About Turkey

•  Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the founder of Turkish Republic and its first President, stands as a towering figure of the 20th Century.Amoung the great leaders of history,few achieved so much in so short period, transformed the life of a nation as decisively, and given such profound inspiration to the world at large.
• Turkey, bounded by four seas on three sides, spans a relatively large region in Asia and Europe. The First Geography Congress, convened in Ankara in 1941, divided Turkey into seven geographical regions. The regions were divided in keeping with the principles of geography – with the chief deciding factors being the topography, the climate, the vegetation and the agriculture of the respective regions. Life-style factors of the inhabitants like their food habits, housing, clothing and transportation systems were also considered.
• There is probably no culture in the world, which is free from the clutches of superstition and to counter these superstitions, in every culture you will find people taking recourse to charms and talismans. The Turkish Evil Eye Pendants or the “nazar boncugu” is the Turkish means of keeping at bay the ills brought on by envious and greedy eyes.
• Turkish culture is an immense mixture partly produced by the rich history. The original lands of Turks is Central Asia, bordering China. From this location, they were forced to move west for various reasons more than a thousand years ago. On the way to Anatolia they have interacted with chinese, indian, middle eastern, European and Anatolian civilizations, and today's Turkish culture carries motives from each one of these diverse cultures.
• Turkey has a rich variety of cuisine that makes it worthwhile just to take a culinary tour of the country. You cannot identify one dominant Turkish food like the Italian pasta or the French sauce, but the Turks have perfected their cuisine to a fine craft that reflects their refinement of culture.
• New Turkish Lira (YTL) ia the official currency in Turkey. 'Y' stands for 'yeni' (new) in Turkish as the new notes and coins replaced the old currency which was withdrawn from circulation in January 2006. 

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