1.
Provinces of Turkey
–
Turkey is divided into 81 provinces. Each province is divided into a number of different districts, the provincial government is seated in the central district. The central area usually bears the name of the province, there are only two exceptions to this naming scheme, Antakya of Hatay province İzmit of Kocaeli province A province is administered by an appointed governor from the ministry of interior. Below is a list of the 81 provinces of Turkey, sorted according to their license plate code, after Zonguldak the ordering is not alphabetical but in the order of the creation of provinces, as these provinces were created more recently and thus their plate numbers were assigned thereafter. The numbers of the ISO code, the first two digits of the registration plates of Turkey and the first digits of the postal codes in Turkey are the same
2.
Turkey
–
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
3.
NUTS statistical regions of Turkey
–
As a candidate country of the European Union, Turkey is included in the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics. Interactive map of statistics indicators by NUTS levels
4.
Electoral system of Turkey
–
The Electoral system of Turkey varies for general, presidential and local elections that take place in Turkey every four years, five years and five years respectively. Turkey has been a multi-party democracy since 1950, with the first democratic election held on 14 May 1950 leading to the end of the single-party rule established in 1923. The current electoral system for electing Members of Parliament to the Grand National Assembly has a 10% election threshold, the highest of any country. Presidential elections, A Two-round system, with the top two contesting a run-off election two weeks after the initial election should no candidate win at least 50%+1 of the popular vote. Turkey elects 550 Members of Parliament to the Grand National Assembly using the DHondt method, E. g. in the 2002 general election the AKP won 34. 28% of the vote but won nearly two-thirds of the seats. This was the case in the 2007 and 2011 general election, where the Kurdish Democratic Society Party, the main criticism of the current system is the high 10% threshold necessary to gain seats. Under these proposals, the threshold would fall from 10% to either 7 or 8% while Turkey would be split into 129 electoral districts rather than the existing 85, İstanbul itself would have been split into 17 or 20 districts. The two main opposition parties CHP and MHP do not have a number of electoral strongholds. The AKPs proposals for reform have raised concerns about gerrymandering, Turkey is split into 85 electoral districts, which elect a certain number of Members to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The Grand National Assembly has a total of 550 seats, which each district allocated a certain number of MPs in proportion to their population. The Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey conducts population reviews of each district before the election, in all but three cases, electoral districts share the same name and borders of the 81 Provinces of Turkey. The exceptions are İzmir, İstanbul and Ankara, Provinces electing between 19 and 36 MPs are split into two electoral districts, while any province electing above 36 MPs are divided into three. As the countrys three largest provinces, İzmir and Ankara are divided into two subdistricts while İstanbul is divided into three, the distribution of elected MPs per electoral district is shown below. A total of eight districts had their number of MPs adjusted since the 2011 general election by the electoral council. The two electoral districts of Ankara also had their boundaries changed, the number of voters in each province was announced on 17 May 2015. In total, there are 53,741,838 voters in the provinces, however, because of the electoral system, this was not distributed equally to the provinces. In İzmir, where voters per MP was the highest,118,669 votes corresponded to an MP, two factors caused this more than fourfold disparity. Namely, the electoral law favours provinces smaller in size, which caused İzmir, İstanbul and Ankara, Turkeys largest cities and provinces, to have the least representation per voter
5.
Vehicle registration plate
–
A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or a license plate, is metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the owner within the issuing regions database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered, the next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well, the third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the government holds a monopoly on the manufacturing of vehicle registration plates for that jurisdiction. Thus, it is illegal for private citizens to make and affix their own plates. Alternately, the government will merely assign plate numbers, and it is the owners responsibility to find an approved private supplier to make a plate with that number. In some jurisdictions, plates will be assigned to that particular vehicle for its lifetime. If the vehicle is destroyed or exported to a different country. Other jurisdictions follow a policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold the seller removes the current plate from the vehicle. Buyers must either obtain new plates or attach plates they already hold, as well as register their vehicles under the buyers name, a person who sells a car and then purchases a new one can apply to have the old plates put onto the new car. One who sells a car and does not buy a new one may, depending on the laws involved, have to turn the old plates in or destroy them. Some jurisdictions permit the registration of the vehicle with personal plates, in some jurisdictions, plates require periodic replacement, often associated with a design change of the plate itself. Vehicle owners may or may not have the option to keep their original plate number, alternately, or additionally, vehicle owners have to replace a small decal on the plate or use a decal on the windshield to indicate the expiration date of the vehicle registration. Plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a frame that is fixed to the vehicle. Sometimes, the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can also purchase customized frames to replace the original frames, in some jurisdictions licence plate frames are illegal
6.
