Turkey is divided into (81) provinces:Adana, Adıyaman, Afyonkarahisar, Ağrı, Amasya, Ankara, Antalya, Artvin, Aydın, Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bingöl, Bitlis, Bolu, Burdur, Bursa, Çanakkale, Çankırı, Çorum, Denizli, Diyarbakır, Edirne, Elazığ, Erzincan, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Gaziantep, Giresun, Gümüşhane, Hakkâri, Hatay, Isparta, Mersin, Istanbul, İzmir, Kars, Kastamonu, Kayseri, Kırklareli, Kırşehir, Kocaeli, Konya, Kütahya, Malatya, Manisa, Kahramanmaraş, Mardin, Muğla, Muş, Nevşehir, Niğde, Ordu, Rize, Sakarya, Samsun, Siirt, Sinop, Sivas, Tekirdağ, Tokat, Trabzon, Tunceli, Şanlıurfa, Uşak, Van, Yozgat, Zonguldak, Aksaray, Bayburt, Karaman, Kırıkkale, Batman, Şırnak, Bartın, Ardahan, Iğdır, Yalova, Karabük, Kilis, Osmaniye, Düzce
Cities, towns, and villages
- Ankara (Ancyra) — the capital of Turkey and its second-largest city
- Antalya (Attalia) — the fastest growing city, hub to an array of beach resorts
- Bodrum (Halicarnassus) — a trendy coastal town in the Southern Aegean which turns into a crowded city in the season when it serves as a playground for Turkish and international holidaymakers alike, featuring a citadel, Roman ruins, trendy clubs, and a number of villages surrounding the peninsula each with a different character from classy to rustic
- Bursa (Prousa) — the first capital of the Ottoman Empire
- Edirne (Adrianople) — the second capital of the Ottoman Empire
- Istanbul (Constantinople) — Turkey's largest city, the former capital of both the Ottoman and Byzantine Empires, and the only major city in the world to straddle two continents
- Izmir (Smyrna) — Turkey's third-largest city
- Konya (Iconium) — a quite large city that is the heartland of the mystic Sufi order, the site of Rumi's tomb, and with some elegant Seljuq architecture, all surrounded by vast steppes
- Trabzon (Trebizond) — the wonderful Sümela Monastery is just outside the city and it is a great gateway to exploring the Turkish Northeast
- Urfa (Edessa) — a magical city with beautiful architecture and extremely friendly locals at the gates of the Eastern World; where Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and Persian cultures mingle
- Diyarbakır (Diyarbakir) — Turkey's 9th largest city with the world's second largest walls, ancient sites, and is one of the major cities of Southeastern Anatolia.
- Cappadocia (Kapadokya) — an area in the central highlands best known for its unique moon-like landscape (the "fairy chimneys"), underground cities, cave churches and houses carved in the rocks.
Interesting facts:- Istanbul is the only city in the world which straddles two continents: Europe and Asia.
- Istanbul (Constantinople) was once Capital of the Ottoman Empire. It changed its name to Istanbul in 1930 after the War of Independence.
- Turkey has over 82,000 mosques, with around 3,000 in Istanbul alone.
- Istanbul’s
Grand Bazaar has 64 streets and 4,000 shops
Natural resources: coal, iron ore, copper, chromium, antimony, mercury, gold, barite, borate, celestite (strontium), emery, feldspar, limestone, magnesite, marble, perlite, pumice, pyrites (sulfur), clay, arable land, hydropower.