Turkey

The Republic of Turkey is a Eurasian country established in 1923 as the successor state to the Ottoman Empire. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the country underwent a modernization and Westernization project with various social, legal, and political reforms. Women obtained the right to vote and to be elected in municipal elections in 1930 and in parliamentary elections in 1934. Approximately 70-75 percent of the population is Turkish, 18 percent is Kurdish, and 7-12 percent belong to other ethnic groups. The official language is Turkish, and the most widely spoken minority language is Kurdish. As to religion, 99.8 percent of the population is registered as Muslim, whereas 0.2 percent is registered as Christian or Jewish. The secularist heritage of the country represented by ...