Turkish language
–
Outside of Turkey, significant smaller groups of speakers exist in Germany, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Northern Cyprus, Greece, the Caucasus, and other parts of Europe and Central Asia. Cyprus has requested that the European Union add Turkish as an official EU language, in 1928, as one of Atatürks Reforms in the early years of the Republic of Turkey, the Ottoman Turkish alphabet was replaced with a Latin alphabet. The distinctive characteristics of Turkish are vowel harmony and extensive agglutination, the basic word order of Turkish is subject–object–verb. Turkish has no classes or grammatical gender. Turkish has a strong T–V distinction and usage of honorifics, Turkish uses second-person pronouns that distinguish varying levels of politeness, social distance, age, courtesy or familiarity toward the addressee. The plural second-person pronoun and verb forms are used referring to a person out of respect. Turkic languages belong to the Altaic language group, the Turkic family comprises some 30 living languages spoken across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Siberia. Turkish is a member of the Oghuz group of languages, a subgroup of the Turkic language family, there is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between Turkish and the other Oghuz Turkic languages, including Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Qashqai, Gagauz, and Balkan Gagauz Turkish. The earliest known Old Turkic inscriptions are the three monumental Orkhon inscriptions found in modern Mongolia, erected in honour of the prince Kul Tigin and his brother Emperor Bilge Khagan, these date back to the second Turk Kaghanate. The Seljuqs of the Oghuz Turks, in particular, brought their language, following the adoption of Islam c. Turkish literature during the Ottoman period, particularly Divan poetry, was influenced by Persian, including the adoption of poetic meters. One of the tasks of the newly established association was to initiate a reform to replace loanwords of Arabic. By banning the usage of imported words in the press, the association succeeded in removing several hundred words from the language. While most of the words introduced to the language by the TDK were newly derived from Turkic roots, owing to this sudden change in the language, older and younger people in Turkey started to differ in their vocabularies. While the generations born before the 1940s tend to use the terms of Arabic or Persian origin. The past few decades have seen the work of the TDK to coin new Turkish words to express new concepts and technologies as they enter the language. Many of these new words, particularly information technology terms, have received widespread acceptance, however, the TDK is occasionally criticized for coining words which sound contrived and artificial. Some earlier changes—such as bölem to replace fırka, political party—also failed to meet with popular approval, some words restored from Old Turkic have taken on specialized meanings, for example betik is now used to mean script in computer science
7.
Anatolia
–
Anatolia, in geography known as Asia Minor, Asian Turkey, Anatolian peninsula, or Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands, thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey. The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century, however, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Assyrian, Armenian, Arabic, Laz, Georgian, and Greek. Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example, in the latest edition of Merriam-Websters Geographical Dictionary, under this definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia. To the southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in Syria, the first name the Greeks used for the Anatolian peninsula was Ἀσία, presumably after the name of the Assuwa league in western Anatolia. As the name of Asia came to be extended to areas east of the Mediterranean. The name Anatolia derives from the Greek ἀνατολή meaning “the East” or more literally “sunrise”, the precise reference of this term has varied over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme was a theme covering the western, the modern Turkish form of Anatolia is Anadolu, which again derives from the Greek name Aνατολή. The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same linguistic origin, in English the name of Turkey for ancient Anatolia first appeared c. It is derived from the Medieval Latin Turchia, which was used by the Europeans to define the Seljuk controlled parts of Anatolia after the Battle of Manzikert. Human habitation in Anatolia dates back to the Paleolithic, neolithic Anatolia has been proposed as the homeland of the Indo-European language family, although linguists tend to favour a later origin in the steppes north of the Black Sea. However, it is clear that the Anatolian languages, the oldest branch of Indo-European, have spoken in Anatolia since at least the 19th century BC. The earliest historical records of Anatolia stem from the southeast of the region and are from the Mesopotamian-based Akkadian Empire during the reign of Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BC, scholars generally believe the earliest indigenous populations of Anatolia were the Hattians and Hurrians. The region was famous for exporting raw materials, and areas of Hattian-, one of the numerous cuneiform records dated circa 20th century BC, found in Anatolia at the Assyrian colony of Kanesh, uses an advanced system of trading computations and credit lines. They were speakers of an Indo-European language, the Hittite language, originating from Nesa, they conquered Hattusa in the 18th century BC, imposing themselves over Hattian- and Hurrian-speaking populations. According to the most widely accepted Kurgan theory on the Proto-Indo-European homeland, however, the Hittites adopted the cuneiform script, invented in Mesopotamia
8.
