Country of origin information report Turkey March 2007

United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA)

The Dynamics of Honor Killings in Turkey – Filiz Kardam

Publication date 2007

http://web.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/676_filename_honourkillings.pdf

(Date accessed 9 March 2007)
Background Information
1 Geography
1.01 The Republic of Turkey covers an area of approximately 780,580 square kilometres. Turkey is located between south-eastern Europe and south-western Asia (that portion of Turkey west of the Bosporus is geographically part of Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria. Its border countries are Armenia 268 km, Azerbaijan 9 km, Bulgaria 240 km, Georgia 252 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 352 km, and Syria 822 km. [103] (CIA World Factbook updated 8 February 2007)
1.02 The capital city is Ankara, and there are 81 provinces consisting of Adana, Adiyaman, Afyonkarahisar, Agri, Aksaray, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Ardahan, Artvin, Aydin, Balikesir, Bartin, Batman, Bayburt, Bilecik, Bingol, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Canakkale, Cankiri, Corum, Denizli, Diyarbakir, Duzce, Edirne, Elazig, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskisehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gumushane, Hakkari, Hatay, Icel (Mersin), Igdir, Isparta, Istanbul, Izmir, Kahramanmaras, Karabuk, Karaman, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kilis, Kirikkale, Kirklareli, Kirsehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kutahya, Malatya, Manisa, Mardin, Mugla, Mus, Nevsehir, Nigde, Ordu, Osmaniye, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Sanliurfa, Siirt, Sinop, Sirnak, Sivas, Tekirdag, Tokat, Trabzon, Tunceli, Usak, Van, Yalova, Yozgat, Zonguldak. [103] (CIA World Factbook updated 8 February 2007)
1.03 As noted in CIA FactBook (updated 8 February 2007) Turkish is the main spoken language. In addition to the official language it also mentions Kurdish, Dimli (or Zaza), Azeri, Kabardian and there is also a substantial Gagauz population in the Europe part of Turkey. [103]
1.04 The US State Department Report on International Religious Freedom, published on 12 September 2006, reported that:
“According to the Government, approximately 99 percent of the population was Muslim, the majority of which was Sunni. According to the human rights nongovernmental organization (NGO) Mazlum-Der and representatives of various religious minority communities, the actual percentage of Muslims was slightly lower. The Government officially recognized only three minority religious communities–Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenian Orthodox Christians, and Jews–although other non-Muslim communities existed. The level of religious observance varied throughout the country, in part due to the influence of secular traditions and official restrictions on religious expression in political and social life.” [5e] (section 1)