Asylum countries of origin: Turkey

The facts and figures behind Turkey, the seventh top country by applicant for asylum in the UK in 2002.

The highest number of asylum applications from inside Europe in 2002 came from Turkey. There were 2,890 applications, down a fifth on the previous year.

Of the 525 cases assessed in 2002, the overwhelming majority were rejected. Twenty people were given refugee status and another 25 given exceptional leave to remain.

Some 165 were turned down before a case hearing for failing to get their paperwork in on time or completed correctly.

Asylum seekers from Turkey tend to be members of the Kurdish minority which comprises a fifth of the nation's 67 million people.

They typically come from the south-east of the country where there has been a long and bitter separatist conflict with the authorities.

While that conflict has subsided human rights campaigners say that Turkey's record remains far from acceptable.

TURKEY FACTS

Population: 66 million

Capital: Ankara

Major religion: Islam

BBC Monitoring: Full profile

Turkey wants to apply to join the European Union but has been told it must wait until at least 2004 because of its record on democracy and accountability.

Turkey has begun to make moves to appease the EU, including abolishing the death penalty.

But Amnesty International says that thousands of prisoners are still being held in conditions which "could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment".

In a recent and hugely controversial case, 10 policemen were jailed for torturing teenagers who had been pasting up political posters.

The officers were only jailed after they were twice acquitted.

The European Union also attacked Turkey in March 2003 for banning the country's main pro-Kurdish party.