1.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
2.
Eastern Anatolia Region
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The Eastern Anatolia Region is a geographical region of Turkey. The region and the name Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi were first defined at the First Geography Congress in 1941 and it has the highest average altitude, largest geographical area, and lowest population density of all regions of Turkey. Prior to getting its current name by the Turkish state, most of the region was part of the Six Armenian provinces in the known as the Armenian Highlands. After the Armenian Genocide, the geopolitical term Eastern Anatolia was created to replace what had historically been known as Western Armenia, starting from 1880 the name Armenia was forbidden to be used in official Ottoman documents. The government of Sultan Abdul Hamid II replaced the name Armenia with such terms as Kurdistan or Anatolia, the Sublime Porte was trying to cover up the Armenian Question, if there was no Armenia, then there was no Armenian Question. The process of “nationalization” of toponyms was continued by the Kemalists, who were the successors of the Young Turks. Starting from 1923 the entire territory of Western Armenia was officially renamed “Eastern Anatolia”, in the 17th century when the Armenian Question was not as yet included into the international diplomacy agenda, the terms Anatolia or Eastern Anatolia were never used to indicate Armenia. Furthermore, the Islamic World Map of the 16th century and other Ottoman maps of the 18th and 19th centuries have clearly indicated Armenia on a territory as well as its cities. Armenia, together with its boundaries, was mentioned in the works of earlier Ottoman historians. Kâtip Çelebi, a famous Ottoman chronicler of the 17th century, had a chapter titled “About the Country Called Armenia” in his book Jihan Numa. When, however, this book was republished in 1957, its modern Turkish editor H. Selen changed this title into “Eastern Anatolia”. Osman Nuri, a historian of the half of the 19th century, mentions Armenia repeatedly in his three-volume Abdul Hamid. The word Anatolia means “sunrise” or “east” in Greek and this name was given to the Asia Minor peninsula approximately in the 5th or 4th centuries B. C. During the Ottoman era, the term Anadolou included the vilayets of Asia Minor with Kyotahia as its center. The numerous European, Ottoman, Armenian, Russian, Persian, Arabic and this testifies, inter alia, to the fact that even after the loss of its statehood the Armenian nation still constituted a majority in its homeland, which was recognized by Ottoman occupiers as well. The area of the region is 146,330 km², which comprises 18. 7% of the area of Turkey. The total population of the region is 6,100,000 and 5,906,565, the region has the second most rural population of Turkey after the Black Sea region. The migration level is high and population density is lower than the average for Turkey, the migration toward other Turkeys regions and toward foreign countries is higher than the natural population increase, a fact which is leading to a slight decline of the Regions population
3.
Georgia (country)
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Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
4.
Black Sea
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The Black Sea is a body of water between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. It is supplied by a number of rivers, such as the Danube, Dnieper, Rioni, Southern Bug. The Black Sea has an area of 436,400 km2, a depth of 2,212 m. It is constrained by the Pontic Mountains to the south and by the Caucasus Mountains to the east, the longest east-west extent is about 1,175 km. The Black Sea has a water balance, that is, a net outflow of water 300 km3 per year through the Bosphorus. Mediterranean water flows into the Black Sea as part of a two-way hydrological exchange, the Black Sea drains into the Mediterranean Sea and then the Atlantic Ocean, via the Aegean Sea and various straits. The Bosphorus Strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and these waters separate Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The Black Sea is also connected to the Sea of Azov by the Strait of Kerch, the water level has varied significantly. Due to these variations in the level in the basin. At certain critical water levels it is possible for connections with surrounding water bodies to become established and it is through the most active of these connective routes, the Turkish Straits, that the Black Sea joins the world ocean. When this hydrological link is not present, the Black Sea is a basin, operating independently of the global ocean system. Currently the Black Sea water level is high, thus water is being exchanged with the Mediterranean. The Turkish Straits connect the Black Sea with the Aegean Sea, and comprise the Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, the International Hydrographic Organization defines the limits of the Black Sea as follows, On the Southwest. The Northeastern limit of the Sea of Marmara, a line joining Cape Takil and Cape Panaghia. Strabos Geographica reports that in antiquity, the Black Sea was often just called the Sea, for the most part, Graeco-Roman tradition refers to the Black Sea as the Hospitable sea, Εὔξεινος Πόντος Eúxeinos Póntos. This is a euphemism replacing an earlier Inhospitable Sea, Πόντος Ἄξεινος Póntos Áxeinos, strabo thinks that the Black Sea was called inhospitable before Greek colonization because it was difficult to navigate, and because its shores were inhabited by savage tribes. The name was changed to hospitable after the Milesians had colonized the southern shoreline and it is also possible that the epithet Áxeinos arose by popular etymology from a Scythian word axšaina- unlit, dark, the designation Black Sea may thus date from antiquity. A map of Asia dating to 1570, entitled Asiae Nova Descriptio, from Abraham Orteliuss Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, english-language writers of the 18th century often used the name Euxine Sea to refer to the Black Sea
5.
