TURKEY Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey is a transcontinental country, located mostly on Anatolia in Western Asia and on East

Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea is to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance. The Ottoman Empire, also historically referred to as the Turkish Empire or Turkey, was a state founded by Turkish tribes under Osman Bey in northwestern Anatolia in 1299. With the conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed II in 1453, the Ottoman state was transformed into an empire.

Mustafa Kemal was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. His surname, Atatrk (meaning "Father of the Turks"), was granted to him (and forbidden to any other person) in 1934 by the Turkish parliament.

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With a population of 13.9 million, the city forms one of the largest urban agglomerations in Europe and is among the largest cities in the world by population within city limits. Istanbul is a transcontinental city, straddling the Bosphorusone of the world's busiest waterwaysin northwestern Turkey, between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies in Europe, while a third of its population lives in Asia.

The Bosphorus, also known as the Istanbul Strait, is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles strait to the southwest together form the Turkish Straits. The world's narrowest strait used for international navigation, the Bosphorus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara (which is connected by the Dardanelles to the Aegean Sea, and thereby to the Mediterranean Sea.)

The Sleymaniye Mosque, built on the order of Sultan Sleyman (Sleyman the Magnificent), "was fortunate to be able to draw on the talents of the architectural genius of Mimar Sinan".The construction work began in 1550 and the mosque was finished in 1558.

FOOD Turkish coffee is a method of preparing coffee. Roasted and then finely ground coffee beans are boiled in a pot (cezve), usually with sugar, and served in a cup where the grounds are allowed to settle. This method of serving coffee is found in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caucasus, and the Balkans.

Turkish delight or Lokum is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios and hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; the cheapest are mostly gel, generally flavored with rosewater, mastic, Bergamot orange or lemon. The confection is often packaged and eaten in small cubes dusted with icing sugar, copra, or powdered cream of Tartar, to prevent clinging. Simit in Turkish, meaning "crisp", which is, in some parts of Turkey, is a circular bread with sesame seeds, very common in Turkey, as well as in Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia and other parts of the Balkans and Middle East such as Lebanon.

Baklava is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of phyllo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey. It is characteristic of the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and those of Central and Southwest Asia. MUSIC Tarkan, simply known as Tarkan, is a World Music award winning Turkish pop singer. He was born in Alzey, West Germany, and raised in Turkey.