NATIONAL PARKS IN TURKEY

Students works Hacı Ali Saruhan İlköğretim Okulu. Turkey

NATURAL PARKS

National parks in TURKEY The first national park in Turkey was established in 1958. Since then their numbers have increased to 39. Some of these parks, which were initially established for archaeological and historical purposes are at the same time rich habitats where biological diversity is being protected.As of 2008, there are 39 National Parks all around Turkey, and their total surface reaches 877.771 hectares (2.169.011 acres). These are: 1.

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Adiyaman - Nemrut Mountain (since 1988) Afyon / Kutahya / Usak - Baskomutan History (1981) Agri / Igdir - Ararat Mountain (2004) Ankara - Soguksu (1959) Antalya - Altinbesik Cave (1994) Antalya - Olympos Beydaglari Mountain Coast (1972) Antalya - Termessos Güllük Mountain (1970) Antalya - Köprülü Canyon (1973) Artvin - Karagöl Sahara (1994) Artvin - Hatila Valley (1994) Aydin - Grand Menderes river Delta (1966) Balikesir - Kazdagi (Ida) Mountain (1993) Balikesir - Kuscenneti (Bird paradise) (1959) Bolu - Yedigöller (Seven lakes) (1965) Bursa - Uludag Mountain (1961) Çanakkale - Gelibolu Peninsula History (1973) Çanakkale - Troy History (1996) Çorum - Alacahöyük History (1988) Denizli - Honaz Mountain (1995) Edirne - Gala Lake (2005) Isparta - Kizildag Mountain (1969) Isparta - Kovada Lake (1970) Kars / Erzurum - Sarikamis Allahüekber Mountain (2004) Kastamonu - Ilgaz Mountain (1976) Kastamonu / Bartin Küre Mountain (2000) Kayseri - Sultansazligi Marshes (2006) Kirklareli - Igneada Longos Forests (2007) Konya - Beysehir Lake (1993) Manisa - Spil Mountain (1968) Mugla - Marmaris (1996) Mugla / Antalya - Saklikent (1996) Nevsehir - Göreme History (1986) Nigde / Adana / Kayseri - Aladaglar Mountain (1995) Osmaniye - Karatepe Aslantas History (1958) Rize - Kackar Mountain (1994) Sanliurfa - Tek Tek Mountain (2007) Trabzon - Altindere Valley (1987) Tunceli - Munzur Valley (1971) Yozgat - Yozgat Çamligi Pinewood (1958)

LAKE BEYSEHIR NATURAL PARK LOCATION

SERVICES Lake Beyşehir is used for swimming, fishing, camping.

Lake Beyşehir (Turkish: Beyşehir Gölü) is a large freshwater lake in Isparta and Kon ya provinces, southwestern part of Turkey.

CHARACTERISTICS It has an area of 650.00 km² and is 45 km long and 20 km wide. It carries the same name as the principal urban center of its region, Beyşehir.

Water level in the lake often fluctuates by year and by season. Lake Beyşehir is used for irrigation, although it is also a national park. There are thirty-two islets in varying sizes in the lake. Lake Beyşehir is also an important site for many bird species. Lakes Region in terms of aquaculture production is the most important lake. Carp primarily to Akbalık, Flower Fish, Gövce, Sarıbalık fish species that are found in the lake and the mud to.

ÇANAKKALE-GALLIPOLI HISTORICAL NATIONAL PARK

LOCATION

SERVICES

It is placed in Çanakkale in the northwestern of Turkey.Çanakkale –Gallipoli Historical Park covers a 33,000 hectars of land. It was announced a national park in 1973.

It is a historical park and the best thing to do there to buy a guided tour.

CHARACTERISTICS: HISTORICAL HERITAGE This NP is for the memoriers of the martyries who died in the Battle of Gallipoli( Dardanelles Campaign) occurred in 1915 during the First World War. Turkish, British, French, Australian - Anzac, New Zealander - Anzac, Senegalese, Indian, Gurkha, Sikh, Punjabi, Maltese, Jewish (Russian & Poles) and Ceylonese people fight during this war. We can say that it is a huge cemetary for the soldies from different countries and the monuments built for them.People can’t stand crying when they visit this place. They can feel the war and understand the importance of the peace. It is visited by national and international tourists.

