Turkey

I

Introduction

Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey (Turkish Türkiye Cumhuriyeti), a nation in western Asia and southeastern Europe. The vast majority of Turkey is composed of the Asian territory of Anatolia, or Asia Minor, a large mountainous peninsula. The capital city, Ankara, is located there. The rest of Turkey, called Eastern (or Turkish) Thrace, occupies the far southeastern part of Europe. This region of rolling fertile hills is home to İstanbul, Turkey’s largest city. Asian Turkey and European Turkey are separated by three connected waterways of great strategic importance: the Sea of Marmara and the straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles (also called the Turkish Straits). Together, they form the only water route between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, an arm of the Mediterranean Sea.

Roughly rectangular in shape, Turkey occupies an area slightly larger than the state of Texas. Turkey borders the Aegean Sea and Greece on the west; Bulgaria on the northwest; the Black Sea on the north; Georgia, Armenia, and the autonomous Azerbaijani republic of Naxçivan on the northeast; Iran on the east; and Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea on the south. Turkey’s coastline is extensive and makes up about three-fourths of the country’s total boundary.

The landscapes of Turkey are varied, from fertile plains in the northwest and southeast to broad river valleys in the west to high barren plateaus and towering mountains in the east. In the rugged Asian interior, the climate fluctuates dramatically, with cold, snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Along the Mediterranean coastline the climate is less extreme, with warm summers and mild, moist winters.

Turkey’s unique geographic location between Europe and Asia has exposed the region to diverse influences and contributed to its historical and cultural evolution. Indeed, Turkey has served as bridge for the movement of peoples between Asia and Europe throughout human history. Turkey has drawn on these diverse influences to develop its own distinctive identity and a rich culture expressed in architecture, the fine arts, music, and literature. Diversity remains a hallmark of contemporary Turkey, in environment, people, and culture. Traditional beliefs and practices remain widespread, especially in rural areas. Turkey is also a democratic, rapidly modernizing society. The dominant religion is Islam, and most people speak Turkish, the national language.

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For centuries Turkey’s economy was predominantly agricultural. Today, farming remains a key sector of the Turkish economy and accounts for about 30 percent of national employment. However, Turkey has experienced considerable growth in industry and services—including finance, transportation, and professional and government services—since the end of World War II (1939-1945), while the role of agriculture has declined. Manufactured goods, especially textiles and clothing, now dominate the country’s export sector. Rapid urbanization has accompanied this economic transformation. Today, 75 percent of Turkey’s people live in cities and towns, compared with just 21 percent in 1950. About 90 percent of the population lives in the Asian part of Turkey and about 10 percent lives in the European part.

The history of Turkey is long and eventful, with a succession of ethnically and culturally distinct peoples occupying the region since ancient times. Large cities first appeared in Anatolia during the reign of the Hittites, who invaded the region about 1900 bc. Other groups followed, including the Phrygians, Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Arabs. Nomadic Turkic tribes of Central Asia conquered Anatolia in the 11th century ad and founded the Seljuk dynasty. Their arrival placed the distinctive stamp of Turkish language and culture on the region’s population. The Seljuk dynasty ended in the 13th century after invading Mongols conquered Anatolia (See also Mongol Empire). The Ottoman Empire, founded in Anatolia in the late 13th century, endured for more than 600 years and expanded into one of the world’s most formidable empires. At the height of its power, Ottoman territory included much of the Middle East, large areas of Eastern Europe, and most of North Africa. The empire finally collapsed after World War I (1914-1918).

The modern Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk) from Anatolia and Eastern Thrace, the Ottoman Empire’s predominantly Turkish-speaking areas. Atatürk served as president of the Republic of Turkey until his death in 1938. During his rule, he sought to assert Turkey’s identity as a strong, modern, European state. His principles of government, known as Kemalism, remain the guiding principles for all Turkish governments, although they have been reinterpreted by successive generations of political leaders. The most controversial of these principles is secularism. Strict Kemalists interpret secularism to mean that religion should remain outside of public life and that political parties should not promote religious causes. Those who advocate a more flexible interpretation of secularism maintain that religious groups and causes should not be excluded from the public realm.

Since the 1950s, the role of religion in politics has been a persistent and contentious issue in Turkey. The military, which sees itself as the ultimate guardian of the principles of Kemalism, has intervened in the political process on four occasions—in 1960, 1971, 1980, and 1997—because it feared that political parties posed a threat to the secular nature of the state.

II

Turkey’s Land and Resources

The total area of Turkey is 779,452 sq km (300,948 sq mi). Anatolia, the eastern portion of Turkey, forms about 97 percent of the country’s area. Most of Anatolia is mountainous and arid, with the exception of the narrow plains along the Aegean, Black, and Mediterranean coasts. Eastern (or Turkish) Thrace in southwestern Europe makes up the remainder of the country. This area is characterized by rolling plains surrounded by low mountains.

Many of Turkey’s mountains are of volcanic origin. Earthquakes are frequent and occasionally severe, giving evidence that the region remains seismically active. Devastating earthquakes struck Turkey several times during the 20th century. In 1939 an earthquake struck the northeastern city of Erzincan and killed an estimated 30,000 people; a 1999 earthquake near the northwestern city of İzmit killed more than 15,000 people.

A

Natural Regions in Turkey

Turkey can be divided into seven geographic regions: Thrace and the borderlands of the Sea of Marmara; the Aegean and Mediterranean region; the Black Sea region; western Anatolia; the central Anatolian Plateau; the eastern highlands; and southeastern Anatolia.

Thrace and the borderlands of the Sea of Marmara in northeastern Turkey encompass a central plain of gently rolling hills with few changes in elevation. About one-quarter of this fertile, well-watered area is farmed. The eastern portion of this region is more mountainous, reaching its highest point of 2,543 m (8,343 ft) at Uludağ (ancient Mount Olympus of Mysia), a popular area for skiing.

The coastlands of the Aegean and Mediterranean region in the west and south are narrow and hilly. Near the Mediterranean coast, peaks of the Taurus Mountains reach 3,700 m (12,000 ft). Along the Aegean coast, a series of low ridges generally rise toward the east to an average elevation of 1,500 to 1,850 m (5,000 to 6,000 ft); a few peaks approach 3,050 m (10,000 ft). The broad, flat valleys between the ridges provide some of the most productive soils in Turkey.

To the north, the Anatolian coastlands of the Black Sea region rise directly from the water to the heights of the Kuzey Anadolu Dağları (Northern Anatolian Mountains). Western Anatolia, in the west central part of the country, consists of irregular ranges and interior valleys that separate the Aegean coast from the Anatolian Plateau, the largest geographic region in Turkey. Turks consider this centrally located plateau, which is actually composed of several interconnected basins, as the heartland of their nation. These basins are surrounded on all sides by mountains, which reach their highest point at the summit of Mount Erciyes (3,916 m/12,848 ft). The plateau itself has a general elevation of 900 to 1,500 m (3,000 to 5,000 ft) above sea level.

The eastern highlands region is the most mountainous and rugged portion of Turkey; Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) is the highest peak in the country at 5,165 m (16,945 ft). Many Christians and Jews believe it to be the same Mount Ararat mentioned in the Bible as the place where Noah’s ark came to rest. The eastern highlands are the source for both the Tigris (Dicle) and Euphrates (Firāt)—two of southwestern Asia’s principal rivers. Southeastern Anatolia is a rolling plateau enclosed on the north, east, and west by mountains. A part of the so-called Fertile Crescent, this region has been an important agricultural center since antiquity. About 19 percent of southeastern Anatolia’s area is farmed.

B

Turkey’s Rivers and Lakes

Numerous rivers drain Turkey’s plateaus and mountains, in many cases cutting deep gorges on their way to the coast. The rivers are usually swift flowing and relatively short; none can be navigated by large ships. A number of rivers do not flow during the dry summer. Some rivers are, however, important sources of hydroelectric power and water for irrigation.

The Kızılırmak (1,150 km/715 mi long), which crosses the Anatolian Plateau in a broad arc before emptying into the Black Sea, is the longest river flowing entirely within Turkey. The Sakarya River, to the west of the Kızılırmak, also flows into the Black Sea. The chief Turkish rivers that drain into the Aegean Sea are the Gediz and Büyükmenderes (ancient Meander); the many loops and bends of the Büyükmenderes gave rise to the term meander in English. In south central Turkey the Ceyhan (ancient Jihun) and Seyhan (ancient Adana) rivers flow from the Taurus Mountains to the Mediterranean. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which flow southeast through Syria and Iraq to the Persian Gulf, have their headwaters in the mountains of eastern Turkey.

The largest lake in Turkey is Van Gölü (Lake Van), located in eastern Anatolia. The waters of Van Gölü are saline, as are those of another large body of water, Lake Tuz, located near the center of the Anatolian Plateau. Freshwater lakes include Beyşehir, Eğridir, and Burdur—all located in the southwest.

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