Turkey, country that occupies a unique geographic position, lying partly in Asia and partly in Europe. Throughout its history it has acted as both a barrier and a bridge between the two continents.
Turkey is situated at the crossroads of the Balkans, Caucasus, Middle East, and eastern Mediterranean. It is among the larger countries of the region in terms of territory and population, and its land area is greater than that of any European state. Nearly all of the country is in Asia, comprising the oblong peninsula of Asia Minor—also known as Anatolia (Anadolu)—and, in the east, part of a mountainous region sometimes known as the Armenian Highland. The remainder—Turkish Thrace (Trakya)—lies in the extreme southeastern part of Europe, a tiny remnant of an empire that once extended over much of the Balkans. Exploring Turkeys rich history and cultural heritage
Turkey and Russia are two powerful countries located in Eurasia with a complex history of rivalry and cooperation. In this article, we’ll dive into the geography and relationship between these neighbors to answer the question – is Turkey near Russia?
Where is Turkey Located?
Turkey is a transcontinental Eurasian nation with 97% of its land area located in Western Asia and a small part in Southeastern Europe. The Asian portion known as Anatolia or Asia Minor, occupies a large peninsula bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea, and Black Sea. The European portion, Eastern Thrace, lies at the edge of the Balkan Peninsula.
The Bosporus Strait and Sea of Marmara separate Asian Turkey from its European territory. Turkey shares borders with eight countries – Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Azerbaijan. Turkey controls the Turkish Straits, the only passage between the Black Sea and Mediterranean. This strategic position between Europe and Asia has shaped Turkey’s history and politics.
Where is Russia Located?
The Russian Federation stretches across much of northern Eurasia, covering over 6.6 million square miles. European Russia occupies the northern and western parts of the Eastern European Plain, bounded by the Ural Mountains in the east. Asian Russia spans the northern parts of Asia, extending to the Pacific Ocean.
Russia shares land borders with 14 countries, including Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, and North Korea. It has extensive coastlines on the Arctic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Baltic Sea, Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and Sea of Azov. Russia’s vast size and borders with Europe and Asia have made it both a bridge and a barrier between continents.
How Close are Turkey and Russia?
At their closest point, Turkey and Russia are separated by just 3.6 miles (5.8 km) of water across the Bosphorus Strait. Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, lies on one side of the strait while Russia’s Krasnodar Krai region lies on the opposite side.
However, Russia and Turkey do not share a land border. Georgia and Bulgaria border Turkey to the north and northeast, separating it from Russian territory. Armenia, an enclave of Azerbaijan, also borders eastern Turkey.
Turkey and Russia’s Maritime Borders
The Turkish Straits consist of three waterways – the Bosphorus Strait, Sea of Marmara, and Dardanelles Strait. They connect the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea and Mediterranean Sea. The 31 mile-long Bosphorus is the only passage between the Black Sea and Mediterranean.
Under the Montreux Convention of 1936, Turkey has control over the Turkish Straits. Commercial vessels have freedom of passage during peacetime, though Turkey can restrict traffic of foreign warships. This gives Turkey significant influence over maritime access to the Black Sea.
During the Cold War, the Turkish Straits were a strategic chokepoint between NATO and the Soviet Union. Today, Russia still depends on the Straits for supplying its Black Sea ports and accessing the Mediterranean. Tensions sometimes flare between Turkey and Russia over maritime access and borders in the Black Sea region.
A Complex History of Rivalry and Cooperation
Interaction between the Turkic and Slavic peoples dates back over a thousand years. After the Ottoman Empire rose to power in the 14th century, it conquered much of Southeastern Europe, bringing them into conflict with Russian Tsardom. Russia and the Ottomans fought a series of wars between the 16th and 20th centuries as both empires expanded.
After World War I, the Ottoman Empire collapsed and modern Turkey emerged under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. During the Cold War, Turkey aligned with the Western Bloc as a NATO member, serving as a buffer against Soviet expansion.
Post-Cold War, Russia and Turkey have seen growing economic and diplomatic cooperation. However, tensions have resurfaced in recent years over issues like Syria, Crimea, the Black Sea, and Turkey’s NATO membership. Despite their differences, Turkey and Russia still maintain important trade and energy links.
How Far Apart are Ankara and Moscow?
The capital cities of Turkey and Russia provide another lens into their geographic proximity.
Ankara, Turkey’s capital and second largest city, lies in the country’s central Anatolian region. Moscow, Russia’s capital and largest city, is located in the country’s European portion.
The driving distance between Ankara and Moscow is approximately 1,615 miles (2,600 km). By air, the two capitals are roughly 2 hours apart by flight. Turkey and Russia’s other major cities also showcase their close but not directly adjacent locations – Istanbul and St. Petersburg are 585 miles (940 km) apart, for example.
So despite not bordering each other, Turkey and Russia’s population centers clearly lie within close proximity. This geographic closeness underlies the intertwined history between the two powers.
Geopolitical Effects of Turkey’s Position by Russia
Turkey’s location by Russia has shaped its foreign policy balancing act between East and West. During the Cold War, Turkey was a critical NATO member on the Soviet Union’s southern flank. Today, Turkey’s control over the Turkish Straits and borders with the Middle East make it strategically important.
Being situated next to but not directly bordering Russia gives Turkey some maneuverability. Turkey has resisted joining Western sanctions on Russia over Crimea and Ukraine, not wanting to damage economic ties. However, Turkey also remains wary of growing Russian influence in the Black Sea and Middle East.
In this complex geopolitical environment, Turkey continues using its geographic position to preserve independence and balance diplomacy between larger powers. While rivalry and mistrust remain between Turkey and Russia, their proximity also brings interdependence.
