TURKEY COUNTRY PROFILE

Turkey is surrounded by sea on three sides, by the Black Sea in the north, the Mediterranean in the south and the Aegean Sea in the west. In the northwest there is also an important internal sea, the Sea of Marmara, between the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus -- important waterways that connect the Black Sea with the rest of the world.

The mountains in the Black Sea region run parallel to the coastline and the coasts are fairly smooth without too many indentations or projections. The Black Sea coastline in Turkey is 1,595 kilometers and the salinity of the sea is 17%.

The Mediterranean coastline runs for 1,577 kilometers and here too the mountain ranges are parallel to the coastline. The salinity level of the Mediterranean is about double that of the Black Sea.

Although the Aegean coastline is a continuation of the Mediterranean coast it is quite irregular because the mountains in the area are perpendicular to the Aegean Sea. As a result, the Aegean Sea coast is over 2,800 kilometers long. The coastline faces many islands.

The Marmara Sea is located totally within national boundaries and occupies an area of 11,350 square kilometres. The coastline of the Marmara Sea is over 1,000 kilometers long; it is connected to the Black Sea through the Bosphorus and to the Mediterranean through the Dardanelles.