Native name
Conventional long name	Republic of Turkey
Common name	Turkey
National anthem	''İstiklâl Marşı''''Independence March''File:Istiklal Marsi-TSK.ogg
Map caption	Location of Turkey
Capital	Ankara
Largest city	Istanbul
Official languages	Turkish
Demonym	Turkish
Government type	Parliamentary republic
Leader title1	Founder
Leader name1	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Leader title2	President
Leader name2	Abdullah Gül
Leader title3	Prime Minister
Leader name3	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Leader title4	Speaker of the Parliament
Leader name4	Cemil Çiçek
Leader title5	President of the Constitutional Court
Leader name5	Haşim Kılıç
Legislature	Grand National Assembly
Sovereignty type	Succession
Sovereignty note
Established event1
Established date1	July 24, 1923
Established event2
Established date2	October 29, 1923
Area km2	783562
Area sq mi	302535
Area rank	37th
Area magnitude	1 E11
Percent water	1.3
Population census	67,803,927
Population census year	2000
Population estimate	73,722,988
Population estimate year	2010
Population estimate rank	18th
Population density km2	94.1
Population density sq mi	239.8
Population density rank	108th
Gdp ppp year	2010
Gdp ppp	$1.116 trillion
Gdp ppp rank	15th
Gdp ppp per capita	$15,340
Gdp nominal	$735.264 billion
Gdp nominal rank	17th
Gdp nominal year	2010
Gdp nominal per capita	$10,106
Hdi year	2011
Hdi	0.699
Hdi rank	92nd
Hdi category	high
Gini	40
Gini year	2008
Currency	Turkish lira
Currency code	TRY
Time zone	EET
Utc offset	+2
Time zone dst	EEST
Utc offset dst	+3
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy (AD)
Drives on	right
Cctld	.tr
Calling code	90
Website	www.turkiye.gov.tr }}

Turkey (), known officially as the Republic of Turkey (), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.

Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.

Oghuz Turks began migrating into the area now called Turkey (derived from the Medieval Latin ''Turchia'', i.e. "Land of the Turks") in the 11th century. The process was greatly accelerated by the Seljuk victory over the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert. Several small beyliks and the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion. Starting from the 13th century, the Ottoman beylik united Anatolia and created an empire encompassing much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. After the Ottoman Empire collapsed following its defeat in World War I, parts of it were occupied by the victorious Allies. A cadre of young military officers, led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his colleagues, organized a successful resistance to the Allies; in 1923, they would establish the modern Republic of Turkey with Atatürk as its first president.

Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic with an ancient cultural heritage. Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West through membership in organizations such as 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 reached a customs union agreement in 1995. Turkey has also fostered close cultural, political, economic and industrial relations with the Middle East, the Turkic states of Central Asia and the African countries through membership in organizations such as the Turkic Council, Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Economic Cooperation Organization.

Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance. Given its strategic location, large economy and military strength, Turkey is a major regional power.

Etymology

The name of Turkey, ''Türkiye'' in the Turkish language, can be divided into two components: the ethnonym ''Türk'' and the abstract suffix ''–iye'' meaning "owner", "land of" or "related to" (derived from the Arabic suffix ''–iyya'', which is similar to the Greek and Latin suffixes ''–ia''). The first recorded use of the term "Türk" or "Türük" as an autonym is contained in the Orkhon inscriptions of the Göktürks (''Celestial Turks'') of Central Asia (c. 8th century CE). The English word "Turkey" is derived from the Medieval Latin ''Turchia'' (c. 1369). The Greek cognate of this name, ''Tourkia'', was originally used by the Byzantines to describe medieval Hungary (since pre-Magyar Hungary was occupied by proto-Turkic and Turkic tribes, such as the Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Kabars, Pechenegs and Cumans.) Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the northern shores of the Black and Caspian seas, was referred to as ''Tourkia'' (''Land of the Turks'') in Byzantine sources. However, the Byzantines later began using this name to define the Seljuk-controlled parts of Anatolia in the centuries that followed the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.

History

Antiquity

The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions in the world. The earliest Neolithic settlements such as Çatalhöyük (Pottery Neolithic), Çayönü (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A to Pottery Neolithic), Nevalı Çori (Pre-Pottery Neolithic B), Hacılar (Pottery Neolithic), Göbekli Tepe (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A) and Mersin (Yumuktepe) are considered to be among the earliest human settlements in the world.

The settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic and continued into the Iron Age. Through recorded history, Anatolians have spoken Indo-European, Semitic and Kartvelian languages, as well as many languages of uncertain affiliation. In fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical center from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the Central Anatolia, noted at least as early as ca. 2300. Indo-European Hittites came to Anatolia and gradually absorbed Hattians ca. 2000–1700 BC. The first major empire in the area was founded by the Hittites, from the eighteenth through the 13th century BC. The Assyrians colonized parts of southeastern Turkey as far back as 1950 BC until the year 612 BC, when the Assyrian Empire was conquered by the Chaldean dynasty in Babylon. Following the Hittite collapse, the Phrygians, an Indo-European people, achieved ascendancy until their kingdom was destroyed by the Cimmerians in the 7th century BC. The most powerful of Phrygia's successor states were Lydia, Caria and Lycia. The Lydians and Lycians spoke languages that were fundamentally Indo-European, but both languages had acquired non-Indo-European elements prior to the Hittite and Hellenistic periods.

Starting around 1200 BC, the coast of Anatolia was heavily settled by Aeolian and Ionian Greeks. Numerous important cities were founded by these colonists, such as Miletus, Ephesus, Smyrna (modern İzmir), and Byzantium (later Constantinople and Istanbul). The first state established in Anatolia that was called Armenia by neighboring peoples (Hecataeus of Miletus and Behistun Inscription) was the state of the Armenian Orontid dynasty. Anatolia was conquered by the Persian Achaemenid Empire during the 6th and 5th centuries BC and later fell to Alexander the Great in 334 BC. Anatolia was subsequently divided into a number of small Hellenistic kingdoms (including Bithynia, Cappadocia, Pergamum, and Pontus), all of which had succumbed to the Roman Republic by the mid-1st century BC.

In 324, the Roman emperor Constantine I chose Byzantium to be the new capital of the Roman Empire, renaming it New Rome (later Constantinople and Istanbul). After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, it became the capital of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire).

Turks and the Ottoman Empire

The ''House of Seljuk'' was a branch of the ''Kınık'' Oğuz Turks who resided on the periphery of the Muslim world, north of the Caspian and Aral Seas in the Yabghu Khaganate of the Oğuz confederacy in the 10th century. In the 11th century, the Seljuks started migrating from their ancestral homelands towards the eastern regions of Anatolia, which eventually became the new homeland of Oghuz Turkic tribes following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071.

The victory of the Seljuks gave rise to the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate; which developed as a separate branch of the larger Seljuk Empire that covered parts of Central Asia, Iran, Anatolia and Southwest Asia.

In 1243, the Seljuk armies were defeated by the Mongols, causing the Seljuk empire's power to slowly disintegrate. In its wake, one of the Turkish principalities governed by Osman I would, over the next 200 years, evolve into the Ottoman Empire, expanding throughout Anatolia, the Balkans and the Levant. In 1453, the Ottomans completed their conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital, Constantinople.

The Ottoman Empire's power and prestige peaked in the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. The empire was often at odds with the Holy Roman Empire in its steady advance towards Central Europe through the Balkans and the southern part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At sea, the empire contended with the Holy Leagues, composed of Habsburg Spain, the Republic of Venice and the Knights of St. John, for control of the Mediterranean. In the Indian Ocean, the Ottoman navy frequently confronted Portuguese fleets in order to defend its traditional monopoly over the maritime trade routes between East Asia and Western Europe; these routes faced new competition with the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. In addition, the Ottomans were occasionally at war with Persia over territorial disputes or caused by religious differences between 16th and 18th centuries.

During nearly two centuries of decline, the Ottoman Empire gradually shrank in size, military power, and wealth. It entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers and was ultimately defeated. During the war, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were deported and exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. The Turkish government denies that there was an Armenian genocide and claims that Armenians were only relocated from the eastern war zone. Large scale massacres were also committed against the empire's other minority groups such as the Greeks and Assyrians. Following the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918, the victorious Allied Powers sought to partition the Ottoman state through the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres.

Republic era

The occupation of Constantinople and Smyrna by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I prompted the establishment of the Turkish national movement. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the Battle of Gallipoli, the Turkish War of Independence was waged with the aim of revoking the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres.

By September 18, 1922, the occupying armies were expelled, and the new Turkish state was established. On November 1, the newly founded parliament formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of Ottoman rule. The Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923, led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923, in the new capital of Ankara.

Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first President and subsequently introduced many radical reforms with the aim of founding a new secular republic from the remnants of its Ottoman past. With the Surname Law of 1934, the Turkish Parliament bestowed upon Mustafa Kemal the honorific surname "Atatürk" (''Father of the Turks''.)

Turkey remained neutral during most of World War II but entered on the side of the Allies on February 23, 1945, as a ceremonial gesture and in 1945 became a charter member of the United Nations. Difficulties faced by Greece after the war in quelling a communist rebellion, along with demands by the Soviet Union for military bases in the Turkish Straits, prompted the United States to declare the Truman Doctrine in 1947. The doctrine enunciated American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece, and resulted in large-scale U.S. military and economic support.

After participating with the United Nations forces in the Korean War, Turkey joined NATO in 1952, becoming a bulwark against Soviet expansion into the Mediterranean. Following a decade of Cypriot intercommunal violence and the Greek military coup of 15 July 1974, overthrowing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as dictator, Turkey invaded the island Republic of Cyprus on 20 July. Nine years later the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which is only recognised by Turkey was established.

The single-party period ended in 1945. It was followed by a tumultuous transition to multiparty democracy over the next few decades, which was interrupted by military coups d'état in 1960, 1971, 1980 and 1997. In 1984, the PKK began an insurgency against the Turkish government; the conflict, which has claimed over 40,000 lives, continues today. Since the liberalization of the Turkish economy during the 1980s, the country has enjoyed stronger economic growth and greater political stability.

Politics

Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of secularism. Turkey's constitution governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main principles of government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralized state.

The President of the Republic is the head of state and has a largely ceremonial role. The president is elected for a five-year term by direct elections. Abdullah Gül was elected as president on August 28, 2007, by a popular parliament round of votes, succeeding Ahmet Necdet Sezer.

Executive power is exercised by the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers which make up the government, while the legislative power is vested in the unicameral parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature, and the Constitutional Court is charged with ruling on the conformity of laws and decrees with the constitution. The Council of State is the tribunal of last resort for administrative cases, and the High Court of Appeals for all others.

The prime minister is elected by the parliament through a vote of confidence in the government and is most often the head of the party having the most seats in parliament. The current prime minister is the former mayor of İstanbul, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose conservative Justice and Development Party won an absolute majority of parliamentary seats in the 2002 general elections, organized in the aftermath of the economic crisis of 2001, with 34% of the suffrage.

In the 2007 general elections, the AKP received 46.6% of the votes and could defend its majority in parliament. Although the ministers do not have to be members of the parliament, ministers with parliament membership are common in Turkish politics. In 2007, a series of events regarding state secularism and the role of the judiciary in the legislature has occurred. These included the controversial presidential election of Abdullah Gül, who in the past had been involved with Islamist parties; and the government's proposal to lift the headscarf ban in universities, which was annulled by the Constitutional Court, leading to a fine and a near ban of the ruling party.

Universal suffrage for both sexes has been applied throughout Turkey since 1933, and every Turkish citizen who has turned 18 years of age has the right to vote. As of 2004, there were 50 registered political parties in the country. The Constitutional Court can strip the public financing of political parties that it deems anti-secular or separatist, or ban their existence altogether.

