Outer borders of Turkey
Turkey is bordered by eight countries and six bodies of water. Surrounded by water on three sides and protected by high mountains along the eastern border of the country generally has well-defined natural boundaries. The land borders were defined by treaty early in the twentieth century, and sat still since. The border with Greece – 206 km – was confirmed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, which resolved persistent boundary and territorial claims to areas in Thrace and provided for an exchange of population. Under the agreement, most members of the sizeable Greek-speaking community of western Turkey were forced to resettle in Greece, and the majority of the Turkish-speaking inhabitants of the Greek Thrace were removed to Turkey.Treaty of 1923 also confirmed Turkey 240 km long border with Bulgaria.
Since 1991, more than 500 km long border with the former Soviet Union, which was in the 1921 treaties of Moscow and Kars, defines the borders of Turkey with the independent states of Armenia (268 km) has, Azerbaijan (nine kilometers), and Georgia made (252 kilometers). The 499 km long border with Iran has been confirmed by the Treaty in 1937. Turkey’s two southern neighbors, Iraq and Syria, was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1918. According to the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey ceded all its claims to these two countries, which had been organized as League of Nations mandates under the responsibility of Britain and France, respectively. Turkey and Britain agreed on the 331-kilometer border between Turkish and Iraqi territory in the 1926 Treaty of Angora (Ankara). Turkey’s border with Syria – 822 miles long – was not accepted by Syria. transferred as a result of the Treaty of Lausanne, the former Ottoman Sanjak (province) Alexandretta (now Hatay Province) was to Syria. However, France agreed in June 1939 to the Turkish province of Hatay transferred sovereignty, despite the strong objections of the political leadership of Syria. Since gaining independence in 1946, Syria a continuing bitterness over the loss of the province and its main towns of Antakya and Iskenderun (formerly Antioch and Alexandretta has entertained). This issue continues to be a nuisance in the Syrian-Turkish relations.
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