Turkey is a country that has undergone considerable change in the last few centuries. Originally occupied by numerous unrelated tribes, it was the site of a great deal of Christian activity during the first few centuries AD. Cities such as Ephesus and Antioch spring to the minds of many peoples. The entire central plateau became occupied by Celtic tribes and became known as Galatia.

But the greatest change came with the development of the Ottoman Empire which managed to unite these various peoples into a strong nation. Islam became established as the national religion but Christianity was never completely wiped out. So the country contains many historic buildings that have been used by both religions, in some cases, sharing the same building.

Unfortunately, Turkey has a very poor record of human rights abuses. However, the government does now seem to be addressing these issues to some degree, unlike neighbouring Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, each of which are ignoring International pressure from many angles.

For the first time since the Ottomans' alliance with Germany, Turkey is looking West for its alliances, instead of north and east.

There are still economic differences between Western Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, etc) and the poorer Eastern Turkey, much of it originally part of Georgia and Armenia, with its huge Kurdish population.