Temperate coniferous forest
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Temperate coniferous forest is a terrestrial biome found in temperate regions of the world with warm summers and cool winters and adequate rainfall to sustain a forest. In most temperate coniferous forests, evergreen conifers predominate, while some are a mix of conifers, Temperate evergreen forests are common in the coastal areas of regions that have mild winters and heavy rainfall, or inland in drier climates or mountain areas. Coniferous forests can be found in the United States, Canada, Europe, many species of tree inhabit these forests including cedar, cypress, Douglas fir, fir, juniper, pine, podocarpus, spruce, redwood and yew. The understory also contains a variety of herbaceous and shrub species. Structurally, these forests are rather simple, generally consisting of two layers, an overstory and understory, some forests may support an intermediate layer of shrubs. Pine forests support an understory that is generally dominated by grasses and herbaceous perennials. The moist conditions of rain forests generally support an understory of mosses, ferns. Temperate rain forests can be temperate coniferous forests or temperate broadleaf and these forests are quite rare, occurring in small areas of North America, southwestern South America and northern New Zealand. The Klamath-Siskiyou forests of northwestern California and southwestern Oregon is known for its variety of plant and animal species. In Russia, a coniferous forest, specifically pine or spruce forest is known as bor, bors typically grow on well-drained sandy soils, sandy clay soils and mild loams. The names of several Russian historical buildings and localities refer to the word bor as the place where they were built. Cedar hemlock douglas-fir forest Waring, Richard H.2002, in, Volume 2, The Earth system, biological and ecological dimensions of global environmental change. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, Temperate forest WWF - Temperate Coniferous Forest Ecoregions
6.
Rize Province
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Rize Province is a province of north-east Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. The province of Erzurum is to the south and it was formerly known as Lazistan, the designation of the term of Lazistan was officially banned in 1926, by Kemalists. Its capital is the city of Rize, the province is home to Laz, Hemshin, Turkish people and Georgian communities. The name comes from Greek ρίζα, meaning mountain slopes, the Georgian name is Rize, Laz name is Rizini and the Armenian name is Rize. Rize is located between the Pontic Mountains and the Black Sea and it is considered to be the wettest corner of Turkey and is the countrys main tea producing region. In addition to tea, the region is known for growing kiwi fruit. The province is rural and very scenic, containing many mountain valleys. The district of Çamlıhemşin is one of Turkeys most popular venues for trekking, the new Black Sea coast road has made Rize more accessible, but has drawn criticism for its negative effect on the regions wildlife. Since the early 2000s, Rize has seen an increase in visitors from outside the province and this increase in tourism has raised concerns among locals that the traditional way of life and the unblemished character of the natural surroundings is being endangered. Native plants include the Cherry Laurel, the fruit of which is a small dark plum that leaves a dark stain on the mouth and teeth. In addition, the Bilberry, which are now being actively cultivated, Rize is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude. Valleys first appeared during the Cretaceous period and have expanded due to erosion. The regions climate is characterized by high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is Cfa and we have little information as to the prehistory of this region, which being covered in thick forest is difficult to excavate and reveals little. Qulha or Kolkhis which existed from the c, then in 714 BC a tribe of Cimmerians came to settle by the Çoruh River, fleeing as their homeland in the Caucasus was overrun by the Saka branch of the Scythians. The Cimmerians spread throughout Anatolia and still there are many places named Kemer as a record of their presence. Later the Persian armies were defeated by Alexander the Great, following the death of Alexander a number of separate kingdoms were established in Anatolia including Bithynia and Cappadoccia and in this corner of the eastern Black Sea, Pontus. Rize was brought into the Kingdom of Pontus by Pharnaces in 180 BC, the kingdom was absorbed into the Roman Empire between 10 AD and 395 AD, when it passed to the Byzantines
7.
Tokat Province
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Tokat Province is a province in northern Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Amasya to the northwest, Yozgat to the southwest, Sivas to the southeast and its capital is Tokat, which lies inland of the middle Black Sea region,422 kilometers from Ankara. Tokat is the site of the important ancient Roman city of Comana of Pontus, in 1071 CE, it became a part of the Danismend Turkmen principality, and one of its principal cities. The region prospered from the trade between Anatolia and Persia, the Latifoğlu Mansion is a third, which is an example of the traditional architecture of a Turkish house of the 19th century, restored recently to its original state. Tokat governors official website Tokat municipalitys official website Tokat weather forecast information Pictures of the capital of Tokat province, with links to others nearby
8.
