Turkey (Geography)
Turkey (Geography) The majority of Turkey is made up of the Anatolian
Plateau, which stretches with surrounding coastal areas from the Aegean Sea in
the west to Iran in the east. Anatolia is shaped like a giant rectangle whose
two long sides are made up of the Pontic Mountains in the north and the Taurus
Mountains in the south. To the east, the two mountain ranges in the Eastern
Anatolian Highlands unite, appearing more and more dramatic the further east you
go. There are tectonic movements in several regions of the country, and violent
earthquakes occur regularly.
European Turkey (Thrace) consists of a hilly lowland around the river
Ergene; facing the Dardanelles and the Black Sea, the region is surrounded by
mountains.
The Aegean Coastal Region and the Marmara Region are the largest industrial
cities and are the most densely populated and economically significant parts of
Turkey. Here you will also find the best agricultural land and the most
important tourist attractions. The counterpart is the eastern plateau with wild
and sparsely populated mountain areas. The northern coastal region is in many
ways a world unto itself, a long, narrow and fertile coastal plain facing the
Black Sea, cut off from the hinterland by high mountains. Only from the major
port cities like Trabzon and Samsun are there reasonable connections to the
interior of the country. This region has a large and varied production of
citrus fruits, nuts (which are an important commodity in Turkey) and
tea. The coastal region of the Mediterranean is similarly isolated from the rest
of the country, but by the major coastal citiesAntalya and Adana are vast areas
with fertile plains and good growth opportunities for both cotton and citrus
fruits. Central Turkey is dry and in many places only sparsely populated. Here
is a poor farm that allows only modest cultivation of grain, primarily wheat, as
well as grazing for sheep and goats. From here a considerable emigration takes
place to southern and western Turkey and to Western Europe.
The largest lakes are Tuz Gölü, a salt lake SE of Ankara, and Van Gölü in
the eastern Kurdish area. In Eastern Anatolia, the Euphrates and Tigris also
run, originating only 80 km apart and running south. Both rivers are used for
irrigation and production of electricity, in the ambitious GAP
project. This project, which includes the Great Atatürk Dam, is a source of
conflict with both Syria and Iraq, where water shortages are a bigger problem
than in Turkey.
Climate
In the western part of Turkey, the climate is subtropical Mediterranean
climate with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. The precipitation is on
an annual basis approximately 800 mm with significant regional differences. At the
Black Sea, the annual precipitation is over 2500 mm. In central and eastern
Anatolia there is a mainland climate; the summers can have temperatures of up to
40 °C, while the winter temperatures can drop to −45 °C. Especially in the
eastern part of the country, large amounts of snow fall, which in the highest
areas can remain for 4-5 months.
Population
The population of Turkey is young and the birth rate is high but
declining; population growth is in the early 2000's. of less than 1.5% per
annum. Almost the entire population is Muslim, about 98%. There are small
Armenian, Greek and Jewish minorities, which are gradually declining. However,
the Jewish minority locally still plays a certain role in business.
- Countryaah:
Do you know how many people there are in Turkey? Check this site to see
population pyramid and resident density about this country.
A large minority is made up of the Kurds, who are thought to make up over a
fifth of the population, perhaps up to 15 million. (see Kurdistan). The Kurds
traditionally lived in the mountainous regions of eastern Anatolia, where they
are today separated from the Kurdish groups in Iraq and Iran by guarded borders,
which, however, are lively crossed. In the 1920's there was an extensive forced
relocation of Kurds to the west, just as urbanization and internal migration
have led so many Kurds to the big cities in the west that today (2006) it is
assumed that a considerable part of the Kurdish population lives outside the
area that can be called Kurdistan.
Over 3.5 million Turks and Kurds live outside Turkey, of which approximately 90% in
Europe and by far the most in Germany. In the post-war period, Turkish
emigration can be divided into two phases: a first phase, which extends to 1973
and was almost exclusively labor migration, and a second phase after 1973,
which, when most European countries introduced immigration bans, consists of
family reunifications and political reasons. and illegal emigration.
Turkey's cities are growing rapidly and the urban population makes up at
least 70% of the total population. The three largest
cities, Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir, together hold an estimated 20 million
people. people, Istanbul alone approximately 9 mio. (unofficially, 15-16 million
people live in the city).