Erzincan
–
Erzincan is the capital of Erzincan Province in northeastern Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elâzığ, Malatya, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, located at an altitude of 1,185 meters above sea level, the citys climate produces snowy winters and warm summers. The city is notable for handcrafted copper goods and a cheese called tulum peyniri in Turkish. It is a significant road and rail junction and was noted for its silverware. Current industries include sugar refining and textile industries, the city is home to the headquarters of the Turkish Third Army. This is the name by which it is called by Strabo in his Geography,11.4.14, the etymological origin of the word is disputed, but it is agreed that the city was once called Erez. For a while it was called Justinianopolis in honour of Emperor Justinian, a text of Agathangelos reports that during the first year of his reign, King Trdat of Armenia went to Erez and visited Anahits temple to offer sacrifice. He ordered Gregory the Illuminator, who was secretly a Christian, when Gregory refused, he was taken captive and tortured, starting the events that would end with Trdats conversion to Christianity some 14 years later. After that conversion, during the Christianisation of Armenia, the temple at Erez was destroyed and its property and it later became known for its extensive monasteries. It is hard to tell when Acilisene became a bishopric, the first whose name is known is of the mid-5th century, Ioannes, who in 459 signed the decree of Patriarch Gennadius I of Constantinople against the simoniacs. Georgius or Gregorius was one of the Fathers of the Second Council of Constantinople, theodorus was at the Third Council of Constantinople in 681, signing as bishop of Justinianopolis or the region of Ecclenzine. Georgius was at the Photian Council of Constantinople, until the 10th century, the diocese itself appears in none of the Notitiae Episcopatuum. At the end of century, they present it as an autocephalous archdiocese. This was the time of greatest splendour of Acilisene, which ended with the defeat of the Byzantines by the Seljuq Turks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. After the 13th century there is no mention of bishops of Acilisene. No longer a residential bishopric, Acilisene is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, in 1071 Erzincan was absorbed into the Mengüçoğlu under the Seljuk Sulëiman Kutalmish. Marco Polo, who wrote about his visit to Erzincan, said that the people of the country are Armenians, in 1243 it was destroyed in fighting between the Seljuks under Kaykhusraw II and the Mongols. However, by 1254 its population had recovered enough that William of Rubruck was able to say an earthquake had killed more than 10,000 people, during this period, the city reached a level of semi-independence under the rule of Armenian princes
9.
Kemaliye
–
Kemaliye is both a town in and one of the nine districts of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The town is known for its architecture, including many Ottoman-era houses. It is also notable for its view of the river Karasu flowing south through a gorge above the Keban dam. In 1813, James Playfairs A System of Geography described Eğin as little town in the form of an amphitheatre, at the foot of a mountain, in a fruitful tract that reaches to the Euphrates. The British explorer Francis Rawdon Chesney followed the course of the Euphrates for an expedition between 1835 and 1837, and mentions Eğin as a town of 2700 houses on the right bank. In comparison, he counts about 3000 houses in Erzincan and 2923 families in Malatya, in 1895, the British geographer Charles William Wilson describes Eğin as follows in a travel guide to Asia Minor. An Ottoman historian Vahakn Dadrian reports that in 1896, the town was divided between Armenians and Muslims. He says that Eğin was notable for its prosperity and had escaped the 1895–1896 Hamidian massacres through a ransom payment by the Armenians of 1500 Turkish gold pounds. However, British archaeologist David George Hogarth writing for the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica noted a massacre of Armenians in Eğin on November 8,1895, the stone houses stand in terraced gardens and orchards, and the streets are mere rock ladders. On 21 October 1922, following the Turkish War of Independence, the former name is still known and used locally and sometimes even beyond. Kemaliye was administered as part of Elazığ Province until 1926, in 1938 it was transferred to Erzincan Province. Papken Siuni, leader of the Ottoman Bank takeover, siamanto, Armenian writer, poet and national figure arrested on Red Sunday and killed during the Armenian Genocide. Nikol Galanderian, Armenian composer of childrens songs. net Facebook Page Kemaliye Kaymakamlığı Kemaliye Belediyesi
10.
