_#_Disputes: maritime boundary dispute with Libya
_#_Climate: temperate in north with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry
summers; desert in south
_#_Terrain: mountains in north; hot, dry central plain; semiarid south
merges into the Sahara
_#_Natural resources: crude oil, phosphates, iron ore, lead, zinc,
salt
_#_Land use: arable land 20%; permanent crops 10%; meadows and
pastures 19%; forest and woodland 4%; other 47%; includes irrigated
1%
_#_Environment: deforestation; overgrazing; soil erosion;
desertification
_#_Note: strategic location in central Mediterranean; only
144 km from Italy across the Strait of Sicily; borders Libya on east
_*_People
_#_Population: 8,276,096 (July 1991), growth rate 2.1% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 26 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 5 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 38 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 70 years male, 74 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 3.3 children born/woman (1991)
_#_Nationality: noun--Tunisian(s); adjective--Tunisian
_#_Ethnic divisions: Arab 98%, European 1%, Jewish less than 1%
_#_Religion: Muslim 98%, Christian 1%, Jewish less than 1%
_#_Language: Arabic (official); Arabic and French (commerce)
_#_Literacy: 65% (male 74%, female 56%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)
_#_Labor force: 2,250,000; agriculture 32%; shortage of skilled labor
_#_Organized labor: about 360,000 members claimed, roughly 20% of
labor force; General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), quasi-independent
of Constitutional Democratic Party
_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Republic of Tunisia; note--may be changed to
Tunisian Republic
_#_Type: republic
_#_Capital: Tunis
_#_Administrative divisions: 23 governorates (wilayat,
singular--wilayah); Al Kaf, Al Mahdiyah, Al Munastir,
Al Qasrayn, Al Qayrawan, Aryanah, Bajah, Banzart,
Bin Arus, Jundubah, Madanin, Nabul, Qabis, Qafsah,
Qibili, Safaqis, Sidi Bu Zayd, Silyanah, Susah,
Tatawin, Tawzar, Tunis, Zaghwan
_#_Independence: 20 March 1956 (from France)
_#_Constitution: 1 June 1959
_#_Legal system: based on French civil law system and Islamic law;
some judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court in joint
session
_#_National holiday: National Day, 20 March (1956)
_#_Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet
_#_Legislative branch: unicameral Chamber of Deputies (Majlis
al-Nuwaab)
_#_Judicial branch: Court of Cassation (Cour de Cassation)
_#_Leaders:
Chief of State--President Gen. Zine el Abidine BEN ALI
(since 7 November 1987);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Hamed KAROUI (since 26 September
1989)
_#_Political parties and leaders:
Constitutional Democratic Rally Party (RCD), President BEN ALI (official
ruling party);
Movement of Democratic Socialists (MDS), Ahmed Mestiri;
five other political parties are legal, including the Communist Party
_#_Suffrage: universal at age 20
_#_Elections:
President--last held 2 April 1989 (next to be held April 1994);
results--Gen. Zine el Abidine BEN ALI was reelected without opposition;
Chamber of Deputies--last held 2 April 1989
(next to be held April 1994);
results--RCD 80.7%, independents/Islamists 13.7%, MDS 3.2%, other 2.4%;
seats--(141 total) RCD 141
_#_Communists: a small number of nominal Communists, mostly students
_#_Member of: ABEDA, ACCT, AfDB, AFESD, AL, AMF, AMU, CCC, ECA, FAO,
G-77, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF,
IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM,
OAU, OIC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
_#_Diplomatic representation: Ambassador-designate Habib LAZREG;
Chancery at 1515 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20005;
telephone (202) 862-1850;
US--Ambassador Robert H. PELLETREAU, Jr.; Embassy at
144 Avenue de la Liberte, 1002 Tunis-Belvedere; telephone [216] (1)
782-566
_#_Flag: red with a white disk in the center bearing a red crescent
nearly encircling a red five-pointed star; the crescent and star are
traditional symbols of Islam
_*_Economy
_#_Overview: The economy depends primarily on petroleum, phosphates,
tourism, and exports of light manufactures for continued growth.
Following two years of drought-induced economic decline, the economy
made a strong recovery in 1990 as a result of a bountiful harvest,
continued export growth, and higher domestic investment. Continued
high inflation and unemployment have eroded popular support for the
government, however, and forced Tunis to slow the pace of economic
reform. Nonetheless, the government appears committed to implementing
its IMF-supported structural adjustment program and to servicing
its foreign debt.
_#_GDP: $10 billion, per capita $1,235; real growth rate 6.5% (1990
est.)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 7.4% (1989)
_#_Unemployment rate: 15.4% (1989)
_#_Budget: revenues $3.8 billion; expenditures $4.9 billion,
including capital expenditures of $970 million (1991 est.)
