Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

is road-dominated and mostly fuelled by diesel. Transport consumes a quarter of

energy in Turkey Energy industry, Energy consumption per person in Turkey is similar to the List of countries by energy consumption per capita, world average, and over 85 percent is from fossil fuels. From 1990 to 2017 annual primary energy supply tripled, b ...

, and is a major source of

air pollution in Turkey Air pollution in Turkey is the most lethal of the nation's environmental issues, with almost everyone across the country exposed to more than World Health Organization guidelines. Over 30,000 people die each year from air pollution-related illne ...

and

greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey Coal, cars and lorries vent more than a third of Turkey's five hundred million tonnes of annual greenhouse gas emissions—mostly carbon dioxide—and are part of the cause of climate change in Turkey. The nation's coal-fired power stations ...

. The

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

has called for more

active transport In cellular biology, ''active transport'' is the movement of molecules or ions across a cell membrane from a region of lower concentration to a region of higher concentration—against the concentration gradient. Active transport requires cellul ...

such as cycling.

Rail transport

Rail network

The TCDD – Türkiye Devlet Demir Yolları (Turkish State Railways) possess 10,984 km of gauge, of which 2,336 km are electrified (2005). There are daily regular passenger trains all through the network. TCDD has started an investment program of building 5.000 km high-speed lines until 2023. As of October 2019, three high speed train routes are running: Ankara-Eskişehir-İstanbul, Ankara-Konya and İstanbul-Eskişehir-Konya. The freight transportation is mainly organized as block trains for domestic routes, since TCDD discourages under 200 to loads by surcharges.

Urban rail

After almost 30 years without any trams,

is experiencing a revival in trams. Established in 1992, the tram system of

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

earned the best large-scale tram management award in 2005. Another award-winning tram network belongs to

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

( EsTram) where a modern tram system opened in 2004. Several other cities are planning or constructing tram lines, with modern low-flow trams. By 2014, there have been 12 cities in Turkey using railroads for transportation. * Cities with commuter rail systems:

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...

, Izmir,

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approxima ...

* Cities with

metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...

systems:

, Izmir,

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart of Cilicia, wh ...

* Cities with light rail transit systems:

, Izmir,

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

Antalya Antalya () is the fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast outside the A ...

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large industrialised city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is composed of five districts: the two central districts of Kocasina ...

Samsun Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta ( gr, Σαμψούντα) and Amisos ( Ancient Greek: Αμισός), is a city on the north coast of Turkey and is a major Black Sea port. In 2021, Samsun recorded a population of 710,000 people. The ci ...

, Kocaeli.

Railway links with adjacent countries

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

– via

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

– under construction *

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

– closed (see Kars Gyumri Akhalkalaki railway line) *

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Maced ...

– open – *

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

– open – (Note: Passenger services as Express of Friendship/Filia suspended from 13 February 2012 ) *

– under reconstruction –

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

/. *

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

– via

Lake Van Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake, ...

train ferry A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...

– same gauge *

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

– No direct link, traffic routed via Syria – same gauge *

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

– closed – (Note: It was suspended after breakout of Syrian Civil War in 29 August 2011)

Road transport

Road transport is responsible for much

and almost a fifth of Turkey's greenhouse gas emissions, mainly via diesel. It is one of 3 G20 countries without a fuel efficiency standard. there are many old, inefficient, polluting trucks. Retiring old polluting vehicles by forcing all cars and trucks to meet tailpipe emission standards would reduce disease, especially from

polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a class of organic compounds that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest representative is naphthalene, having two aromatic rings and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene. P ...

. , the country has a roadway network of . The total length of the rail network was in 2008, including of electrified and of high-speed track. The

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible with the ownership and maintenance of railway infrastructure in Turkey ...

started building

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

lines in 2003. The Ankara-Konya line became operational in 2011, while the Ankara-Istanbul line entered service in 2014. Opened in 2013, the Marmaray tunnel under the

Bosphorus The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...

connects the railway and

lines of Istanbul's European and Asian sides; while the nearby

Eurasia Tunnel The Eurasia Tunnel ( tr, Avrasya Tüneli) is a road tunnel in Istanbul, Turkey, crossing underneath the Bosphorus strait. The tunnel was officially opened on 20 December 2016 and opened to traffic on 22 December 2016. The double-deck tunnel ...