The GÖREME NATIONAL PARK LOCATION Göreme ; located among the "fairy chimney" rock formations, is a town in Cappadocia, a historical region of Turkey. It is in the Nevşehir Province in Central Anatolia and has a population of around 2,500 people.

SERVICES 1)You can buy a guided tour here to see the around best or you can search by your own the Göreme open air museum. Tourists from all over the world come here to see the interesting shaped rock formations.

2) There are several valleys to be explored on foot offering breathtaking views and hidden churchs in amazing natural formations. Rose valley and Ihlara are the ones that you can spend between 2 to 6 hours while the shorther ones like Pigeon, Love, Zemi, Honey, Uzengi takes 1 to 1,5 hours.

3) You can visit the Derinkuyu underground city where 20,000 people lived in that carved 18 storeys deep into the Cappadocia earth.

Today, 8 floors of rooms, tunnels and passageways are open for public viewing.

4)You can have horse riding tours if you like and have fun in the valleys.

5)You can have balon tours here and see the around from above.

6)There are lots of pottery shops to buy souvenirs in Avanos. You can watch potters spinning their traditional kick-wheels with their feet , even try making a pot yourself.

7)You can do shopping. Jewellry, wine, onyx tools, ceramics are very popular.

8) There are lots to do there. See by your own if you come one day.

CHARACTERISTICS The Gรถreme National Park (Gรถreme Milli Parklar in Turkish) was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.

The Gรถreme valley is an eroded plateau in a formerly active volcanic region. The nearby Erciyas Dag volcano is now dormant. Peaks such as Hasan Dag, Erciyas Dag (both outside the valley) and Akdag, dominates the valley landscape. Andesitic tuff was ejected from volcanic eruptions in the late Pliocene covering an area of about 10,000 square kilometers (km2). This layer of tuff was in turn overlain by a series of andesitic and basaltic lavas, between the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene. The deep layers of soft, quite homogeneous material have been eroded to form regular conical peaks or irregular masses reflecting the differential resistance to weathering. Typical geomorphological features include pillars, columns, towers, obelisks and needles, sometimes reaching a height of 40 m.

KACKAR MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK LOCATION

SERVICES

Kaçkar Mountains (Turkish: Kaçkar

Tourism activities in the park include hiking, camping, mountaineering, and, increasingly,heliskiing.

Dağları) or simply Kaçkars (Turkish: Kaçkarlar) are a mountain range rising above along the Black Seacoast in the northeastern Turkey.

CHARACTERISTICS With highest peak Kaçkar Dağı, elevation {{convert|3937|m|ft|12.933}, and mountain plateaus at about 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in elevation, it is the highest part of Pontic Mountains. The Kaçkars are glaciated mountains, alpine in character, with steep rocky peaks and numerous mountain lakes. The area was declared a national park in 1994.

KARAGÖL SAHARA NATIONAL PARK LOCATION

SERVICES

Karagöl-Sahara is a national park in the Şavşat district of Artvin Province, Turkey. It is located in the Black Sea region and formed by

There are some activities as hiking, horse riding, bike tours, canoeing or camping. You can also do grass skiing here.

two separate areas, namely Karagöl and Sahara plateau. Karagöl is located at 45 km from Şavşat, while Sahara plateau is 17 km from the town.

CHARACTERISTICS: The lake is a landslide lake. And it has an excellent panorama worth to see. It is surrounded by the forest.

KARATEPE-ARSLANTAĹž NATIONAL PARK

LOCATION

SERVICES

Karatepe (Turkish for "Black Hill"; Hittite: Azatiwataya) is a late Hittite fortress and open air museum in Osmaniye Province in southern Turkey lying at a distance of about 23 km from the district center of Kadirli. It is sited in the Taurus Mountains, on the right bank of the Ceyhan River.

