Section iii · The Cities

The cities of Anatolia

Every one of Türkiye's 81 provinces, grouped by region — and a thematic shelf for the great ancient archaeological sites. All 81 essays now live.

Featured essays

Marmara · Bosphorus
İstanbul
The city on two continents — Byzantion, Constantinople, the 1453 conquest, and modern Türkiye's metropolis of 15.7 million.
Southeastern Anatolia · Edessa
Şanlıurfa
Göbekli Tepe (UNESCO 2018), the traditional birthplace of Abraham, ancient Edessa, and the Harran plain.
Central Anatolia · UNESCO 1985
Cappadocia
The volcanic plateau — Bronze Age Kanesh, the Cappadocian Fathers, the Göreme rock churches, and the underground cities.
Central Anatolia · Seljuk Capital
Konya
The Seljuk capital on the high plateau, where Mevlana's whirling and Çatalhöyük's earliest city both speak.
Eastern Anatolia · Lake Van
Van
Tuşba on the soda sea — the Urartian capital, the Vaspurakan church on Akdamar, and the eastern plateau.
Black Sea · Trapezos
Trabzon
The Komnenos Empire of Trebizond, Süleyman the Magnificent's birthplace, and the hazelnut–hamsi coast.

No provinces match that search.

Marmara & Aegean

19 provinces

The metropolitan northwest, the Trakya wheat plain, and the Aegean coast from the Dardanelles down to the Menderes valley — the early Ottoman capitals, the great archaeological coast, and Türkiye's industrial and cultural heartland.

İstanbulUNESCO15.7M
The city on two continents — Byzantion, Constantinople, and the 1453 conquest.
BursaUNESCO
The first Ottoman capital beneath Uludağ — Orhan Gazi's 1326 conquest.
EdirneUNESCO
The Ottoman second capital — Mimar Sinan's Selimiye Camii (1569–75).
ÇanakkaleUNESCO
Troy at Hisarlık, the Dardanelles, and 18 March 1915.
Kocaeli
Diocletian's Nicomedia and the modern Marmara metropolis of 2.13 million.
Sakarya
The Sangarius valley and the 1921 Battle of the Sakarya.
Tekirdağ
Greek Bisanthe, the 1357 Ottoman conquest, and the rakı capital.
Kırklareli
The Trakya frontier — Byzantine Saranta Ekklesies, Murad I's 1363 conquest.
Bilecik
Where the Ottoman state was founded — Osman Gazi's 1299 conquest.
Balıkesir
Karesi country — Pergamon's hinterland and the Edremit olive coast.
Yalova
The thermal shore opposite İstanbul — Pylai, Constantine's springs, Atatürk's Walking Mansion.
İzmir4.4M
Smyrna of the Ionian gulf — Roman "first city of Asia" and 9 September 1922.
Aydın
Tralles and the Maeander valley — Aphrodisias, Miletus, Priene, Nysa.
ManisaUNESCO
Croesus's Sardis, the 190 BCE Battle of Magnesia, and the Ottoman şehzadeler şehri.
Muğla
Hellenistic Caria — Halicarnassus, the Mausoleum, and Herodotus's birthplace.
DenizliUNESCO
Pamukkale's travertines, Hierapolis (UNESCO 1988), and Laodicea.
Uşak
The Holbein-carpet capital, the Karun Treasure, and the great Ulubey canyon.
KütahyaTentative
The çini capital — Germiyanoğulları (1302–1429), Aizanoi's Temple of Zeus.
Afyonkarahisar
The Black Castle of the Poppy — Phrygian monuments and the 1922 Great Offensive.

Mediterranean

8 provinces

The southern coast and its mountain hinterland — Antalya's Pamphylian beaches, Mersin's Çukurova cotton plain, Hatay's Hellenistic Antioch country, and the inland Lakes Region of Pisidia.

Antalya2.7M
Attaleia on the Pamphylian coast — Hadrian's Gate, the Seljuk port of 1207.
Mersin
Yumuktepe's seven thousand years and Türkiye's largest port.
Adana2.3M
Capital of the Çukurova — Tepebağ Höyük's eight thousand years and the kebap.
Hatay
Seleucid Antioch, the 1098 Crusader Principality, and the 1939 accession.
BurdurTentative
Sagalassos, Kibyra, turquoise Salda Gölü — Mars's terrestrial analogue.
Isparta
The City of Roses — Antioch in Pisidia, Eğirdir Gölü, and Süleyman Demirel's birthplace.
Kahramanmaraş
Dulkadir Beylik (1337–1522), the 1920 liberation, and the 2023 earthquakes' epicentre.
Osmaniye
The eastern Çukurova at the foot of the Amanos — Karatepe-Aslantaş and Azatiwada's bilingual inscription.

