the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean; it shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. Although it does not border Zimbabwe, less than 200 metres (660 feet) of the Zambezi River separates the two countries. Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and the Commonwealth of Nations.

The driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, Namibia has been inhabited since early times by the San, Damara and Nama people. Around the 14th century, immigrating Bantu peoples arrived as part of the Bantu expansion. Since then, the Bantu groups, the largest being the Ovambo, have dominated the population of the country; since the late 19th century, they have constituted a majority.

Namibia has a largely independent foreign policy, with persisting affiliations with states that aided the independence struggle, including Cuba. With a small army and a fragile economy, the Namibian government’s principal foreign policy concern is developing strengthened ties within the Southern African region. A dynamic member of the Southern African Development Community, Namibia is a vocal advocate for greater regional integration. It became the 160th member of the UN on 23 April 1990. On its independence it became the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Namibia is divided into 14 regions which are subdivided into 121 constituencies. The administrative division of Namibia is tabled by Delimitation Commissions and accepted or declined by the National Assembly. Since state foundation four Delimitation Commissions have delivered their work, the last one in 2013 under the chairmanship of Judge Alfred Siboleka.Regional councillors are directly elected through secret ballots (regional elections) by the inhabitants of their constituencies.

Namibia’s economy is tied closely to South Africa’s due to their shared history. The largest economic sectors are mining (10.4% of the gross domestic product in 2009), agriculture (5.0%), manufacturing (13.5%), and tourism.^[112]

Namibia has a highly developed banking sector with modern infrastructure, such as online banking and cellphone banking. The Bank of Namibia (BoN) is the central bank of Namibia responsible for performing all other functions ordinarily performed by a central bank. There are 5 BoN authorised commercial banks in Namibia: Bank Windhoek, First National Bank, Nedbank, Standard Bank and Small and Medium Enterprises Bank.

According to the Namibia Labour Force Survey Report 2012, conducted by the Namibia Statistics Agency, the country’s unemployment rate is 27.4%. “Strict unemployment” (people actively seeking a full-time job) stood at 20.2% in 2000, 21.9% in 2004 and spiralled to 29.4% in 2008. Under a broader definition (including people that have given up searching for employment) unemployment rose to 36.7% in 2004. This estimate considers people in the informal economy as employed. Labour and Social Welfare Minister Immanuel Ngatjizeko praised the 2008 study as “by far superior in scope and quality to any that has been available previously”, but its methodology has also received criticism.

Namibia–Turkey relations

Namibia’s struggle for independence from South Africa led to extensive Turkish diplomatic efforts as the co-sponsor from the Western Contact Group and founding member of the UN Council for Namibia, that called for Namibian independence.

Namibia — or known as South West Africa before independence — was the last African colony. South West Africa had been a German colony that was granted to South Africa under a League of Nations mandate in 1920, following Germany’s defeat in World War I. The mandate forbade South Africa from annexing South West Africa but South Africa continued its rule even after UN General Assembly voted^[3] to revoke the League of Nations mandate on August 26, 1966.

Turkey continued to advocate on behalf of Namibia’s independence but many countries balked at supporting the country’s movement under Sam Nujoma that allied with the Soviet Union and started sending young men to the Soviet Union for training in preparation for guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare began 1966 but was marginal until Communist-led MPLA took over Angola in 1975. Nevertheless, South Africa succeeded in driving off the guerillas.

The diplomatic breakthrough came with the election of Jimmy Carter, who came to support the Western Contact Group and worked to negotiate peace in Namibia. In 1978 South Africa and Western Contact Group created a plan for holding elections that would lead to Namibian independence in 1990.