Türkiye Cumhüriyeti

Government: Parliamentary democracy with unicameral parliament
Head of State: President Ahmet Necdet Sezer
Head of Government: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Foreign Minister: Abullah Gül

Population: 72.2 million
Capital: Ankara
Area: 814 578 km2
Currency: 1 EUR= 1.90 New Turkish Lira (Dec 2006)

GDP in real terms: 293.4 billion euro
GDP per capita: 4 222 euro
Economic growth: 7.4% (2005)
Unemployment: 10.3%

Main export markets: Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, USA
Main exports: textiles, automobiles, machinery, iron and steel, fruit and vegetables
Main source of imports: Germany, Russia, Italy, China
Main imports: machinery, petroleum and petroleum products, automobiles, gas, iron and steel, synthetic materials, textiles
Major economic sectors: services, industry (textiles, automobiles, chemicals, machinery, electronics), agriculture, tourism

Turkey drawing closer to the EU

• September 1963: An association agreement is signed foreseeing a customs union and possible membership ("Ankara Agreement").
• April 1987: Turkey makes a formal application for membership.
• December 1997: The Luxembourg European Council reaffirms Turkey's accession perspective and establishes that Turkey is eligible to become a member of the European Union.
• December 1999: The Helsinki European Council decides to include Turkey as a candidate in the accession process with a pre-accession strategy similar to those in place for other candidate countries.
• December 2002: The Copenhagen European Council agrees that if the European Council in December 2004 decides that Turkey fulfils the Copenhagen criteria for accession candidates, accession negotiations should begin without delay.
• October 2004: The Commission recommends opening accession negotiations with Turkey.
• December 2004: The Brussels European Council decides that Turkey will have satisfactorily fulfilled the Copenhagen criteria once it has introduced the legal texts specified in the Commission's progress report.
• July 2005: Turkey signs the protocol to the Ankara Agreement of 1963, adapting it to enlargement realities (i.e. extending the association agreement to the new Member States, including Cyprus).
  At the same time, the Turkish Government issues a unilateral declaration on the non-recognition of Cyprus.
• September 2005: The EU and its Member States make a counter-declaration on Turkey's declaration of July 2005.
• October 2005: Accession negotiations are opened immediately following agreement within the EU on a negotiation framework.
• December 2006: The EU General Affairs and External Relations Council agrees to suspend accession negotiations for eight of the 35 chapters after Turkey fails to meet requirements to normalize trade relations with Cyprus.

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