Recent NewsAug. 19, 2024, 11:07 AM ET (AP)
The country has a north-south extent that ranges from about 300 to 400 miles (480 to 640 km), and it stretches about 1,000 miles from west to east. Turkey is bounded on the north by the Black Sea, on the northeast by Georgia and Armenia, on the east by Azerbaijan and Iran, on the southeast by Iraq and Syria, on the southwest and west by the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea, and on the northwest by Greece and Bulgaria. The capital is Ankara, and its largest city and seaport is Istanbul.
Of a total boundary length of some 4,000 miles (6,440 km), about three-fourths is maritime, including coastlines along the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean, as well as the narrows that link the Black and Aegean seas. These narrows—which include the Bosporus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles—are known collectively as the Turkish straits; Turkey’s control of the straits, the only outlet from the Black Sea, has been a major factor in its relations with other states. Most of the islands along the Aegean coast are Greek; only the islands of Gökçeada and Bozcaada remain in Turkish hands. The maritime boundary with Greece has been a source of dispute between the two countries on numerous occasions since World War II.
A long succession of political entities existed in Asia Minor over the centuries. Turkmen tribes invaded Anatolia in the 11th century ce, founding the Seljuq empire; during the 14th century the Ottoman Empire began a long expansion, reaching its peak during the 17th century. The modern Turkish republic, founded in 1923 after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, is a nationalist, secular, parliamentary democracy. After a period of one-party rule under its founder, Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), and his successor, Turkish governments since the 1950s have been produced by multiparty elections based on universal adult suffrage.
Turkey is a predominantly mountainous country, and true lowland is confined to the coastal fringes. About one-fourth of the surface has an elevation above 4,000 feet (1,200 metres), and less than two-fifths lies below 1,500 feet (460 metres). Mountain crests exceed 7,500 feet (2,300 metres) in many places, particularly in the east, where Turkey’s highest mountain, Mount Ararat (Ağrı), reaches 16,945 feet (5,165 metres) close to the borders with Armenia and Iran. In the southeast the Uludoruk Peak reaches 15,563 feet (4,744 metres); though further west, the Demirkazık Peak (12,320 feet [3,755 metres]) and Mount Aydos (11,414 feet [3,479 metres]) are also significant peaks. Steep slopes are common throughout the country, and flat or gently sloping land makes up barely one-sixth of the total area. These relief features affect other aspects of the physical environment, producing climates often much harsher than might be expected for a country of Turkey’s latitude and reducing the availability and productivity of agricultural land. Structurally, the country lies within the geologically young folded-mountain zone of Eurasia, which in Turkey trends predominantly east to west. The geology of Turkey is complex, with sedimentary rocks ranging from Paleozoic to Quaternary, numerous intrusions, and extensive areas of volcanic material. Four main regions can be identified: the northern folded zone, the southern folded zone, the central massif, and the Arabian platform.
The northern folded zone
The northern folded zone comprises a series of mountain ridges, increasing in elevation toward the east, that occupy a belt about 90 to 125 miles (145 to 200 km) wide immediately south of the Black Sea. The system as a whole is referred to as the Pontic Mountains (Doğukaradeniz Dağları). In the west the system has been fractured by the faulting that produced the Turkish straits; in Thrace the Ergene lowlands are among the largest in the country, and the main mountain range—the Yıldız (Istranca)—reaches only 3,379 feet (1,030 metres). Lowlands also occur to the south of the Sea of Marmara and along the lower Sakarya River east of the Bosporus. High ridges trending east-west rise abruptly from the Black Sea coast, and the coastal plain is thus narrow, opening out only in the deltas of the Kızıl and Yeşil rivers. These rivers break through the mountain barrier in a zone of weakness where summits are below 2,000 feet (600 metres), dividing the Pontic Mountains into western and eastern sections. In the western section, between the Sakarya and Kızıl rivers, there are four main ridges: the Küre, Bolu, Ilgaz, and Köroğlu mountains. East of the Yeşil the system is higher, narrower, and steeper. Less than 50 miles from the coast, peaks rise to more than 10,000 feet (3,000 metres), with a maximum elevation of 12,917 feet (3,937 metres) in the Kaçkar range. Separated by the narrow trough of the Kelkit and Çoruh river valleys stands a second ridge that rises above 8,000 feet (2,400 metres).
Southern Turkey, a magnet for Russians, braces for the war’s impact on tourism • FRANCE 24 English
Is Turkey a good destination for Russian tourists?
In the 1990s, Turkey became the top foreign destination for Russian tourists. However, both countries still stand on opposite ends when it comes to foreign policy, especially in tense issues such as the Syrian Civil War, the Kosovo conflict and have opposing views on the Armenian genocide.
Was Turkey a part of the Soviet Union?
The Turkish government was subsequently informed by Molotov that in addition to bases in the Straits, the Soviet Union also claimed a part of eastern Turkey, which was assumed to refer to the districts of Kars, Artvin and Ardahan, which the Russian Empire (and the short-lived Democratic Republic of Armenia) had held between 1878 and 1921.
What ties are there between Turkey and Russia?
Trade and investment ties are significant. Bilateral trade totalled US$26 billion in 2019 – mainly Turkish imports of energy and grain, while Russia is an important market for Turkish agricultural producers. Russians make up the most foreign tourists to Turkey – about 4.7 million (20 per cent of overall visitor numbers) in 2021.
Is Turkey giving up on Russia?
Yet Turkey is still not giving up on Russia. Ankara has not joined the Western economic sanctions, nor has it closed Turkish airspace to Russian traffic. It has not sent new shipments of arms and materials to Ukraine either. The rhetoric coming from Ankara is that Turkey is a loyal member of NATO but also has to take care of its national interests.