There are 550 members of parliament who are elected for a four-year term by a party-list proportional representation system from 85 electoral districts which represent the 81 administrative provinces of Turkey (İstanbul is divided into three electoral districts, whereas Ankara and İzmir are divided into two each because of their large populations). To avoid a hung parliament and its excessive political fragmentation, only parties winning at least 10% of the votes cast in a national parliamentary election gain the right to representation in the parliament. Because of this threshold, in the 2007 elections only three parties formally entered the parliament (compared to two in 2002).

Human rights in Turkey have been the subject of much controversy and international condemnation. Between 1998 and 2008 the European Court of Human Rights made more than 1,600 judgements against Turkey for human rights violations, particularly the right to life and freedom from torture. Other issues such as Kurdish rights, women's rights and press freedom have also attracted controversy. Turkey's human rights record continues to be a significant obstacle to future membership of the EU. The Turkish Journalists Association says that 58 of the country's journalists have been imprisoned. A former U.S. State Department spokesman, Philip J. Crowley, said that the United States had "broad concerns about trends involving intimidation of journalists in Turkey."

Foreign relations

Turkey is a founding member of the United Nations (1945), the OECD (1961), the OIC (1969), the OSCE (1973), the ECO (1985), the BSEC (1992) and the G-20 major economies (1999). On October 17, 2008, Turkey was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. Turkey's membership of the council effectively began on January 1, 2009. Turkey had previously been a member of the U.N. Security Council in 1951–1952, 1954–1955 and 1961.

In line with its traditional Western orientation, relations with Europe have always been a central part of Turkish foreign policy. Turkey became a founding member of the Council of Europe in 1949, applied for associate membership of the EEC (predecessor of the European Union) in 1959 and became an associate member in 1963. After decades of political negotiations, Turkey applied for full membership of the EEC in 1987, became an associate member of the Western European Union in 1992, reached a Customs Union agreement with the EU in 1995 and has been in formal accession negotiations with the EU since 2005.

Since 1974, Turkey has not recognized the (essentially Greek Cypriot) Republic of Cyprus as the sole authority on the island, but instead supports the Turkish Cypriot community in the form of the de facto Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which is recognized only by Turkey.

The other defining aspect of Turkey's foreign relations has been its ties with the United States. Based on the common threat posed by the Soviet Union, Turkey joined NATO in 1952, ensuring close bilateral relations with Washington throughout the Cold War. In the post–Cold War environment, Turkey's geostrategic importance shifted towards its proximity to the Middle East, the Caucasus and the Balkans. In return, Turkey has benefited from the United States' political, economic and diplomatic support, including in key issues such as the country's bid to join the European Union.

The independence of the Turkic states of the Soviet Union in 1991, with which Turkey shares a common cultural and linguistic heritage, allowed Turkey to extend its economic and political relations deep into Central Asia, thus enabling the completion of a multi-billion-dollar oil and natural gas pipeline from Baku in Azerbaijan to the port of Ceyhan in Turkey. The Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline forms part of Turkey's foreign policy strategy to become an energy conduit to the West. However, Turkey's border with Armenia, a state in the Caucasus, remains closed following its occupation of Azerbaijani territory during the Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Military

The Turkish Armed Forces consists of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. The Gendarmerie and the Coast Guard operate as parts of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in peacetime, although they are subordinated to the Army and Navy Commands respectively in wartime, during which they have both internal law enforcement and military functions.

The Turkish Armed Forces is the second largest standing armed force in NATO, after the U.S. Armed Forces, with a combined strength of just over a million uniformed personnel serving in its five branches. Turkey is considered to be the strongest military power of the Middle East region besides Israel.

Every fit male Turkish citizen otherwise not barred is required to serve in the military for a period ranging from three weeks to fifteen months, dependent on education and job location. Turkey does not recognise conscientious objection and does not offer a civilian alternative to military service.

Turkey is one of five NATO member states which are part of the nuclear sharing policy of the alliance, together with Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. A total of 90 B61 nuclear bombs are hosted at the Incirlik Air Base, 40 of which are allocated for use by the Turkish Air Force.

In 1998, Turkey announced a program of modernization worth US$160 billion over a twenty year period in various projects including tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, submarines, warships and assault rifles. Turkey is a Level 3 contributor to the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program.

Turkey has maintained forces in international missions under the United Nations and NATO since 1950, including peacekeeping missions in Somalia and former Yugoslavia, and support to coalition forces in the First Gulf War. Turkey maintains 36,000 troops in northern Cyprus; their presence is supported and approved by the ''de facto'' local government, but the Republic of Cyprus and the international community regard it as an illegal occupation force, and its presence has also been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions. Turkey has had troops deployed in Afghanistan as part of the U.S. stabilization force and the UN-authorized, NATO-commanded International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) since 2001. In 2006, the Turkish parliament deployed a peacekeeping force of Navy patrol vessels and around 700 ground troops as part of an expanded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the wake of the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

The Chief of the General Staff is appointed by the president and is responsible to the prime minister. The Council of Ministers is responsible to parliament for matters of national security and the adequate preparation of the armed forces to defend the country. However, the authority to declare war and to deploy the Turkish Armed Forces to foreign countries or to allow foreign armed forces to be stationed in Turkey rests solely with the parliament. The actual commander of the armed forces is the Chief of the General Staff General Necdet Özel since August 4, 2011.

Administrative divisions

The capital city of Turkey is Ankara. The territory of Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. The provinces are organized into 7 regions for census purposes; however, they do not represent an administrative structure. Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 923 districts.

Provinces usually bear the same name as their provincial capitals, also called the central district; exceptions to this custom are the provinces of Hatay (capital: Antakya), Kocaeli (capital: İzmit) and Sakarya (capital: Adapazarı). Provinces with the largest populations are Istanbul (13 million), Ankara (5 million), İzmir (4 million), Bursa (3 million) and Adana (2 million).

The biggest city and the pre-Republican capital Istanbul is the financial, economic and cultural heart of the country. An estimated 75.5% of Turkey's population live in urban centers. In all, 19 provinces have populations that exceed 1 million inhabitants, and 20 provinces have populations between 1 million and 500,000 inhabitants. Only two provinces have populations less than 100,000.

Geography

Turkey is a transcontinental Eurasian country. Asian Turkey (made up largely of Anatolia), which includes 97% of the country, is separated from European Turkey by the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles (which together form a water link between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean). European Turkey (eastern Thrace or Rumelia in the Balkan peninsula) comprises 3% of the country.

The territory of Turkey is more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) long and 800 km (500 mi) wide, with a roughly rectangular shape. It lies between latitudes 35° and 43° N, and longitudes 25° and 45° E. Turkey's area, including lakes, occupies 783,562 square kilometres (300,948 sq mi), of which 755,688 square kilometres (291,773 sq mi) are in Southwest Asia and 23,764 square kilometres (9,174 sq mi) in Europe. Turkey is the world's 37th-largest country in terms of area. The country is encircled by seas on three sides: the Aegean Sea to the west, the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean to the south. Turkey also contains the Sea of Marmara in the northwest.

The European section of Turkey, East Thrace, forms the borders of Turkey with Greece and Bulgaria. The Asian part of the country, Anatolia, consists of a high central plateau with narrow coastal plains, between the Köroğlu and Pontic mountain ranges to the north and the Taurus Mountains to the south. Eastern Turkey has a more mountainous landscape and is home to the sources of rivers such as the Euphrates, Tigris and Aras, and contains Lake Van and Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest point at 5,165 metres (16,946 ft). Lake Tuz, Turkey's third-largest lake, is a macroscopically visible feature in the middle of the country.

Turkey is divided into seven census regions: Marmara, Aegean, Black Sea, Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Southeastern Anatolia and the Mediterranean. The uneven north Anatolian terrain running along the Black Sea resembles a long, narrow belt. This region comprises approximately one-sixth of Turkey's total land area. As a general trend, the inland Anatolian plateau becomes increasingly rugged as it progresses eastward.

Turkey's varied landscapes are the product of complex earth movements that have shaped the region over thousands of years and still manifest themselves in fairly frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. The Bosporus and the Dardanelles owe their existence to the fault lines running through Turkey that led to the creation of the Black Sea. There is an earthquake fault line across the north of the country from west to east, which caused a major earthquake in 1999.

Climate

The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea have a temperate Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters. The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Black Sea have a temperate Oceanic climate with warm, wet summers and cool to cold, wet winters. The Turkish Black Sea coast receives the greatest amount of precipitation and is the only region of Turkey that receives high precipitation throughout the year. The eastern part of that coast averages 2,500 millimeters annually which is the highest precipitation in the country.

The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Sea of Marmara (including Istanbul), which connects the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea, have a transitional climate between a temperate Mediterranean climate and a temperate Oceanic climate with warm to hot, moderately dry summers and cool to cold, wet winters. Snow does occur on the coastal areas of the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea almost every winter, but it usually lies no more than a few days. Snow on the other hand is rare in the coastal areas of the Aegean Sea and very rare in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea.

Conditions can be much harsher in the more arid interior. Mountains close to the coast prevent Mediterranean influences from extending inland, giving the central Anatolian plateau of the interior of Turkey a continental climate with sharply contrasting seasons.

Winters on the plateau are especially severe. Temperatures of −30 °C to −40 °C (−22 °F to −40 °F) can occur in eastern Anatolia, and snow may lie on the ground at least 120 days of the year. In the west, winter temperatures average below 1 °C (34 °F). Summers are hot and dry, with temperatures generally above 30 °C (86 °F) in the day. Annual precipitation averages about 400 millimetres (15 in), with actual amounts determined by elevation. The driest regions are the Konya plain and the Malatya plain, where annual rainfall frequently is less than 300 millimetres (12 in). May is generally the wettest month, whereas July and August are the driest.

Economy

Turkey has the world's 15th largest GDP-PPP and 17th largest Nominal GDP. The country is a founding member of the OECD and the G-20 major economies. During the first six decades of the republic, between 1923 and 1983, Turkey has mostly adhered to a quasi-statist approach with strict government planning of the budget and government-imposed limitations over private sector participation, foreign trade, flow of foreign currency, and foreign direct investment. However in 1983 Prime Minister Turgut Özal initiated a series of reforms designed to shift the economy from a statist, insulated system to a more private-sector, market-based model.

The reforms spurred rapid growth, but this growth was punctuated by sharp recessions and financial crises in 1994, 1999 (following the earthquake of that year), and 2001, resulting in an average of 4% GDP growth per annum between 1981 and 2003. Lack of additional fiscal reforms, combined with large and growing public sector deficits and widespread corruption, resulted in high inflation, a weak banking sector and increased macroeconomic volatility. Since the economic crisis of 2001 and the reforms initiated by the finance minister of the time, Kemal Derviş, inflation has fallen to single-digit numbers, investor confidence and foreign investment have soared, and unemployment has fallen. The International Monetary Fund forecasts a 6% inflation rate for Turkey in 2008.

Turkey has gradually opened up its markets through economic reforms by reducing government controls on foreign trade and investment and the privatisation of publicly owned industries, and the liberalisation of many sectors to private and foreign participation has continued amid political debate. The public debt to GDP ratio, while well below its levels during the recession of 2001, reached 46% in 2010 Q3. The GDP growth rate from 2002 to 2007 averaged 7%, which made Turkey one of the fastest growing economies in the world during that period. However, growth slowed to 1% in 2008, and in 2009 the Turkish economy was affected by the global financial crisis, with a recession of 5%. The economy was estimated to have returned to 8% growth in 2010.

In the early years of this century the chronically high inflation was brought under control and this led to the launch of a new currency, the Turkish new lira, on January 1, 2005, to cement the acquisition of the economic reforms and erase the vestiges of an unstable economy. On January 1, 2009, the new Turkish lira was renamed once again as the Turkish lira, with the introduction of new banknotes and coins. As a result of continuing economic reforms, inflation dropped to 8% in 2005, and the unemployment rate to 10%.

