Turkey

Bridging West Asia and Southeastern Europe, Turkey borders Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Syria and Iraq. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, its core territories transitioned to the modern Republic of Turkey, alternating periods of military coup d'etats with multi-party democracy as it attempted to balance secular state institutions and constitutional norms with the demands of popular Islamic political movements. Attacks on and harassment of human rights defenders are a major ongoing problem in Turkey, as is the treatment of the country's Kurdish minority, the prevalence of early marriage, sexual exploitation of children and child labour.