Total area: 780,580 km2
land area: 770,760 km2

Comparative area: slightly larger than Texas

Land boundaries: 2,715 km total
Bulgaria 240 km, Greece 206 km, Iran 499 km, Iraq 331 km, Syria 822 km, USSR 617 km

Coastline: 7,200 km

Maritime claims: Exclusive economic zone: in Black Sea only--to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the USSR
Territorial sea: 6 nm in the Aegean Sea, 12 nm in Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea

Disputes: complex maritime and air (but not territorial) disputes with Greece in Aegean Sea; Cyprus question; Hatay question with Syria; ongoing dispute with downstream riparians (Syria and Iraq) over water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR

Climate: temperate; hot, dry summers with mild, wet winters; harsher in interior

Terrain: mostly mountains; narrow coastal plain; high central plateau (Anatolia)

Natural resources: antimony, coal, chromium, mercury, copper, borate, sulphur, iron ore

Land use: arable land 30%; permanent crops 4%; meadows and pastures 12%; forest and woodland 26%; other 28%; includes irrigated 3%

Environment: subject to severe earthquakes, especially along major river valleys in west; air pollution; desertification

Note: strategic location controlling the Turkish straits (Bosporus, Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles) that link Black and Aegean Seas; Turkey and Norway only NATO members having a land boundary with the USSR

NOTE: The information regarding Turkey on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Turkey Geography 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Turkey Geography 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.