Geography of Turkey - External Boundaries

External Boundaries

Land boundaries: 2,627 km (1,632 mi) border countries: Greece 206 km (128 mi), Bulgaria 240 km (149 mi), Georgia 252 km (157 mi), Armenia 268 km (167 mi), Nakhchivan (Azerbaijan) 9 km (6 mi), Iran 499 km (310 mi), Iraq 331 km (206 mi), Syria 822 km (511 mi).

Coastline: 7,200 km (4,474 mi) Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: in the Black Sea only: to the maritime boundary agreed upon with the former USSR territorial sea: 6 nmi (11.1 km; 6.9 mi) in the Aegean Sea; 12 nmi (22.2 km; 13.8 mi) in Black Sea and in Mediterranean Sea

Surrounded by water on three sides and protected by high mountains along its eastern border, the country generally has well-defined natural borders. Its demarcated land frontiers were settled by treaty early in the twentieth century and have since remained stable.

The boundary with Greece was confirmed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, which resolved persistent boundary and territorial claims involving areas in Thrace and provided for a population exchange (see: War of Independence). Under the agreement, most members of the sizable Greek-speaking community of western Turkey were forced to resettle in Greece, while the majority of the Turkish-speaking residents of Thrace who were not forced out during the Balkan wars were removed to Turkey.

The boundary with Bulgaria was confirmed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923.

Since 1991 the more than 500 km (311 mi) boundary with the former Soviet Union, which was defined in the 1921 Treaty of Moscow (1921) and Treaty of Kars, has formed Turkey's borders with the independent countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia.

The boundary with Iran was confirmed by the Kasr-i Sirin treaty in 1638.

The boundary with Iraq was confirmed by the Treaty of Angora (Ankara) in 1926. Turkey's two southern neighbors, Iraq and Syria, had been part of the Ottoman Empire up to 1918. According to the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey ceded all its claims to these two countries, which had been organized as League of Nations mandates under the governing responsibility of Britain and France, respectively. Turkey and Britain agreed the boundary in the Treaty of Angora (Ankara).

Turkey's boundary with Syria has not been accepted by Syria. As a result of the Treaty of Lausanne, the former Ottoman Sanjak (province) of Alexandretta (present-day Hatay Province) was ceded to the France which administered it on behalf of the League of Nations. However, in June 1939 the people of Hatay had formed a new independent State and immediately after, the parliament voted to unite with Turkey. Since achieving independence in 1946, Syria has harbored a lingering resentment and this issue has continued to be an irritant in Syrian-Turkish relations.

Antalya
Muğla
Edirne
Istanbul
Izmir
Konya
Sinop Sivas Trabzon Bursa Erzincan
Kars Adana
Kayseri Van
Diyarbakır
G.Antep Mersin
Hatay Kastamonu Erzurum
Samsun Bolu Çanakkale Mardin Eskişehir Kocaeli
Ağrı Malatya Balıkesir
Aydın
Hakkâri Ordu
Tekirdağ
Rize
Kütahya
Burdur
Isparta Uşak Yozgat Karaman
Zonguldak
Kırklareli Yalova
Denizli
Manisa Afyon Düzce
Bartın Karabük
Kilis Tunceli Iğdır Artvin
Çankırı
Çorum
Şırnak Ş.Urfa Tokat Amasya K.Maraş Adıyaman Niğde Map of Turkey