Country profilesTurkey

Humanitarian profile

Turkey’s main humanitarian problem is the long-term displacement of more than a million people, mainly in its south-east, by fighting between the army and Kurdish guerrillas seeking autonomy or secession. This has calmed since the end of the 1990s but the conflict remains. The Kurdish issue has also led to friction in relations with Iraq. Turkey, with 70 million people, is also prone to earthquakes; the last major one in 1999 killed some 17,000 people.

Country snapshot

A country of more than 70 million people with growing economic and political clout, Turkey is looking for its place in the 21st-century world.

It straddles Europe and Asia and does not fit easily any description: it is Middle Eastern but Westernised, officially secular but with an increasingly assertive religious camp, a Muslim ally of Israel and a NATO member, a democracy but with a history of army interference in politics.

Many Turks hoped to join the European Union, expecting this would promote economic prosperity, political stability and personal freedom. But they increasingly suspect their relatively poor and mainly Muslim nation will never be welcome in the bloc, where it would be the second-biggest country after Germany.

Closer ties with Middle Eastern neighbours represent one alternative path that some in government espouse.

Proudly nationalist Turks have no ethnic ties with the Syrians, Georgians, Armenians, Iraqis and Iranians on their borders, but have a natural sphere of influence in countries further east that are home to fellow Turkic peoples such as Azeris, Kazakhs, Uzbeks and Turkmen.

Turkey has been fighting a long-running battle in its southeast with ethnic Kurds who seek autonomy or secession.

The economy is sturdy but was one of the worst-hit by the global 2008-2009 recession. Foreign debt is also high.

Government

Abdullah Gul has been president since 2007. The head of state can veto laws, appoint officials and name judges.

The next president will be elected directly rather than chosen by parliament, for a five-year term, serving a maximum of two.

The government has day-to-day power but has historically been unable to ignore the army, which has staged several coups and still has a strong behind-the-scenes influence. The army sees its role as guarantor of the constitution, which stipulates that Turkey is a secular state.

The ruling AK Party has Islamist roots, which raises suspicions among many secularists that it aims to blur the divide between state and religion, although it has denied this.

Before becoming prime minister in 2003, Tayyip Erdogan had to overcome a ban from public office and more than four months in jail for reading an Islamist poem at a political meeting.

The one-chamber Grand National Assembly has 550 members elected every five years. Parties polling less than 10 percent of the vote do not get seats.

Economy

Turkey's economy has been modernising steadily with periods of growth interrupted by shorter downturns. Inflation, unemployment and political turmoil have often posed major problems. Exports play a key role.

After economic woes, Turkey agreed a recovery programme in 2002 with the International Monetary Fund that ushered in a period of growth and lower inflation.

Textiles are facing stiff competition from cheaper countries; car parts and electronics are now playing an increasing role in export trade. Other exports include iron and steel, machinery, fuels and oils and fruit and vegetables.

Pipelines opened between 2005 and 2006 made Turkey a major transit route for oil from Azerbaijan and gas from Russia to Europe.

The country has a strong private sector though the state still holds major interests in industry and banking.

Turkey has introduced many economic and legal reforms to align its laws with those of the free-market European Union it hopes to join, increasing investor confidence.

However political uncertainty over the controversial choice of Gul as president and moves to ban the ruling party in 2008 brought turmoil to Turkish financial markets.

History

In recent years Turkey has been marked by economic and human rights reforms to meet EU standards, the election of an Islamist-rooted party and by a long-running conflict with separatist Kurds.

Turkey rose from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire after World War One. Mustafa Kemal - later named Ataturk, of father of the Turks - shaped a totally new republic: secular, modern and Western. Even the fez was banned.

The first free elections were held after World War Two, during most of which the country was neutral, but numerous coups and short bouts of military rule marred the ensuing decades.

Pro-Islamic parties grew in popularity until the Welfare Party became the biggest party in parliament in 1995. It was banned three years later but in 2002 the AK Party won a landslide, promising to adhere to the secular constitution, though opponents have tried to have it banned since.

A pro-business party, it has also pursued reforms in the hope of joining the EU. Reforms have included human rights legislation - which ended the death penalty and lifted restrictions on the Kurdish language, though the language is still banned in parliament.

EU membership talks were launched in 2005 but made slow progress.

Nationalism has been virulent. It is still a crime to insult the Turkish nation, which could include arguing that the Ottoman massacre of Armenians in World War One was genocide. Historically frosty ties with Greece remain poor, though efforts have been made for rapprochement.

Turkish troops invaded Cyprus in 1974 to prevent a Greek takeover of the island, helping carve out a breakaway Turkish region on Cyprus that is still there.

Many Turks do not see their Kurdish compatriots as being equal. That is in part because of a separatist conflict launched in 1984 by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has killed some 30,000 people since. Kurds, a large minority in Turkey, often say they face discrimination.

Legal snapshot

Turkey uses a civil law system. It is a member of the European Court of Human Rights, but claims limited derogations (delays in implementation) on the ratified European Convention on Human Rights. It has not accepted compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction.

Senior courts include the Constitutional Court and High Court of Appeals.

There is a separate system of military courts, which can also try civilians in times of martial law and in matters concerning military service.

Turkey has not ratified the International Criminal Court but said in 2009 it was considering doing so.

The media are relatively free but tend to shy away from topics that can lead to prosecution such as the military, Kurds and political Islam.