Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country, located mostly on Anatolia in Western Asia, and on East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Istanbul is the largest city while Ankara is the capital.
Turkey is a secular, unitary, constitutional republic, member of the Council of Europe, NATO, OECD, OSCE and the G-20 major economies. Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member of the European Economic Community since 1963 and having joined the EU Customs Union in 1995.
The status of civic space is classified in 2018 as ‘Repressed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor Platform, which takes into account the degree of respect of the fundamental freedoms of association, of peaceful assembly and of expression. More information is available at: https://monitor.civicus.org/country/turkey/ .