_#_Exports: $3.3 billion (f.o.b., 1990 est.);
commodities--hydrocarbons, agricultural products, phosphates and
chemicals;
partners--EC 73%, Middle East 9%, US 1%, Turkey, USSR
_#_Imports: $4.8 billion (f.o.b., 1990 est.);
commodities--industrial goods and equipment 57%, hydrocarbons
13%, food 12%, consumer goods;
partners--EC 68%, US 7%, Canada, Japan, USSR, China, Saudi Arabia,
Algeria
_#_External debt: $7.4 billion (December 1990 est.)
_#_Industrial production: growth rate 5% (1989); accounts for
38% of GDP, including petroleum
_#_Electricity: 1,493,000 kW capacity; 4,210 million kWh produced,
530 kWh per capita (1989)
_#_Industries: petroleum, mining (particularly phosphate and iron
ore), textiles, footwear, food, beverages
_#_Agriculture: accounts for 16% of GDP and one-third of labor force;
output subject to severe fluctuations because of frequent droughts;
export crops--olives, dates, oranges, almonds; other products--grain,
sugar beets, wine grapes, poultry, beef, dairy; not self-sufficient in
food; fish catch of 99,200 metric tons (1987)
_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $730
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $4.9 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $684 million;
Communist countries (1970-89), $410 million
_#_Currency: Tunisian dinar (plural--dinars);
1 Tunisian dinar (TD) = 1,000 millimes
_#_Exchange rates: Tunisian dinars (TD) per US$1--0.8408 (January
1991), 0.8783 (1990), 0.9493 (1989), 0.8578 (1988), 0.8287 (1987), 0.7940
(1986), 0.8345 (1985)
_#_Fiscal year: calendar year
_*_Communications
_#_Railroads: 2,154 km total; 465 km 1.435-meter standard gauge;
1,689 km 1.000-meter gauge
_#_Highways: 17,700 km total; 9,100 km bituminous; 8,600 km improved
and unimproved earth
_#_Pipelines: 797 km crude oil; 86 km refined products; 742 km natural
gas
_#_Ports: Bizerte, Gabes, Sfax, Sousse, Tunis, La Goulette, Zarzis
_#_Merchant marine: 21 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 160,172
GRT/218,970 DWT; includes 1 short-sea passenger, 4 cargo, 2
roll-on/roll-off cargo, 2 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 6
chemical tanker, 1 liquefied gas, 5 bulk
_#_Civil air: 13 major transport aircraft
_#_Airports: 29 total, 28 usable; 14 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 7 with runways 2,440-3,659 m;
7 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
_#_Telecommunications: the system is above the African average;
facilities consist of open-wire lines, multiconductor cable, and radio
relay; key centers are Safaqis, Susah, Bizerte, and Tunis;
233,000 telephones; stations--18 AM, 4 FM, 14 TV; 4 submarine cables;
earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 ARABSAT with
back-up control station; coaxial cable to Algeria; radio relay to
Algeria, Libya, and Italy
_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary forces
_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 2,052,191; 1,180,614 fit for
military service; 90,218 reach military age (20) annually
_#_Defense expenditures: $315 million, 2.6% of GDP (1990 est.)
_%_
_@_Turkey
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 780,580 km2; land area: 770,760 km2
_#_Comparative area: slightly larger than Texas
_#_Land boundaries: 2,715 km total; Bulgaria 240 km, Greece 206 km,
Iran 499 km, Iraq 331 km, Syria 822 km, USSR 617 km
_#_Coastline: 7,200 km
_#_Maritime claims:
Exclusive economic zone: in Black Sea only--to the maritime
boundary agreed upon with the USSR;
Territorial sea: 6 nm in the Aegean Sea, 12 nm in Black Sea and
Mediterranean Sea
_#_Disputes: complex maritime and air (but not territorial)
disputes with Greece in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question; Hatay question
with Syria; ongoing dispute with downstream riparians (Syria and
Iraq) over water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and
the USSR
_#_Climate: temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters;
harsher in interior
_#_Terrain: mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central
plateau (Anatolia)
_#_Natural resources: antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper,
borate, sulphur, iron ore
_#_Land use: arable land 30%; permanent crops 4%; meadows and
pastures 12%; forest and woodland 26%; other 28%; includes
irrigated 3%
_#_Environment: subject to severe earthquakes, especially along
major river valleys in west; air pollution; desertification
_#_Note: strategic location controlling the Turkish straits
(Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean
Seas; Turkey and Norway only NATO members having a land boundary
with the USSR
_*_People
_#_Population: 58,580,993 (July 1991), growth rate 2.2% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 28 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 54 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 68 years male, 72 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 3.6 children born/woman (1991)
_#_Nationality: noun--Turk(s); adjective--Turkish
_#_Ethnic divisions: Turkish 80%, Kurdish 17%, other 3% (est.)
