A Boat in the Mediterranean


General Outlook

Throughout history, Turkey's geographical position has had a profound influence on world events. Situated mainly in Asia Minor, with a foothold in the Balkans, Turkey lies neither completely in Asia nor Europe, yet has been both a link and frontier zone between the two continents. In this situation it has influenced and been influenced by events in both Europe and the Middle East.

Location of Turkey

   Turkye lies in the Northern Hemisphere near the centre of the "Old World Continents", i.e. Asia, Africa, and Europe. More specifically, it lies near the Western and Central part of the European and North African countries. Turkey also occupies a middle position between the North Pole and the Equator.
   With this geographical position, Turkey extends between the 42N and 36N latitudes and between the 25 40'E and 44 48'E longitudes.
   Turkey is situated in an area of 779,452 square kilometers, of which 755,688 square kilometers lie in that part Asia known as Asia Minor or Anadolu (Anatolia), and 23,764 square kilometers in that part of Europe known as Trakya (Eastern Thrace). The two islands of Imroz (Imbros) and Bozcaada (Tenedos), lying in the Aegean Sea on either side of the mouth of the Çanakkale (Dardanelles), also belong to Turkey.
   The two continents, Europe and Asia, are separated by the Straits, consisting, from southwest to northeast, of the Çanakkale Boğazı (the Dardanelles or the classical Hellespont), Marmara Denizi (the Sea of Marmara) and Boğaziçi (Bosphorus).
   With its geographically important position, its vast land and its constantly increasing population, Turkey is a powelful entity and a valuable element of stability especially in this part of the world.

Borders of Turkey

   Turkey's borders are very long and bear various characteristics. Its land borders cover 2753 km, and its sea borders are 6,000 km long. Turkey's border with Syria is 877 km, long. Its border with Iraq: 331 km, with Iran: 454 km, with Russia: 610 km, with Greece: 212 km and with Bulgaria 269 km.
   It is a country of high elevation with an average altitude of 1,130 metres. Mountain ranges extend from the west to the east along the northern and southern coasts of the country. There are, however a good many plains, plateaus, highlands and basins.

Northern Anatolia

   Folding mountains of various altitudes, roughly enframe Northern Anatolia along the Black Sea coast, which may be considered as lying in successive ranges all along the northern coast. Their appearance is deformed in the west, beginning in the lover section of the Sakarya River. Further west, there are the medium high Yıldız Mountains (Istranca).
   In this region, Zigana Pass, (2,025 metres) between Trabzon and Gümüşhane and Mount Kop Pass (2,309 metres) between Bayburt and Aşkale are the main routes between the coastal region and Central Anatolia.

Southern Anatolia
   "Toros Dağları" (the Taurus Mountains) in Southern Anatolia longitudinally cover entire southern part of the country. They bear characteristics of the Southern Apline System. However, the folded Taurus Mountains appear in more than one range. These lengthy ranges have internal and external arches. The external arch begins in the Hakkari Mountains in Southeastern Turkey, extending towards Siirt, Ergani and north of Kahramanmaraş. Turkey's highest mountains rise is in the Hakkari region. Beginning from the east there are Sat Mountain, Cilo Mountain and Karadağ Mountain, all of which have a varying elevation of 3000 to 4000 meters.

Eastern Anatolia

   Eastern Anatolia, surrounded by the Northern Anatolian mountain ranges and the Southern Taurus arches, is Turkey's highest region.
   The Munzur Mountains which from the Karasu-Aras arch reach an altitude of 3500 metres, starting from the south of Erzincan and extend until Erzurum's Palandöken Mountains and Aras plain and reach its highest peak at Mount Ağrı  (5165 metres) and Küçük Ağrı (3925 metres).

Central Anatolia

   This is a less mountainous region when compared to the others. The average altitude is between 1000-2000 metres.

Western Anatolia

   The mountains of this region extend towards the Aegean Sea. The highest peaks are: Emirdağı (2214 metres) Türkmen Mountain, Mount Domaniç, Mount Uludağ (the ancient Bithynian Olympus 2543 metres), Sandıklı Mountains, Mount Murat (2312 metres) and others.