In Turkey today, 93% of all persons between the ages of 6 and 15 attend school, and 89.7% of males and 71.1.% of females over the age of 15 are literate. Turkey's largest adult education programs are public, free, and offered both within and outside the formal educational system by governmental bodies, national institutions, and voluntary organizations. Since the Republic of Turkey's founding in 1923, many government and nongovernment agencies have been supporting or offering programs for adults in literacy, farmers', vocational efficiency, health, family living, women's, and citizenship education. Turkey has public reading rooms designed to serve as lending libraries and meeting places for reading circles, discussions/lectures, and short-term courses. Since 1926, women's education has been supported by a civil code establishing basic gender equality. Training programs for women emphasizing health and family planning operate largely as mobile courses touring villages. Public education centers called people's houses offer adult education activities in areas such as language and literature, fine arts, drama, sports/games, social assistance, literacy and foreign language, library use, and rural activities. Turkey's fifth (present) 5-year development plan includes provisions to integrate the educational system by forming organic relationships between the formal and nonformal educational systems. (Contains 17 references.) (MN)