“Are we closer to Europe or the Middle East?” We are in a geography where the question occupies the minds. A detailed study clearly answers this question.
of countries their demographics, cultures, policies, technological infrastructures, and geographies. In this study, it was revealed that which countries are similar to each other and how much they are similar to each other.
Combining 1000 different data points Country Similarity Indexusing the same methodology for each country, provides the opportunity to learn the least similar countries as well as the most similar countries.
The country that Turkey most resembles is Azerbaijan with 74%.
The result is not surprising. Both countries are of the same race and speak the same language. The majority of people belonging to the same religion and secularism has There is a management. Both countries are in a similar climate zone.
Their obvious difference is that while most Muslims in Turkey are Sunni, most Muslims in Azerbaijan are Shia. It is also stated that Azerbaijan has Russian influence as it was once part of the Soviet Union.
In the second place is Albania with 69.4%.
Albania was part of the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years until it gained its independence in 1912. after Turkey The country with the highest percentage of Muslims in Europe.
“Although Turks are generally more religious than Albanians, its government, like Turkey, is officially secular,” the study said. it is called. Although the languages are different, both countries use the Latin alphabet. Both countries are quite mountainous and border on the Mediterranean Sea.
North Macedonia ranks third with 67.2%.
North Macedonia, located in eastern Albania, does not have a Muslim-majority population but still shares many similar traditions and backgrounds. There are differences such as being landlocked and using the Cyrillic alphabet.
The largest ethnic group in the country are the Macedonians, who belong to the South Slavs. Albanians make up 25% of the population and are the largest minority. Turks, Gypsies, Serbs, Bosnians and Vlachs are other ethnic groups.
The country was once under Ottoman rule. The high school where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was educated It is located in this country and is open to visitors as a museum today.
The 4th country we are most similar to is Tunisia with a rate of 66.7%.
It is located in Africa, but it is also a Mediterranean country. Most liberal and secular It is one of the Arab countries. The flags of Tunisia and Turkey are also extremely similar. In addition, Tunisia has a similar level of development with Turkey.
It has a warmer and drier climate than Turkey. Food cultures are also similar. Both countries are known for eating a lot of tomatoes.
Iran is in the 5th place with a rate of 66.4%.
It is a mountainous country like Turkey. Muslim population ratios are similar. Although most Iranians speak Persian, Kurdish and Azerbaijani Turkish There is a significant speaking population. Both countries are successful in wrestling in the Olympics, but Iranians do not show as much interest in basketball as Turks. Most of its population is Shiite, not Sunni like in Turkey.
The rest of the list is as follows:
6. Bosnia and Herzegovina
7. Montenegro
8. Bulgaria
9. Morocco
10. Romania
11. Kyrgyzstan
12. Croatia
13. Italy
14. Lebanon
15. Uzbekistan
16. Tajikistan
17. Greece
18. Georgia
19. Syria
20. Spain
21. Kazakhstan
22. Serbia
23. Cyprus
24. Armenia
25. Portugal
The countries we are least similar to are located in Melanesia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
- Melanesia: A group of islands in the Pacific Ocean north of Australia and east of Indonesia.
- Sub-Saharan Africa: The region geographically located in the south of the Sahara Desert; Politically, it refers to all non-Sudan countries in the same region. The region is the part of Africa outside of North Africa where the Arab States are located.
The 10 countries we are least similar to:
1. Solomon Islands
2. Papua New Guinea
3. Central African Republic
4. South Sudan
5. Liberia
6. Malawi
7. Democratic Republic of the Congo
8. Lesotho
9. Haiti
10. Guinea-Bissau
According to the categories, the countries we are most similar to are as follows:
- The country that most resembles us demographically: Iranian
- The country most culturally similar to us: Azerbaijan
- The country that most resembles us politically: Ukraine
- The country most similar to us in terms of technological infrastructure: North Macedonia
- Geographically the most similar country to us: Azerbaijan
Source: Objective Lists