Learn About The Middle East Initiative
Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Iran and the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhchivan to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast.
Turkey’s Christian population constitutes less than one percent of the country’s population. Global Ministries personnel are active in ecumenical and Christian-Muslim relations in this largely secular country of nearly 70 million.
Apart from these efforts, our historical partner is the Health and Education Foundation, a secular foundation, established in order to ensure the continuation of institutions that have a history of nearly 150 years (the high schools as well as the hospital and publishing house) and also to enable their newer elementary schools to move forward confidently into the future.
We also support an ecumenical refugee assistance program in Istanbul that arose after the first Gulf War.
Pray for: The ministry of Christians in Turkey, including Armenians, Greeks, and Turks.
Population (2014 est) – 81,619,392
Area – 486,900mi
Capital – Ankara
Ethnic Background
- Turkish – 70-75%
- Kurdish – 18%
- Other – 7-12%
Exports – apparel, foodstuffs, textiles, metal manufactures, transport equipment
Imports – machinery, chemicals, semi-finished goods, fuels, transport equipment
Life Expectancy (2014 est) – M 71 years, F 75 years
Infant Mortality (2014 est) – 21.43 deaths/1,000 live births
Adult Illiteracy Rate – 5.9%
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