It is a historical heritage for the people and it is visited by the students as a school trip and the tourists who is found of history. You can go there by the rent busses or your own cars. It is an open air museum and a panoramic destination with its forest and its dam. Fishing is freeing the dam in certain times during the year. It has got a restaurant also which serves fish especially.

CHARACTERISTICS : HISTORICAL HERITAGE Archaeology

After the site was discovered in 1946, Karatepe was excavated from 1947 to 1957 by a team led by Helmuth Theodor Bossert, revealing the ruins of the walled city of king Azatiwatať. Restoration work was then carried on for many years, which included some further soundings. In the late 1990s, archaeological work, now led by Halet Çambel, was conducted on a palace at the site.

The place was an ancient city of Cilicia, which controlled a passage from eastern Anatolia to the north Syrian plain. It became an important Neo-Hittite center after the collapse of the Hittite Empire in the late 12th century BCE. Relics found here include vast historic tablets, statues and ruins, even two monumental gates with reliefs on the sills depicting hunting and warring and a boat with oars; pillars of lions and sphinxes flank the gates.

Köprülü Canyon National Park

LOCATION Köprülü (Turkish: Köprülü Kanyon) is a canyon and a National Park in the Province of Antalya, Turkey.

SERVICES You can walk and take photographs in the canyon. Water sports like rafting can be done.

You can camp or have a picnic.

CHARACTERISTICS The canyon stretches for 14 km along the Köprü River and is 400 metres deep in some places. At the rest area there are fish restaurants offering delicious food especially fresh trout. The Roman Oluk Bridge over the canyon and the Bugrum Bridge over the Kocadere stream were engineering feats of their time. Reaching the park, 92 km from Antalya, you will encounter a valley of w ild beauty rich in flora and fauna. It has been a national park since 1973 to protect the view and the rich fauna and flora.

Mount Ida (Kazdağı NP) LOCATION

SERVICES

Mount Ida (Turkish: Kazdağı, The visiters who come here can have the pronounced meaning "Goose panoramic beauty of the national park and Mountain", Kaz Dağları, or Karataş they can camp here if they like.

Tepesi) is a mountain in northwestern Turkey, southeast of the ruins of Troy, along the north coast of the Gulf of Edremit. The name Mount Ida is the ancient one. It is between Balıkesir Province and Çanakkale Province

CHARACTERISTICS

It is a legendary mountain and it is a special place because of its fauna and flora.

Accordig to the mythology, in the past, a man and his blond girl was living together and the man’s only desire was to be able to visit the sacred places in Mecca. His daughter tells him to do that when she gets old enough. The man lives the girl alone and goes. It was six months or more to go and come back in the past. During that time some young men want to get marry her but she rejects. Then they make a rumour that she is not moral enough to hurt her and when her father come back he believes the rumours but he can’t kill her daughter and lives her in the mountains to die. And the girl doesn’t die as she is a honest person and lives there with her goose.One day her father learns all the truth.That’s the blond girl legend.

Centaurea odyssei Wagenits (Peygamber Çiçeği)

Digitalis Trojana (yüksük otu)

Achillea fraasii sbp.troiana

Cirsium Steriolepis Petrak

Asperula sintenisii Achers ex Bornm

(Kazdağı civanperçemi, ayvadana)

Hypericum kazdaghensis (Kantaron)(Silena Bolanthoides Quezel

MOUNT NEMRUT HISTORICAL NATIONAL PARK LOCATION Nemrut or Nemrud is a 2,134 m (7,001 ft) high mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues is erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BCE. The mountain lies 40 km (25 mi) north of Kahta, near Adıyaman.

SERVICES In 1987, Mount Nemrut was made a World heritage site by UNESCO. Tourists typically visit Nemrut during June through August.

The nearby town of Adıyaman is a popular place for car and bus trips to the site, and one can also travel from there by helicopter. There are also overnight tours running out of Malatya. People go there by bus till a certain place and they have to walk the rest as the vehicles can’t go further. And be careful it is very very cold even in summer so you must take heavy clothes. The tours start at two a.m if you want to watch the sunrise which was very typical to there . So, you stay in a hotel then wake up in the very early and have breakfast then you get on the bus and ride for an hour and then you walk half an hour more but it worths.

