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Geography:
Turkey is 774.815 km2. The Anatolia part is in
Asia and Thrace belongs to Europe that is why The Bosphorus is said to be the
gate between the two continents. Turkey is rich with its rivers, lakes,
mountains and bays apart from the seas surrounding the country which are the
Black Sea, the Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea. The biggest lake in Turkey is
in the eastern part which is called the lake Van which took attention a few
years ago with its so-called monster. The highest mountain is again in the
eastern part and it's called The Agri Mountain, which is 5,165 meters high. Kusadasi is in the western part
in the Aegean region close to the third biggest city of Turkey, Izmir.
Van
Turkey is divided into seven regions; the Black
Sea region, the Marmara region, the Aegean region, the Mediterranean region,
Central Anatolia, the East Anatolian and Southeast Anatolia regions.
The Eastern Anatolian region is the richest in
numbers. Turkey's largest lake Van, 3,713 square
kilometers, and the lakes of
Ercek, Cildir and Hazar are in this region. There are also many lakes in the
west Taurus mountains area: the Beysehir and Egirdir lakes, and the lakes that
contain bitter waters like the Burdur and Acigoller lakes. Around the Sea of
Marmara there are Sapanca, Iznik, Ulubat, Manyas, Terkos, Kucukcekmece and
Buyukcekmece. In Central Anatolia there is the second largest lake in Turkey,
Tuzgolu. The waters of this lake are shallow and very salty. As a result of the
several lakes, many dam lakes were constructed such as the Ataturk Dam lake,
Keban, Karakaya, Altinkaya, Adiguzel, Kilickaya, Karacaoren, Menzelet,
Kapulukaya, Hirfanli, Sariyar and Demirkopru.
Ahlat
Turkey is surrounded by the Black Sea in the
north, the Mediterranean in the south and the Aegean Sea in the west on three
sides. In the northwest there is an internal sea, the Sea of Marmara, between
the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. The length of the Black Sea
coastline in Turkey is 1,595 kilometers. The Mediterranean coastline is
1,577 kilometers. The Aegean Sea coast is over
2,800 kilometers. The coastline of the Marmara Sea is over 1,000 kilometers
long.
The most important rivers of
Turkey, the Firat
(Euphrates) and Dicle (Tigris) join together in Iraq and flow into the Persian
Gulf. Turkey's longest rivers, the Kizilirmak, Yesilirmak and Sakarya, flow into
the Black Sea. The Susurluk, Biga and Gonen pour into the Sea of Marmara, the
Gediz, Kucuk Menderes, Buyuk Menderes and Meric into the Aegean, and the Seyhan,
Ceyhan and Goksu into the Mediterranean.
Turkey is located in the northern half of the
hemisphere at a point that is about halfway between the equator and the north
pole, at a latitude of 36 degrees N to 42 degrees N and a longitude of
26
degrees E to 45 degrees E. Turkey is roughly rectangular in shape and it is
1,660 kilometers long and 550 kilometers wide.
Ephesus
The surface of Turkey, including its
lakes and rivers, is 814,578 km2, of which 790,200 are in Asia and
24,378 are located in Europe.
The land borders of Turkey are 2,753 kilometers
in total, and coastlines (including islands) are another 8,333
kilometers.
Turkey has two European neighboring countries which are Greece and Bulgaria and
six Asian neighboring countries which are Iraq, Iran, Syria, Armenia, Georgia,
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Climate:
As Turkey is close to the equator the climate
is not so harsh to make our lives a misery. Of course the weather varies region
to region but mainly the western bits are rainy and warm in winters, sunny and
hot in summers and the eastern bits are snowy and cold in winters, sunny and hot
in summers. The temperature in the eastern parts is often above zero degrees in
winters and in summers it is between 30-35 degrees but in the eastern parts in
winters it does go down zero degrees but summers are sometimes hotter than the
western parts. If hot annoys you, the best time to visit Turkey is spring or
autumn. But summer is great if you want to go back to your country with a good
tan!
Average Temperatures By Region (in Celsius):
| Mediterranean:
| 17.2
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| Eastern Anatolia
| 8.1
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| Aegean
| 4.3
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| S. East Anatolia
| 16.0
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| Central Anatolia
| 0.7
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| Black Sea
| 12.5
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| Marmara
| 14.2
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Government:
October 29, 1923, is the foundation of Turkish
Republic. On that date, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is the founder and the first
president of Turkish Republic. The dynastic and theocratic Ottoman system, with
its Sultanate and Caliphate, thus came to an end. Ataturk's Turkey dedicated
itself to the sovereignty of the national will.
Turkey is a republic which is directed by a
president and the parliament. The Turkish Republic is based on a secular,
democratic, pluralist and parliamentary system and the concepts of public peace,
national solidarity and justice where human rights are protected by law and
loyal to the nationalism of Ataturk. The parliamentarians are elected by the
society. The official language of the Turkey is Turkish and its capital is
Ankara. A competitive and pluralistic party system has been in operation in
Turkey since 1946. The political parties are an indivisible and indispensable
part of Turkish political life. All Turkish citizens over 18 years of age have
the right to vote in elections and to take part in referendums.
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