad a profound effect on the economy, which became more open to foreign influences. Foreign aid, chiefly from the United States, arrived in large quantities and was used in part to finance agricultural expansion and to import agricultural and industrial machinery and transportation equipment. Growth accelerated, with the private sector playing an increasing role. State interventionmainly in the form of government loans to private firmsremained strong, and economic development was guided by a series of five-year plans. By the late 1970s, however, the economy was plagued by high inflation, large-scale unemployment, and a chronic foreign trade deficit. Consequently, during the 1980s there were further shifts in economic policy, including the encouragement of foreign investment, the establishment of joint enterprises, a reduction in the relative importance of the state sector, and a vigorous export drive. By the 1990s inflation remained a serious problem, and Turkey's per capita gross domestic product remained well below those of most Middle Eastern and European countries. Agriculture was the largest employer, with about half the labour force, while about one-sixth of Turkish workers were in the industrial sector. Resources Turkey has a great variety of natural resources, though few occur on a large scale. Apart from Iran, Turkey is the only Middle Eastern country with significant coal deposits, mainly in the Zonguldak field. Output of lignite is substantial. There is small-scale production of oil from the Raman field in Siirt province, but this provides for only a fraction of the country's needs, and Turkey is thus dependent on imported petroleum products. Both lignite and oil are used in electricity generation, and hydroelectric resources are under intensive development. Among the largest hydroelectric plants are those on the Sakarya, Kemer, Kizil, and Seyhan rivers and the Keban and Atatrk barrages on the Euphrates. A national electricity grid covers the whole country, including nearly all villages. The most important metallic ores are iron, mainly from Divrigi in Sivas province, and chromite, much of which is exported. There are significant deposits of manganese, zinc, lead, copper, and bauxite. The land Relief City of Afyon, Turkey, overlooked by a cone of volcanic rock. Turkey is a predominantly mountainous country, and true lowland is confined to the coastal fringes. About one-fourth of the surface has an elevation above 4,000 feet (1,219 metres), and less than two-fifths lies below 1,500 feet. Mountain crests exceed 7,500 feet in many places, particularly in the east, where Turkey's highest mountain, Mount Ararat (Agri) reaches 16,853 feet (5,137 metres) close to the borders with Armenia and Iran. Steep slopes are common throughout the country, while flat or gently sloping land makes up barely one-sixth of the total area. These relief features affect other aspects of the physical environment, producing climates often much harsher than might be expected for a country of Turkey's latitude and reducing the availability and productivity of agricultural land. Structurally, the country lies within the geologically young folded-mountain zone of Eurasia, which in Turkey trends predominantly east to west. The geology of Turkey is complex, with sedimentary rocks ranging from Paleozoic to Quaternary, numerous intrusions, and extensive areas of volcanic material. Four main regions can be identified: the northern folded zone, the southern folded zone, the central massif, and the Arabian platform. The northern folded zone The northern folded zone comprises a series of mountain ridges, increasing in elevation toward the east, that occupy a belt about 90 to 125 miles wide immediately south of the Black Sea. The system as a whole, for which there is no single Turkish name, is referred to as the Pontic Mountains. In the west the system has been fractured by the faulting that produced the Turkish straits; in Thrace the Ergene lowlands are among the largest in the country, and the main mountain rangethe Yildiz (Istranca)reaches only 3,379 feet. Lowlands also occur to the south of the Sea of Marmara and along the lower Sakarya River east of the Bosporus. High ridges trending east-west rise abruptly from the Black Sea coast, and the coastal plain is thus narrow, opening out only in the deltas of the Kizil and Yesil rivers. These rivers break through the mountain barrier in a zone of weakness where summits are below 2,000 feet, dividing the Pontic Mountains into western and eastern sections. In the western section, between the Sakarya and Kizil rivers, there are four main ridges, the Kre, Bolu, Ilgaz, and Kroglu mountains, with maximum elevations of 6,512, 8,413, and 7,793 feet, respectively. East of the Yesil the system is higher, narrower, and steeper. Less than 50 miles from the coast the Dogukaradeniz Mountains rise to more than 10,000 feet, with a maximum elevation of 12,917 feet in the Kakar range. The Dogukaradeniz are separated by the narrow trough of the Kelkit and oruh river valleys from a second ridge that rises above 8,000 feet. The people Language and religion Vendors selling produce at a market in Safranbolu, Turkey. According to the Turkish constitution, the word Turk, as a political term, includes all citizens of the Republic of Turkey without distinction of or reference to race or religion; ethnic minorities have no official status. Linguistic data show that some nine-tenths of the population claim Turkish as their mother tongue; most of the remainder speak Kurdish and a small minority Arabic as their first language. Kurdscomprising an estimated one-fifth of the populationare present in significant numbers throughout eastern Anatolia and form a majority in a number of provinces, including Agri, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Hakkri, Mardin, Mus, Siirt, Urfa, and Van. Arabic speakers are mainly in Hataywhere they constitute more than one-third of the populationand in Adana, Mardin, Siirt, and Urfa. There are a further six ethnic groups with sizable numbers: Greeks, Armenians, and Jews are found almost entirely in Istanbul, and Circassians, Georgians, and Laz are generally located in the far east. Nearly all of the population claim allegiance to Islam. Of other adherents, there are about 20,000 Jews and about 200,000 Christians. Christian adherents are divided among Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Protestant, and other denominations. Demographic trends In 1927 the total population of the Turkish republic was only about 13 million; since then it has increased nearly fivefold. Growth was particularly rapid after World War II, reaching nearly 3 percent annually in the early 1960s, but the rate of growth has declined since then. A fall in the birth rate was the main factor for the decline, offset somewhat by a decline in the death rate. The age profile of the population remains youthful. A notable development of the postwar period was large-scale internal migration, both from rural to urban areas within each province and over longer distances. Areas attracting the most migrants were those with major urban agglomerations: the zone around the Sea of Marmara, the Aegean coast, the Adana Plain, and Ankara. Net migration losses occurred over much of the interior, particularly the eastern part. Another element of population movement was the movement of Turkish workers abroad. In the early 1980s some two million Turks lived in various western European countries, three-fourths of them in what was then West Germany, and there were numerous short-term Turkish workers in Arab countries, mainly Libya and Saudi Arabia. The demand for Turkish labour abroad subsequently declined, and the outflow became much smaller. By the late 1990s there were still in excess of a million people of Turkish origin living in western Europe.