CHARACTERISTICS AND NATURAL HERITAGE In 62 BC, King Antiochus I Theos of Commagene built on the mountain top a tomb-sanctuary flanked by huge statues (8–9 m/26–30 ft high) of himself, two lions, two eagles and various Greek, Armenian, and Iranian gods, such as Hercules-Vahagn Zeus-Aramazd or Oromasdes (associated with the Iranic god Ahura Mazda), Tyche, and Apollo-Mithras. These statues were once seated, with names of each god inscribed on them. The heads of the statues have at some stage been removed from their bodies, and they are now scattered throughout the site.

Munzur Valley National Park LOCATION

SERVICES

It is located at the Munzur Valley

of Munzur Mountain Range within Tunceli Province in eastern Anatolia. The national park is situated between 8 km (5.0 mi) northwest from the city center of Tunceli and Ovacık town, which is 65 km (40 mi) far from the provincial capital. It extends along the Munzur Valley to the Munzur Mountains, which rise up to 3,300 m (10,800 ft) high Amsl in the north. The park spans an area of 420 km2 (160 sq mi).

The best time to visit the Munzur Valley NP is the period between the June and September as the weather is really heavy the other times.In the park people can enjoy the beauty of the panorama and have picnic and can do the activities like fishing and hiking. And the water sports can be done here too.

CHARACTERISTICS The Munzur Valley National Park (Turkish: Munzur Vadisi Milli Parkı), established on December 21, 1971, is the largest and the species-richest national park in Turkey. The Munzur Valley National Park, part of the Eastern Anatolian mountainous ecoregion, is one of the richest floristic areas of Anatolia. The national park was established to protect the region’s wildlife and scenic beauty. The geological structure of the Munzur Mountains, which rise up between the Karasu and Murat dells, consists of sedimentary, volcanic, and intrusive rocks that have been metamorphosed. The mountain range is particularly divided by the streams Mercan and Munzur. There are several caves in the national park. Mercan Valley, springs in the Ovacık Plain, canyons and waterfalls along the valleys enrich the natural values of the national park.

MOUNT SIPYLUS NATIONAL PARK LOCATION

SERVICES

Mount Spil (elevation 1,513 m/4,964 ft) or Mount Sipylus (in Turkish Spil Dağı) is a mountain rich in legends and history in Manisa Province, Turkey, in what used to be the heartland of the Lydians and what is now Turkey's Aegean Region

This park doesn’t have accommadation or eating places so, the visiters can have picnic or camp here.Hiking , hunting and climbing can be done in this area.It has excellent panoramic wiews.

Weeping Rock

CHARACTERISTICS : NATURAL HERITAGE A full faced statue of Cybele carved in rock, dated to the late-Hittite or Luwian period in late second millennium BCE, is found near Mount Sipylus, several kilometers east of Manisa. The sculpture is known as Taş Suret in Turkish (meaning "Stone Figure") and sometimes referred to as such also in international literature. The mountain was considered a favorite haunt of the mother goddess. According to an old myth the sculpture was carved by Broteas, Tantalus' ugly son.

Weeping Rock According to the mythology, the goddess Niobe, was boosting as she had six sons and six daughters.Leto who had just two sons got very angry and she wanted her sons to kill Niobe’s children. And they obeyed their mother and killed Niobe’s all children. When Niobe had seen this she stayed still like a stone and all she could do was crying.

TERMESSOS NATURAL PARK LOCATION Coordinates: 36.9825; 30.46472Termessos or Thermessos was a Pisidian city built at an altitude of more than 1000 meters at the south-west side of the mountain Solymos (modern day G端ll端k Dagi) in the Taurus Mountains (modern day Antalya province, Turkey). It lies 30 kilometres to the north-west of Antalya.

SERVICES A visit to this site requires time and the stamina to walk uphill, because Termessos is built entirely on a mountainous area difficult to access.

CHARACTERISTICS: NATURAL HERITAGE Termessos constitutes an unusual synthesis of a large number of rare plants and animal species, which are under protection in the Termessos National Park. The inhabitants of Termessos were known as the Solyms but unlike those of other cities of the time they did not come from the sea and were entirely of Anatolian origin. What is known of their history commences principally at the time that Alexander the Great surrounded the city in 333 B.C., which he likened to an eagle's nest and failed to conquer. Termessos, after a gradual decline, was finally abandoned in the 5th century A.D. Some of the remains found there are the walls, the Hadrian's triumphal arch, the cisterns, the theater, the gymnasium, the agora, the odeon and the heroon. Among the tombs which are scattered far and wide can be seen those of Alcates, Agatemeros and the Lion decorated sarcophagi, which are extraordinary.

TROY HISTORICAL NATIONAL PARK

LOCATION

SERVICES

Troy (Turkish Truva) was a city,

You can visit the historical places and the excavation area. You can climb the stairs of the Troyan Horse and you can enter the horse and look out of its windows and you can take photos.

both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia , southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida. It is in Çanakkale Province.

CHARACTERISTICS: HISTORICAL HERITAGE It is best known for being the focus of the Trojan War described in the Greek Epic Cycle and especially in the Iliad, one of the two epic poems attributed to Homer.

Troia was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998.

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The wooden horse built for the Hollywood film Troy was gifted to Turkey and it was placed in Çanakkale.( First photo on the left) The others are the scenes from the movie Troy.

ULUDAĞ NATIONAL PARK LOCATION

SERVICES

'Uludağ , the ancient Mysian Olympus, is a mountain in Bursa Province, Turkey, with an altitude of 2,543 m (8,343 ft). I

It is a popular center for winter sports such as skiing, and a national park of rich flora and fauna. Summer activities, such as trekking and camping, also are popular.

. CHARACTERISTICS

Mt. Uludağ is the highest mountain of the Marmara region. Its highest peak is Kartaltepe at 2,543 m (8,343 ft). To the north are high plateaus: Sarıalan, Kirazlıyayla, Kadıyayla, and Sobra. Mt. Uludağ, the ancient Mysian Olympus, is one of the most popular skiing resorts in Turkey. In Turkish, Uludağ means "Sublime Mountain", but in colloquial Turkish, the older name Keşiş Dağı, "Mountain of Monks," is still used.

Habitats of the park range from maquis on the lower slopes, through deciduous woodland and beech and fir forest to alpine meadows at the highest levels. It is a refuge for mountain birds, such as Lammergeier and other vultures, Golden Eagle and more than 20 other raptor species. Common Crossbill and Tengmalm's Owl, a rare and very local bird in Turkey, as well as the White-backed Woodpecker. The rare and local butterfly, Parnassius apollo graslini, is found on Uludag and the area has much of interest to botanists.

Yedigรถller National Park LOCATION

SERVICES

The Yedigรถller National Park (Turkish: Yedigรถller, "seven lakes") is located in the north of the Bolu Province, Turkey.

The best time to visit the NP is the months between the April and November. It has a very good panorama . It is a very nice place to take photographs , rest , have a picnic and camping.

CHARACTERISTICS The park is best known for the lakes formed by landslides and for the rich plant life.

There are beech trees, oaks, hornbeams, alders and black pines in the area.

YOZGAT PINE GROVE NATIONAL PARK LOCATION

SERVICES

The national park is located 5 km (3.1 mi) south of the city Yozgat.

It is a popular recreational area for the residents of the city. The park has various facilities for visitors like a three-star hotel, campsite, restaurant, cafeteria and playground.[2] You can havea picnic in this national park and if you want you can pitch tents and stay there longer.

CHARACTERISTICS The Yozgat Pine Grove National Park (Turkish: Yozgat Çamlığı Millî Parkı), is a national park consisting of pine trees in Yozgat, Central Anatolia Region of Turkey.

It was established on February 5, 1958 as the country's first national park.