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Turkey

144 IPAs have been identified in Turkey since 2003 and numerous conservation projects initiated including the IPANet of volunteers to engage with site conservation and awareness raising.

IPAs in turkey

Turkey is a vast peninsula, covering an area of 814,578 square kilometres and linking Asia to Europe.

The majority of its territory extends over the Anatolian peninsula, but across the Sea of Marmara, the triangular shaped Trace on the edge of the Balkan peninsula is the continuation of Turkey on the European continent.

Crocus chrysanthus on Uludag IPA / Andrew Byfield

East of the Bosphorus Sea, Anatolia is largely a huge plateau (about 790,200 m²), rising steadily towards the east and bounded in the north and south by steep mountain ranges. North Anatolia receives heavy rainfall, particularly in the east, whereas south and west Anatolia have a typically Mediterranean climate near the coast with higher temperatures in the south.

Inner Anatolia is continental with very low winter temperatures, particularly in the eastern highlands, many of which remain under snow from November to March. In south east Anatolia temperatures are higher, and the flora has affinities with the Syrian Desert, of which it is effectively the northern extension.

With about 11,000 native vascular plants – and one in every three endemic – the flora of Turkey is outstanding, both in its overall diversity and its endemics. It falls into three floristic regions (Euro Siberian, Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian), and is the meeting place of the floras of Europe and Asia.

The flora is also of exceptional importance from an economic point of view. Major parts of two of the eight centres of crop plant diversity lie within Turkey; over 350 medicinal plants are collected for trading purposes and garden plants have been derived from over 200 genera. This diversity reflects the variety of habitats which range from semi-desert and salt steppe through Mediterranean cedar/fir forests and temperate rainforest to a wide range of grasslands, wetlands, peatlands and heathlands.

Approximately 50% of the Turkish land surface is covered by semi-natural vegetation principally forest, steppe and montane habitats. Over one quarter of Turkey’s land surface was covered in forest in 1980. Approximately 1,240,000 hectares of wetlands of international importance for birds have been identified as Important Bird Areas.

144 IPAs have been identified in Turkey since 2003, covering 11,301,000 hectares - 13% of Turkey’s total area, the sites ranging in area from 154 to 1,545,632 hectares. Over 50% of the selected sites qualify as IPAs by meeting more than one criterion. 3,442 rare plants occur within the IPAs. Their greatest threat is the intensification of agriculture which affects 44 % of sites, followed by development related to tourism and recreation (35%), and deforestation (24%).

Fact-sheets on Turkey’s IPAs are available on the IPA Online Database

Coordinating organisations:

Contacts: