About Türkiye & Ankara

26.07.2022

Republic of Türkiye ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti ), is a transcontinental country, located mostly on Anatolia in Western Asia and on East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Türkiye is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea is to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia. Türkiye location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance.

The country’s official language is Turkish. Türkiye is a transcontinental Eurasian country. Asian Türkiye (made up largely of Anatolia), which includes 97% of the country, is separated from European Türkiye by the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles (which together form a water link between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean). European Türkiye (eastern Thrace or Rumelia in the Balkan peninsula) comprises 3% of the country.

The territory of Türkiye is more than 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) long and 800 km (500 mi) wide, with a roughly rectangular shape. It lies between latitudes 35° and 43° N, and longitudes 25° and 45° E. Türkiye area, including lakes, occupies 783,562 square kilometres (300,948 sq mi), of which 755,688 square kilometres (291,773 sq mi) are in Southwest Asia and 23,764 square kilometres (9,174 sq mi) in Europe. Türkiyee is the world’s 37th-largest country in terms of area. The country is encircled by seas on three sides: the Aegean Sea to the west, the Black Sea to the north and the Mediterranean to the south. Türkiye also contains the Sea of Marmara in the northwest.

Mount Ararat (Ağrı Dağı) is the highest peak in Türkiye with 5,137 m (16,854 ft) The European section of Türkiye, East Thrace, forms the borders of Türkiye with Greece and Bulgaria. The Asian part of the country, Anatolia, consists of a high central plateau with narrow coastal plains, between the Köroğlu and Pontic mountain ranges to the north and the Taurus Mountains to the south. Eastern Türkiye has a more mountainous landscape and is home to the sources of rivers such as the Euphrates, Tigris and Aras, and contains Mount Ararat, Türkiye highest point at 5,137 metres (16,854 ft), and Lake Van, the largest lake in the country.

Türkiye is divided into seven census regions: Marmara, Aegean, Black Sea, Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Southeastern Anatolia and the Mediterranean. The uneven north Anatolian terrain running along the Black Sea resembles a long, narrow belt. This region comprises approximately one-sixth of Türkiye total land area. As a general trend, the inland Anatolian plateau becomes increasingly rugged as it progresses eastward Türkiye varied landscapes are the product of complex earth movements that have shaped the region over thousands of years and still manifest themselves in fairly frequent earthquakes and occasional volcanic eruptions. The Bosphorus and the Dardanelles owe their existence to the fault lines running through Türkiye that led to the creation of the Black Sea. There is an earthquake fault line across the north of the country from west to east, which caused a major earthquake in 1999.

The coastal areas of Türkiye bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea have a temperate Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters. The coastal areas of Türkiye bordering the Black Sea have a temperate Oceanic climate with warm, wet summers and cool to cold, wet winters. The Turkish Black Sea coast receives the greatest amount of precipitation and is the only region of Türkiye that receives high precipitation throughout the year. The eastern part of that coast averages 2,500 millimetres annually which is the highest precipitation in the country.

ANKARA

Ankara; is the capital of Türkiye and the country’s second-largest city. It was formerly called Angora. The city is situated on the Ankara River, a tributary of the Sakarya, in the heart of the central Anatolian plateau, 220 miles southeast of Istanbul. It is spread out at the foot and along the slope of a mountain that rises to 3,208 feet (978 meters) above sea level.

Ankara is a cosmopolitan city with impressive public buildings, wide avenues, parks, an opera, and an international airport. The city is the site of the University of Ankara, founded in 1946, and of the British Institute of Archaeology, opened in 1948. Today, there are several universities in Ankara.

Because of its location in central Türkiye, Ankara is an important commercial city. It is the processing and marketing center for the surrounding agricultural area, which has long been celebrated for the breeding of long-haired goats and for the production of Angora wool (mohair). Textiles, vaccines, cement, tiles, leather goods, and beer are manufactured there.

History:

Known to the ancients as Ancyra, the city was from the 200’s b.c. the capital of Galatia, which, after 25 b.c., was a Roman province. The city was occupied successively by the Persians, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, and Crusaders. In the 1360’s it was captured by the Ottoman Turks. Sultan Bajazet I was defeated in the area in 1402 by Tamerlane, the Mongol conqueror. Recovered by the Turks in 1431, the city remained part of the Ottoman empire until the empire’s collapse after World War I.

Ankara was chosen as the site of a provisional government set up by Kemal Atatürk and the Turkish Nationalists in 1920. The choice was made partly as a break with tradition and partly because of Ankara’s central location. In 1923 the seat of government was officially transferred to Ankara from the former capital, Istanbul. The name was officially changed from Angora to Ankara in 1930.