Tourism in Turkey has experienced rapid growth in the last twenty years, and constitutes an important part of the economy. In 2008 there were 31 million visitors to the country, who contributed $22 billion to Turkey's revenues. Other key sectors of the Turkish economy are banking, construction, home appliances, electronics, textiles, oil refining, petrochemical products, food, mining, iron and steel, machine industry and automotive. Turkey has a large and growing automotive industry, which produced 1,147,110 motor vehicles in 2008, ranking as the 6th largest producer in Europe (behind the United Kingdom and above Italy) and the 15th largest producer in the world. Turkey is also one of the leading shipbuilding nations; in 2007 the country ranked 4th in the world (behind China, South Korea and Japan) in terms of the number of ordered ships, and also 4th in the world (behind Italy, USA and Canada) in terms of the number of ordered mega yachts.

Turkey's economy is becoming more dependent on industry in major cities, mostly concentrated in the western provinces of the country, and less on agriculture. However, traditional agriculture is still a major pillar of the Turkish economy. In 2010, the agricultural sector accounted for 9% of GDP, while the industrial sector accounted for 26% and the services sector 65%. However, agriculture still accounted for 27% of employment. In 2004, it was estimated that 46% of total disposable income was received by the top of 20% income earners, while the lowest 20% received 6%. According to Eurostat data, Turkish PPS GDP per capita stood at 45 per cent of the EU average in 2008.

Turkey has taken advantage of the European Union – Turkey Customs Union, signed in 1995, to increase its industrial production destined for exports, while at the same time benefiting from EU-origin foreign investment into the country. Turkey now has also opportunity of a free trade agreement with the European Union (EU) – without full membership – that allows it to manufacture for tarif-free sale throughout the EU market.

By 2009 exports were $110 bn and in 2010 it was $117 bn (main export partners in 2009: Germany 10%, France 6%, UK 6%, Italy 6%, Iraq 5%). However larger imports, which amounted to $166 billion in 2010, threatened the balance of trade (main import partners in 2009: Russia 14%, Germany 10%, China 9%, US 6%, Italy 5%, France 5%).

After years of low levels of foreign direct investment (FDI), Turkey succeeded in attracting $22 billion in FDI in 2007 and is expected to attract a higher figure in following years. A series of large privatizations, the stability fostered by the start of Turkey's EU accession negotiations, strong and stable growth, and structural changes in the banking, retail, and telecommunications sectors have all contributed to a rise in foreign investment.

Demographics

{{bar box | title=Ethnic groups in Turkey (2008) | titlebar=#ddd | left1=Ethnic groups | right1=Percent | float=right | bars= }}

The last official census was in 2000 and recorded a total country population of 67,803,927 inhabitants. According to the ''Address-Based Birth Recording System'' of Turkey, the country's population was 73.7 million people in 2010, nearly three-quarters of whom lived in towns and cities. According to the 2009 estimate, the population is increasing by 1.5% each year. Turkey has an average population density of 92 people per km². People within the 15–64 age group constitute 67% of the total population; the 0–14 age group corresponds to 26%; while senior citizens aged 65 years or older make up 7%. In 1927, when the first official census was recorded in the Republic of Turkey, the population was 13.6 million.

Life expectancy stands at 71.1 years for men and 75.3 years for women, with an overall average of 73.2 years for the populace as a whole. Education is compulsory and free from ages 6 to 15. The literacy rate is 96% for men and 80.4% for women, with an overall average of 88.1%. The low figures for women are mainly due to the traditional customs of the Arabs and Kurds who live in the southeastern provinces of the country.

Article 66 of the Turkish Constitution defines a "Turk" as "anyone who is bound to the Turkish state through the bond of citizenship"; therefore, the legal use of the term "Turkish" as a citizen of Turkey is different from the ethnic definition. However, the majority of the Turkish population are of Turkish ethnicity. They are estimated at 70–75% by the CIA and at 76.0% by a survey of Milliyet in 2007.

The Kurds, a distinct ethnic group concentrated mainly in the southeastern provinces of the country, are the largest non-Turkic ethnicity, estimated at about 18% of the population according to the CIA and at 15.7% according to a survey by the Milliyet daily newspaper. Minorities other than the three officially recognized ones do not have any special group privileges, while the term "minority" itself remains a sensitive issue in Turkey. Reliable data on the ethnic mix of the population is not available, because Turkish census figures do not include statistics on ethnicity.

The three officially recognized major minorities ethnic groups (per the Treaty of Lausanne), i.e. are: Armenians, Greeks and Jews. Signed on January 30, 1923, a bilateral accord of population exchange between Greece and Turkey took effect in the 1920s, with close to 1.5 million Greeks moving from Turkey and some 500,000 Turks coming from Greece. Other ethnic groups include Abkhazians, Albanians, Arabs, Assyrians, Bosniaks, Circassians, Georgians, Hamshenis, Laz, Pomaks (Bulgarians), Roma.

Minorities of West European origin include the Levantines (or ''Levanter'', mostly of French, Genoese and Venetian descent) who have been present in the country (particularly in Istanbul and İzmir) since the medieval period.

Urbanization

An estimated 71% of the population live in urban centers. In all, 18 provinces have populations that exceed 1 million inhabitants, and 21 provinces have populations between 1 million and 500,000 inhabitants. Only two provinces have populations less than 100,000.

Language

Turkish is the sole official language throughout Turkey. Reliable figures for the linguistic breakdown of the populace are not available for reasons similar to those cited above. According to the CIA World Factbook, the Turkish language is spoken by circa 70–75% of Turkey's population, while the Kurdish language is spoken by approximately 18%. The public broadcaster TRT broadcasts programmes in the local languages and dialects of Arabic, Bosnian, Circassian and Kurdish a few hours a week. A public television channel, TRT 6, which airs programs of Kurdish-language most of the time, was opened in early 2009.

Religion

{{bar box |title=Religions in Turkey |titlebar=#ddd |left1=Religions |right1=Percent |float=right |bars= }}

Turkey is a secular state with no official state religion; the Turkish Constitution provides for freedom of religion and conscience. Islam is the dominant religion of Turkey, it exceeds 99% if secular people of Muslim background are included. Research firms suggest the actual Muslim figure is around 98%, or 97%.

There are about 120,000 people of different Christian denominations, including an estimated 80,000 Oriental Orthodox, 35,000 Roman Catholics, 5,000 Orthodox (of them 3,000–4,000 being Greeks) and smaller numbers of Protestants. Today there are 236 churches open for worship in Turkey. The Orthodox Church has been headquartered in Istanbul since the 4th century AD. Christians represent less than 0.2% of Turkey's population, according to the ''CIA World Factbook''.

There are about 26,000 people who are Jewish, the vast majority of whom are Sephardi.

The Bahá'í Faith in Turkey has roots in Bahá'u'lláh's, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, being exiled to Constantinople, current-day Istanbul, by the Ottoman authorities. Bahá'ís cannot register with the government officially but there are probably 10 to 20 thousand Bahá'ís, and around a hundred Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assemblies in Turkey.

Though academics suggest the Alevi population may be from 15 to 20 million. According to Aksiyon magazine, the number of Shiite Twelvers (excluding Alevis) is 3 million (4.2%), and they live in Istanbul, Iğdır, Kars, Ankara, İzmir, Manisa, Çorum, Muğla, Ağrı and Aydın. There are also some Sufi practitioners. The highest Islamic religious authority is the Presidency of Religious Affairs (), it interprets the Hanafi school of law, and is responsible for regulating the operation of the country's 80,000 registered mosques and employing local and provincial imams. The role of religion has been controversial debate over the years since the formation of Islamist parties. Turkey was founded upon a strict secular constitution which forbids the influence of any religion, including Islam. There are sensitive issues, such as the fact that the wearing of the Hijab is banned in universities and public or government buildings as some view it as a symbol of Islam – though there have been efforts to lift the ban. The vast majority of the present-day Turkish people are Muslim and the most popular sect is the Hanafite school of Sunni Islam, which was officially espoused by the Ottoman Empire; according to the KONDA Research and Consultancy survey carried out throughout Turkey on 2007: 52.8% defined themselves as ''"a religious person who strives to fulfill religious obligations"'' (religious); 34.3 % defined themselves as ''"a believer who does not fulfill religious obligations"'' (believer); 9.7% defined themselves as ''"a fully devout person fulfilling all religious obligations"'' (fully devout); 2.3% defined themselves as ''"someone who does not believe in religious obligations"'' (non-believer/agnostic); and 0.9% defined themselves as ''"someone with no religious conviction"'' (atheist).

Culture

Turkey has a very diverse culture that is a blend of various elements of the Oğuz Turkic, Anatolian, Ottoman (which was itself a continuation of both Greco-Roman and Islamic cultures) and Western culture and traditions, which started with the Westernization of the Ottoman Empire and still continues today. This mix originally began as a result of the encounter of Turks and their culture with those of the peoples who were in their path during their migration from Central Asia to the West.

As Turkey successfully transformed from the religion-based former Ottoman Empire into a modern nation-state with a very strong separation of state and religion, an increase in the modes of artistic expression followed. During the first years of the republic, the government invested a large amount of resources into fine arts; such as museums, theatres, opera houses and architecture. Diverse historical factors play important roles in defining the modern Turkish identity. Turkish culture is a product of efforts to be a "modern" Western state, while maintaining traditional religious and historical values.

Turkish music and literature form great examples of such a mix of cultural influences, which were a result of the interaction between the Ottoman Empire and the Islamic world along with Europe, thus contributing to a blend of Turkic, Islamic and European traditions in modern-day Turkish music and literary arts. Turkish literature was heavily influenced by Persian and Arabic literature during most of the Ottoman era, though towards the end of the Ottoman Empire, particularly after the Tanzimat period, the effect of both Turkish folk and European literary traditions became increasingly felt. The mix of cultural influences is dramatized, for example, in the form of the "new symbols [of] the clash and interlacing of cultures" enacted in the works of Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. According to Konda public opinion researchers, 70% of Turkish citizens never read books.

Architectural elements found in Turkey are also testaments to the unique mix of traditions that have influenced the region over the centuries. In addition to the traditional Byzantine elements present in numerous parts of Turkey, many artifacts of the later Ottoman architecture, with its exquisite blend of local and Islamic traditions, are to be found throughout the country, as well as in many former territories of the Ottoman Empire. Mimar Sinan is widely regarded as the greatest architect of the classical period in Ottoman architecture. Since the 18th century, Turkish architecture has been increasingly influenced by Western styles, and this can be particularly seen in Istanbul where buildings like Dolmabahçe and Çırağan Palaces are juxtaposed next to numerous modern skyscrapers, all of them representing different traditions.

Sports

The most popular sport in Turkey is Association football. Turkey's top teams include Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Trabzonspor and Beşiktaş. In 2000, Galatasaray cemented its role as a major European club by winning the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. Two years later the Turkish national team finished third in the 2002 World Cup Finals in Japan and South Korea, while in 2008 the national team reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 2008 competition. The Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, while the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul hosted the 2009 UEFA Cup Final.

Other mainstream sports such as basketball and volleyball are also popular. Turkey hosted the finals of EuroBasket 2001 and the finals of the 2010 FIBA World Championship, winning second place on both occasions; while Efes Pilsen S.K. won the Korać Cup in 1996, finished second in the Saporta Cup of 1993, and made it to the Final Four of Euroleague and Suproleague in 2000 and 2001. Turkish basketball players such as Mehmet Okur and Hedo Turkoglu have also been successful in the NBA. Women's volleyball teams, namely Eczacıbaşı, Vakıfbank Güneş Sigorta and Fenerbahçe Acıbadem, have won numerous European championship titles and medals.