Trabzon Province
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Trabzon Province is a province of Turkey on the Black Sea coast. Located in an important region, Trabzon is one of the oldest trade port cities in Anatolia. Neighbouring provinces are Giresun to the west, Gümüşhane to the southwest, Bayburt to the southeast, the provincial capital is Trabzon city, and the traffic code is 61. The major ethnic groups are Turks, but the province is home to a minority of Muslim Romeika-speakers. Trabzon province is divided into 18 districts, Trabzon Districts along the 114 km coastline, Beşikdüzü, Vakfıkebir, Çarşıbaşı, Akçaabat, Yomra, Arsin, Araklı, Sürmene, Districts inland, Tonya, Düzköy, Şalpazarı, Maçka, Köprübaşı, Dernekpazarı, Hayrat and Çaykara. Beşikdüzü and Şalpazarı gained district status in 1988, Çarşıbaşı, Düzköy, Köprübaşı, Dernekpazarı, starting from the 9th century BC, the city had also been mentioned by historians such as Homeros, Herodotus, Hesiodos. The first written source regarding Trabzon is Anabasis, authored by Xenophon, an important Roman and Byzantine centre, it was the capital of the Empire of Trebizond from 1204 to 1461. Trabzon was subsequently part of the Ottoman Empire by Mehmet the Conqueror. It was initially a sanjak before gaining the status of eyalet, after the region was conquered in 1461, the Fatih Medrese, Hatuniye Medrese, İskender Pasha Medrese and Hamza Pasha Medrese were established as important medreses of the period. The province was restored to Turkish control in early 1918 following Russias exit from World War I with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. K, culture of the Black Sea Region All about Trabzon Introduction video of Trabzon Trabzon Real Estate
9.
Zonguldak Province
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Zonguldak Province is a province along the western Black Sea coast region of Turkey. The province is 3.481 km² in size and has a population of 619,703 Its adjacent provinces are Düzce to the southwest, Bolu to the south, Karabük to the southeast, and Bartın to the east. Since the discovery of coal in the province, Zonguldak has become a coal production center. The Ereğli Museum, located in the town of Ereğli, is the museum in the city. Ereğli was founded during the 6th century B. C. by the Mariandynians, Ereğli was an important commercial wharf, which takes its name from the famous mythic hero, Hercules. The city preserved its importance during the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk, many natural and sandy beaches may be found along a fifty-mile stretch of the coast. The boroughs of the city are used as recreation areas for leisurely hikes by regional residents. Boroughs are artificial lakes intended to provide drinking water or serve other industrial purposes and these boroughs are, Ulutan Dam Lake at the center, Kızılcapınar Dam Lake, and Gülüç Dam Lake in Ereğli, Dereköy Pond at Çatalağzı borough and Çobanoğlu Pond at Karapınar borough. The most important waterfalls of the city are, Harmankaya at Center Kokaksu site, Değirmenağzı at Kozlu borough and Güneşli waterfalls at Ereğli, cehennemağzı Cave, Gökgöl, Kızılelma, İnağzı and Cumayanı are the notable caverns. The first specimen of Turkish coal was brought from Ereğli to Istanbul in 1822, however, in 1829, another specimen of coal was brought to Istanbul by Uzun Mehmet, a sailor and native of the village of Kestaneci, near Ereğli. This time attention was given to the discovery and the received a reward of a life pension. The first miners requested and delivered from the Austrian Government are the Austrian Croats known to have employed in the Ereğli Coal Mines. An investigation of Hazine-i Hassa records in the Ottoman archives shows that mining activities in the Ereğli Basin started in February 1841. This is confirmed by an article published in the 14 February 1841 issue of Ceride-i Havadis. Various places mentioned in the records are not known for sure, records of the period after the Sultan’s participation in the firm mention coal mines administered by the Company in Bezekli, Amasra, Karaburun areas and various places. After 1865, one of various places is named as Zone-Goul-Dagh or Zon-Goul-Dak. 1893-189689 AQ1704 Etudes et projets des ports de Zongouldak et de Koslou par A. Guérard, 1891-189789 AQ1705 Projet du port de Zongouldak. 189789 AQ1706 Projet du port de Zongouldak, 1897-189889 AQ1707 Projet du port de Zongouldak
10.
