2. Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasiancountry that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace (Rumelia) in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe ÇANAKKALE – TROY

3. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. DENİZLİ - PAMUKKALE

4. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. Separating Anatolia and Thrace are the Sea of Marmara and the Turkish Straits (the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles), which are commonly reckoned to delineate the boundary between Europe and Asia, thereby making Turkey a transcontinental country of significant geostrategic importance. ERZURUM - ÇİFTEMİNARE

5. Ethnic Turks form the majority of the population, followed by the Kurds. The predominant religion in Turkey is Islam. The official language is Turkish. GİRESUN - FESTIVAL

6. The Anatolian peninsula (also called Asia Minor), comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited regions in the world due to its location at the intersection of Asia and Europe

7. Turkey is a parliamentaryrepresentative democracy. Since its foundation as a republic in 1923, Turkey has developed a strong tradition of secularism İZMİR – CLOCK TOWER

8. . Turkey's constitution governs the legal framework of the country. It sets out the main principles of government and establishes Turkey as a unitary centralized state. SAFRANBOLU

9. The capital city of Turkey is Ankara. The territory of Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. KARS - ANİ RUINS

10. The provinces are organized into 7 regions for census purposes; however, they do not represent an administrative structure. Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 923 districts. GİRESUN - PLATEAU

11. KÜTAHYA - AIZONIA

12. KÜTAHYA - TILE

13. MUĞLA - FETHİYE

14. MUĞLA - FETHİYE - EKİNCİK

15. NEVŞEHİR - KAPADOKYA

16. SAMSUN

17. SİVAS - ÇİFTEMİNARE

18. TRABZON – SÜMELA MANASTRY

19. İSTANBUL – KIZ KULESİ

20. İSTANBUL – KÖPRÜLER

22. Turkey has a very diverse culture that is a blend of various elements of the Oğuz Turkic, Anatolian, Ottoman (which was itself a continuation of both Greco-Roman and Islamic cultures) and Western culture and traditions, which started with the Westernization of the Ottoman Empire and still continues today. İSTANBUL - VIEW

23. İSTANBUL - BEYOĞLU

25. ANTALYA - MANAVGAT

26. ÇORUM - ALACAHÖYÜK

27. İSTANBUL – YEREBATAN SARNICI

28. This mix originally began as a result of the encounter of Turks and their culture with those of the peoples who were in their path during their migration from Central Asia to the West. KONYA - MEVLEVİLER

29. MANİSA – SAT RUINS

30. MERSİN – SİLİFKE – KIZ KALESİ

31. URFA - HARRAN

32. VAN – HOŞAP TOWER

33. ADIYAMAN - NEMRUT

34. ADIYAMAN - NEMRUT

35. ANKARA – RESİM HEYKEL MÜZESİ

36. ANTAKYA – MOZAİK MUSEUM

37. ANTAKYA – MOZAİK MUSEUM

38. ANTALYA - ASPENDOS

39. ANTALYA – MYRA – ROCKY TOMBS

40. ANTALYA – SİDE – APOLLON TEMPLE

41. During the first years of the republic, the government invested a large amount of resources into fine arts; such as museums, theatres, opera houses and architecture ANTALYA – SİDE - THEATRE

42. AYDIN – DİDİM – APOLLON TEMPLE

43. AYDIN - KUŞADASI

44. Diverse historical factors play important roles in defining the modern Turkish identity. Turkish culture is a product of efforts to be a "modern" Western state, while maintaining traditional religious and historical values. AĞRI – İSHAK PAŞA PALACE

45. As Turkey successfully transformed from the religion-based former Ottoman Empire into a modern nation-state with a very strong separation of state and religion, an increase in the methods of artistic expression followed ISPARTA – YALVAÇ - PSIDIA

46. İSTANBUL – SÜLEYMANİYE MOSQUE

47. İSTANBUL -SİRKECİ

48. İSTANBUL - BOSPHORUS

49. İSTANBUL – KIZ KULESİ

50. İSTANBUL – BOSPHORUS