The traditional Turkish national sport has been yağlı güreş (''oiled wrestling'') since Ottoman times. Edirne has hosted the annual Kırkpınar oiled wrestling tournament since 1361. International wrestling styles governed by FILA such as Freestyle wrestling and Greco-Roman wrestling are also popular, with many European, World and Olympic championship titles won by Turkish wrestlers both individually and as a national team.

Weightlifting has been a successful Turkish sport. Turkish weightlifters, both male and female, have broken numerous world records and won several European, World and Olympic championship titles. Naim Süleymanoğlu and Halil Mutlu have achieved legendary status as one of the few weightlifters to have won three gold medals in three Olympics.

Motorsports are also popular in Turkey. The Rally of Turkey was included in the FIA World Rally Championship calendar in 2003, while Formula One race weekends held at the Istanbul Park racing circuit occurred annually between the 2005 and 2011 Formula One seasons. The Turkish Grand Prix was, however, not included in the 2012 Formula One season's calendar. Other important annual motorsports events which are held at the Istanbul Park racing circuit include the MotoGP Grand Prix of Turkey, the FIA World Touring Car Championship, the GP2 Series and the Le Mans Series. From time to time Istanbul and Antalya also host the Turkish leg of the F1 Powerboat Racing championship; while the Turkish leg of the Red Bull Air Race World Series, an air racing competition, takes place above the Golden Horn in Istanbul. Surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding, paragliding and other extreme sports are becoming more popular every year.

See also

List of Turkish people

List of twin towns and sister cities in Turkey

Public holidays in Turkey

Timeline of Turkish history

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

;History

;Politics and foreign policy

Kosebalaban, Hasan. ''Turkish Foreign Policy: Islam, Nationalism, and Globalization'' (Palgrave Macmillan; 2011) 240 pages; examines tensions among secularist nationalism, Islamic nationalism, secular liberalism, and Islamic liberalism in shaping foreign policy since the 1920s; concentrates on era since 2003

;Foreign relations and military

;Geography and climate

;Economy

;Demographics

;Culture

Further reading

Bozarslan, Hamit 'Turkey: Postcolonial discourse in a non-colonised state', in Prem Poddar ''et al.'', Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures—Continental Europe and its Colonies, Edinburgh University Press, 2008

Roxburgh, David J. (ed.) (2005). ''Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600–1600.'' Royal Academy of Arts. ISBN 1-903973-56-2.

''Turkey: A Country Study'' (1996). Federal Research Division, Library of Congress. ISBN 0-8444-0864-6.

External links

Category:Aegean Sea Category:Bicontinental countries Category:Black Sea countries Category:Countries of the Mediterranean Sea Category:Developing 8 Countries member states Category:Eastern Europe Category:Eurasia Category:European countries Category:G20 nations Category:Member states of NATO Category:Member states of the Council of Europe Category:Member states of the United Nations Category:Modern Turkic states Category:Near Eastern countries Category:Republics Category:States and territories established in 1923 Category:Western Asia Category:Western Asian countries

ace:Tureuki af:Turkye ak:Turki als:Türkei am:ቱርክ ang:Turcland ab:Ҭырқтәыла ar:تركيا an:Turquía arc:ܛܘܪܩܝܐ roa-rup:Turchia ast:Turquía gn:Tuykia av:Турция az:Türkiyə bn:তুরস্ক bjn:Turki zh-min-nan:Türkiye ba:Төркиә be:Турцыя be-x-old:Турэччына bcl:Turkiya bi:Turkey bar:Tiakei bo:ཏུར་ཀི། bs:Turska br:Turkia bg:Турция ca:Turquia cv:Турци ceb:Turkiya cs:Turecko tum:Turkey cy:Twrci da:Tyrkiet pdc:Turkie de:Türkei dv:ތުރުކީވިލާތް nv:Tʼóok Bikéyah dsb:Turkojska et:Türgi el:Τουρκία eml:Turchî es:Turquía eo:Turkio ext:Turquia eu:Turkia ee:Turkey fa:ترکیه hif:Turkey fo:Turkaland fr:Turquie fy:Turkije ga:An Tuirc gv:Yn Turkee gag:Türkiye gd:An Tuirc gl:Turquía - Türkiye gan:土耳其 gu:તુર્કસ્તાન hak:Thú-ngí-khì xal:Түргүдин Орн ko:터키 haw:Tureke hy:Թուրքիա hi:तुर्की hsb:Turkowska hr:Turska io:Turkia ilo:Turkia bpy:তুরস্ক id:Turki ia:Turchia ie:Turcia ik:Turkey os:Турк is:Tyrkland it:Turchia he:טורקיה jv:Turki kl:Tyrkia kn:ಟರ್ಕಿ pam:Turkey krc:Тюрк ka:თურქეთი csb:Tëreckô kk:Түркия kw:Turki rw:Turukiya ky:Түркия Республикасы rn:Turukiya sw:Uturuki kv:Турция kg:Turki ht:Tiki ku:Tirkiye mrj:Турци lad:Turkiya lbe:Туркия ltg:Turceja la:Turcia lv:Turcija lb:Tierkei lt:Turkija lij:Turchia li:Turkije ln:Turkí jbo:turk lg:Buturuki lmo:Türchia hu:Törökország mk:Турција ml:തുര്‍ക്കി mt:Turkija mi:Whenua Korukoru mr:तुर्कस्तान xmf:თურქეთი arz:توركيا mzn:تورکیه ms:Turki cdo:Tū-ī-gì mdf:Туркамастор mn:Турк my:တူရကီနိုင်ငံ nah:Turquia na:Terki nl:Turkije nds-nl:Turkije ne:टर्की new:टर्की ja:トルコ nap:Turchia pih:Turkii no:Tyrkia nn:Tyrkia nrm:Turtchie nov:Turkia oc:Turquia mhr:Турций uz:Turkiya pnb:ترکی pap:Turkia koi:Тюркия tpi:Teki nds:Törkie pl:Turcja pnt:Τουρκία pt:Turquia kbd:Тырку kaa:Tu'rkiya crh:Türkiye ro:Turcia rmy:Turkiya qu:Turkiya rue:Турція ru:Турция sah:Түркийэ se:Durka sa:तुर्की sc:Turkia sco:Turkey stq:Turkäi sq:Turqia scn:Turchìa si:තුර්කිය simple:Turkey ss:IThekhi sk:Turecko cu:Тѷрци sl:Turčija szl:Turcyjo so:Turki ckb:تورکیا srn:Turkiyakondre sr:Турска sh:Turska fi:Turkki sv:Turkiet tl:Turkiya ta:துருக்கி kab:Tturk roa-tara:Turchie tt:Төркия te:టర్కీ tet:Turkia th:ประเทศตุรกี tg:Туркия tr:Türkiye tk:Türkiýe udm:Турция bug:Turki uk:Туреччина ur:ترکی ug:تۈركىيە جۇمھۇرىيىتى vec:Turchia vi:Thổ Nhĩ Kỳ vo:Türkän fiu-vro:Türgü wa:Tourkeye zh-classical:土耳其 vls:Turkeye war:Turkeya wo:Tirki wuu:土耳其 yi:טערקיי yo:Túrkì zh-yue:土耳其 diq:Tırkiya zea:Turkije bat-smg:Torkėjė zh:土耳其

name	The Chemical Brothers
landscape	yes
background	group_or_band
alias	The 237 Turbo Nutters, The Dust Brothers, Chemical Ed & Chemical Tom
origin	London, United Kingdom
genre	Big beat, alternative dance, progressive house, breakbeat, trip hop
years active	1991–present
label	Junior Boy's Own, Astralwerks, Freestyle Dust, Virgin Records, Ultra Records
website	TheChemicalBrothers.com
current members	Tom RowlandsEd Simons
past members	}}

The Chemical Brothers are a Grammy award-winning British electronic music duo comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. Originating in London in 1991, along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat electronic dance genre to the forefront of pop culture.

History

Background (1984–1991)

Ed Simons was born in Herne Hill, South London, England, on 9 June 1970 to a barrister mother and a father who was not around much when Simons was growing up. Simons’ two main interests when he was young were aeroplanes and musicals. Simons attended two South London public schools, Alleyn's School and Dulwich College. During his school years, he developed a fondness for rare groove and Hip hop music, having frequented a club called The Mud Club from the age of 14. By the time he left school, his two main musical interests were two Manchester bands, New Order and The Smiths. After finishing school with 11 O levels and three A-levels, he continued on to study History, especially Late Medieval History, at the University of Manchester.

Tom Rowlands, a childhood classmate of Simons', was born on 11 January 1971 in Kingston upon Thames, London. When Rowlands was very young, his family relocated to Henley-on-Thames. He later attended Reading Blue Coat School in Berkshire, during which time he became obsessed with Scotland, developing a fondness for the bagpipes in particular. In his early teens, his interest in music broadened to other genres. Initially, some of his favourites included the ''Oh What a Lovely War'' soundtrack, ''2-Tone'', the nascent Goth genre (Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim) and the electro sounds of artists such as Kraftwerk, New Order, Cabaret Voltaire and Heaven 17. He described the first Public Enemy album as the record that probably changed his life, and commented that "Miuzi Weighs a Ton" was one of the most amazing tracks he had ever heard. Rowlands also started collecting hip hop records by artists like Eric B and Schoolly D. Rowlands left school with similar accomplishments to Simons', achieving nine O levels and three A levels. For university, he followed Simons to Manchester primarily to immerse himself in its music scene in general and the Haçienda in particular.

Rowlands was also in a band called Ariel prior to meeting up with Simons. Ariel was formed in London by Rowlands and his friends Brendan Melck and Matt Berry. Their first single was "Sea of Beats". This was essentially a white label, before Philip Brown set up Echo Logik Records, their first promo was Bokadilo (ELR1201), Other songs, released on 12" included "Mustn't Grumble" (ELR1203) and their most well-known, "Rollercoaster" (ELR1202). After a year on Echo Logik they signed to the record label deConstruction. They insisted that they get a female singer and they recruited former Xpansions frontwoman Sally Ann Marsh, and after some disappointing songs like "Let It Slide" (Rowlands would later describe it as "a stinker") the band fell apart. One of the last things Ariel did was the song "T Baby" which was remixed by the pair.

Rowlands and Simons then started to DJ at a club called "Naked Under Leather", in the back of a pub, in 1992 under the alias of "The 237 Turbo Nutters" (named after the number of their house on Dickenson Road in Manchester and a reference to their Blackburn raving days). The pair would play hip hop, techno and house.

The Dust Brothers (1992–1994)

Rowlands and Simons called themselves The Dust Brothers, after the US production duo famous for their work with the Beastie Boys. After a while, they began to run out of suitable instrumental hip hop tracks to use, so they started to make their own. Using a Hitachi hi-fi system, a computer, a sampler and a keyboard, they recorded "Song To The Siren", which sampled This Mortal Coil. "Song To The Siren" was released on their own record label, called "Diamond Records" (after Ed's nickname). In October 1992, they pressed 500 white-label copies and took them to various dance record shops around London, but none would play it, saying that it was too slow (The track played at 111 BPM). They sent a copy to London DJ Andrew Weatherall, who made it a permanent fixture in his DJ sets. Weatherall also signed the band to his Junior Boy's Own label. In May 1993, Junior Boy's Own released 'Song To The Siren'.

Around June 1993, the Dust Brothers did their first remixes. The first was "Packet Of Peace" for Justin Robertson's Lionrock outfit, followed by tracks for Leftfield, Republica and The Sandals. Late in 1993, The Dust Brothers completed work on their ''Fourteenth Century Sky'' EP, released in January 1994. It contained the ground-breaking "Chemical Beats", which epitomized the duo's genre-defining big beat sound, later taken up by Fatboy Slim and many more. The EP also contained "One Too Many Mornings", which for the first time showed the less intense, more chilled-out side of The Dust Brothers. Both "One Too Many Mornings" and "Chemical Beats" would later appear on their debut album. ''Fourteenth Century Sky'' was followed later in 1993 by the ''My Mercury Mouth EP''. "Chemical Beats" was also part of the soundtrack for the first edition of the Wipeout games series, having been featured in ''Wipeout'' for the PlayStation in 1995.

In October 1994, The Dust Brothers became resident DJs at the small, but hugely influential Heavenly Sunday Social Club at the Albany pub in London's Great Portland Street. The likes of Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller, James Dean Bradfield and Tim Burgess were regular visitors. The Dust Brothers were subsequently asked to remix tracks by Manic Street Preachers and The Charlatans, plus Primal Scream's "Jailbird" and The Prodigy's "Voodoo People". These two remixes received television exposure, being playlisted by MTV Europe's "The Party Zone" in 1995. Early in 1994, The Dust Brothers were approached in the club one Sunday by Noel Gallagher, from Oasis, who at the time were becoming one of the most prominent guitar bands in Britain. Gallagher told the duo that he had a Balearic inspired track which he had written, which he would like the Dust Brothers to remix. However, over time, Gallagher changed his mind, and in the end the Brothers did not remix it. The track was "Wonderwall".

In March 1995, The Dust Brothers began their first international tour, which included the United States – where they played with Orbital and Underworld – then a series of European festivals. Also around this time, the original Dust Brothers threatened legal action over the use of their name, and so Rowlands and Simons had to decide on a new name quickly. They decided to then call themselves "The Chemical Brothers" after "Chemical Beats" (Simons' grandmother had suggested they call themselves "The Grit Brothers").

In June 1995, they released their fourth single, the first under their new identity. "Leave Home" was released on Junior Boy's Own, as a preview of the imminent debut album and became the band's first chart hit, peaking at No. 17. It stayed at number 17 for 8 weeks, the most weeks a record has stayed at the same place in the charts (apart from Number 1's).

''Exit Planet Dust'' (1995–1996)

In July 1995, The Chemical Brothers released their debut album ''Exit Planet Dust'' (the title inspired by their name change) on Freestyle Dust/Junior Boy's Own. It entered the UK charts at #9 and featured guest vocalist Beth Orton on the song "Alive Alone". It eventually went on to sell over a million copies worldwide, and was used on the soundtrack of the science fiction TV series pilot Virtuality. Shortly after its release, The Chemical Brothers signed to Virgin Records, to which they took their own offshoot label, Freestyle Dust. For their next single, in September 1995, they again used a guest vocalist, for the release of "Life Is Sweet", featuring their friend Tim Burgess, singer with The Charlatans. It reached #25 in the singles charts. The single was also ''Select'' Magazine's Single Of The Month for October. The release included a Daft Punk remix of "Life Is Sweet".

In August 1995, the Chemical Brothers DJ'ed for Oasis at a Sheffield gig. The gig began to backfire when it became apparent that Liam Gallagher didn't seem to like any of the tracks they were spinning. The closest that they could come to pleasing him was the Happy Mondays' "Wrote For Luck". Gallagher proceeded to kick the Chemical Brothers off the turntables and procured a friend from The Verve to continue to DJ. He subsequently favoured psychedelic material to the displeasure of the crowd.

Around this period, The Stone Roses asked the Chemical Brothers to remix "Begging You", from their ''Second Coming'' album. After beginning work on a remix which they viewed as having potential, the Stone Roses changed their minds and the project was cancelled.

In October 1995, the duo returned to the Heavenly Sunday Social for a second and final run of DJ dates. They then became residents at the Heavenly Social on Saturdays at Turnmills. In November, The Chemical Brothers played the Astoria Theatre in London. At this time the Chems usually used a fusion of "Chemical Beats" and The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" as their encore. During the encore, however, Keith Flint from The Prodigy jumped up on stage to dance, wearing a t-shirt sporting the slogan "Occupation: mad bastard". A few from the crowd subsequently joined in. This resulted in a power cable being kicked loose, bringing the show to a temporary close. The Chemical Brothers confessed to not being too bothered; "because he's Keith from the Prodigy, and he can do whatever the fucking hell he likes" Rowlands said later. Just before Christmas, 1995, they played their biggest gig to date, with The Prodigy, at the Brixton Academy.

In January 1996, ''Exit Planet Dust'' went gold. The Chemical Brothers released their first new material in six months on Virgin, the "Loops Of Fury" EP. The four-track release was limited to 20,000 copies, but is now available for digital download. It entered the UK charts at #13. NME described the lead track as "splashing waves of synths across hard-hitting beats". The EP also contained a Dave Clarke remix of "Chemical Beats", and two other new tracks "Get Up On It Like This" and "(The Best Part Of) Breaking Up".

In February 1996, Select Magazine published a list of the 100 best albums of the 1990s thus far. ''Exit Planet Dust'' was listed at Number 39. In August 1996, The Chemical Brothers supported Oasis at Knebworth, where 125,000 people attended each of the two shows.

During the 1995 Glastonbury Festival, Rowlands and Simons had another conversation with Noel Gallagher. Gallagher told them how much he liked ''Exit Planet Dust'', and asked if he could sing on a future track, similar to the way Tim Burgess had worked on "Life Is Sweet". They didn't think much of the offer at the time, given how busy Gallagher would be with the release of Oasis' ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory?'', plus the complexities of dealing with each others' record companies. However, the duo later worked on a track which they thought would benefit from having a vocal on it. They sent Gallagher a tape of what they had done so far. He worked on it overnight, and left a message with them early the next morning that he was ready to record it. The track was called "Setting Sun" and was finally released in October 1996. It entered the UK charts at the top, giving the duo their first ever Number One single. "Setting Sun" was backed by a longer instrumental version, and also a new track "Buzz Tracks", which was not much more than a DJ tool. The three remaining Beatles' lawyers later wrote to the Chemical Brothers, mistakenly claiming that they had sampled "Tomorrow Never Knows". Virgin Records hired a musicologist to prove that they did not sample the classic 1960s psychedelic song.

Meanwhile, in 1996, ''Live at the Social Volume 1'' was released by Heavenly Records, which became The Chemical Brothers' first mix CD (excluding ''Xmas Dust Up'', a free album that came in a 1994 issue of NME). It was also the duo's first live album, and their only live album (excluding the EP ''Live 05'').

''Dig Your Own Hole'' (1997–1998)

In March 1997, the Brothers released the second track from their forthcoming album, to give the world a further taste of what to expect. "Block Rockin' Beats" went straight to #1 in the UK, possibly thanks, this time, to its Schoolly D vocal sample and re-working of the bassline from 23 Skidoo's single "Coup". The NME named it Single Of The Week and said "It throbs like your head might if you had just done a length underwater in a swimming pool full of amyl." It later won them a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In the US at this time, "Setting Sun" was sitting at Number 80 in the Billboard Top 100, after selling around 80,000 copies, an uncommon achievement for a European "dance" act. Sales from ''Exit Planet Dust'' were also around 150,000.

On 7 April 1997 the Chemical Brothers released their second album, ''Dig Your Own Hole''. It was recorded at the band's own south London studio, with the title taken from graffiti on the wall outside. The album was well received, ''Mixmag'' rating it 10/10 and calling it "mad enough to be thrilling, slick enough for not even remotely trendy coffee tables".

During the summer of 1997, the Brothers toured extensively, particularly in the States. They also became residents at Tokyo's Liquid Rooms. In August, the Chemical Brothers achieved rapprochement with the US Dust Brothers, and asked them to remix the forthcoming single "Elektrobank". They themselves also became highly sought-after for remixes for other artists. Metallica asked the Brothers several times to remix "Enter Sandman", but were repeatedly turned down. In September, the next single from ''Dig Your Own Hole'', "Elektrobank" was released. In November, the pair played at Dublin's Point Theatre, with support from Carl Cox. They also began a US tour in Detroit.

At the end of the year, ''Dig Your Own Hole'''s final track, the nine minute-long "The Private Psychedelic Reel" gave rise to a limited-edition mini-EP of the same name. The b-side consisted of a live version of "Setting Sun", recorded at the Lowlands Festival, Netherlands on 24 August 1997. Also in December, following four sold-out US shows, The Chemical Brothers toured the UK, finishing with a sold-out gig at London's Brixton Academy.

In 1998, they concentrated more on DJ'ing, although some remixes did see the light of day, including "I Think I'm In Love" from Spiritualized. Both a vocal remix and an instrumental remix were included in the single release. Each came in at over seven-and-a-half minutes. Another remix completed by the Brothers was "Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp", from Mercury Rev. This was another extension in the association between the two bands, since Mercury Rev's Jonathon Donahue contributed to "The Private Psychedelic Reel" on ''Dig Your Own Hole''.

In September 1998, a second mix album, ''Brothers Gonna Work It Out'', was released. It contains some of their own tracks and remixes, as well as songs from artists who have influenced their sound, such as Renegade Soundwave, Meat Beat Manifesto, Carlos "After Dark" Berrios, and Kenny 'Dope' Gonzales.

In May 1999, The Chemical Brothers played three UK dates in Manchester, Sheffield and Brighton, their first since December 1997. Also that month, they released their first new original material in two years, a track called "Hey Boy, Hey Girl". This was more house influenced than hip-hop. In interviews at the time, Rowlands and Simons indicated that the track was inspired by nights out at Sheffield club "Gatecrasher". The track was also one of their more commercially accessible tracks and went to number 3 in the UK charts.

''Surrender'' (1999)

The third album ''Surrender'' was released in June 1999. It featured vocals from Noel Gallagher, Mercury Rev's Jonathan Donahue and Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval. As "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" had suggested, the album was more house-oriented than the previous two. On one of the album's stand out tracks, "Out Of Control", New Order's Bernard Sumner supported by Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie provided vocals. It reached Number 1 in the UK album charts, and was widely praised in the print media. The Michel Gondry-directed music video for "Let Forever Be", which utilized ground-breaking video and film effects in its depiction of a young woman's nightmares, also received a lot of attention.

Later that summer, The Brothers headlined the Glastonbury dance tent on the Friday night, followed by a UK tour which ended in December and included Homelands Scotland on 4 September. In November, "Out Of Control", featuring Sumner and Gillespie on vocals, was released as a single. The release also contained the Sasha remix. The final single from ''Surrender'', in February 2000, was the five track "Music: Response" EP, containing the title track and two remixes, plus Electronic Battle Weapon 4 named "Freak of the Week", and a track called "Enjoyed", which was essentially a remix of "Out Of Control" by the Brothers themselves.

A CD copy of ''Surrender'' was placed in the third ''Blue Peter'' time capsule, buried in January 2000. That same month, they appeared on Primal Scream's album ''Xtrmntr'' at track 11 with a remix.

''Come with Us'' (2000–2003)

In June 2000, Tom and Ed played the Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury Festival pulling in the largest audience ever seen in the Festival's history. In August 2000 they played to a large crowd at the main stage at Creamfields festival, Ireland. In December 2000, The Chemical Brothers aired one of their new tracks, "It Began in Afrika" at their New York DJ gigs, supporting U2.

In 2001, they were quite active with releases and live performances. Early in the year, they began working on a fourth album, provisionally titled "Chemical Four". The first track which fans got a taste of was "It Began In Afrika", as previously played in their DJ set in New York. The track would make its live debut in California in April 2001, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Another new track also got its public debut at Coachella, "Galaxy Bounce". As had become customary for their releases and experiments, "It Began In Afrika" was first pressed as a promo, as part of the "Electronic Battle Weapon" series. It received much airplay on dance music radio shows in the UK, and became more and more popular in clubs over the course of the summer. It also became one of the "anthems" in Ibiza as the summer progressed. It was given a full commercial single release in September, reaching #8 in the UK singles chart, even though no promotional video was made for the track.

