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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a contiguous transcontinental country, located mostly on Anatolia in Western Asia, and on East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries, Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast, Armenia, Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the east, and Iraq and Syria to the southeast.

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The Mediterranean Sea is to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west, and the Black Sea is to the north. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage. The country's official language is Turkish, a Turkic language spoken natively by approximately 85% of the population. Turks constitute 70% to 75% of the population. Minorities include Kurds at about 18% and others around 7–12%. The vast majority of the population is Muslim. Turkey is a member of the Council of Europe, NATO, OECD, OSCE and the G-20 major economies. Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the European Economic Community since 1963 and having joined the EU Customs Union in 1995.

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