>I have friends who lived in Turkey for 3 years and couldn't say enough good things about it. It is famous for its history as well as its historical sites. I hope to travel there one day.

I can summarize Turkey you basicly:

-Turkey is a poor country.
-Turkish democracy is poor too, but I see west (Europa and USA) democracy not so good for last a few years...
-Turkey has a giant history. The best reason for visit Turkey might that.
-Turkey has good beachs, but it's musn't be reason for you. Because USA has good beachs too. German, Belgium,English ... tourists visit Turkey for that reason because they don't know what is mean sunlight. :))
-Istanbul's trafic terrible. Actually we don't have so much car as a west country but, we don't have so much roads and Istanbul doesn't has a real metro even 15 million of population!..

If you think about visit Turkey I'll be glad tell you for some good tips. :)