_#_Religion: Muslim (mostly Sunni) 99.8%, other (Christian and
Jews) 0.2%
_#_Language: Turkish (official), Kurdish, Arabic
_#_Literacy: 81% (male 90%, female 71%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)
_#_Labor force: 18,800,000; agriculture 56%, services 30%,
industry 14%; about 1,000,000 Turks work abroad (1987)
_#_Organized labor: 10-15% of labor force
_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Republic of Turkey
_#_Type: republican parliamentary democracy
_#_Capital: Ankara
_#_Administrative divisions: 73 provinces (iller, singular--il);
Adana, Adiyaman, Afyon, Agri, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya,
Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir, Batman, Bayburt, Bilecik, Bingol, Bitlis,
Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Canakkale, Cankiri, Corum, Denizli,
Diyarbakir, Edirne, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep,
Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Hatay, Icel, Isparta,
Istanbul, Izmir, Kahraman Maras, Karaman, Kars, Kastamonu,
Kayseri, Kirikkale, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya,
Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mugla, Mus, Nevsehir, Nigde, Ordu,
Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Siirt, Sinop, Sirnak, Sivas, Tekirdag, Tokat,
Trabzon, Tunceli, Urfa, Usak, Van, Yozgat, Zonguldak
_#_Independence: 29 October 1923 (successor state to the Ottoman
Empire)
_#_Constitution: 7 November 1982
_#_Legal system: derived from various continental legal systems;
accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
_#_National holiday: Anniversary of the Declaration of the Republic,
29 October (1923)
_#_Executive branch: president, Presidential Council, prime minister,
deputy prime minister, Cabinet
_#_Legislative branch: unicameral Grand National Assembly (Buyuk
Millet Meclisi)
_#_Judicial branch: Court of Cassation
_#_Leaders:
Chief of State--President Turgut OZAL (since 9 November 1989);
Head of Government--Prime Minister Mesut YILMAZ (since 30
June 1991); Deputy Prime Minister Ekrem PAKDAMIRLI (since 30 June
1991)
_#_Political parties and leaders:
Motherland Party (ANAP), Mesut YILMAZ;
Social Democratic People's Party (SHP), Erdal INONU;
Correct Way Party (DYP), Suleyman DEMIREL;
People's Labor Party (HEP), Fehmi ISIKLAR;
Socialist Unity Party (SBP), leader NA;
Democratic Center Party (DMP), Bedrettin DALAN;
Great Anatolia Party (BAP), leader NA;
Democratic Left Party (DSP), Bulent ECEVIT;
Refah Party (RP), Necmettin ERBAKAN;
Democratic Center Party (DSP), Bedrettin DALAN;
Grand National Party (GNP), leader NA
_#_Suffrage: universal at age 21
_#_Elections:
Grand National Assembly--last held 29 November 1987
(next to be held November 1992);
results--ANAP 36%, SHP 25%, DYP 19%, other 20%;
seats--(450 total) ANAP 275, SHP 82, DYP 60, HEP 9, SBP 4,
DMP 2, BAP 1, independent 6, vacant 11
_#_Communists: strength and support negligible
_#_Member of: AsDB, BIS, CCC, CE, CERN (observer), COCOM, CSCE, EBRD,
ECE, FAO, GATT, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICFTU, IDA, IDB, IEA, IFAD, IFC,
ILO, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS,
NATO, NEA, OECD, OIC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO,
UNIIMOG, UNRWA, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
_#_Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Nuzhet KANDEMIR; Chancery at
1606 23rd Street NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 387-3200;
there are Turkish Consulates General in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles,
and New York;
US--Ambassador Morton ABRAMOWITZ; Embassy at 110 Ataturk Boulevard,
Ankara (mailing address is APO New York 09257-0006);
telephone [90] (4) 126 54 70; there are US Consulates General in
Istanbul and Izmir, and a Consulate in Adana
_#_Flag: 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
_#_Overview: The economic reforms that Turkey launched in 1980
continue to bring an impressive stream of benefits. The economy has grown
steadily since the early 1980s, with real growth in per capita GDP
increasing more than 6% annually. Agriculture remains the most important
economic sector, employing about 55% of the labor force, accounting for
almost 20% of GDP, and contributing about 20% to exports. Impressive
growth in recent years has not solved all of the economic problems facing
Turkey. Inflation and interest rates remain high, and a large budget
deficit will continue to provide difficulties for a country undergoing a
substantial transformation from a centrally controlled to a free market
economy. The government has launched a multimillion-dollar development
program in the southeastern region, which includes the building of a
dozen dams on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to generate electric power
and irrigate large tracts of farmland. The planned tapping of huge
additional quantities of Euphrates water has raised serious concern in
the downstream riparian nations of Syria and Iraq.
