Once the centre of the Ottoman Empire, the modern secular republic was established in the 1920s by nationalist leader Kemal Ataturk.
Straddling the continents of Europe and Asia, Turkey's strategically important location has given it major influence in the region - and control over the entrance to the Black Sea.
Turkey's progress towards democracy and a market economy was halting in the decades following the death of President Ataturk in 1938.
The army saw itself as guarantor of the constitution, and ousted governments on a number of occasions when it thought they were challenging secular values.
Joining the European Union has been a longstanding ambition. Membership talks were launched in 2005, but progress has been slow. Several European countries have serious misgivings over Turkish EU membership.
Kurds make up about a fifth of the population. Kurdish separatists have been waging a guerrilla war since the 1980s, complaining that the Turkish government has been trying to destroy their identity.
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