(2016) provides an undersea road connection for motor vehicles. The

Bosphorus Bridge The Bosphorus Bridge ( tr, Boğaziçi Köprüsü), known officially as the 15 July Martyrs Bridge ( tr, 15 Temmuz Şehitler Köprüsü) and unofficially as the First Bridge ( tr, Birinci Köprü), is one of the three suspension bridges spanning ...

(1973),

Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge ("Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror Bridge"), also known as the Second Bosphorus Bridge (in Turkish: ''Fatih Sultan Mehmet Köprüsü'', ''F.S.M. Köprüsü'' or ''2. Köprü''), is a bridge in Istanbul, Turkey spannin ...

(1988) and

Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge ( tr, Yavuz Sultan Selim Köprüsü) is a bridge for rail and motor vehicle transit over the Bosphorus strait, to the north of two existing suspension bridges in Istanbul, Turkey. It was initially named the Third Bos ...

(2016) are the three suspension bridges connecting the European and Asian shores of the Bosphorus strait. The

Osman Gazi Bridge The Osmangazi Bridge ( tr, Osman Gazi Köprüsü) is a suspension bridge spanning the Gulf of İzmit at its narrowest point, . The bridge links the Turkish city of Gebze to the Yalova Province and carries the O-5 motorway across the gulf. The b ...

(2016) connects the northern and southern shores of the

Gulf of İzmit Gulf of İzmit ( Turkish: ''İzmit Körfezi''), also referred to as Izmit Bay, is a bay at the easternmost edge of the Sea of Marmara, in Kocaeli Province, Turkey. The gulf takes its name from the city of İzmit. Other cities and towns around t ...

. The Çanakkale Bridge, connects the European and Asian shores of the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

strait.

Road network

There are three types of intercity roads in Turkey: – The first is the historical and free road network called State roads ('' Devlet Yolları'') that are completely under the responsibility of the General Directorate of Highways except for urban sections (like the sections falling within the inner part of

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

s of

or İzmir. Even if they mostly possess

dual carriageway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

s and interchanges, they also have some

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic lights ...

s and intersections. – The second type of roads are

controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

s that are officially named '' Otoyol''. But it isn't uncommon that people in Turkey call them ''Otoban'' (referring to

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...

) as this types of roads entered popular culture by the means of

Turks in Germany Turks in Germany, also referred to as German Turks and Turkish Germans (german: Türken in Deutschland/Deutschtürken; tr, Almanya'da yaşayan Türkler/Almanya Türkleri), are ethnic Turkish people living in Germany. These terms are also used ...

. They also depend on the General Directorate of Highways except those that are financed with a BOT model. – The third type of roads are provincial roads (''Il Yolları)'' are highways of secondary importance linking districts within a province to each other , the provincial center, the districts in the neighboring provinces, the state roads, railway stations, seaports, and airports *

Motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

s: Motorway 2.225 km (2019) *

Dual carriageway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

s: 17.550 km *State Highways 31.021 km (2019) *Provincial Roads 34.153 (2019) *Motorway Projects‐Vision 5250 km (in 2023) As of 2010, there are 155

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube const ...

s (total length 99.5 km) and 6447 bridges (total length 296.3 km) on the network.

Public road transport

There are numerous private

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

companies providing connections between cities in Turkey. For local trips to villages there are

dolmuş In Turkey and Northern Cyprus, dolmuş () are share taxis that run set routes within and between cities. Background Their name is derived from Turkish for "seemingly stuffed" referencing the fact that in days past these taxis were often filled t ...

es, small

van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across ...

s that seat about twenty passengers. As of 2010, number of road vehicles is around 15 million. The number of vehicles by type and use is as follows. *

Car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

7,544,871 *

Minibus A minibus, microbus, minicoach, or commuter (in Zimbabwe) is a passenger-carrying motor vehicle that is designed to carry more people than a multi-purpose vehicle or minivan, but fewer people than a full-size bus. In the United Kingdom, the ...

386,973 *

Bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

208,510 * Small truck 2,399,038 *

Truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

726,359 *

Motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

2,389,488 * Special Purpose vehicle 35,492 *

Tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most common ...

1,404,872 * Total: 15,095,603

Cycling

Escooters

Escooter rental is available in some cities, and escooters can be used on cycle paths, and on urban roads without cycle paths where the speed limit is below 50 kph.

Car ownership

over half the registered motor vehicles are cars - about 12.5 million - of which 4.7 million are diesel fueled, 4.7 million LPG, and 3 million gasoline.

