Environment in Turkey Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Geographically, turkey is a Euro-Asian country. About three percent of Turkey is in the Thracian area of southeastern Europe. Ninety-seven percent is in the western areas of Asia called the Near East (Middle East). About the size of Texas and Louisiana combined, it has an area of 301,384 square miles (780,580 square kilometers) and a population of over 68 million people in 2004.

Turkey has seven major regions: The Black Sea region, the Marmara region, the Aegean, the Mediterranean, Central Anatolia, East Anatolia and Southeast Anatolia. The Black Sea coast extends from the Bosporus Strait to Georgia. Along the coast are the Northern Mountains running east until they meet the Pontic Mountains about mid-way along the Black Sea coast. The Northern and Pontic Mountains receive enough moisture for them to be heavily wooded and rugged.The Thracian part of the Marmara region is covered by the Northern Plains, an area of gentle rolling grass lands and farms. Historic Istanbul (Constantinople) is located in European Turkey on a peninsula at the intersection of the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara. An estuary called the Golden Horn separates it from newer areas.

European Turkey is separated from Asiatic Turkey by three connected water ways: The Bosporus Strait, a narrow outlet from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles. The Sea of Marmara is a saltwater sea, almost completely surrounded by land. It opens onto the Dardanelles strait formed by the Gallipoli Peninsula and the Northern Plains.

The Aegean Coast has many bays, peninsulas, coves, islands, and sandy beaches. Its narrow coastal plains rise through the broad fertile western valleys to the Anatolian plateau. The Aegean Sea changes off the Island of Rhodes to the Mediterranean Sea. The southern Mediterranean coast of Turkey has a narrow belt of plains that run to the border with Syria. The southern mountains include the Taurus Mountains (Toros Daglari) parallel the Mediterranean coast.

The Central Anatolian Plateau is a region of small rivers fed by occasional rainfall. There are several salt lakes in central Turkey. The Cappadocian volcanic tuff region is in the south. The Eastern Anatolian Plateau region is an area of rugged towering mountains. The area lies east of the Euphrates River and extends to Mount Ararat and the borders with Armenia and Iran. It also contains the large freshwater body, Lake Van, which is part of the original homeland of the Armenians.

The Southeastern Anatolian region is part of Mesopotamia and has fertile plains and river valleys that lie between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. The Euphrates rises near Erzurum in the Eastern Plateau not far from Mount Ararat. The Tigris rises in the Taurus Mountains near Lake Hazer in the Eastern Plateau. Its eastern border is shared with Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia.

Turkey’s environment is varied and rich in natural beauty. Significant efforts at reforestation and land improvements have been made. However, Turkey’s industrialization especially since the 1990s has caused a number of environmental problems. Expanding industry has consumed higher levels of energy and the damming of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and their tributaries has caused ecological concerns. Currently coal fired electrical plants are being replaced with natural gas fired plants. Maritime pollution is of grave concern to environmentalists as is the greatly increased flow of oil tanker traffic through the Bosporus Straits and the Dardanelles. In addition overfishing and pollution runoff have fouled the Black Sea.

With prosperity has come smog from factories and automobiles. Under its comprehensive environmental laws promulgated first in the 1980s, attention is being paid to environmental issues. However, Turkey’s pollution control efforts have been severely criticized as inadequate by European agencies.

Bibliography:

Rashid Ergener and Resit Ergener, About Turkey: Geography, Economy, Politics, Religion, and Culture (Pilgrims’ Process, 2002);
William Spencer, The Land and People of Turkey (HarperCollins, 1990).