Central Anatolia

13 provinces

The high plateau between the Toros and Pontic mountains — the Republican capital, the Seljuk heartland, Cappadocia's volcanic country, and the great Hittite homeland of Hattuşa and Aslantepe.

AnkaraCapital5.7M
Galatian Ancyra, Augustus's Monumentum Ancyranum, and the 1923 capital.
KonyaUNESCO
The Seljuk capital where Mevlana's whirling and Çatalhöyük both speak.
Kayseri
The gate of Cappadocia — Roman Caesarea, the Seljuk second capital.
Eskişehir
Phrygian Dorylaion, the home country of Yunus Emre, and the meerschaum mines.
SivasUNESCO
The Seljuk medreses, Divriği Ulu Camii, and the 1919 Sivas Congress.
Yozgat
The Bozok plateau — Galatian Tavium, the Çapanoğlu Büyük Camii of 1779.
Çankırı
Paphlagonian Gangra, the Council of Gangra, and the 5,000-year-old salt mine.
Kırıkkale
The MKE arms-factory city — Türkiye's 71st province (1989).
Kırşehir
The Ahilik capital — Cacabey Medrese-and-Observatory (1272), Ahi Evran-ı Velî.
Nevşehir
Heart of Cappadocia — Damat İbrahim Paşa's 1725 refoundation; Hacıbektaş.
Niğde
Roman Tyana of Apollonius, the Seljuk Alâeddin Camii (1223), Aladağlar.
Aksaray
The White Palace below Hasan Dağı — Hittite Nenessa, the Ihlara Valley.
Karaman
The Karamanid capital — Roman Laranda, Yunus Emre's plateau, the 1277 Turkish-language decree.

Black Sea

18 provinces

The Pontic coast and its mountain hinterland — Trebizond, Sinope, Samsun on the great river deltas; the hazelnut country of Ordu and Giresun; the inland Hittite heartland at Çorum; the Çoruh-valley country to the far northeast.

Samsun
Milesian Amisos and the harbour where Mustafa Kemal landed on 19 May 1919.
Trabzon
Komnenos Trebizond — Süleyman the Magnificent's birthplace, the hamsi coast.
Rize
The tea coast — Hemşin and Laz cultural mosaic and the great Kaçkar massif.
Ordu
Sinopean Cotyora, Xenophon's Ten Thousand (400 BCE), and the world hazelnut capital.
Giresun
Roman Cerasus — the city whose name gave Europe its word for the cherry.
Sinop
Diogenes the Cynic and Mithridates VI — the Pontic capital, 1853 sea battle.
Tokat
Comana Pontica's sanctuary of Ma, the Danişmendli state, the Gök Medrese (1275).
Amasya
The Pontic capital — Şehzadeler Şehri, Strabo's birthplace, the 1919 Circular.
Bolu
Antinous's Bithynian Claudiopolis, the Köroğlu Dağları, the Mengen chefs.
ÇorumUNESCO
The Hittite heartland — UNESCO Hattuşa, Alacahöyük, and the leblebi market town.
KastamonuUNESCO
Candaroğlu Beyliği (1291–1461), the UNESCO Mahmut Bey Camii (1366).
Gümüşhane
Greek Argyropolis — the silver mines of Marco Polo (1271) and Ibn Battuta.
Bayburt
The smallest province on the upper Çoruh — Marco Polo's "Painpurth" of 1271.
Zonguldak
Megarian Heraclea Pontica and the 1829 discovery of Anatolian coal.
Bartın
The Parthenios river and Queen Amastris's Hellenistic Amasra coast.
Artvin
The Çoruh valley — ancient Colchis, Livane Castle, and the 1921 return.
KarabükUNESCO
Atatürk's 1937 steel city and UNESCO Safranbolu (1994) — the Ottoman caravan town intact.
Düzce
Prusias ad Hypium and Konur Alp — the province made by the 12 November 1999 earthquake.

Eastern Anatolia

23 provinces

The high plateau and the great river country east of the Euphrates — the Urartian capitals on Lake Van, the Seljuk frontier from Manzikert (1071), the Kurdish principalities of the long Ottoman centuries, and the upper-Tigris country down to the Iraqi border. Includes the historical Southeastern Anatolia (Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep).

