ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief historical background and a description of major events in Turkey. It also provides basic political, economic, and social data arranged in the following categories: polity, economy, population, purchasing power parities, life expectancy, ethnic groups, capital, political rights, civil liberties, and status. The chapter discusses the progress and decline of political rights and civil liberties in Turkey. Turkish citizens can change their government democratically, though the military wields considerable influence in political matters, especially regarding defense and security. In September 2001, police raided the Turkish Human Rights Foundation branch in Diyarbakir and seized computers and confidential medical files concerning the victims of torture. Human rights groups that attempted to document the hunger strikes as provide support to the prisoners faced persecution throughout the year. Since being formally declared a candidate for European Union membership in 1999, Turkey has outlined set of economic and political goals that it must meet in order to fulfill the membership criteria.
