| Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), officially the Republic of Turkey (Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Southwestern Asia and the Balkan region of Southeastern Europe. Turkey borders eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Iran and the Nakhichevan exclave of Azerbaijan to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. In addition, it borders the Black Sea to the north; the Aegean Sea and the Sea of Marmara to the west; and the Mediterranean Sea to the south.
The Republic of Turkey is a democratic, secular, constitutional republic whose political system was established in 1923. Turkey is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, OSCE, OECD, OIC, the Council of Europe and a candidate to join the European Union. Due to its strategic location straddling Europe and Asia, and sandwiched between three seas, Turkey has been a historical crossroad between eastern and western cultures. It has been a keystone in the development of world civilization and the location of many great civilizations.
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