Geographically, Anatolian Turkey is in Asia and Thracian Turkey is in Europe. A simple glance at a map confirms it. Istanbul is not called the city that straddles two continents for nothing. For commercial convenience, the whole of Turkey is often classified as Europe for such things as travel insurance and flights. Lonely Planet lists Turkey under Eastern Europe and the Caucasus when it is part of neither (apart from Thrace). Is Turkey also part of the Middle East? This is less clear. The Middle East is an ill-defined term that always includes Arabic countries, but may or may not include the nations of North Africa (who speak Arabic) and may or may not include non-Arabic Iran. Where does Cyprus fit in? It’s closer to Asia than to Europe and the Greek side is part of the European Union (nominally on behalf of the whole Island but that’s another story).
Does any of it matter? Certainly not to long gone conquerors who marched across Asia Minor from all points of the compass at the drop of a helmet. Take a look at this to see what I mean.
It only matters to me when trying to catch the weather forecast on BBC World. The Beeb doesn’t seem to know where Turkey is either and generally ignores us altogether. Consider this. Geologically, Europe isn’t a continent at all. It’s an appendage to Asia with an arbitrary border drawn along the Ural and Caucasus Mountains. Those in the know describe the entire landmass as Eurasia. You see we’re all Asians really.
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Perking the Pansies 
It gets more complicated, quite commonly Goergia and Armenia are considered part of Europe.
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Indeed they are perhaps because they are largely Christian whereas adjacent Ajerbaijan often isn’t because it’s Muslim. Funny that!
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All Asians? . . . try telling that to your average, middle-class, uni-educated and secular Turk! Modern Turks are Europeans, and don’t you forget it!
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I wouldn’t dare!
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Indeed, on all counts, Jack, Ashley and Alan. Glad to know I’m not the only one with a beef with the BBC weather service…although the “another glorious day in Turkey” phenomenon might play a factor, no?
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Well, Auntie’s forecasts are terrible anyway so it probably doesn’t matter. Just look out the window, I say.
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Sad to hear that Turkey gets ignored. But who cares about those weather forecasters. A lot of them can’t correctly predict the weather even with all the technology; at least where I live. Turkey fascinates me most because it has both Asian and European influences. The mixture gives it, its own unique flavor; and that’s appealing to me.
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