iii.Mediterranean First in line
From Antalya in the west, along the Lycian coast, past Side and Alanya, then the Taurus drops to the Çukurova plain — Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye, Hatay. The hottest summers, the most reliable winters, the longest growing season. Ancient Lycia and Pamphylia and Cilicia all sit here. The cuisine carries Levantine notes the rest of the country lacks. The single richest stretch of archaeology in Türkiye, from Patara to Aspendos to Antakya. For the great agricultural plain specifically, see our sister site Çukurova.info.
City pages: İskenderun (live) · Antalya, Mersin, Antakya, Adana (forthcoming)
vi.Eastern Anatolia The high plateau
The high country east of the Euphrates — average elevation above 1,000 metres, peaks above 5,000 (Ararat), the headwaters of the Euphrates and Tigris, the great salt-water Lake Van, and the Bingöl Mountains' thousand glacial tarns. Cold winters, short summers, dense oak forests in the lower country. The deepest layers of pre-Islamic history live here — Urartu, Armenian kingdoms, Seljuk Anatolia.
City pages: Bingöl (live) · Erzurum, Van, Kars (forthcoming)
·The other five regions
Marmara, Aegean, Central Anatolia, Black Sea, Southeastern Anatolia — each gets its own essay. The cards above will fill in as the pages publish.
For state-level geography — borders, coastlines, the Mavi Vatan doctrine, climate maps — see CountryOfTurkey.com.