Air transport

In 2013 Turkey had the tenth largest passenger air market in the world with 74,353,297 passengers. In 2013 there were 98

airports in Turkey This is a list of airports in Turkey, sorted by location. Airports , - , Ankara , LTAC , ESB , Ankara Esenboğa Airport , } , - , Antalya , LTFG , GZP , Gazipaşa Airport , } , - , Antalya , LTAI , AYT , Antalya Airport , } , - ...

, including 22

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longe ...

s. ,

Istanbul Atatürk Airport ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

is the 11th busiest airport in the world, serving 31,833,324 passengers between January and July 2014, according to

Airports Council International Airports Council International (ACI) is an organization of airport authorities aimed at unifying industry practices for airport standards. Established in 1991, its headquarters (ACI World) are based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and its members ...

. The new (third) international airport of Istanbul is planned to be the largest airport in the world, with a capacity to serve 150 million passengers per annum.

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines ( Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları'') is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 340 destinations in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, making it the largest mainline carrier in the ...

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by the government for international operations. Hist ...

of Turkey since 1933, was selected by

Skytrax Skytrax (originally known as Inflight Research Services) is a United Kingdom–based consultancy which runs an airline and airport review and ranking site. Services Skytrax conducts research for commercial airlines, as well as taking survey ...

as Europe's best airline for five consecutive years in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. With 435 destinations (51 domestic and 384 international) in 126 countries worldwide, Turkish Airlines is the largest carrier in the world by number of countries served .

Airlines

Airports

Total number of Airports in Turkey: 117 (2007) Airports – with paved runways
''total:'' 88
''over 3,047 m:'' 16
''2,438 to 3,047 m:''
''1,524 to 2,437 m:'' 19
''914 to 1,523 m:'' 16
''under 914 m:'' 4 (2010) (Link:) Airports – with unpaved runways
''total:'' 11
''1,524 to 2,437 m:'' 1
''914 to 1,523 m:'' 6
''under 914 m:'' 4 (2010) (Link:) Heliports 20 (2010)

Water transport

About 1,200 km

Port cities

Black Sea *

Hopa Hopa ( Laz and , Hamshen ) is a city and district of Artvin Province in northeast Turkey. It is located on the eastern Turkish Black Sea coast about from the city of Artvin and 18 kilometres from the border with Georgia. Geography Hopa is on t ...

* Inebolu *

Trabzon Trabzon (; Ancient Greek: Tραπεζοῦς (''Trapezous''), Ophitic Pontic Greek: Τραπεζούντα (''Trapezounta''); Georgian: ტრაპიზონი (''Trapizoni'')), historically known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the ...

Zonguldak Zonguldak () is a city and the capital of Zonguldak Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It was established in 1849 as a port town for the nearby coal mines in Ereğli and the coal trade remains its main economic activity. According to the ...

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi (Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

* İzmir

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

İskenderun İskenderun ( ar, الإسكندرونة, el, Αλεξανδρέττα "Little Alexandria"), historically known as Alexandretta and Scanderoon, is a city in Hatay Province on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Names The city was founded as Ale ...

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezi ...

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the B ...

Gemlik Gemlik is a town and center of the Gemlik District of Bursa Province. It is located in the east of the Gulf of Gemlik. It is approximately away from Bursa. In antiquity, Gemlik was the location of the ancient Greek town of Cius. Gemlik is an in ...

Bandırma Bandırma () is a city in northwestern Turkey with 161,894 inhabitants as of 2021 on the Sea of Marmara. Bandırma is a district of Balıkesir Province. Bandırma is located in the south of the Marmara Sea, in the bay with the same name, and is a ...

İzmit İzmit () is a district and the central district of Kocaeli province, Turkey. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. As of the last 31/12/2019 estimation, the c ...

* Derince

Air pollution

Road traffic is a major source of

, and Istanbul is one of the few European cities without a

low emission zone A low-emission zone (LEZ) is a defined area where access by some polluting vehicles is restricted or deterred with the aim of improving air quality. This may favour vehicles such as bicycles, micromobility vehicles, (certain) alternative fuel ve ...

. Transport emitted 85 megatonnes of CO₂ in 2018, about one tonne per person and 16 percent of Turkey's greenhouse gas emissions. Road transport dominated transport emissions with 79 megatonnes, including agricultural vehicles.

Rail transport

Rail network

Urban rail

Railway links with adjacent countries

Road transport

Road network

Public road transport

Cycling

Escooters

Car ownership

Air transport

Airlines

Airports

Water transport

Port cities

Air pollution

See also

Sources

References

External links