Turkey

The Republic of Turkey or Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), is a bicontinental country that is located mainly in the Middle East (Southwest Asia) and partly in Southeast Europe; The Anatolian peninsula comprises most(97%) of its territory, and is situated between the Black Sea on the north and the Mediterranean Sea to south and west, with the Aegean Sea (and Marmara Sea) in between. A small portion of the country's territory (3%) is situated in southeastern Europe, west of the Bosphorus straits.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Turkey

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Turkey is generally divided into seven regions: the Black Sea region, the Marmara region, the Aegean, the Mediterranean, Central Anatolia, the East and Southeast Anatolia regions. The uneven north Anatolian terrain running along the Black Sea resembles a narrow but long belt. The land of this region is approximately 1/6 of Turkey's total land area.

Related Topics:
Black Sea - Marmara - Aegean - Mediterranean - Anatolia

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Turkey forms a bridge between Europe and Asia, with the division between the two running from the Black Sea to the north down along the Bosporus strait through the Sea of Marmara and the Dardanelles strait to the Aegean Sea and the larger Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Anatolian peninsula (also known as Asia Minor) consists of a high central plateau with narrow coastal plains, in between the Pontus range to the north and the Taurus Mountains to the south. To the east is found a more mountainous landscape (main part of the Armenian Highland), home to the sources of rivers such as the Euphrates, Tigris and the Araks, as well as Lake Van and Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest point at 5,166 m. The climate is a Mediterranean temperate climate, with hot, dry summers and mild, wet and cold winters, though conditions can be much harsher in the more arid interior. Turkey is also prone to very severe earthquakes. The Bosphorus and the Dardanelles owe their existence to the fault lines running through Turkey, leading to the creation of the Black Sea. There is an earthquake fault line accross the north of the country from west to east.

Related Topics:
Europe - Asia - Black Sea - Bosporus - Sea of Marmara - Dardanelles - Peninsula - Pontus - Taurus Mountains - Euphrates - Tigris - Araks - Lake Van - Mount Ararat - Climate - Temperate - Earthquake

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The capital city of Turkey is Ankara, but the largest city is ?stanbul.

Related Topics:
Ankara - ?stanbul

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Other important cities include ?zmir, Bursa, Adana, Malatya, Gaziantep, Erzurum, Kayseri, ?zmit (Kocaeli), Konya, Mersin, Diyarbak?r, Antalya, Trabzon and Samsun. See the list of cities in Turkey.

Related Topics:
?zmir - Bursa - Adana - Malatya - Gaziantep - Erzurum - Kayseri - ?zmit (Kocaeli) - Konya - Mersin - Diyarbak?r - Antalya - Trabzon - Samsun - List of cities in Turkey

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