The Republic of Turkey or Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), is a bicontinental country located mainly in Asia Minor, with 3% of its land located in the Balkans. Its strategic location straddles the Bosphorus straits that separate Southwest Asia from Southeast Europe. The Anatolian peninsula comprises nearly all of its territory, and is situated between the Black Sea on the north and the Mediterranean Sea to south, with the Aegean Sea and Marmara Sea (both branches of the Mediterranean) to the west.

Izmir - The clock tower in Konak Square

Because of its position straddling the continents of Europe and Asia and surrounded by three seas, Turkey has been a historical crossroads, the homeland of and battleground between several great civilisations, and a centre of commerce. Turkey borders eight countries: Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest; Georgia, Armenia and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan and to the northeast; Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the south.

The Republic of Turkey is a democratic secular constitutional republic, whose political system was established in 1923. Turkey is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, OSCE, OECD, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the Council of Europe and in the process of accession to the European Union.