Geography and Neighbors :Turkey is located on the Southeast corner of the European and Midwest border of the Asian continents .The European and Asian sides are divided by the Istanbul Bogazi (The Bosphorus), the Sea of Marmara, and the Canakkale Bogazi (Dardanelle). Turkey's land mass is 814,578 sq km. To give a general idea that makes 32 times the Netherlands.

The Country is surrounded by the Black Sea on the north, Mediterranean sea on the south and the Aegean Sea on the west. The coastline of Turkey's seas is about 8,300 km long..Turkey's neighbor countries are : Northwest: Greece and Bulgaria, Northeast: Georgia and Armenia, East: Iran, Southeast: Iraq and Syria.

Population : Turkey has 70 million inhabitants, which around 20 million of whom live in countryside. The top crowded cities are Istanbul with around 12 Million, Ankara the capital city with 4 million, Izmir with 2 million and Adana, Bursa, Antalya.

Regions / Cities : Turkey is divided to 7 regions and 81 cities. The Regions are Marmara, Aegean, Black Sea, Mediterranean, Central Anatolia, East Anatolia, Southeast Anatolia.

Nature : Anatolia is a high plateau region rising progressively towards the east, broken up by the valleys of about 15 rivers, including the Dicle (Tigris) and the Firat (Euphrates). There are numerous lakes and some, such as like Van, are as large as inland seas. In the north, the eastern Black Sea Mountain chain runs parallel to the Black Sea; in the south, the Taurus Mountains sweep clown almost to the narrow, fertile coastal plain along the coast.

Most of the rivers of Turkey flow into the seas surrounding the country. The Fırat (Euphrates) and Dicle (Tigris) join together in Iraq and flow into the Persian Gulf. Turkey's largest rivers, the Kizilirmak, Yesilirmak and Sakarya, flow into the Black Sea. The Susurluk, Biga and Gönen pour into the Sea of Marmara, the Gediz, Küçük Menderes, Büyük Menderes, and Meriç into the Aegean and the Seyhan, Ceyhan and Göksu into the Mediterranean.

Speaking about the mountains of Turkey, in the Marmara region the most important peak is the Uludağ (2543 m) at the same time it is a major winter sports and tourist center. In the Aegean region, the mountains fall perpendicularly to the sea. In the Mediterranean region, located in the south of Turkey, the western and central Taurus Mountains suddenly rise up behind the coastline. The Central Anatolia Region is exactly in the middle of Turkey and gives the appearance of being less mountainous compared with other regions. The main peaks of the region are Karadağ, Karacadağ, Hasandağ, and Erciyes (3917 m). The Eastern Anatolia region is Turkey's largest and highest region. About three-fourths is at an altitude of 1500 - 2000 meters. There are numerous inactive volcanoes in the region, including Nemrut, Suphan, Tendurek and Turkey's highest peak where Noah's Ark was landed, Mount Ağrı (Ararat) is 5165 meters high.

In terms of numbers of lakes, the Eastern Anatolia region is the richest. It contains Turkey's largest, Lake Van (3713 sq.km.). There are also many lakes in west Taurus Mountains area; the Beyşehir and Eğridir lakes. Important lakes are; the second largest lake in Turkey, Tuzgölü, Burdur, Sapanca, Iznik, Ulubat, Manyas (bird sanctuary), Akşehir, and Eber. As a result of the construction of dams during the past thirty years, several large dam lakes have come into existence in the Eastern Anatolia such as, Keban, Karakaya, and Atatürk.

As the climate and topography vary greatly in Turkey, so does the flora and fauna. The Black Sea region is renowned for its forests of leaf bearing and coniferous trees and for the apples, pears, cherries which is originated from Turkey, hazelnuts, mandarin oranges, tobacco and tea that are grown there. Along the eastern Mediterranean shores the local vegetation is tropical, with flourishing banana, palm and citrus trees and sugar cane and cotton. From the western Mediterranean, Aegean and Marmara coasts: olive, citrus and pine trees along the mountains are found. On the steppes of Central Anatolia: natural pastures with scattered-forested areas. In Europe, there are 11,500 kind of flora with flowers. In Turkey, this number is 9,000 but 3,000 of this flora only grow in Turkey.

Turkey is the habitat of the same animals that can be found in the European countries, plus many from Asia and Africa. Increasing population, developing industries, larger residential areas and unregulated hunting have been causing the destruction of natural resources which has a negative effect on wildlife.

Throughout the country today there are 120 species of mammals, 439 birds, 130 reptiles and 345 fish. Many of these species are very rare.

Turkey is rich in wild animals, insects and game birds. Wolf, fox, wildcat, lynx, jackal, marten, hyena, bear, deer, gazelle, boar, mountain goat, snake, scorpion, spider, beaver are among the animals still found in secluded and wooded regions. Major game birds are partridge, wild goose, quail and bustard.

Indigenous animals found only in Anatolia include shepherd dog from Kangal, White Cat of Van region, and Tiftik Kecisi (Angora goat) from Ankara (Angora). Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita) from Birecik is extinct.