Human Freedom Index [PDF], The Human Freedom Index 2021
2019: 5.79, Rank: 139, Personal Freedom: 5.25, Economic Freedom: 6.54
Territory in southwest Asia and southeast Europe, ruled since 1923 by the Türkiye Cumhuriyeti
Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), officially the Republic of Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti), is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, located mainly in western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the south. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, with the Aegean Sea to the west, the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles, which together form the Turkish Straits, divide Thrace and Anatolia and separate Europe from Asia. Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial center, classified as a leading global city.
Geographical type: Territory
Latitude: 39° N — Longitude: 35° E
Area: 783,356 km²
ISO 3166-2 code: TR
Measures of Freedom
Level of Economic Freedom, Economic Freedom of the World
2014: 6.86, Rank: 90
2014: 6.86, Rank: 90
Turkey | Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2022
2016: Status: Partly Free, Aggregate Score: 53, Political Rights: 3, Civil Liberties: 4
2016: Status: Partly Free, Aggregate Score: 53, Political Rights: 3, Civil Liberties: 4
Turkey held two parliamentary elections in 2015 amid an exceptionally polarized and volatile political environment. Prior to the first vote in June, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan campaigned for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), hoping that it could gain 60 percent of parliamentary seats, which would allow it to call a referendum on constitutional changes to create a stronger presidency.
Articles
But Foreign Aid Is Bribery! And Blackmail, Extortion, and Theft Too!, by Jacob G. Hornberger, 26 Sep 2003
Comments on Ted Kennedy's observation that U.S. foreign aid was being used as bribery, expanding to discuss other perverse and destructive consequences of such aid programs
Comments on Ted Kennedy's observation that U.S. foreign aid was being used as bribery, expanding to discuss other perverse and destructive consequences of such aid programs
The ... truth is that foreign aid is ... an integral and perverse part of the U.S. government's morally bankrupt foreign policy ... its primary purpose is to bribe, blackmail, and extort foreign regimes into doing Washington's bidding ... Kennedy's use of Turkey is, of course, a perfect example. Prior to its invasion of Iraq, the U.S. government offered Turkey $26 billion to permit the United States to use Turkey as a base of operations to invade Iraq from the north. When the Turkish parliament voted against the proposal, Turkey didn't get the money. If that's not a bribe, what is it?
Related Topics: Foreign entanglements, Yemen
The introductory paragraph uses material from the Wikipedia article "Turkey" as of 2 Oct 2018, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.