1.
Geographic coordinate system
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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
2.
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
3.
Provinces of Turkey
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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
4.
Nationalist Movement Party
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The Nationalist Movement Party is a Turkish far-right political party that adheres to Turkish ultranationalism and Euroscepticism. The party was first formed in 1969 by former colonel Alparslan Türkeş, the partys youth wing is the Grey Wolves organization, which is also known as the Nationalist Hearths. Türkeş, who is revered by Turkish nationalists as the founder of the idealist movement, is commonly referred to as Chieftain by his supporters. After Türkeşs death and the election of Devlet Bahçeli as his successor, the party under Bahçelis leadership won 18% of the vote and 129 seats in the 1999 general election, its best ever result, coming second only to the Democratic Left Party. Since the 2007 general election, in which the MHP won back its parliamentary representation with 14, in the 2011 general election, the partys vote fell to 13% and won 53 seats, though increased to 16. 3% and 80 seats in the June 2015 general election. During an Extraordinary Great Congress held at Adana in Turkey on 8–9 February 1969, the leader of the partys youth wing, known as the Grey Wolves after Turkic mythology, claimed that they had an intelligence organization that was superior to the states own. On May 27,1980, the deputy leader and former government minister Gün Sazak was assassinated by members of the Marxist–Leninist terrorist group Revolutionary Left in front of his home. Many party members joined the neoliberal Anavatan Partisi or various Islamist parties, Party member noted that the partys ideology was in power while its members were in prison. The party later was reformed in 1983 under the name Conservative Party, after 1985, however, the name was changed to the Nationalist Task Party then back again to its former name in 1992. In 1993, Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and five other deputies separated and founded the Great Union Party, the MHP used to be described as a neo-fascist party linked to extremist and violent militias. Notably, it has moved from strict, Kemalist-style secularism to a more pro-Islamic stance, some scholars doubt the sincerity and credibility of this turn and suspect the party of still pursuing a fascist agenda behind a more moderate and pro-democratic façade. Showing this as a MHP-HDP coalition is a deliberate diversion, in July 2015, inmidst a wave of protests against the Xinjiang conflict, MHP-affiliated Ülkücü attacked South Korean tourists on Istanbuls Sultanahmet Square. In an interview to Turkish columnist Ahmet Hakan, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli played the attacks down, plus, how are you going to differentiate between Korean and Chinese. The party is headed by Devlet Bahçeli and has 40 deputies, the party has recently been putting a distance between itself and its history of ultranationalism, at occasion asking its members to keep away from ethnic politics. There is an opposition against Devlet Bahçeli led by Meral Akşener, Koray Aydın, Ümit Özdağ, the opposition tries to make a congress and elect a new leader for the party. However Recep Tayyip Erdoğan tries to prevent the congress due to the possibility of his defeat in the elections if MHP joins the elections led by a new leader. The Programme of the Nationalist Action Party, An Iron Hand in a Velvet Glove, Turkish extreme right in office, whither democracy and democratization. Mapping the Extreme Right in Contemporary Europe, From Local to Transnational, globalization and Nationalism, The Nationalist Action Party of Turkey
5.
Kaymakam
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According to some, the first kaymakam in history was ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who is supposed to have been appointed by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, as the first rightful caliph. Thus, ‘Alī was considered to be serving in the place of Muhammad, in this context, the word may be spelled caimacam, while the Romanian term for the office is căimăcămie. Similarly, three ruling native hakims of the emirate of Kuwait, were also Kaymakam of a kazas in the same province,1871 till a British protectorate. The practice began in the 16th century, or perhaps even earlier, the kaymakam enjoyed the full plenitude of powers of the Grand Vizier, but was not allowed to intervene in the conduct of the military campaigns. In the last decades of the Empire, the post of kaymakam was filled by the members of the imperial cabinet, the modernization and Westernization reforms instituted in the 19th century added new meanings to the term. With the establishment of the regular Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye troops in 1826, kaymakam became a rank in the Ottoman army, equivalent to a lieutenant colonel. It remained in use throughout the century of the Empire, and continued in use in the Turkish Republic until the 1930s. The system was retained by modern Turkey, where a sub-province is still headed by a kaymakam, the rank is attested in use with a British officer commanding the Equatorial Battalion in East Africa,1918, Kaimakam R F White DSO who was an officer of the Essex Regiment. Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire WorldStatesMen. org, see present nations
6.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
7.
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
8.
Turkish bath
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A Turkish bath is the Islamic variant of the Roman bath, steambath, sauna, or Russian banya, distinguished by a focus on water, as distinct from ambient steam. In Western Europe, the Turkish bath as a method of cleansing, the process involved in taking a Turkish bath is similar to that of a sauna, but is more closely related to ancient Greek and ancient Roman bathing practices. The Turkish bath starts with relaxation in a room that is heated by a flow of hot, dry air. Bathers may then move to an even hotter room before they wash in cold water, after performing a full body wash and receiving a massage, bathers finally retire to the cooling-room for a period of relaxation. The difference between the Islamic hammam and the Victorian Turkish bath is the air, the hot air in the Victorian Turkish bath is dry, in the Islamic hammam the air is often steamy. The bather in a Victorian Turkish bath will often take a plunge in a pool after the hot rooms. In the Islamic hammams the bathers splash themselves with cold water and it is not wet air, nor moist air, nor vapoury air, it is not vapour in any shape or form whatever. It is an immersion of the body in hot common air. One of the Five Pillars of Islam is prayer and it is customary before praying for Muslims to perform ablutions. The two Islamic forms of ablution are ghusl, a cleansing, and wudu, a cleansing of the face, hands. In the most extreme of cases, cleansing with pure soil or sand is also permissible, often, hammams are located close to mosques and other places for prayer for those who wish to perform deeper cleansing. Islamic hammams, particularly in the Moroccan case, evolved from their Roman roots to adapt to the needs of ritual purification according to Islam, for example, in most Roman-style hammams, one finds a cold pool for full submergence of the body. The style of bathing is less preferable in the Islamic faith, for al-Ghazali, the hammam is a primarily male experience, and he cautions that women are to enter the hammam only after childbirth or illness. Even then al-Gazali finds it admissible for men to prohibit their wives or sisters from using the hammam, the major point of contention surrounding hammams in al-Ghazalis estimation is nakedness. In his work he warns that overt nakedness is to be avoided, … he should shield it from the sight of others and second, guard against the touch of others. He focuses extensively in his writing on the avoidance of touching the penis during bathing and he writes that nakedness is decent only when the area between the knees and the lower stomach of a man are hidden. For women, exposure of only the face and palms is appropriate, according to al-Gazali, the prevalence of nakedness in the hammam could incite indecent thoughts or behaviours and so it is a controversial space. Ritual ablution is also required before or after sexual intercourse, during those centuries of war, peace, alliance, trade and competition, the two cultures had tremendous influence on each other
9.
Caravanserai
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A caravanserai (/kærəˈvænsəri/, was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the days journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information, and people across the network of routes covering Asia, North Africa. Major urban caravanserais were built along the Grand Trunk Road in the Indian subcontinent. The word is rendered as caravansary, caravansaray, caravanseray. The Persian word کاروانسرای kārvānsarāy is a word combining kārvān caravan with sarāy palace, building with enclosed courts. Here caravan means a group of traders, pilgrims, or other travelers, the word serai is sometimes used with the implication of caravanserai. The Persian caravanserai was built as a road station, outside of towns. An inn built inside a town would be smaller and was known in Persian as a khan, in the Middle-East the term khan covers both meanings, of roadside inn as well as of inner-town inn. In Turkish the word is rendered as han, the same word was used in Bosnian, having arrived through Ottoman conquest. Welcoming all, thus meaning inn, led to funduq in Arabic, pundak in Hebrew, fundaco in Venice, fondaco in Genoa and alhóndiga in Spanish. Guards were stationed at every gate to ensure that taxes for these goods be paid in full, most typically a caravanserai was a building with a square or rectangular walled exterior, with a single portal wide enough to permit large or heavily laden beasts such as camels to enter. Caravanserais provided water for human and animal consumption, washing, and ritual purification such as wudu and they also kept fodder for animals and had shops for travelers where they could acquire new supplies. In addition, some shops bought goods from the traveling merchants, turkishhan. org, The Seljuk Han in Anatolia. Encyclopædia Iranica, p. 798-802 Erdmann, Kurt, Erdmann, berlin, Mann,1976, ISBN 3-7861-2241-5 Hillenbrand, Robert. Islamic Architecture, Form, function and meaning, reprinted from, Traditions Architecturales en Iran, Tehran, No.2 &3,1976. Caravanserai, Traces, Places, Dialogue in the Middle East, milan,5 Continents Editions, ISBN 978-88-7439-604-7 Yavuz, Aysil Tükel. The Concepts that Shape Anatolian Seljuq Caravansara, muqarnas XIV, An Annual on the Visual Culture of the Islamic World. Shah Abbasi Caravanserai, Tishineh Caravansara Pictures Consideratcaravanserai. net, Texts and photos on research on caravanserais and travel journeys in Middle East, caravanserais in Turkey The Seljuk Han in Anatolia
10.
Erzincan
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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
11.
Kemaliye
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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
12.
Refahiye
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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
13.
NUTS statistical regions of Turkey
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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
14.
Istanbul Province
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Sakarya Province
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Sakarya is a province in Turkey, located on the coast of Black Sea. The Sakarya River creates a webbing of estuaries in the province, Sakarya is located in the Marmara Region. Its adjacent provinces are Kocaeli to the west, Bilecik to the south, Bolu to the southeast, the capital of Sakarya is Adapazarı. The climate is due to its close proximity to the Black Sea. Sakarya is situated on the Ankara-Istanbul Highway and it is connected through both road and rail. Sakarya is serviced by Istanbuls Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, the current mayor of Sakarya is Zeki Tocoglu. The Turks conquered the city of Sakarya in the 13th century, there was intensive immigration from Caucasia and the Balkans in the 18th and 19th centuries. The last massive immigration was in 1989, thanks to the developing industry and being at a transportation crossroads, the city still receives domestic migration today. Sakarya is notable in the Marmara Region, the city of Sakarya is surrounded with the city of Düzce in the East, Bolu in the South East, Bilecik in the South, Kocaeli in the West and the Black Sea in the North. The city of Sakarya has 16 disrtricts which are, Adapazarı, Akyazı, Arifiye, Erenler, Ferizli, Geyve, Hendek, Karapürçek, Karasu, Kaynarca, Kocaali, Pamukova, Sapanca, Serdivan, Söğütlü and Taraklı. Sakarya is located at the intersection of all the important roads, kınalı-İstanbul-Sakarya-Ankara highway which originates from Edirne has an important role in an international scale. In Kınalı, one branch of the highway is connected to Greece while the branch is connected to Bulgaria. There are 7 railway stations throughout a 65 km railway inside the city limits, the railway which connects Istanbul to Ankara and other Anatolian cities passes through Sakarya. The distance of Sakarya to Istanbul by railway is 141 km and 436 km to Ankara, if you prefer to travel to Adapazarı by air, the nearest airport is the Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Kurtköy – Istanbul and Istanbul Atatürk Airport in Yeşilköy. Adapazarı was a village named “Ada” in 1573, a sub-district in 1646, a village inside Akyazı in 1658, administrative district of a qadi in 1692, the residency area had the status of a district for 117 years between 1837 –1954 during the Ottoman and Republican eras. Adapazarı, being a district of Kocaeli for many years, separated from Kocaeli, after Adapazarı took the name Sakarya as being the center of the districts Akyazı, Geyve, Hendek and Karasu, in December 1,1954 the first governor Nazım Üner began active duty with ceremonies. While Adapazarı was experiencing a growth and great development in the center of Akova. 3891 residents lost their lives while 26551 buildings collapsed and almost 100000 people were left homeless, already present Adapazarı Mayor Aziz Duran was brought to Adapazarı Metropolitan Mayor Office
