Turkish Straits

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     Bosporus Strait      Dardanelles Strait
     Bosporus Strait      Dardanelles Strait

The term Turkish Straits (Boğazlar) refers to the two narrow straits that connect the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean arm of the Mediterranean Sea on the one side and the Black Sea on the other. They are conventionally considered as the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. They are located in northwestern Turkey.

  • The Bosporus (or Bosphorus) (Boğaziçi or İstanbul Boğazı), about 30 km long and only 700 m wide, connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea in the north. It runs right through the city of Istanbul, making it the only city located on two continents. It is crossed by two suspension bridges (Bosphorus Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge), with a rail tunnel currently under construction (Marmaray).
  • The Dardanelles (Çanakkale Boğazı), 68 km long and 1.2 km wide, connects the Sea of Marmara with the Mediterranean in the southwest, near the city of Çanakkale. They were historically also known as the Hellespont, and they were the scene of the Battle of Gallipoli during the First World War.

The Turkish Straits are an international waterway, governed since 1936 by the Montreux Convention.

[edit] See also

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