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TurkeyEurope & Asia The Republic of Turkey or Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), is a bicontinental country located mainly in Anatolia, with 7% of its land located in the Balkans. Its strategic location straddles the Bosphorus straits that separate Southwest Asia from Southeast Europe. The Anatolian peninsula comprises nearly all of its territory, and is situated between the Black Sea on the north and the Mediterranean Sea to south, with the Aegean Sea and Marmara Sea (both branches of the Mediterranean) to the west. Many geographers consider Turkey to be a part of Europe due to cultural and political characteristics, although physically it is a transcontinental country between Europe and Asia. Because of its position straddling the continents of Europe and Asia and surrounded by three seas, Turkey has been a historical crossroads, the homeland of and battleground between several great civilizations, and a centre of commerce. Turkey borders eight countries: Greece and Bulgaria to the northwest; Georgia, Armenia and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan and to the northeast; Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the south. The Republic of Turkey is a democratic laic constitutional republic, whose political system was established in 1923, interrupted by several coups. Turkey is a member state of the United Nations, NATO, OSCE, OECD, the OIC, the Council of Europe and in the process of accession to the European Union. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (see Copyrights for details). About Wikipedia Disclaimers This information was correct in December 2003. E. & O.E. Sarolta, my daughter and I were having a a few months trip around Europe, mostly travelling around on our Eurail pass during 1978. After spending some time exploring Greece and some of their islands, we took a train from Athens to Istambul. The trip was rather exciting and intersting. We met some very nice Egyptian man who saved us a lot of trouble and embaressment when our train was "invaded" and practically taken over by a large group of undesirable people. Sarolta, 17 at the time and I was forced to share an over crowded compartment with them and I felt rather embarassed and protective towards my young daughter. Many times our friendly Egyptian came to our help. The crossing of the border was another experience apart from a few hours delay the two neighbours were at at a low key war with each other, which of course we know that lasted for years and that fact was felt by us travellers too. In 1998 Hui Chin, Endre and I visited Turkey for a few days of a good look around. After visiting Singapore, Jordan, the Holy Land and Egypt we arrived in Istanbul. The city is huge, some of it in Europe, some in Asia. I was born and brought up in Hungary, as you probably already know. Turkey, the Turkish invasion, our fight against the invasion, the occupation of some parts of our country for over 150 years and the long term effect of that forms a major part in our history. The Hungarian population suffered enormous losses, due to the wars, resistance and long term occupation. A very large number of neighbouring people were needed to repopulate Hungary after the defeat of the Turkish armies. Because of the large number, mainly Slav and Romanian population in parts of the country, the victors of the WWI, in their 'Trianon' Agreement awarded 2/3 of the more than thousand years old Hungary to the neighbouring states. Another reason was, that I spent last 40 odd years in New Zealand, whose people with the Australians (A.N.Z.A.C.) were involved and defeated by the Turks in WWI at Gallipoli. Also worth mentioning, that we all learnt about Troy and other places in Turkey during our school years. Present day Turkey, Istanbul and all the other places we've visited were very beautiful, friendly and exciting.
You can click on these photos for an enlargement.
List of the pages in my Turkey series. Bosporus Canakkale Gallipoli Istanbul Troy Tukey Trains Site Index Back to Top Photos Index Thanks for coming, I hope you
have enjoyed it, will recommend
it to your friends, and will come
back later to see my site developing
and expanding.
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