Geographic synopsis of Turkey, answers for the questions: where Turkey is Turkey located, what continent is Turkey in, what is the geography like in Turkey.
Turkey has very unique location and geography that can make your visit quite special. It is the country where you can go from one continent to another on a bridge. Turkey’s lands have very diverse characteristics, you can go from the lush forests to rocky deserts in matter of hours.
Where is Turkey Located?
Turkey is on the northern latitudes of 36-42 degrees and the eastern meridians of 26-45 degrees. It is roughly shaped like a rectangle with a width of 1660 kilometers and an area of 783,562, it is the 37th largest country in the world.
Three sides of Turkey are surrounded by seas, the Black Sea on the north, the Aegean Sea on the east, the Mediterranean Sea on the south, and the Marmara Sea on the northeast.
What Continent is Turkey in?
Turkey is a Eurasian country with lands both in Europe and Asia. 97% of Turkey resides in Asia, this region is called Anatolia. The remaining 3% resides in Europe and this part of Turkey is called Eastern Thrace. The Dardanelles and the Bosporus in the Marmara Sea separate the European and Asian lands as they connect the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. Tenedos (Bozcaada) and Imbros (Gökçeada) are the two islands that belong to Turkey among the many islands in the Aegean Sea.
In the Eastern Thrace part, Turkey is neighbor to Bulgaria and Greece. On the northeast, Georgia, on east, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran are Turkey’s neighbors. In the southeast region, Turkey’s neighbors are Iraq and Syria.
The average elevation of the country is 1132 meters. The North of the country is home to the North Anatolian Mountains and the southern and southeastern parts have the Taurus mountains.
One third of Turkey is covered with mid-range elevation of plateaus, plains and mountains. Generally, the elevation increases as moving from west to east, with the highest altitudes being in the east. Mount Ağrı (Ararat) in the city Ağrı is Turkey’s highest mountain with an elevation of 5137 meters. The biggest natural lake in Turkey is called Van Lake. The Euphates River and the Tigris River start off in Turkey but end up carrying their water to other countries. Kızılırmak is the biggest river that starts off and ends up in Turkey. (why does it sound like euphates and tigris are betraying us?:’D)
Turkey is divided into seven main regions. Four of the regions are named after the seas they are neighboring and the rest are named after their position in Anatolia. Their ratio of land goes as following; Mediterranean region 16%, East Anatolia region 21%, Aegean region 12%, Southeast Anatolia region 7.5%, Central Anatolia region 18%, Black Sea region 18%, Marmara region 8.5%.
Turkey’s land contains many fault lines and non-active volcanic mountains. The fault lines can cause earthquakes. Especially, the North Anatolia fault line which has historically caused many earthquakes.
Climate of Turkey
There are three different types of climates in Turkey. The Mediterranean climate that is experienced in the Aegean and Mediterranean regions has hot and dry summers and warm and rainy winters. The predominant biome of this climactic reagion is maquis.
The Black Sea region has a typical warm, ocean side climate that offers lots of rain all seasons. The main biome of this climacic region is forest. The seaside of the Black Sea region is the area with the most rainfall in Turkey. It has around 2000-2500 mm of rain each year.
The Marmara region that connects the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions has a transition climate. The southern part of the region experiences Mediterranean region style climate while the northern part has Black Sea climate and the northwest part has terrestrial climate. Though the Marmara and Black Sea regions have snowfall almost every year, it rarely stays on the ground for more than a couple of days. The mountains that lay parallel to the shores don’t let the warm air reach the inland areas of Anatolia.
The Central Anatolian, Eastern Anatolian and Southeastern Anatolian regions, the inner sections of Turkey, have terrestrial climates. In this climate, there is a big difference between the temperatures of days and nights. Summers are hot and dry, winters are cold with lots of snowfall. The Eastern regions of Turkey have very tough winters and the temperature may fall to -30C or -40C (which is about -22F to -40F). The snow stays on the ground for about 120 days in these areas. On the other hand, the western parts have an average winter temperature of 1C (34F).
With summers generally being hot and dry, temperatures may easily rise above 30C (86F). Again with the summer’s affect, Turkey-wide the driest months are July and August. May on the other hand is the month with the highest rainfall.