Rowlands and Simons also remixed a track from Fatboy Slim's ''Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars'', entitled "Song For Shelter." This remix was released as a single on 3 September 2001 (one week before "It Began in Afrika") as the CD2 single for "Song for Shelter / Ya Mama". It reached #30 in the UK Singles Charts (sales were combined with the CD1 single).

The Chemical Brothers finished work on another album, ''Come with Us'', in October 2001. It featured collaborations with Richard Ashcroft ("The Test"), of The Verve, and long-time collaborator Beth Orton ("The State We're In"). The album was released in January 2002, preceded by a single, "Star Guitar", a melodic, Balearic Beat number, with a promotional video by Michel Gondry that featured passing scenery synchronized to the beat viewed through a train window. What would be the second track on the album, "It Began in Afrika", was released 10 September 2001 to be circulated around the clubbing scene where it was a popular hit. "Star Guitar" was also released as a DVD single, the pair's first.

The album, ''Come with Us'', was less well received than their previous albums, but nonetheless went straight in at #1 in the UK album charts in the first week of its release, selling 100,000 copies. In April, the title track from the album was released as a single with remixes by Fatboy Slim as part of a double-A sided release with "The Test".

During the summer of 2002, The Chemical Brothers traveled the festival circuit to promote the album. Later in 2002, they released two EPs, one specifically aimed at Japan and the other the US (entitled ''AmericanEP''). Both contained remixes, live versions and B-sides. Additionally, the band produced New Order's final non-album single "Here to Stay" and remixed the song as well.

One of their other major songs from this album was "Galaxy Bounce", which was popular and featured as the main title music for the Xbox game ''Project Gotham Racing'', it was also included on the soundtrack for the movie adaptation of Tomb Raider. "Star Guitar" was featured as a song on the PSP's Lumines II.

Two other songs, "Come with Us (Introduction)" and "Star Guitar (Title Screen)", were featured on a ''PS2'' racing game title ''WRC II: Extreme''. Both songs are instrumental.

The Song ''My Elastic Eye'' from the "Come With Us" album was played in the 2004 movie The Butterfly Effect'''' starring Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart.

Late 2002 and early 2003, saw Rowlands and Simons back in the studio, working on new material, including "The Golden Path", a collaboration with Wayne Coyne, the lead singer of The Flaming Lips. This was released in September 2003, at the same time as a "best of" album, entitled ''Singles 93-03'' marking ten years of The Chemical Brothers' releases. ''Singles 93-03'' included most, but not all, of their singles. A second new track, in addition to "The Golden Path", was included on the album, called "Get Yourself High". ''Singles 93-03'' was also released on DVD, whose extra features included selected live performances and interviews with Rowlands, Simons and many of their collaborators from throughout the period. "Get Yourself High", which featured Canadian rapper k-os on vocals, was released as a single in November 2003.

In late 2003 and 2004, The Chemical Brothers continued to work in the studio, on new material and a remix of "Slow" by Kylie Minogue. After being released on rare white label vinyl, it was subsequently given a commercial release in March on CD (on her next single "Red Blooded Woman") and on exclusive 12" vinyl picture disc (containing two other Kylie remixes). In Summer 2004 they returned to the festival circuit, including appearances at the Glastonbury Festival, Tokyo, Scotland and Ireland. They also visited South America for the second time (being the first time in 1999), arriving at Chile, Argentina and Brazil. It was during these sets that they played new material, including "Acid Children", which proved to be one of the most popular new tracks.

In September 2004 The Chemical Brothers released the "seventh Electronic Battle Weapon". "Electronic Battle Weapon 7" was being released as a one-sided promo-only 12", containing "Acid Children". A marked departure from the Chemical Brothers' previous musical endeavours, it featured a screeching 303 bassline and a distinctive vocal sample; a pitch-altered vocal sample proclaiming "You Are All My Children Now!", which is lifted from an old horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge. It was coupled with the projection of a sinister clown mouthing these same words at their live gigs.

The Electronic Battle Weapon series of promo releases have typically been newly recorded Chemical Brothers tracks, released on promo to allow DJs to test them in a club environment, and to gauge their popularity.

''Push the Button'' (2004–2006)

In 2004, The Chemical Brothers began work on ''Push the Button'', their fifth studio album, which features collaborations with Tim Burgess, Kele Okereke and Anwar Superstar, amongst others. The album was released on 24 January 2005.

"Galvanize", which features Q-Tip on vocals, was the first single to be taken from ''Push the Button'', and premiered exclusively on iTunes. The single was released on 17 January 2005, and entered the UK chart at #3. The second single "Believe" (featuring Kele Okereke from Bloc Party) failed to crack top 10, but still made it into the top 20, peaking at #18. "The Boxer", featuring Tim Burgess, became the duo's first single to fail to crack the top 40.

The album and single "Galvanize" won a Grammy in the Grammy Awards of 2006. One of the songs in this album, "The Big Jump" appears in the video game ''Burnout Revenge'', as well as ''Project Gotham Racing 3''. The track "Surface To Air" features a pulsing chord progression and bassline reminiscent of the intro to The Strokes song "The Modern Age".

An unofficial, remixed version of the album entitled "Flip the Switch" was released as a free download, along with the "Believe EP", six further remixes of "Believe".

In September 2006, the Chemical Brothers were revealed as the first musicians to be involved in Tate Tracks. Tate Modern invited various groups and songwriters to choose a work that inspired them from the gallery's collection of modern art and then write a track about it. The Chemical Brothers' submission, ''Rock Drill'', was inspired by the Jacob Epstein sculpture ''Torso in Metal from The Rock Drill'', and can be heard on headphones in front of the work in the gallery. From October 2006, it also became available to hear online at the Tate Tracks website.

''We Are the Night'' (2007–2009)

The Chemicals welcomed June 2006 with an announcement on their official forum stating that the duo had been working on fresh material, specifically an album, codenamed 'Chemical 6'. Simons also told everyone that the band would be playing select venues in the Summer 2007 season, specifying Rome, and also fabric in London. Simons is also quoted as saying that the duo are 'hoping to put a battle weapon out for the summer,', retrieved possibly referring to the 'Electronic Battle Weapon' series, which are somewhat experimental tracks the band occasionally release on white label.

Electronic Battle Weapon 8 & 9 were debuted on Pete Tong's BBC Radio 1 show on 8 December 2006. The double sided vinyl was finally released just before The Chemical Brother's much anticipated New Year's Eve gig at the famous Turnmills in London. The vinyl had a limited edition release worldwide and has been received well by fans, DJs and critics alike. Electronic Battle Weapon 8 at about six and a half minutes is very distinct from the 'big acid' style that the earlier battle weapons adhered to. It is characterised by 'thundering dirty drums' with a rising synth line, and to many it is perceived as being one of the most euphoric tracks that the Chemicals have released. A version of this track features on the ''We Are The Night'' album and is entitled 'Saturate'. Electronic Battle Weapon 9 is typical Chemicals dancefloor track with their trademark vocoder vocals coupled with sirens and a basic 'tribal' melody.

At the same Turnmills gig, the Brothers also played a previously unreleased song at midnight to welcome 2007 which went down well with the crowd. This track eventually emerged as Burst Generator, found on the album ''We Are The Night''. Many are left wondering if the latest in the Electronic Battle Weapon series were simply one off genius pieces or signal a new direction they could take with the new album, perhaps swaying from their genre defining 'big beat' psychedelic albums of the past. The song was also the band's 100th released song.

On 21 March 2007, The Chemical Brothers officially announced their forthcoming album on MySpace. The new album entitled ''We Are the Night'', was released on 2 July 2007 in the United Kingdom and 17 July 2007 in the United States. The Chemicals cited a delay in the production of artwork for this delay. EMI subsequently released an online 'old-skool' The Chemical Brothers computer game as an apology. The track listing was released to the fans on the official mailing list on 10 April. The new album is heavily collaborated with the likes of Klaxons (on "All Rights Reversed"), Midlake (on "The Pills Won't Help You Now"), Ali Love (on "Do It Again") and Willy Mason (on "Battle Scars").

On 12 April 2007, Pete Tong again had the privilege of giving the world the very first preview of a Chemicals track. This time it was the first single "Do It Again" off their new album, aired on his BBC Radio 1 "In New Music We Trust" show. . The track is widely regarded as dance floor friendly, dominated by pop vocals and a minimalistic production approach. The track is regarded as a 'grower' after gaining mixed reviews after the first listen on Pete Tong's show, with its simplistic catchy vocals and electro beat. The official release of the single was 4 June (digital download) and 14 June (12", 7" and CD). The album went on general release in the UK on 2 July.

In September 2007, The Chemical Brothers played a free live gig in Trafalgar Square as part of the Becks Fusions event. All who attended were provided with 3D glasses to view the on-screen visual effects.

In 2008, The Chemical Brothers' music will also be featured in a movie adaption of Irvine Welsh's best-selling novel Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance.

The Chemical Brothers supplied a new track for the Heroes Soundtrack titled "Keep My Composure".

''Further'' and motion picture soundtracks (2010–present)

On 30 March 2010, the band announced on their website that their seventh studio album will be titled ''Further'' and will be released 22 June, adding that it will be "the band's first to be released with corresponding films made specifically to match each of the 8 audio tracks." The films have been made with long-time visuals collaborators Adam Smith and Marcus Lyall. The album has been described as their most "psychedelic and melodic to date". Before the release of the album, the band played four shows in May at the London Roundhouse where they played the album and its accompanying films in its entirety. The films will feature on a special edition DVD and on the iTunes LP edition.

Most reviews have been positive with BBC Music declaring that '...Synths are brutally manhandled and pushed to their limits across the eight tracks' with Ian Wade summarising that 'It’s better to continuously explode than fade away, or something. Really rather wonderful indeed...' The Irish Times also reported that 'This is a very impressive collection that is carried along with a stirring sense of velocity and momentum'. However, praise hasn't been unanimous for the LP, with the American rock magazine Spin giving it a rating of three out of five stars.

At the New York Comic Con, on 10 October 2010, English film director Joe Wright announced that the Chemical Brothers would be scoring the soundtrack to his upcoming film, ''Hanna''. Joe Wright, who had worked with the Chemical Brothers in the past as a member of the visual company Vegetable Vision, expressed his feelings on the score, stating that he was "very excited to finally... work with a more modern beat. There's a lot of bass, it's very loud." The soundtrack was released exclusively on iTunes on 15 March 2011. It will be released on CD on 4 July 2011.

Two weeks after the announcement regarding ''Hanna'', rumors began circulating that the Chemical Brothers had recorded part of the score for the movie ''Black Swan'', after a post in Ed Simon's twitter account. A second post on the Chemical Brothers own twitter account seemed to confirm this. On 22 November 2010, a ''Black Swan'' music video was released along with the movie trailer. This music video featured a different version of the track "Don't Think" and announced that the movie would feature new music from the Chemical Brothers, along with a handful of other artists. The next day, the names of the eight tracks not composed by Clint Mansell – ''Black Swan'''s main composer – were released, listing the Chemical Brothers as contributing three new songs for the movie. On 29 November, an exclusive video was posted on rollingstone.com, containing more footage of the alternate version of "Don't Think". Mansell's work was released the next day. No announcement has been made yet on whether the original tracks not by Mansell would be given a release or not.

Live

The Chemical Brothers are credited as being one of the few truly arena-sized electronic acts. Their live acts comprise large screens displaying psychedelic images, strobe lights and lasers that project over the crowd. There has been speculation over how much of their live gigs are pre-recorded, although they insist (on their official website FAQ) that they have a mere outline of track order and the rest is mixed live. This would seem to be confirmed by concertgoers who have seen gigs on consecutive nights and have posted notable differences between the sets played.

