Turkey has so much to offer its visitors – breathtaking natural beauties, unique historical and archaeological places, steadily improving hotel and touristic infrastructure and a tradition of hospitality and competitive prices. Therefore, it is not surprising that this country has recently become one of the most popular tourism destination of the world. Due to Turkey’s diverse geography, one can experience four different climates in any one day. The rectangular shaped country which is surrounded on three sides by the three different seas. Its shores are laced with beaches, bays, coves, ports, islands and peninsulas. The summers are long, lasting as long as the eight months in some areas. Turkey is also blessed with majestic mountains and valleys, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and grottoes perfect for winter, summer tourism and the sports of all kinds. Skiing fans, mountain climbers, trekkers, hikers and hunters are able to enjoy take a new and unforgettable experiences in Turkey. Turkey is, above anything else, a huge open-air museum, a repository of all the civilizations nurtured by the soils of Anatolia. The huge amount of the historical and archaeological wealth in Turkey seems more appropriate for an entire continent than a single country. Recently, a new field of tourism has opened up in Turkey. İt is a health tourism. The country is in fact rich with hot springs, healing waters and healing muds, which come highly recommended by the medical authorities as a remedy for many diseases. For centuries, Turkey has also been a crossroads of religions, not only of Islam and Christianity, but also of many others now forgotten by history. Many religious devotees can find a site, a shrine, a monument, a tomb or a ruin connected with their faith or belief.
STATISTIC
A population of Turkey is above 73.722.988. Average age of population is 28.5. There are 166 universities, 104 of which are public universities. Internet access per household: %41.6. There are 21 national, 14 regional and 229 local TV channels. Turkey is a Non-permament member of the United Nations Security Council 2009-2010. On October 3th, 2005 Turkey began negotiation process with the EU and become a candidate for the European Union since 2005. Since 1945 Turkey is a member of United Nations and also a member of Unesco since. Since 1949 become a member of Council of Europe. Turkey become a member of Nato since 1952. Turkey’s Number of 3G mobile phone subscribers is 19.407.264 Number of mobile internet users is above 1.448.020 and Number of internet subscribers is 8.672.376 The mobile phone users are more than 61.8 million people.
WEATHER
Although Turkey is situated in large Mediterranean geographical location where climatic conditions are quite temperate, diverse nature of the landscape, and the existence in particular of the mountains that run parallel to the coasts, result in significant differences in climatic conditions from one region to the other. While the coastal areas enjoy milder climates, the inland Anatolian plateau experiences extremes of hot summers and cold winters with limited rainfall.
Turkey receives most of the rainfall in the winter season. In this season, mean temperature usually is below 5°C and there is no too much evaporation. But summer rainfall is very limited and could not be enough to remove water deficit resulted from increased temperature and evaporation. The Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have cool, rainy winters and hot, moderately dry summers. Annual precipitation in those areas varies from 580 to 1,300 millimeters, depending on location. The Black Sea coast receives the greatest amount of rainfall. The eastern part of that receives 2,200 millimeters annually and is the only region of Turkey that receives rainfall throughout the year.
Turkey’s diverse regions have different climates because of irregular topography. Taurus Mountains are close to the coast and rain clouds cannot penetrate to the interior part of the country. Rain clouds drop most of their water on the coastal area. As rain clouds pass over the mountains and reach central Anatolia they have no significant capability to produce of rain. In the Eastern region of Anatolia, the elevation of mountains exceeds 2500-3000 m. Northern Black Sea Mountains and Caucasian Mountain hold the rain clouds, and therefore the area is affected by the continental climate with long and very cold winter. Minimum temperatures of -30°C to -38°C are observed in the mountainous areas in the east, and snow may lie on the ground 120 days of the year. Winters are bitterly cold with frequent, heavy snowfall. Villages in thee region remain isolated for several days during winter storms.
For general information on the climate and up-to-date weather forecasts visit www. meteor.gov.tr. Average daily maximum temperatures shown below.
