Chapter 21 - Rivers of Turkey

Abstract

For thousands of years, Turkey has served as the cultural “bridge” and melting pot of the European, Asian, and African continents. It has been subject to human migration and settlement throughout its long history. Turkey (26–45°E, 36–42°N) is a transcontinental country encompassing an area of 784,000km2. About 97% of the country is in Asia Minor (Anatolia) and 3% in Europe (Thrace). In this chapter, we focus on 16 catchments in Turkey, although the Terek and Kura Rivers are only covered marginally. Turkey is drained by 107 major rivers, each with a catchment area of more than 1500km2. Kızılırmak is the longest river (1355km), followed by the Euphrates (Fırat; 1263km in Turkey), Tigris (Dicle; 523km in Turkey), Seyhan (560km), Aras (548km in Turkey), Yeşilırmak (519km), Ceyhan (509km), Çoruh (442km in Turkey), Gediz (400km), Susurluk (321km), Greater Meander (307km), and Smaller Meander (174km). Of these, the Euphrates, Tigris, Meric, Çoruh, Aras, and Asi are transboundary rivers. Fishes, biodiversity, geomorphology of the river basins, conservation and water management practices that have been enforced in the rivers have been discussed.