Geography

Turkey is a transcontinental Eurasian country. Asian Turkey (made up largely of Anatolia), which includes 97% of the country, is separated from European Turkey by the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles (which together form a water link between theBlack Sea and the Mediterranean). European Turkey (eastern Thrace or Rumelia in the Balkan peninsula) includes 3% of the country.

Turkey is the 37th largest country in the world, which is more than double size of Germany. This gives Turkey a diverse nature and climate as well as culture.

Turkey is surrounded by Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea and Aegean Sea.

 

Climate

Turkey has a diversified climate, its regions contrast from each other due the diverse nature of the landscape, and particularly for the existence of mountains running parallel to the coasts. While coastal regions have milder climates, the inland Anatolia plateau has hot summers and cold winters with limited rainfall.

In the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts the climate is cool with rainy winters, and hot, moderately dry summers in contrast to the Black Sea coast that receives the greatest amount of rainfall.

The Anatolian Plateau is much more subject to extremes than the coastal areas, where winters are especially severe and the temperatures could down from -30°C to -40°C in the mountainous areas in the east. However in the west, winter temperatures average are below 1°C. Summers are hot and dry with temperatures above 30°C.

The climate in the Black Sea area is wet and warm on summer the average is 23°C and on winter 7°C.

In Eastern Anatolia and South- Eastern Anatolia there is a long hard winter; days and nights are cold with the snow lying on the ground from November until the end of April with an average temperature of 13°C. During thesummer the average is 17°C.

Western Anatolia as well as the southern coast of Anatolia has a mild Mediterranean climate with average temperatures of 9°C in winter and 29°C in summer. Mountains close to the coast prevent Mediterranean influences from extending inland, giving the interior of Turkey a continental climate with distinct seasons. In Istanbul and around the sea of Marmara, the climate is moderate in winter the temperature can drop below zero.