Turkey has a special location, because the country stretches from Europe to Asia. So, the country belongs to both continents. The largest part of Turkey, about 97 percent of the total area, is located on the Asian continent, the remaining three percent on the European one. The border of the continents runs right through the middle of the city of Istanbul.


There is a lot of water around the country. To the north is the Black Sea, to the west is the Aegean Sea, and to the south is the Mediterranean Sea. The part of the Turkish border that borders on water is longer than the one that adjoins land mass: namely 7200 kilometers. The land border has a total length of only 2648 kilometers.
In the north-west, Turkey borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are to the northeast, and Iran is to the east. In the south, Iraq and Syria border Turkey.
For the most part, Turkey is located on the Anatolian Plate. This is one of the plates of the Earth. It is bordered by the Eurasian Plate to the east, the Arabian Plate to the south and the African Plate to the southwest. But what does this mean now? The continental plates rub against each other when they shift.
Even if it is only a centimeter-sized movement, it can have gigantic proportions. Then there are earthquakes. The north of Turkey is a particularly vulnerable region. In 1999, an earthquake occurred east of Istanbul. This even triggered a tsunami and caused terrible destruction. In this earthquake, the continental plates shifted by about five meters.
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