Refahiye
–
Refahiye is a town and district of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It covers an area of 1,744 km², and the elevation is 1,589 m, the district has a total population of 10,569 where 3730 live in the town of Refahiye. It is on the Asian highway network, the province is known for its forests and mountains called Dumanlı Mountains. There are a lot of local producers in the villages in Refahiye. It was greatly affected by the earthquake of 1939, and much of its infrastructure had to be rebuilt from scratch, Şahverdi, a beautiful village of Refahiye Information related to Şahverdi Köyü in Turkish District governors official website District municipalitys official website
11.
Tercan
–
Tercan is a town and district of Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. The district covers an area of 1,592 km2 and its population is 20,072 of which 6,646 live in the town of Tercan. The 17th century Ottoman traveller Evliya Celebi visited the place in 1647 and he wrote about the Saltukid complex and described the town as a Muslim village containing two hundred houses. Mama Hatun complex, tomb, caravanserai, mosque and hammam Kötür bridge Pekeriç fortress Abrenk church Kefrenci temple Saltukids Melike Mama Hatun
12.
International Standard Book Number
–
The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
13.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
14.
Istanbul Province
–
Istanbul Province, also the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is a province located in north-west Turkey. It has an area of 5,343.02 square kilometres and it is surrounded by the provinces of Tekirdağ to the west, Kocaeli to the east, the Black Sea to the northern part and the Sea of Marmara to the south. The Bosphorus Strait divides the province in two parts, the European side and the Asian side, out of a population of 12.9 million in 2009, roughly 8 million lived on the European side and the remaining 5 million lived on the Asian. The metropolitan municipality of Istanbul has had the boundaries as the province since 2004
15.
Denizli Province
–
Denizli Province is a province of Turkey in Western Anatolia, on high ground above the Aegean coast. Neighbouring provinces are Uşak to the north, Burdur, Isparta, Afyon to the east, Aydın, Manisa to the west and it is located between the coordinates 28° 30’ and 29° 30’ E and 37° 12’ and 38° 12’ N. It covers an area of 11,868 km², and the population is 931,823, the population was 750,882 in 1990. The provincial capital is the city of Denizli, approximately 28-30% of the land is plain, 25% is high plateau and tableland, and 47% is mountainous. At 2571m Mount Honaz is the highest in the province, babadag in the Mentes range has a height of 2308 meters. The biggest lake in Denizli is Acıgöl, which means bitter lake, there is a thermal spring to the west of Sarayköy, at the source of the Great Menderes River, which contains bicarbonates and sulfates. There is another hot spring in Kizildere which reaches 200˚C, a geothermal steam source was first found in the region in 1965 during drilling work. Today there is a plant producing electricity from the geothermal steam. Only 11% of the energy source is used to produce electricity and 89% of it. In general the Aegean region has a mild climate, however, it becomes harsher at altitude. Temperatures can rise to 55 °C during summer and fall to -5 °C in winter, there are about 80 days with precipitation, mainly during winter. There are traces of prehistoric cultures throughout the province, including evidence of pre-Hittite cultures, the Hittites were followed by Phrygians, Lydians and Persians, and then cities founded by the ancient Greeks and Alexander the Great. The first real settlement was the city of Laodicea on the Lycus which was established by King Antiochus II for his wife Laodice, Laodicea is located 6 km north of the city of Denizli. The city of Hierapolis was established around 190 BC by the Pergamene Kingdom, the calcified terraces and pools of Pamukkale now stand below the ruins of Hierapolis. The two cities, Laodicea and Hierapolis later came under Roman rule, and with the division of the Empire in 395 were left within the boundaries of the East Roman Empire. The province has strong connections, in the Book of Revelation. The voice says, Write down what you see and send the book to the Churches in these seven cities, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. The Church of Laodicea was a place even in pre-Christian times
16.