Industries
Agriculture. Turkey is one of the world's largest agricultural
countries and in practice self-sufficient in agricultural products. The role of
the industry in the country's economy is declining in importance, but more than
a third of the workforce is still employed here. About a third of the country's
area, 25 million. ha, is cultivated, and the gnsntl. use size is 8
ha. Production is very varied, and for a large number of crops, Turkey is among
the ten largest producers in the world; this applies wheat, barley, sugar
beet, tomatoes, apples, tea, tobacco and cotton. Important export crops are
cotton, tobacco, fruit and nuts. The country had a significant growth in
agricultural production in the second half of the 1990's; especially 1996 and
1998 had high growth rates, due to favorable weather conditions. Cotton,
which has traditionally been Turkey's most important export, has lost
importance, but extensive irrigation has been launched to revitalize
production. The tobacco is produced in the Aegean and Thracian regions as well
as by the Black Sea and is exported primarily to the United States and tobacco
producers in Eastern Europe. Turkey has large populations of sheep, cattle and
goats, but in line with the extinction of nomadism and the general development
of agriculture, the goat population is strongly returning.
Mining. Turkey has extensive mineral resources of bauxite,
chromium, copper, iron ore, manganese and sulfur. Mining employs approximately 170,000
people and is responsible for 10% of exports. approximately 60% of the sector is
state-owned, and the coal mines are 100% state-run. Coal resources are
among the largest in this part of the world and will hardly ever be
depleted. Turkey also has some oil production, but the oil is a heavy,
sulfur-containing type, which in quantity is not enough for Turkey's own
consumption. Up to 10% of Turkey's imports are oil and oil products, especially
crude oil from Saudi Arabia. Turkey has launched a certain trade offensive in
the former Soviet republics to the east, from which it seeks to replace Saudi
Arabia oil.
Industry. Turkey's industrialization began in earnest in the 1930's,
when Kemal Atatürks government initiated a state-run program to establish basic
industries that produced textiles, sugar, cement, chemicals, iron and
steel. Although the development programs of the 1930's have formed the basis of
the current industrial structure, the actual development did not begin to pick
up speed until the 1950's. Since then, the industry has moved towards more
technologically sophisticated areas such as electrical items and later
electronic consumer goods, cars (under license) and machinery. Most industries
are established to meet a domestic demand for consumer goods, but there are also
export industries. The state plays a declining but still central role in most
industries, and many factories are judged to be inefficient. The reasons are
many, but includes political interference in pricing and other management
decisions, inappropriate location of production facilities, lack of modern
machinery and methods, too few investments and too many employees. The
state-owned companies are found mainly in the iron and steel production and
chemical industry, but also in the textile and food sector. The privately owned
sector is more efficient, but has some of the same weaknesses, on the basis
of protectionist customs rules which have limited development. Most significant
is the textile industry, which accounts for 40% of exports. The iron and steel
industry is growing strongly; steel production is exported to EU countries,
and steel is among the products included in Turkey's customs agreement with the
EU. The car industry, which mainly produces small cars on licensing agreements
with European car factories,
Infrastructure. Until the 1950's, Turkey relied on railways, but since
then the development of the road network has had the highest priority, and many
railways are now dilapidated and threatened with closure. Today (2006) Turkey
has an extensive network of good roads, in many places motorways. However, the
quality of the road network decreases the further east in the country you
go. Passenger transport is mainly handled by buses, which regularly operate the
bus terminals that most cities have built. Freight traffic also largely travels
by road, and goods are increasingly being transported from Europe to the Middle
East via Turkey. Both along the Black Sea and along the Mediterranean coast,
there is significant coaster traffic, frequently with Istanbul as the
terminus. In addition, the national airline, Turkish Airways, which serves most
major cities in the country.
Tourism. Revenues from tourism are very significant and
increasing. This is especially the case with charter and mass tourism. Turkey
has large, as yet undeveloped tourism potentials partly due to the climate,
partly due to the many and very diverse sights. Due to the conflict between the
Turkish state and militant Kurds, the eastern part of Anatolia has almost no
tourism, but here too there are great opportunities. The main sights are
archeological remains scattered over most of the country, the mosques and the
bustling crowds in the big cities as well as palaces, fortifications and
administration buildings from the time of the sultans in Istanbul. In addition,
the varied nature.
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