soil and adequacy of rainfall. Settlement is primarily concentrated in the fertile valleys and lowlands of the west coast, the plains of the Black Sea and Mediterranean regions, and the damper parts of the plateau. Aridity and long distances have restricted settlement within the center of the Plateau Region. In the west Central Plateau and the extreme Eastern Highlands, 50,000 square miles, or one-sixth of the country, the average density is below 25 people per square mile.

About 75 percent of the country's 33,000,000 people live in rural areas and are dependent upon agriculture for a livelihood. This part of the population remains in the 35,000 villages in the plateau and highland regions, which are separated by a rugged land characterized by a harsh climate. Villages are small, varying in size from less than 100 to 2,000 inhabitants.

A typical village house consists of sun-dried brick or roughhewn stone walls with a wood or dirt roof. In the center of the close-built villages is the market place where the property is held in common: the mosque, the cemetery, the village spring, the school, and the public bath. In the southeastern regions, earthen houses are conical and often resemble clustered ant hills. In the forested highlands, the people live in small scattered hamlets, keep a few goats and sheep and have little contact with neighbors. As in other developing countries, there is a heavy migration from rural areas to the town and cities in search of better opportunities to make a living. Eleven cities have a population of 100,000 or more: Adana, Ankara, Bursa, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Izmit, Kadiköy, Kayseri, Beyoglu (Pera), Seyhan, and Izmir. For the most part, these are the chief industrial centers of Turkey. With the exception of Ankara, Afyonkarahisar and Erzurum, the major cities lie around the periphery of the country.

Istanbul, the country's largest city, lies partly in Europe and partly in Asia. Historically important, its origins date to 658 B.C., when Greek colonists established Byzantium on the promontory bordered by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus Strait and the Golden Horn. The old town (in Europe) with its mosques, palaces, and tombs and fifth-century wall setting it off on three sides recalls the glories of the Christian and Moslem empires that were once centered there (see ch. 3, Historical Setting). The modern city includes a substantial section across the Golden Horn, including Galata, the old Genoese settlement, and Beyoglu (Pera), as well as a growing segment on the Asiatic shore, which accounts for about one-fourth of the total population. A cosmopolitan, multiethnic city with an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 1967, Istanbul has lost the political importance it had as the center of the Ottoman Empire. It maintains, however, a major role in the

cultural, commercial, and industrial life of the nation. An industrial and railroad center, Istanbul has been a major maritime transshipping point since the 14th century and continues to handle more tonnage than any other Turkish port (see ch. 22, Domestic Trade).

Ankara, the capital, lying in the central plateau, is a growing city. Besides new government buildings, it has broad streets, an opera house, two universities, museums, and theaters. Its population in 1967 was estimated over 1 million.

Izmir, with a population of over 427,000 in 1967, is the country's third largest city. It lies in a well-protected harbor southeast of the narrow main entrance to the Gulf of Izmir and is the second most important port. Settled about 1,000 B.C. by Aeolian Greeks, it later became one of 12 great Ionian cities, guarded by its own goddess, Nemesis. Izmir grew rapidly in the 19th century, becoming a prosperous trade and shipping center, and Greeks continued to play a significant commercial role.

Adana, with origins in the Greco-Roman era, is a city of about 420,000 persons. Situated on the Çukurova plain approximately 25 miles inland from the Mediterranean, its exports of cotton and citrus products contribute to the expanding income of the city. Further benefits are anticipated from the construction of the huge Seyhan Dam.

MANMADE FEATURES

Transportation

The size, rugged terrain, and harsh climate of the country have in the past restricted human activity to coastal regions. Historically, coastwise shipping was the best and cheapest means of transportation. In ancient times, Smyrna (Izmir), Ephesus, and Sinop, along the Aegean, Mediterranean, and Black Seas, were major maritime trading centers. Communities in the interior tended to remain isolated, and economic development has been concentrated mainly on or near the coast, especially in the west and south. Land transportation was neglected.

In late 1968, Turkey still relies on maritime transport for the movement of products. On the Black Sea, the port of Trabzon serves as an outlet for northeastern Turkey. Other Black Sea ports are Giresun for the export of nuts, Samsun for tobacco, and Zonguldak for coal. The major mineral and cotton shipment ports for the southern provinces are Iskenderun and Mersin.

Prior to the establishment of the Republic in 1923, Turkey had poor railroads. With the exception of the famous Berlin-to-Bagdad Railway and a local railroad network in the northwestern portion of the country, most of the country was untouched by rail lines

(see ch. 3, Historical Setting). One of the first concerns of the Atatürk government in the early 1920's was to improve the rail communications. Since the 1940's, the Turkish state-owned railway system has doubled to 5,000 miles. In late 1968, all the major inland economic centers (such as Ankara, Kayseri, Erzincan, and Konya) were connected with one another and with the sea by rail (see fig. 6). However, the rail system was characterized by a light, single-track structure, outmoded equipment, and substandard operating procedures. Railways extended principally from east to west, with the greatest concentration in the western, less rugged portions of the country.

In contrast to the advanced western areas, the mountainous eastern region is underdeveloped in rail lines. One railway extension, over 1,000 miles in length, was completed in 1966 and provides a direct rail link between Istanbul and Izmir on the west coast and Kars on the east. Rail lines link Turkey with Europe, via ferry, across the Bosporus. The rail system also connects with the Soviet Union and Iran via Erzurum in the northwest, and with Iraq and Syria via Maraş in the southeast.

Roads are subsidiary to railways and, in late 1968, totaled about 66,000 miles. Between 1948 and 1968, the road system expanded sharply, but remained unsatisfactory to full exploitation of the mineral and agricultural potential of the country. About half the roads were gravel or stone, and highway transportation was restricted by narrowness, sharp curves, and steep grades in mountainous areas. Road maintenance was poor.

Dams and Irrigation Systems

To improve the agricultural output and decrease the soil erosion, the government since early 1960 has been making efforts to harness the rivers to double the irrigated areas from 5 to 10 million acres. Irrigation for the rich agricultural Aegean coastland is provided by the Kemer and Demirköprü dams near Izmir and by the Sariyar and Hirfanli dams in the plateau near Ankara. A major irrigation dam, Seyhan Dam, is on the Seyhan River near Adana, watering about 39,000 acres.

As a result of increasing industrialization and the continuing need for harnessing the rivers for additional irrigation, Turkey undertook in the 1950's the construction of multipurpose dams. In late 1968, a joint Soviet-Turkish venture was under consideration to harness the waters of the Arpa-Çayi River for irrigation purposes. This location is about 30 miles from Kars in the northeast. In 1966, there were nine hydroelectric dams with six more under construction. The outstanding power development is the $370 million Keban dam and hydroelectric plant on the Euphrates.

By 1971, it is expected that a 1,150 mile, high-voltage transmission system will carry power from the Keban plant westward to Ankara and Istanbul and will about double the present electrical capacity.

In late 1968, two oil pipelines were in operation. During 1967, the government completed a 400-mile 70,000 barrel per day 18inch crude pipeline from the oil-producing region southwest of Lake Van to the Mediterranean (see fig. 6). In the west, the Mediterranean at Antalya and Sea of Marmara at Bandirma and Bursa are linked by a pipeline.