Check your Midnight Express stereotypes at the door and come in to this rapidly modernising country with one foot in Europe and one in the Middle East. It's not all oriental splendour, mystery, intrigue and whirling dervishes but it is a spicy maelstrom of history knocking up against the present, the present bursting out all over the place, and the future peering back at the posse. Turkey is a blend unto itself.

It's also a great country to visit. The Turks are mostly overwhelmingly friendly to foreign visitors, the cuisine is frequently excellent, the cities are dotted with majestic old buildings and the countryside is often worth a good old-fashioned gasp. There's an enormous variety of things to see and do ranging from water sports to mountain trekking, archaeology to night-clubbing and river rafting to raki drinking. Whether you leave Turkey with magnificent carpets, amulets to ward off evil, belly-dancing tips, an appreciation of its history, or just a tan, you're likely to want to go back for more.

Things have calmed down since the turbulent and violent days of early 1999, when the PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) conducted furious guerrilla attacks on Turkish authorities over the capture and imprisonment of rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan. Although a ceasefire is in effect, security is still an issue. Bomb attacks occur occasionally in Istanbul. Some provinces are considered PKK strongholds, in particular Hakkari, Sirnak, Tunceli and Diyarbakir. Check with your embassy or consulate for up-to-date information on travel in the southeastern and eastern part of the country, and if you decide to go stick to the main roads. Also, tensions between Turkey and neighboring Iraq make this border area a bit iffy, particularly since US airstrikes on Afghanistan begun in October 2001 have heightened security concerns throughout the region. Most areas of Turkey are very safe, however, provided travellers use common sense, keep a low profile in trouble-prone areas and avoid political gatherings and demonstrations.

Full country name: Turkey
Area: 779,452 sq km (483,260 sq mi)
Population: 65.7 million
Capital city: Ankara (pop 3.7 million)
People: Turks (85%), Kurds (12%), other Islamic peoples, Armenians, Jews
Language: Turkish
Religion: Muslim
Government: Republic
Prime Minister: Recep Tayyip Erdogan

GDP: US$409 billion
GDP per head: US$6200
Annual growth:-5%
Inflation: 26%
Major industries: Agriculture, motor vehicles, petroleum, engineering, tourism
Major trading partners: Germany, USA, Italy, UK, France, Russia

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