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Turkey

1050-52 S. Cochran Ave, Los Angeles

practical information

practical information

Turkey

• Location:
  
Southwestern Asia (that part west of the Bosporus is sometimes included with Europe), bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria


• Map references:
  
Middle East


• Area:
  


total area: 780,580 sq km


land area: 770,760 sq km


comparative area: slightly larger than Texas


• Land boundaries:
  
total 2,627 km, Armenia 268 km, Azerbaijan 9 km, Bulgaria 240 km, Georgia 252 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 331 km, Syria 822 km


• Coastline:
  
7,200 km


• Maritime claims:
  


exclusive economic zone: in Black Sea only - to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the former USSR


territorial sea: 6 nm in the Aegean Sea, 12 nm in the Black Sea and in the Mediterranean Sea


• International disputes:
  
complex maritime, air and territorial disputes with Greece in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question; Hatay question with Syria; ongoing dispute with downstream riparians (Syria and Iraq) over water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers


• Climate:
  
temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior


• Terrain:
  
mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central plateau (Anatolia)


• Natural resources:
  
antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, sulphur, iron ore


• Land use:
  


arable land: 30%


permanent crops: 4%


meadows and pastures: 12%


forest and woodland: 26%


other: 28%


• Irrigated land:
  
22,200 sq km (1989 est.)


• Environment:
  


current issues: water pollution from dumping of chemicals and detergents; air pollution, particularly in urban areas; deforestation


natural hazards: very severe earthquakes, especially in northern Turkey, along an arc extending from the Sea of Marmara to Lake Van


international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Hazardous Wastes, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified - Biodiversity, Desertification, Environmental Modification


• Note:
  
strategic location controlling the Turkish Straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas