The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (US or U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in central North America, between Canada and Mexico. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five self-governing territories, and several other island possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million square kilometers), it is the world’s third- or fourth-largest country by total area. With a population of over 328 million, it is the third most populous country in the world. The national capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago, and European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Disputes over taxation and political representation with Great Britain led to the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), which established independence. In the late 18th century, the U.S. began vigorously expanding across North America, gradually acquiring new territories, conquering and displacing Native Americans, and admitting new states; by 1848, the United States spanned the continent. Slavery was legal in the southern United States until the second half of the 19th century when the American Civil War led to its abolition. The Spanish–American War and World War I established the U.S. as a world power, a status confirmed by the outcome of World War II. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in various proxy wars but avoided direct military conflict. They also competed in the Space Race, culminating in the 1969 spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. The Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 ended the Cold War and left the United States as the world’s sole superpower, with immense power in global geopolitics.
The United States is a federal republic and a representative democracy with three separate branches of government, including a bicameral legislature. It is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States (OAS), NATO, and other international organizations. It is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The U.S. ranks high in international measures of economic freedom, reduced levels of perceived corruption, quality of life, and quality of higher education. Despite income and wealth disparities, the United States continuously ranks high in measures of socioeconomic performance. It is one of the most racially and ethnically diverse nations in the world. Considered a melting pot of cultures, religions, and ethnicities, its population has been profoundly shaped by centuries of immigration.
Turkey–United States relations are bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States. Relations after World War II evolved from the Second Cairo Conference in December 1943 and Turkey’s entrance into World War II on the side of the Allies in February 1945. Later that year, Turkey 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 declared American intentions to guarantee the security of Turkey and Greece, and resulted in significant U.S. military and economic support This support manifested in the establishment of a clandestine stay-behind army, denoted the “Counter-Guerrilla”, under Operation Gladio. After participating with United Nations forces in the Korean War, Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1952.
Relations between the countries began to deteriorate in 2003 as Turkey refused to allow the United States to use Incirlik Air Base for the invasion of Iraq, a process that intensified following the coup d’état attempt in Turkey in July 2016 as the country′s foreign policy gradually shifted towards seeking partnerships with other powers such as Russia.