The Brothers have also played at many major festivals, from Glastonbury to the Reading, the HFStival, and Leeds festival. They currently hold the record for most gigs performed in a year at the Brixton Academy. The brothers have infamously, despite their high status in the mainstream, never appeared on Top of the Pops, with the use of music videos to replace the performance, sometimes accompanied by a video apologising for their absence. In 1999, a live US tour video of "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" was shown, even though the song was not in the top 40 at the time, and also released other singles before then at the time.

In addition to performing their own music they also hold regular DJ nights where they mix other artist's tracks (in the style of ''Brothers Gonna Work It Out'').

As with their recorded albums, the Chemical Brothers are well known for their incorporation of guest vocalists into their live performances. Notable appearances in recent gigs have included Bernard Sumner of New Order, who sang on the original "Out of Control", Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, and Tim Burgess.

The duo also played at the launch event for the Wii video game console.

On the night of 1 September 2007, the Chemical Brothers played at the main stage of the Electric Picnic to a crowd of around 20,000. The Chemical Brothers appeared in Los Angeles on 29 September 2007, headlining the 13th Annual Nocturnal Wonderland Festival.

The duo was one of the head-liners for Roskilde Festival 2008 in Denmark. The festival is held from the 3rd-6 July and is the biggest festival in Northern Europe.

The Chemical Brothers played at London's Olympia Grand Hall on 30 August 2008. This was the first time any major band has played at Olympia's Grand Hall in over 10 years.

On 18 April 2009, the Chemical Brothers performed a DJ Set at the Coachella Festival, at which they premiered two previously unnamed new tracks. The tracks were the bonus track "Don't Think", and "Escape Velocity", both of which were later included on the album ''Further''.

On 8 February 2010, they confirmed their presence at Sónar Festival in Barcelona in June 2010. They also announced they would be performing another two nights at the London Roundhouse in Camden, on 20 and 21 May. Due to phenomenal demand, as tickets sold out within two minutes, they added a further two nights; 22 and 23 May.

On 3 September 2010, they performed at North Coast Music Festival in Chicago. The following day they performed at Electric Zoo festival in New York City.

4–14 March 2011, they headlined the Future Music Festival in 5 cities across Australia.

On 27 March 2011, they headlined Ultra Music Festival in Miami, FL and closed out the Main Stage for the weekend. They also were the closing performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Friday 15 April 2011. The Chemical Brothers will headline the UK dance festival Creamfields in Cheshire on 27 August 2011.

The band also played at the 'Other Stage' at Glastonbury Festival 2011 as that stage's lead headliners.

Logo

The typeface used to write the typical "The Chemical Brothers" logo is derived from Sho, designed by Karlgeorg Hoefer in 1992. The Chemical Brothers' original logo differs only in a few details from orthodox Sho, e.g. in the letters a and b. Mergenthaler Linotype Company holds the licence for this typeface.

Discography

Studio albums

''Exit Planet Dust'' (1995)

''Dig Your Own Hole'' (1997)

''Surrender'' (1999)

''Come with Us'' (2002)

''Push the Button'' (2005)

''We Are the Night'' (2007)

''Further'' (2010)

Soundtrack albums

''Hanna'' (2011)

Main compilation albums

''Brothers Gonna Work It Out'' (1998)

''Singles 93-03'' (2003)

''Brotherhood'' (2008)

See also

Daft Punk

Fatboy Slim

Orbital

The Prodigy

References

External links

YouTube Remix Channel (Taiwan)

Category:British electronic music groups Category:British techno music groups Category:English dance music groups Category:English house music groups Category:Musical groups established in 1991 Category:1991 establishments in England Category:Club DJs Category:Remixers Category:Virgin Records artists Category:Astralwerks artists Category:Musical groups from Manchester Category:Celebrity duos Category:Breakbeat musicians Category:Electronic music duos Category:BRIT Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:People educated at Alleyn's School

ca:The Chemical Brothers cs:The Chemical Brothers da:The Chemical Brothers de:The Chemical Brothers es:The Chemical Brothers fr:The Chemical Brothers ko:케미컬 브라더스 it:The Chemical Brothers ka:The Chemical Brothers lv:The Chemical Brothers lt:The Chemical Brothers hu:The Chemical Brothers mk:The Chemical Brothers nl:The Chemical Brothers ja:ケミカル・ブラザーズ no:The Chemical Brothers pl:The Chemical Brothers pt:The Chemical Brothers ro:The Chemical Brothers ru:The Chemical Brothers simple:The Chemical Brothers sk:The Chemical Brothers fi:The Chemical Brothers sv:The Chemical Brothers th:เดอะเคมิคอลบราเทอร์ส tr:The Chemical Brothers uk:The Chemical Brothers zh:化學兄弟

Group	Turkish American ''ABD Türkleri''
Poptime	189,640 500,000 (including those of ancestral descent)
Popplace	New York City Metropolitan Area New Jersey North Carolina Wisconsin Ohio Illinois Indiana Florida Maryland California Texas
Langs	Turkish American English
Rels	Predominantly Islam
Footnotes	Government immigration figures on the number of Turks in the US are not fully reliable because a considerable number of Turks were born in the Balkans and USSR.
Related	Cypriot American }}

Turkish Americans () are people who have Turkish ancestry and are citizens of the United States.

History

Early Turkish immigrants to the United States were predominantly from Turkey's rural community. They settled in large, industrial cities and found employment as unskilled laborers. The majority came to economically support their families in Turkey where economy suffered severely from the last World War. After the 1950s, a well-skilled and highly educated group immigrated to the United States, the majority being medical doctors, engineers, and scientists. Today, Turkish Americans are visible in virtually every community and walk of life.

Pre World War I: Ottoman Immigration

Significant data shows an astounding number of sixteenth-century Mediterranean Sea clashes between the Ottoman fleets and the Portuguese. Many Turkish and Moorish seamen ended up as Portuguese galley slaves bound for the Canary Islands and the New World. The presence of Turks in the Americas dates to the 17th century. Ottoman mariners and prisoners of war forced to slave labor on numerous Spanish galleons, have also allegedly escaped when some of these ships were wrecked near American shores and settled among Indians. Some Melungeon researchers claim Melungeons descend from these Ottomans. However, there is little authoritative evidence for this link claim. The myth of Sir Francis Drake leaving a large number of Turks on Roanoke Island in 1586 has been thoroughly debunked. Some anthropologists long questioned the Cherokee and Tuscarora Indians have Turkic and perhaps Basque ancestry from the trans-oceanic fishermen from the regions of Asturias, Cantabria, Galiza and Navarre of northern Spain in the 16th century instead.

It is also known that during the American Civil War, Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid, in support of the North had sent a symbolic camel caravan of material and goods and many of the Turks who came with this shipment settled down in Michigan, esp. the Detroit area. By the turn of the 20th century, both ethnic Turks and national groups under the Ottoman Empire: i.e. Albanians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Romanians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Georgians, Serbs, Bosnians and Arab Christians were already immigrating to and settled the industrial cities of the Northeast and Midwest U.S.

From the 1820s until 1920 over 1.2 million people from the Ottoman Empire immigrated to North America. Approximately 15% of these immigrants (roughly 200,000) were Muslims, including about 50,000 ethnic Turks. Many ethnic Turks from Harput, Elâzığ, Akçadağ, Antep and Macedonia embarked for the Americas from Beirut, Mersin, Izmir, Trabzon and Salonica but declared themselves as ''Syrians'' or even ''Armenians'' in order to avoid discrimination and gain easy access at the port of entry.

The largest number of ethnic Turks appear to have entered the United States prior to World War I, roughly between 1900 and 1914 when American immigration policies were quite liberal. The Ottoman entry into World War I put an end to the Ottoman emigration to the United States. However, a fairly large number of ethnic Turks from the Balkan provinces of Albania, Kosovo, Western Thrace, and Bulgaria emigrated and settled in the United States. They were listed as ''Albanians'', ''Bulgarians'' and ''Serbians'' according to their country of origin, even though many of them were ethnically Turkish and identified themselves as such. Moreover, many immigrant families who were ethnically Albanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Macedonian or Serbian included children of Turkish origin whose parents had been ''cleansed'' after Macedonia was partitioned between Bulgaria, Serbia and Greece following the Balkan War of 1912-13. These Turkish children had been ''sheltered'', baptised and adopted, and then used as field laborers. When the adopting families had to emigrate to America, they listed these children as family members, but most of these Turkish children still remembered their origin.

Ottoman Returnees

However, upon knowledge of the allied occupation of Istanbul and Greek occupation of Izmir, fights broke out between Turks and Greeks in factories and streets and about half of the Turkish community in the United States returned to Turkey to participate in the Turkish War for Independence. In the 1920s, some hundreds of Turkish immigrants including Arabs from the Levant arrived as agricultural laborers in the valleys of California and Arizona.

A second exodus of Turks occurred during the Great Depression. Turkish President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk sent Turkish ships to America, offering free passage home to any Turk who would leave, so many Turks took up the offer and returned to Turkey. Another wave of migration came right after World War II when the United States passed the Alien Registration Act. After this date, especially more elite Turks, academics and professionals, migrated to the United States for better educational and economic opportunities. Along with the brain drain immigrants, many working class Turks also settled in the United States. A brief history of the Turkish presence in the United States can be found at AmerikadakiTurk.

Most Turks who first came to the United States were rural, illiterate and poor but showed a remarkable degree of ethnic solidarity and sought to preserve their traditions. Most Ottoman migrants to North America belonged to low income groups and their main goal was to work for a number of years in any job, without becoming a part of the country, and to save enough money to buy land and houses upon returning to their homeland. The rate of returnees among Ottoman Turks was very high; with more than half of the Muslims returning to their native lands.

One factor compelling ethnic Turks to return home was the lack of suitable Muslim women for them to marry in the United States. The great majority of Turkish immigrants at the time were men; only a few brought their wives and families. Moreover, those Turks who did marry non-Muslim women were assimilated into American culture and thus the number of Turks who survived culturally as Turks in America was very low. Those who maintained a degree of their ethnic identity did so either because they had formed their own small communities, or were gathered around a makeshift mosque, or had enough of an education and strength of personality and willpower to preserve their identity as Turks. Most Turks looked upon America as a culturally alien land where they had been driven by sheer necessity and where they wanted to stay as little time as possible. Consequently they refused to strike permanent roots, build mosques, and establish their own communities as Muslims. At the start of the First World War the Turks ethnic identity was just beginning to differentiate itself from their basic Islamic identity and they, therefore, found it difficult to understand how one could be a Turk and a Muslim and live in a predominantly Christian country.

Post World War II: Late Turkish Immigration

Thousands of Turkish doctors, engineers, and other technicians came to America for training, and a number of them stayed on, becoming immigrants. The estimates of this ''brain drain'' from Turkey for the years 1948-80 range between ten and twenty-five thousand people. Although a large number of professionals returned to Turkey, a significant number took advantage of the quota system, which gave priority to professionals whose skills were needed in the United States. The same was true for a large number of capable students who earned graduate degrees and were offered attractive positions in U.S academia, industry and business management. The number of Turkish students in the United States varied between 800-2,000 per year and about 10-15% of Turkish students obtaining postgraduate degrees stayed permanently in the United States and received the ''green card''; five years later they could receive U.S. citizenship. Eventually Turkey also accepted dual citizenship and many Turks who had become U.S. citizens and cut off their ties to Turkey then renewed their interest in their old society. The difference between these post-World War II immigrants and their Ottoman predecessors is evident in key areas, such as the definition of identity, level of education and income, and social position. The new wave of immigrants not only identified themselves from the beginning as Turks but also defended and promoted the cultural and political aspects of their Turkishness in an open and direct fashion, either individually or as organized groups. Their education and income placed these early professionals turned immigrants at a social level far above both the destitute, largely uneducated and ignored Ottoman immigrants and the average American.