Manisa Province
–
Manisa Province is a province in western Turkey. Its neighboring provinces are İzmir to the west, Aydın to the south, Denizli to the south east, Uşak to the east, Kütahya to the north east, the seat of the province is the city of Manisa. Its provincial capital is the city of Manisa, the code is 45. The Mount Sipylus national park near the city of Manisa covers a richly forested area, hot springs, and the famous crying rock of Niobe, the park boasts of having within its boundaries about 120 varieties of native plants, especially wild tulips. The park provides opportunities for mountaineering and camping, sardis, in Salihli, was the ancient capital of Lydia, once ruled by King Croesus, who was renowned for his wealth. Due to numerous earthquakes, most of the remains date back only to Roman times. There are the remains of the temple of Artemis and a restored gymnasium, the splendid synagogue from the 3rd century is worth visiting, with its elaborate mosaics and artfully carved colored-stone panels. Akhisar, the ancient city of Thyatira, was one of the seven churches of the Book of Revelation, more recently, it became an important commercial center in the province and is its second largest after Manisa. The city of Alaşehir is where the remains of the ancient city of Philadelphia, there is little left of the ancient city, except some ruins of a Byzantine church. Kula houses provide beautiful examples of Ottoman architecture, the villages of the Mount Yunt, the towns of Gördes, Kula and Demirci are famous for their precious carpets and kilims. In addition there are thermal springs throughout the area. The province is highly developed in terms of activities which are concentrated especially in the largest four centers of Manisa, Turgutlu, Akhisar
17.
Bolu Province
–
Bolu Province is a province in northwestern Turkey. Its an important midpoint between the capital, Ankara and the largest city in the country, Istanbul and it covers an area of 7,410 km², and the population is 271,208. This is a forested mountain district centered on the city of Bolu. There is plenty of forest but little agricultural land, Bolu has a long tradition of high quality cuisine. Annual cookery competitions are held in Mengen, the province is drained by the Bolu River and the Koca River. The forests, lakes and mountains are rich in wildlife including three species and very popular weekend and holiday retreats for walkers and climbers. Parts of the province are vulnerable to earthquakes and it is not definitely known when Bolu was first founded. There are some archaeological findings dating back about 100,000 years that suggest the region was inhabited then, the area now in Bolu Province was in eastern Bithynia and southwestern Paphlagonia. The town of Bithynium from which the area takes its name is the modern Bolu, by about 375 BCE, Bithynia had gained its independence from Persia, and King Bas subsequently defeated Alexanders attempt to take it. The Bithynian region with parts of Paphlagonia remained its own kingdom until 88 BCE when it came under Mithridates VI. With Roman help the last Bithynian king, Nicomedes IV regained his throne and this led to the Third Mithridatic War and the fall of Pontus, the area was incorporated into the Roman Empire as a single province joining Paphlagonia with Bithynia. Under the folling Byzantine Empire the Bolu area was divided from western Bithynia at the Sakarya River, the Sakarya is still the southern and western boundary of the province. The Byzantine Empire briefly lost the Bolu area to the Seljuk Turks after the 1071 Battle of Manzikert, after the end of the Komnenos dynasty, the Turks gradually took the Bolu area back. About 1240 the Seljuk Turks took the part of the Bolu area from the Byzantine Empire. Due to their assistance in taking it and Sinop, the Chobanids were given territory and adjacent areas to the north. The Chobanids were relatively independent of the Sultan and that eastern area fell under the Isfendiyarids between 1292 and 1461. In 1461 it was incorporated into the rest of the Ottoman Empire, by 1265, the western part of the Bolu area was again acquired by the Seljuk Turks, but it fell to the arms of Orhan I and the Ottoman Empire in the early to mid-1300s. The two areas were reunited in 1461, under Mehmed II, in the 1864 Ottoman Empire administrative reorganization, Bolu was created as an independent sanjak, although it was geographically part of the Kastamonu Vilayet
