Post #2

Payton Price
Sep 9, 2018 · 4 min read

The official language of Turkey is Turkish, which is spoken by about 90% of the country. Minority languages include Kurdish, spoken by 6% and Arabic spoken by 1.2% of the country. Along with a few other smaller minority languages that are spoke less than 1% of the country. None of these languages are indigenous.

Turkey is a member of the UN, IMF, and WTO. Turkey is a original member of the United Nations, joining in 1945. Turkey also joined the International Monetary Fund in 1947 and the World Trade Organization in 1995. Turkey is a non-council member of the United Nations which means they can be in conversations, without a vote, in discussions that affect their country.

Turkey’s latest GINI coefficient is 41.9. GINI coefficient measure country’s income inequality. This rating puts Turkey around 63 in the world which is about middle of the pack. Looking at the GDP rankings based on PPP Turkey ranks at 14. Meaning they produce a good amount on goods in the country every year.

Recent news about Turkey revolves around their relationship with Russia and the United States. First, Turkey has been working with Russia to construct a Russian missile system although the United States has been warning Turkey not to. The new construction fits the pattern for Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system.Turkey’s movement towards getting the Russian missile system has raised concerns of the NATO, who are worried of Moscow’s increasing military presence in the region. The NATO is the North Atlantic Alliance, which is a intergovernmental military alliance between 29 North American and European countries. The S-400 system is believed to have a larger range than the American made THAAD missile system and is estimated to cost way less as well. Turkey is suppose to receive the S-400 missile next year and is expected to have the system ready for war by 2020.

Meanwhile, all of this is happening as United States Congress is coming closer to blocking the transfer of two F-35 jets to Turkey. In June, the United States defense giant held a formal hand off ceremony at its F-35 facility in Fort Worth, Texas. After the ceremony, Lockheed Martin ferried the aircraft to Luke Air Force Base in Arizona where Turkish pilots began training alongside United States airmen on how to fly the F-35 jets. The Russian S-400 missile system, which has eight launchers and 32 missiles, is capable of targeting stealth warplanes like the F-35 fighter. Causing new tensions between the United States and Turkey to rise.

Also Turkey has had some tension would Russia heat up the past week. Putin and Russia along with the Assad regime have been carrying out airstrikes on Idlib and Turkey and president Erdogan are not happy. Idlib is one of the last rebel held strongholds in Syria and is populated by a mix of Turkish and Syrian rebels. These rebels are anti-Assad regime and Turkey has been known to fund them. Turkey has warned it will not stand by and watch a Russian-led attack on Syria’s Idlib province, which it said could turn the densely-packed north west of the country into a “lake of blood” and force an overwhelming exodus of refugees. Turkey President, Tayyip Erdogan, pleaded with Russia and Iran to halt any offensive attacks. Vladimir Putin had earlier rejected Erdogan’s calls for a ceasefire in Idlib, the last opposition stronghold in Syria. “We will neither watch from the sidelines nor participate in such a game,” President Erdogan said on Twitter in response.

Turkish Government spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said “Idlib is a ticking bomb. We can turn it off and start a new process in Syria if the international community gets serious about the Syrian war and shows that they do care about the Syrian people.” Meanwhile, Russian jets renewed their bombing of southern Idlib, attacking the city of al-Habit. Russian jets also bombed in the east of the province. After seven years of war, Idlib has become the focus of a struggle that has spilled well beyond Syria’s borders, transforming the conflict into one of the most complex and consequential battlefields of modern times. At the heart of global concerns are an estimated 3 million people crammed into Idlib and its surrounds, at least half of whom have fled vanquished opposition areas. Many of those now in Idlib say they are not willing, even with being bombed, to risk crossing into government run areas. They are more scared of the Assad regime prisons than getting bombed. Russia has demanded that president Erdogan withdrawal jihadist forces from Idlib. Jihadists are mixed within opposition units in the province and have held sway within a large opposition alliance known as Tahrir al-Sham. Putin said that an attack would be launched imminently if jihadist groups failed to leave.

Sources:

Europe at Mizzou

Payton Price

Written by

Europe at Mizzou

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