Modern Immigration

Turkish immigration to the United States underwent another qualitative transformation beginning in the mid-1970s as the result of various unrelated factors, such as the rising interest in business, the lack of employment opportunities in Turkey, the proliferation of well-trained professionals, and political-ideological conflicts. During this period the number of legal and illegal immigrants from Turkey to the United States began to increase steadily. So too did the number of ethnic Turks born in the USSR and Balkan countries, who took advantage of the protection offered by the United States to people escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. However, the overwhelming majority of Turks who came to America after 1970 still had been born and educated in Turkey and shared the common political culture of the Turkish republic, its values and its identity.

The Turkish immigrants arriving after the mid-1970s consisted mostly of professionals, including engineers, economists, and teachers, whose numbers tended to increase while the number of incoming doctors was decreasing by a series of new qualifications requested by American medical authorities. The new Turkish immigrants also included many small businessmen, artisans and skilled workers, as well as unskilled laborers who found employment in a variety of occupations such as construction and building maintenance. A number of these latter immigrants, following the American interest in ethnic cuisines, began to opened restaurants serving Turkish food.

Demographics

Since the 1970s, the number of Turkish immigrants has risen to more than 2,000 per year. Members of this most recent immigrant group vary widely. Many opened small businesses in the United States and created Turkish American organizations, thus developing Turkish enclaves, particularly in New York City. Still others came for educational purposes.

According to the 2000 US census, there are 117,575 Americans (and to 2005 American Community Survey there are 164,945) of full or partial Turkish descent. From the beginning of Turkish immigration to the United States, many Turks have settled in or around large urban centers. The greatest number have settled in Paterson, New Jersey and the New York City Metropolitan Area, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Other concentrations of Turkish Americans may be found along the East Coast in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia; and some have ventured into California (esp. Los Angeles), Minnesota, Indiana, Texas, Florida and Alabama.

Little Istanbul is a neighborhood in the South Paterson area of Paterson, New Jersey and represents the largest ethnic Turkish enclave in the United States. Paterson is a major traditional gateway for immigrants looking to make a start in the new world. Today, the faces in Paterson are often of immigrants from the Islamic world. Little Istanbul is bordered by Madison Avenue to the north, Crooks Avenue to the south, Hazel Street to the west, and East Railway Avenue to the east.

The Turkish American community is becoming more close-knit as their social life is revolved around coffee houses and benevolent societies. In Peabody, Massachusetts, coffee houses on ''Walnut Street'' became a congregating place for the Turks living in the area. It was here the community members exchange news about their villages while sipping Turkish coffee and noshing on sweet pastry. The Boston metropolitan area has been an area of choice for late 20th century Turkish immigration.

The top US communities with the highest percentage of people claiming Turkish ancestry in 2000 are:

Notable individuals

Numerous Turkish Americans have made notable contributions to American society, particularly in the fields of education, medicine, arts and science.

Arts

''Tunç Yalman'', artistic director of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and ''Osmar Karakas'', who was awarded the 1991 National Press Award for the best news photograph, have contributed significantly to the arts.

Business

Muhtar Kent is the current president and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company.

Music industry

Perhaps the most successful Turkish name associated with music outside of Turkey and in the United States is Atlantic Records' founder, Ahmet Ertegün. His promotion of some of the most famous R&B and soul artists in North America and contribution to the American music industry has earned him a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame together with his brother Nesuhi Ertegün. Arif Mardin is another major popular music producer and arranger in America. Ertegun's clients included the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, ABBA, The Cult, Peter Frampton, Manowar, Queensryche, Twisted Sister, AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, the Bee Gees, Carly Simon, Roberta Flack, Bette Midler and many more. After briefly meeting Ahmet Ertegün at the Newport Jazz Festival, he joined Atlantic Records and served as their Vice President until his death.

Politics

Turkish American organizations have primarily tried to promote the Turkish culture as well as Turkey’s position in international affairs and have generally supported the positions taken by the Turkish government. They have been lobbying for Turkey's entry into the European Union and other Western European forums for cooperation. They have also defended Turkish involvement in Cyprus. Turkish Americans have also expressed concerns about the Greek lobby in the United States undermining the typically good Turkish-American relations.

Medicine

Mehmet Oz () (born June 11, 1960) is a Turkish-American cardiothoracic surgeon and author. He has made frequent appearances on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', as well as appearances on Larry King, CNN, and other networks.

In the fall of 2009, Winfrey's Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures launched a syndicated daily talk show featuring Oz, called ''The Dr. Oz Show''.

Science

Feza Gürsey (1921–1993) was the J. Willard Gibbs Professor Emeritus of Physics at Yale University. He contributed major studies on the group structure of elementary particles and the symmetries of interactions. Professor Gursoy helped bridge the gap between physicists and mathematicians at Yale. He was the winner of the prestigious Oppenheimer Prize and Wigner Medal.

Muzafer Şerif (born July 29, 1906, in Ödemiş, İzmir, Turkey – died October 16, 1988, in Fairbanks, Alaska) was one of the founders of social psychology. He helped develop social judgment theory and realistic conflict theory.

Media

Turkish Radio and TV Broadcasts in the U.S.A.

Ebru TV - broadcasts educational programs about sciences, art, and culture as well as news and sports events. Can be watched online:

The Young Turks- Is the first ever Internet TV news show, which is hosted by Turkish American Cenk Uygur. The video of the show is streamed daily on their website, and available for podcast.

Turkish American Hour - Turkish American Hour - English program produced by TATV (Turkish-American TV).Home based in Fairfax Public Access, VA and re-broadcast in Maryland and DC.

Turk Amerikan Televizyonu - Turkish program produced by TATV (Turkish-American TV).Home based in Fairfax Public Access, VA and re-broadcast in Maryland and DC.

Turkish Hour TV Show - Entirety of the USA. Monday through Sunday.

Voice of Anatolia TV - WNYE Channel 25, Sundays at 3:30 PM to 4PM (Can be received off the air in the NYC metropolitan area, also everyday from 7:30 to 8 PM on cable Channel 57 in some NYC boroughs.)

Turkish Hour - Cultural Cable Channel, Ch. 50 on Cox Cable in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mondays 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays7:00 - 8:00 p.m. Sundays 9:30 - 10:30 p.m. An ITVFC Program.

Turkish Hour - Channels 7 & 10 on Warner Cable System, Cincinnati, OH. Mondays 8:30 pm (Ch. 7) Thursdays 2:00 pm (Ch. 10) Sundays 11:00 am (Ch. 10) Sponsored by Tri-State Turkish American Association.

Voice of Turkey - ICAT Channel 15 (Cable) in Rochester, NY Wednesdays & Saturdays 8 pm -10 pm by Ahmet Turgut.

Turkish Newspapers and Periodicals in the U.S.A.

The Turkish Times- a weekly newspaper of the Assembly of Turkish American Associations which covers Turkish American issues with news articles, editorials, and business information.

Turk of America- first Turkish American bi-monthly business magazine

Turkish Daily News- Turkey's English-language newspaper

TurkishSoccer.com

Today's Zaman- a daily newspaper which covers Turkish American issues with news articles,editorials, and business information.

Organizations and associations

Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) The Turkish Coalition of America is an educational nonprofit based in Washington, DC. Founded in 2007, TCA aims to foster a better understanding of issues related to US-Turkish relations and to Turkish Americans acting as part of the Turkish lobby in the United States.

Turkish Cultural Center (TCC) The Turkish Cultural Center is located in the heart of New York City. The Center is an institution committed to community involvement. The organization hopes to be a forum of international cultural exchange while promoting Turkish Cultural Heritage. www.turkishculturalcenter.org

Istanbul Center (IC) The Istanbul Center is located in the Atlanta, GA. The Center is the largest Turkish-American organization in the Southeastern United States. promote a better understanding and closer relations between individuals and communities, building bridges between the Turkish, American and other communities in Atlanta and the Southeastern United States.

American Turkish Friendship Council (ATFC)- is devoted to increasing understanding of commercial, defense, and cultural issues involving the United States and Turkey.

Raindrop Turkish House was established in 2000 in Houston, Texas and operates in 6 states: Texas, Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Raindrop Foundation aims to introduce Turkish culture into American society and cultivate friendship and promote the understanding of diverse cultures through its unique services to the community, through dialog and corporation.

American Turkish Society (ATS) was founded in 1949, and has a membership of 400 American and Turkish diplomats, banks, corporations, businessmen, and educators. It promotes economic and commercial relations as well as cultural understanding between the people of the United States and Turkey.

Assembly of Turkish American Associations was founded in 1979, and has approximately 10,500 members and coordinates activities of regional associations for the purpose of presenting an objective view of Turkey and Turkish Americans and enhancing understanding between these two groups.

Federation of Turkish-American Associations (FTAA) was founded in 1956 and composed of about 30 local organizations of Turkish Americans, it works to advance educational interests and to maintain and preserve knowledge of Turkey's cultural heritage.

Turkish American Association (TAA) was founded in 1965, and has approximately 15,000 members and promotes cultural relations between the United States and Turkey.

Turkish Women's League of America (TWLA)was founded in 1958, and comprises Americans of Turkish origin united to promote equality and justice for women.

Turkish American Cultural Alliance (TACA) founded in 1968

Turkish Cultural Center Of Tampa Bay was established in 2006 as a 501c(3) non-profit, non-governmental organization and its activities involve not only the Turkish community but also the larger society in Tampa Bay, also providing intercultural and interfaith dialogue and cooperation opportunities for all organizations in Tampa Bay.

Turkish-American Scientists and Scholars Association (TASSA) was formally established on June 5, 2004

Turkish American Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TACCI) is founded in 2002. TACCI is the Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry dedicated to advance the business, commerce and industry relations between Turkey and the United States.

American Turkish Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit business organization, which was officially established on March 11, 2008 and headquartered in New Jersey

Turkish American Cultural Center of Madison (TACC-Madison), unit of Turkish American Cultural Foundation of Wisconsin Inc., is a non-profit organization established in 2008 to promote a better understanding and closer relations between Turkish American Community and other communities in Madison, Wisconsin and United States.

Lehigh Valley Turkish American Association - Association's goals include but not limited to: 1-Increase, improve, and promote public knowledge and understanding of Turkish culture, history and people 2-Foster friendship and communication among the American and Turkish communities 3-Promote the exchange of the arts, culture, music and cuisine of the United States and Turkey - http://www.lvtaa.us

Istanbul University Alumni Association of USA (IUMEZUSA) is a non-political, non-profit organization founded in April, 2005 to promote better understanding between the American and Turkish peoples through social, educational, and cultural activities.

See also

List of Turkish-Americans

Turkish-American relations

Turkish Canadian

Turks in Europe

References

Bibliography

. . . . .

Further reading

External links

turkishreporter.com Leading Turkish-American Website with news in English

Turka Magazine Coverage of Turkish events, nightlife, fashion, politics, and culture in the New York metropolitan area.

Turkish Journal Leading exclusive Turkish-American news and researches.

TurkishNY.com Leading Turkish-American Web Portal with news, classified ads, yellow pages, online radio, video and photo galleries.

Turk North America (TurkNA) established in 2002 in NJ to support the Turkish community in the US, and quickly became the most visited Turkish website. It is also the largest Turkish Yahoo group.

Turkic Cultures and Children's Festival in Houston, TX, US, Turkic Fest in US

A History of Turks in America

Alaturkaonline.com Leading source of news for Turkish Americans

* Turks tr:Türk asıllı ABD'liler