Area Guide

Location:
Turkey straddles the borders of Europe and Asia with the majority of the country in Southwest Asia. It has a total area of 780,580 sq.km. that lies within Europe. The country is bordered at the east by Georgia, Armenia and Iran with Iraq, Syria and the Mediterranean Sea on the south. The Aegean Sea, Greece and Bulgaria are to the west, and the Black Sea forms the northern border. Turkey’s geographical coordinates are 36o 00′ to 42o 00′ north latitude and 26o 00′ to 45o 00′ east longitude.

Geographical Regions:
Turkey, which has 80 administrative provinces, is divided into seven geographical regions; the Black Sea region, the Marmara region, the Aegean region, the Mediterranean region, Central Anatolia, the East and Southeast Anatolia regions.
Turkey is surrounded by sea on three sides, by Black Sea in the north, the Mediterranean Sea in the south and the Aegean Sea in the west. In the northwest, there is an internal sea, the Sea of Marmara, between the straits of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, which are important waterways that connect the Black Sea with the rest of the world. The coastline of Turkey (excluding islands) is 8333 km.

The Climate:
Although Turkey is situated in a geographical location where climatic conditions are quite temperate, the 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 regions enjoy milder climates, the inland Anatolia plateau experiences hot summers and cold winters with limited rainfall.

Language:
The Turkish language is spread over a large geographical area in Europe and Asia; it is spoken in the Azeri, the Turkmen, the Tartar, the Uzbek, the Baskurti; the Hogay, the Kyrgyz, the Kazakh, the Yakuti, the Guvas, and other dialects. The Turkish spoken in Turkey represents that of the Turkish language group coming from the southwest branch of the Uralic-Altayic language family. The oldest written records of Turkish are found upon stone monuments in Central Asia, in the Orhun, Yenisey and Talas regions within the boundaries of present day Mongolia, and belong to the years 725, 732 and 735 A.D. After the formation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 and following the achievement of national unity, Latin alphabet using Turkish phonetics was adopted in 1928

The 14 kilometre road that leads you to Ölüdeniz from Fethiye is surrounded by pine trees. At the end of the winding road all of sudden a wonderful blue comes before you. This is Belcekız Cove. Once you walk over the long beach you see the incomparable Ölüdeniz lying before you. Ölüdeniz is as if it appears to be enchanting and lies still with no movement in its clear waters. There is nothing of the bottom of the lagoon but white sand. The reflection of the water and the sand bottom give it a turquoise colour. On the surface are the reflections of the green pines and this enriches the impression of the turquoise colour.

Kayakoy is just 5 minutes from Hisarönü village, which is on the way to Oludeniz. Only 8 km. far away from Fethiye.
Here you will find 3500 old Greek houses on the hillside, sited so as to not to block the views of the another. Up until 1922, approximately 25,000 people used to live here. After the Independence War during the population exchange program following, the Greeks migrated to their homeland. It is known that there had been a Christian settlement in the village since the 13th century. The village was repopulated by people that moved from Western Trace to Turkey as part of the population exchange. However, these people established their houses on the flat land in front of Kayaköy.
Now there is a population of 2000 people living in the area, but the old houses above have left into lonely moods with their doors and windows broken. All of the houses are now protected but you will see that this decision was taken a bit too late. In the village, whose old name was Levissi, there were two churches and 14 chapels. The Taksiyarhis church is now derelict, its wooden door on display in the Fethiye Museum. The Panagia Pirgiotis Church (the Church Beneath) is in better condition and has interesting frescoes that are worth seeing.