Georgians
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The Georgians or Kartvelians are a nation and ethnic group who constitute a majority of the population in Georgia. Large Georgian communities are present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, United States. Georgians arose from the ancient Colchian and Iberian civilizations, there are also small Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara, as well as a significant number of irreligious Georgians. By the early 11th century they formed a unified Kingdom of Georgia and inaugurated the Georgian Golden Age and this lasted until being weakened by Mongol invasions, as well as internal divisions following the death of George V the Brilliant, the last of the great kings of Georgia. To ensure Georgias survival, in 1783 Heraclius II of Georgia forged an alliance with the Russian Empire, the Russo-Georgian alliance, however, backfired as Russia was unwilling to fulfill the terms of the treaty, proceeding to annex the troubled kingdom in 1801. Georgians briefly reasserted their independence from Russia under the First Georgian Republic from 1918-1921, Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi, their land Sakartvelo, and their language Kartuli. According to The Georgian Chronicles, the ancestor of the Kartvelian people was Kartlos, however, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the latter being one of the proto-Georgian tribes that emerged as a dominant group in ancient times. Ancient Greeks and Romans referred to western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians, the term Georgians is derived from the country of Georgia. Starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. Scholars usually refer to them as Proto-Kartvelian tribes, the Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Colchians and Iberians. East Georgian tribes of Tibarenians-Iberians formed their kingdom in 7th century BCE, however, western Georgian tribes established the first Georgian state of Colchis before the foundation of the Iberian Kingdom in the east. According to the scholars of Georgia, the formations of these two early Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia, resulted in the consolidation and uniformity of the Georgian nation. The ancient Jewish chronicle by Josephus mentions Georgians as Iberes who were also called Thobel, diauehi in Assyrian sources and Taochi in Greek lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia, a region that was part of Georgia. This ancient tribe is considered by scholars as ancestors of the Georgians. Modern Georgians still refer to this region, which now belongs to present-day Turkey, as Tao-Klarjeti, some people there still speak the Georgian language. Colchians in the ancient western Georgian Kingdom of Colchis were another proto-Georgian tribed and they are first mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II, and are also included western Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians. Iberians, also known as Tiberians or Tiberanians, lived in the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia, both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation
11.
Hemshin peoples
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The term the Hemshin is also used in some publications to refer to Hemshinli. Robert H. Hewsen shows the region where todays Hemşin is located to be populated by a people with different designations throughout the ancient and he indicates thereby that some designations may have alternative forms and partially presents the names used with question marks. The Hemşin region is shown as part of Colchis, Tzanica, the specific location of Hemşin is indicated as Tambur/Hamamašen as a fort and town for the first time in the map covering the period 654–750. This event is declared by Mamikonian to have taken place in early seventh century, simonian who conveys this story reports also that the date given by the author may be wrong. Ghewond conveys this immigration to be to heavy taxes imposed on Armenians by the Arab rulers. The Amatuni lords are offered fertile land to settle down by the Byzantine Emperor and this migration is dated to be after 789 by Ghewond and as 750 by Stephen Asoghik of Taron. Redgate informs about possible symbolism used in the Ghewond’s history and possible garbling in Mamikonian’s history, hachikian states “There is no clue as to where Tambur, the legendary capital of Hamshen, was located. The only certain thing about it is that it belonged to a much earlier time- if it existed at all”. He also mentions in the footnote the name similarity between Tambur and a known as Tahpur or Tagpur, in the heights of Kaptanpasa. Simonian states that Tambur is probably in the vicinity of Varoşkale, hetum describes the region to be miraculous and strange place unbelievable unless seen by own eyes, dark and without roads. Signs of human settlement are that, the referenced translation suggests this Emperor could be Shapuhr II. Simonian considers the so described difficulty in not to imply total isolation. On the contrary, he reports, Hamshen served sometimes as a route between the coastal regions and the Armenian plateau. Robert W. Edwards has defined the geographical perimeters of that region, sources of the ruling powers in the region, are silent about Hemshin, until the conquest by the Ottomans. The Ottoman conquest of Hemshin occurred sometime in the 1480s, an Ottoman register dated around 1486 calls it Hemshin, in the 15th century, the region of Hamshen was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. During the Turkish rule, two most important developments are human migrations and conversions, most sources agree that prior to Ottoman era majority of the residents of Hemshin were Christian and members of the Armenian Apostolic Church. The details and the circumstances for the migrations and the conversions during the Ottoman era are not clearly known or documented. As a result of developments, distinctive communities with the same generic name have also appeared in the vicinity of Hopa