Erzurum
Saltukid Erzen-i Rûm — the Çifte Minareli Medrese and the 1919 Congress.
Van
Urartian Tuşba on the soda sea — Akdamar Island and the Manzikert frontier.
KarsUNESCO
The Bagratid Kingdom of Kars, the 1064 Seljuk capture, UNESCO Ani (2016).
MalatyaUNESCO
Aslantepe (UNESCO 2021) — the world's earliest known palace and the apricot capital.
Elazığ
Harput Kalesi from Urartu, the Artukid Ulu Camii of 1156, the Keban dam.
Erzincan
The Mengücek capital, Mama Hatun's Tercan külliyesi, the 1939 earthquake.
BitlisTentative
Ahlat's Selçuklu cemetery, the Şerefhanlı (1182–1849), Nemrut Krater Gölü.
Muş
The field of Manzikert (26 August 1071) and the endemic Muş Lalesi.
Tunceli
The Munzur Vadisi Milli Parkı and Pertek Kalesi on the Keban reservoir.
Hakkâri
Çölemerik and the Cilo glaciers — Uludoruk-Reşko (4,135 m).
Iğdır
Mount Ararat's northern face — the 1828 Turkmenchay to 1921 Kars frontier.
Ağrı
Mount Ararat (5,137 m) and the İshak Pasha Sarayı at Doğubayazıt.
Ardahan
The 1578 Battle of Çıldır, forty years of Russian Kars, and 23 February 1921.
Bingöl
The eastern Anatolian plateau province — Çapakçur and the Bingöl Dağları.
DiyarbakırUNESCO
The black basalt city on the Tigris — Roman walls, Ulu Camii (1091), Hevsel Gardens.
ŞanlıurfaUNESCO
Göbekli Tepe (UNESCO 2018), Abraham's birthplace, and Edessa-Harran.
Gaziantep2.2M
The basalt citadel and pistachio orchards — the city that stood, and that feeds Türkiye still.
MardinTentative
The stone city above Mesopotamia — Saint Ephrem's Nisibis and Tur Abdin.
AdıyamanUNESCO
Mount Nemrut and Antiochus I's Commagene — the Cendere Bridge.
Siirt
The Marwanid frontier, Veysel Karani's tomb at Baykan, the büryan kebabı.
Batman
The first oil city and Hasankeyf — the 12,000-year Tigris fortress.
Şırnak
Cudi Dağı (Sūrah Hūd 11:44), Cizre, and Ehmedê Xanî's Mem û Zîn (1692).
Kilis
The border province between Antep and Aleppo — Oylum Höyük, the Aleppo road, the Syrian decade.

Ancient archaeological sites

thematic

A thematic shelf for the great sites of Asia Minor — Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Hittite, Urartian. Most are covered inside the host-province essay; a handful have their own deep-dive page.

HattuşaUNESCO
Hittite imperial capital (UNESCO 1986) — in Çorum province at Boğazkale.
CappadociaUNESCO
UNESCO 1985 — the rock churches of Göreme, the underground cities of Derinkuyu.
Göbekli TepeUNESCO
UNESCO 2018 — covered in the Şanlıurfa essay.
AslantepeUNESCO
UNESCO 2021 — the world's earliest known palace, in the Malatya essay.
TroyUNESCO
UNESCO 1998 — Hisarlık on the Dardanelles, in the Çanakkale essay.
Sardis
Lydian capital under Croesus — in the Manisa essay.
AniUNESCO
UNESCO 2016 — the Bagratid medieval capital, in the Kars essay.
SagalassosTentative
Pisidian capital at 1,500 m — in the Burdur essay.
HierapolisUNESCO
UNESCO 1988 — Pamukkale's terraces and St Philip's martyrdom, in the Denizli essay.
AizanoiTentative
Domitian's Temple of Zeus (AD 92/94–95) — in the Kütahya essay.
Ahlat CemeteryTentative
The world's largest Islamic cemetery — in the Bitlis essay.
Blaundus
4th-century-BCE Seleucid colony on Ulubey canyon — in the Uşak essay.
Mount NemrutUNESCO
UNESCO 1987 — Antiochus I's summit sanctuary, in the Adıyaman essay.
Diyarbakır WallsUNESCO
UNESCO 2015 — the basalt walls and Hevsel Gardens, in the Diyarbakır essay.
Hasankeyf
12,000-year Tigris fortress (lower city submerged 2020) — in the Batman essay.
Antioch in Pisidia
Augustan colony — St Paul's missionary city, in the Isparta essay.

All 81 provinces accounted for and all 81 essays live as of 23 May 2026. The ancient-sites shelf is a thematic cross-reference; each site is fully covered inside the essay for the modern province that holds it.