Turkey In Photos

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Turkey, with the official name of Republic of Turkey, lies mostly on Anatolia, the peninsula of the Asian Continent covered by 3 seas, Black, Aegean and the Mediterrenean.  A small part of Turkey, called Trakya, lies in the European Continent.  Two straits of Turkey, Canakkale and Bosphorus, seperates the two continents with the internal Marmara Sea in between them.

History of the Republic of Turkey starts with the World War I.  After the practical end of the Ottoman Empire and the conquerence of most part of the country by the Allies.  During the first years of the 1920s a group of patriots leaded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk built a new army, a new Republic and, at the end of the War of Liberation, a new country, Turkey.  Being 84 years old now, Turkey is the only country with a muslim population and a democratic republic at the same time.

Contrary to the short history of the Republic of Turkey, Turks and Anatolia have histories that extend to 5,000 BC. Anatolia, which comes from Greek with a meaning of "rising of the sun", has been the cradle for many civilizations because of its strategic location.  During the course of the 7,000 years humanity build many civilizations; Hattians, Luwians, Hittites, Cimmerians, Lydians, Persians, Celts, Greeks, Romans, Goths, Byzantines, Seljuk Turks, Ottoman Turks and Turkey.  These people used to have both different ethnic and linguistic roots.

On the other hand, Turks, were first seen on the history in Central Asia, neighboring the Chinese Empire and being the reason for the construction of the Great Wall of China.  Towards the 10th century AD, due to the shift in the climate, Turks started migrating to west.  Seljuk Turks first entered the scene of Anatolia in 1071 AD with the Malazgirt War. The Malazgirt War was a  complete defeat for the Byzantine Empire which led open the gates of Anatolia to Turks.

After the fall down of Seljuk Turks, the Ottoman Empire gained control of Anatolia.  Being built in 1299 AD, the Empire lived for more than 600 years as one of the greatest empires of the world history.  At the peak time of the empire, led by Suleyman the Magnificent, the Ottomans, based in Istanbul, controlled North Africa, East Europe, some part of Russia and the Middle East.

Today, modern Turkey, has a population of over 70 million.  Turkey is a member of the United Nations, NATO, OECD and many more organizations.  With a 99,9% muslim population, Turkey is the only muslim country in the world having a democracy and governed as a republic.  Turkey switched from the Monarchic Regime to the Republican Regime in 1923 after the War of Liberation led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.  After a series of revolutions like switching the alphabet from the Arabic to Latin alphabet, Turkey became a much modern country.  One of the most important revolutions was the seperation of religion issues from the government issues, so-called secularism.  Also, in 1934, Turkey gave women the right to vote, even before many European Countries like France, Italy and Switzerland.

After this brief introduction to the history of Turkey, we would like to take you to the touristic sites of the modern Turkey.  Turkey basically has 7 regions without representing an administrative structure.  We will try to give more details about the regions of Turkey that attracts tourists in the first place.  These are, namely, the Mediterrenean Region (which is also called the Turkish Riviera), The Aegean Region (West Turkey), The Marmara Region (Northwest Turkey which also includes Istanbul) and the Central Anatolia (where Cappadocia and the capital city Ankara lies in).

The territory of Turkey, looking much like a rectangle, is about 1700 km long and 800 km wide and the area including the lakes is about 780,000 square kilometers.  Spreading on a quite wide region with a past of over 10,000 years and 13 civilizations, Turkey has a very diverse culture.  You can find traces og the Middle East Turks, Ottomans, Europe and Islam at the same time.  As Turkey transformed in to a modern nation state from the religion based Ottoman Empire, great importance was given to fine arts.  Especially in the first years of the Republic, high investments were made for building museums, theaters, conservatories and art schools.  Today Turkey is proud of its Nobel Award winner Orhan Pamuk.

One of the first places to visit in Turkey is Istanbul.  Being the capital city of the Byzantine Empire until 1453, Istanbul then served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire till 1923.  After this period although not being the capital anymore, Istanbul is still the economical capital of Turkey with over 10 million population.  You will need more than a week to visit the toursitic places in Istanbul like the Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahce Palace, Hagia Sophia, Sultanahmet Mosque, beautiful Bosphorus, Basilica Cistern, Golden Horn, Grand Bazaar and many more...

Going a bit south towards the Aegean Region, you arrive at the 3rd biggest city of Turkey, Izmir.  Being the most modern city of Turkey, Izmir is also very close to various holiday attractions.  Resorts such as Cesme, Ayvalik, Kusadasi and historical sites like Ephesus, House of Virgin Mary are all one hour driving distance from Izmir.

Further south you will come to South Turkey, main cities being Mugla and Antalya.  In this region, you can visit Bodrum, St. Tropez of Turkey, Marmaris, an attraction for most tourists, Antalya, Kas, Kemer, Kalkan, Fethiye, Alanya and many more smaller holiday resorts.  Nowadays this regions i also called the Turkish Riviera, a coastline stretching from Bodrum to Alanya.  The region is also called Lycia, the ancient settlers even before the Byzantine Empire.  The Lycian Union was consisting of many ancient cities like Myra, Patara, Olympos, Termessos, Hieropolis, Ephesus, Simena, Perge, Halikarnassos and Aspendos.  Most of these ancient cities are in good condition today with traditionally an amphitheater, baths, aqueducts, temples, gates stadiums...  Be sure to visit the natural beauties like Pamukkale and Saklikent near Antalya.

Another worth to visit region in Turkey is the Cappadocia in the Central Anatolia.  The magnificent natural formation of the rocks resulting in a chimney looking hills (called Fairy Chimneys) and many ancient churches and monasteries carved into rocks during the first centuries after Jesus are the main attractions of Cappadocia in Turkey.

Wherever or whatever you're looking for in Turkey in Photos, we will try to guide you with some detailed and correct data about the history and today of the touristic destinations of Turkey.  Even more important, we have many high quality pictures of these destinations.  Don't forget to visit our photo galleries to see the pictures...

You can also find an interactive Turkey Guide Map at Turkey in Photos.  Click on the parts and the maps will get bigger presenting you with greater detail about the region.  For suggestions, complaints or any questions about Turkey please feel free to contact us via e-mail. Thanks for visiting Turkey in Photos...