The climate of Turkey should be Mediterranean, Turkey being in the area of Mediterranean climates. But the high continental land mass of Asia Minor upsets this climate considerably. The climates of the mountain perimeter, damp with mild winters, are opposed to those of the interior, dry and cold.

The Mediterranean climate is only well represented on the edge of the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean. It has the following characteristics: hot summer, especially rainy winter, dry summer.

Behind this area, on the west coast of the Black Sea, Thrace and generally in the Aegean region, the Mediterranean climate deteriorates under the influence of continentality and altitude: winter is rather cold, summer hot, less and less rainfall. The eastern coast of the Black Sea has a special climate, a pontine climate: mild winter, heavy rain spread throughout the year. At high altitude, this rainfall is very heavy.

Central Anatolia and the eastern part of the country have an inclement climate, more and more excessive as you go East. On the other hand, summer is very hot. The rainfall diminishes progressively and you reach the limit of aridity. These rains fall more and more frequently in the form of storms in summer.

These climatic conditions can explain the distribution and the nature of the vegetation: the maritime slopes of the pontine mountains, from western Anatolia and the Toros have beautiful forests, particularly rich on the pontine slopes; these forests have been severely dilapidated during historical evolution but are in the process of replanting. The inner slopes of the mountains and the Anatolian plateau, much drier, have a steppe vegetation.

ISTANBUL STATISTICS

ANTALYA STATISTICS