_#_GDP: $178.0 billion, per capita $3,100; real growth rate 7.6%
(1990)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 60.3% (1990)
_#_Unemployment rate: 10.4% (1990 est.)
_#_Budget: revenues $27.6 billion; expenditures $34.4 billion,
including capital expenditures of $6.6 billion (1991)
_#_Exports: $11.8 billion (f.o.b., 1989);
commodities--industrial products 78%, crops and livestock
products 20%;
partners--FRG 18%, Italy 8%, Iraq 8%, US 8%, UK 5%, France 4%
_#_Imports: $16.0 billion (f.o.b., 1989);
commodities--crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, metals,
pharmaceuticals, dyes, plastics, rubber, mineral fuels, fertilizers,
chemicals;
partners--FRG 15%, US 11%, Iraq 10%, Italy 7%, France 6%, UK 5%
_#_External debt: $42.8 billion (June 1990)
_#_Industrial production: growth rate 5.9% (1989 est.); accounts
for 32% of GDP
_#_Electricity: 14,315,000 kW capacity; 41,000 million kWh produced,
720 kWh per capita (1990)
_#_Industries: textiles, food processing, mining (coal, chromite,
copper, boron minerals), steel, petroleum, construction, lumber, paper
_#_Agriculture: accounts for 20% of GDP and employs majority of
population; products--tobacco, cotton, grain, olives, sugar beets,
pulses, citrus fruit, variety of animal products; self-sufficient in
food most years
_#_Illicit drugs: one of the world's major suppliers of licit opiate
products; government maintains strict controls over areas of opium poppy
cultivation and output of poppy straw concentrate
_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $2.3
billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-87), $8.6 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $665 million;
Communist countries (1970-89), $4.5 billion
_#_Currency: Turkish lira (plural--liras); 1 Turkish lira (TL) = 100
kurus
_#_Exchange rates: Turkish liras (TL) per US$1--2,873.9 (December
1990), 2,608.6 (1990), 2,121.7 (1989), 1,422.3 (1988), 857.2 (1987),
674.5 (1986), 522.0 (1985)
_#_Fiscal year: calendar year
_*_Communications
_#_Railroads: 8,401 km 1.435-meter standard gauge; 479 km electrified
_#_Highways: 49,615 km total; 26,915 km bituminous; 16,500 km gravel
or crushed stone; 4,000 km improved earth; 2,200 km unimproved earth
(1985)
_#_Inland waterways: about 1,200 km
_#_Pipelines: 1,738 km crude oil; 2,321 km refined products;
708 km natural gas
_#_Ports: Iskenderun, Istanbul, Mersin, Izmir
_#_Merchant marine: 340 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 3,583,720
GRT/6,220,642 DWT; includes 8 short-sea passenger,
1 passenger-cargo, 190 cargo, 1 container, 4 roll-on/roll-off cargo,
3 refrigerated cargo, 1 livestock carrier, 37 petroleum, oils, and
lubricants (POL) tanker, 9 chemical tanker, 2 liquefied gas, 7
combination ore/oil, 1 specialized tanker, 72 bulk, 4 combination bulk
_#_Civil air: 39 major transport aircraft (1990)
_#_Airports: 115 total, 109 usable; 64 with permanent-surface runways;
3 with runways over 3,659 m; 30 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 26 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m
_#_Telecommunications: fair domestic and international systems; trunk
radio relay network; 3,400,000 telephones; stations--15 AM; 45 (60
repeaters) FM; 67 (504 repeaters) TV; satellite communications
ground stations operating in the INTELSAT (2 Atlantic Ocean) and EUTELSAT
systems; 1 submarine telephone cable
_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Land Forces, Navy (including Naval Air and Naval
Infantry), Air Force, Coast Guard, Gendarmerie
_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 14,861,358; 9,083,559 fit for
military service; 606,871 reach military age (20) annually
_#_Defense expenditures: $5.6 billion, 5% of GDP (1990)
_%_
_@_Turks and Caicos Islands
(dependent territory of the UK)
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 430 km2; land area: 430 km2
_#_Comparative area: slightly less than 2.5 times the size of
Washington, DC
_#_Land boundaries: none
_#_Coastline: 389 km
_#_Maritime claims:
Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;