Turkey's Geographical Position and Prejudices

Turkey is located between 36° - 42° North parallels and 26° - 45° East meridians. It is located North of the Equator and East of Greenwich.

Geographically, it is located at an important point connecting the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa.

A small part of its territory separated by the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus is located in the European Continent. The largest metropolitan city is divided into two by the Bosphorus, which passes through the middle of Istanbul. Part of the city is located in the Continent of Europe, part of the Continent of Asia.

There are 3 suspension bridges connecting the Asian part of Istanbul to Europe. These are referred to as the 3 necklaces of the Bosphorus.

There is 1 suspension bridge that connects Asia and Europe, separated by the Dardanelles.

3 sides of Turkey are covered with seas. These are the Black Sea - the Sea of ​​Marmara (inland sea) - the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean. Due to its strategic location in the Asia-Europe-Africa triangle, Asia-Europe trade routes pass through Turkey.

The surface area of Turkey is known as 814.578 Km² and its total population is 84.34 million according to 2020 data.

There is 190 longitude between the east and west of the country, with a local time difference of 76 minutes between east and west.

Throughout the country, 4 seasons are experienced distinctly and the sun's rays never fall vertically.

It is easy to determine the geographical location of Turkey on the map, but there are different teachings about the location of the country in the world.

One of them is the belief that Turkey is a Middle Eastern country. It does not show parallelism with any Middle Eastern country on the basis of its cultural, life and historical background, especially the climatic conditions.

The other teaching is that Turkey is an Asian country. It is a fact that most of its territory is located in the Asian continent. Part of its territory separated from the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus is in the European Continent. You can say that Turkey is an Asian Continent country, on which continent the majority of the lands are based on, but that some of its lands are in countries located in other continents, and what kind of teaching should be arranged for them may pose another question mark.

The last doctrine is that Turkey is a European country. The majority of the population agrees that it is a European country. When we consider it in terms of reality, we may encounter the fact that it is a European country for now. The ongoing European Union membership process, participation in organizing institutions such as UEFA - FIFA - FIBA ​​as European country and European country clubs can be shown.

The Treaty of Lausanne is the acceptance agreement of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. After the 1st World War (1914 – 1918) after the territorial compensation of the winning countries from the losing countries, the Ottoman lands shared by Italy – England – Greece – France were taken back during the War of Independence between 1919 – 1922 and Lausanne in Lausanne (Lausanne) in Switzerland With the signing of the Agreement, the establishment of the Republic of Turkey became official.

The Treaty of Lausanne was signed: July 24, 1923

Signatory States: England – Italy – France – Japan – Greece – Romania – Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia) – Turkey

The agreement has been adopted by the parliaments of all signatory countries. The borders of the Republic of Turkey were determined with this agreement, only the issue of Mosul (in today's Iraq) was subject to separate negotiations with England.

Greece left the Karaağaç region to Turkey as compensation in return for the destruction it caused in the western Aegean during the War of Independence.

As a result, the Republic of Turkey was established with the Treaty of Lausanne after the War of Independence, which continued between 1919 and 1922. The War of Independence was fought against some European countries (Greece - France - Italy - England).

The establishment of the country took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, with the signatures of European countries. To say that this country is still not a European country is the greatest injustice that can be done.

Looking at it from another angle, I want to ask:

If the states that shared the lands of the Ottoman Empire after the 1st World War still ruled in these lands;

• Wouldn't France be recognized as a European country? (It would eventually have territory in Asia.)

• Wouldn't Italy count as a European country? (It would eventually have territory in Asia.)

• Wouldn't Greece be counted as a European country? (It would eventually have territory in Asia.)

Of course not, all these countries would be counted as European countries. We know that Turkey's possible membership to the European Union lies at the center of all these discussions. The reasons for being kept waiting at the membership gate for years are due to similar reasons.

Due to its strategic geographical location, Turkey's European Union membership is not rejected but not accepted.

Everyone here is aware of the stalling policy. Europe has to decide within itself, and although there was no unification at the point of determining the eastern border of Europe, it acted hastily and wrongly by taking Cyprus into the European Union as if it represented the whole island.

Today, I recommend those who do not see Turkey as a European country to examine Cyprus on the map.

The content is purely my own thoughts put into writing. I apologize in advance if any country or its people have been offended. Please know that I am open to all kinds of criticism on this matter. If i have mistakes or anything you want to add, you can transfer them in the comment section.

This article is inspired by the article titled “The Borders of Europe” written by my beloved @Mictorrani whose articles I read with great interest and appreciation.

If you want to read all his articles, you can go to his profile here.