The Ministry of Education recently announced that it would be removing a map that divides Turkey into seven regions from high school courses; however, the Board of Education and Discipline denied the statement, saying that their goal was to make students understand that the geographical features of cities situated in the same region may differ.
There is currently no elaboration on the seven regions in 12th grade course books, which now include many different maps depicting many geographical parameters such as climate, landforms and flora. On this point we want to explain how the seven regions story emerged.
Geographical regions not practical
The history of the seven-region Turkey map stretches back to the years of World War II. Geographers from both Turkey and other countries drew it at the First geography Congress in 1941 in Ankara. They considered six points as they were drawing the map. Five of them were mostly about the syllabus, course books, resources, educational issues and so on. The sixth point was about searching for ways to improve geography courses.
In accordance with this, they divided Turkey into regions to make geography easier for students. Associate Professor T. Ahmet Ertek, the ninth president of the Turkish Geographical Society, founded in 1941, says the regions were divided according to similarities between geographical parameters such as climate, flora, landforms and population. However, some geographers argue that due to the vastness of the land, it was not possible to find any two areas where features concerning physical and human geography are the same in Turkey.
For instance, Associate Professor Servet Karabağ points to the importance of the definition of “region” and adds that any division into regions should give ideas about the analysis of the region. However, the criteria used to divide Turkey into seven regions do not provide such an analysis. As an example, Karabağ highlights geographical diversity, such as altitude and flora, among the places between İstanbul and Ankara. According to Karabağ, limiting an area with the aim of having it meet certain criteria is merely classifying regions. Ideally, he explains, regions are both the most important terminology in geography as well as its measuring unit. However, in Turkey the division of land into seven regions took precedence, as opposed to being an analysis of the actual land in question.
However, Ertek insists that the regional division in Turkey is fine. “The geographical and morphological parameters of mountains match in the current division of regions. The way plains were formed and the features of plateaus are also similar within the same region. We cannot expect the climate and flora of all cities to be the same. That is why sections within the regions have been formed and this is what sections with the different regions explain,” he notes.
Hakan Öcal, editor-in-chief of Sürat Publishing, is a graduate of Gazi University’s department of geography and is also opposed to the seven-region map. “Regions are the largest geographical units that are constrained according to similarities within themselves and differences compared to their surroundings. Take the Aegean region as an example. It has a Mediterranean climate along its coasts and a terrestrial climate inland. None of Turkey’s regions match general features attributed to them.”
Each region bears various geographical features
Additionally, weather forecasting according to Turkey’s regions is quite problematic. First, three different climates are felt in different parts of Turkey. Also, the climates of many cities in the same region differ greatly. That is why Turkey is divided into the Western Black Sea, the Central Black Sea, the Coastal Aegean and the Inner Aegean zones in weather forecasts. This kind of categorization does not solve the problem because the lands of some provinces stretch into different regions. For instance, Bilecik falls under four different regions: Marmara, Black Sea, Aegean and Central Anatolia.
Features within region need to be homogenous
Associate Professor Servet Karabağ (Gazi University): The most prominent criterion is the homogeneity of the features within a region. A region’s features must also differ from other regions around it. On a map of Turkey, the borders of many provinces creep into different regions. It is very difficult to lecture about the mountains of Turkey or the population distribution in the Black Sea region according to the seven-region map. How similar are Rize and Gümüşhane, even if they are situated in the same region? There are many more such questions we could ask, and it is evident that the regions are not practical in these terms.
Seven-region Turkey map not in course books
With the Turkish geography class teaching program launched in 2005, the seven regions of Turkey were removed from high school syllabi. The seven-region Turkey map is not included in geography course books, either. Instead, they use realistic regional maps, each of which points to similar geographical features. Karabağ emphasizes that the change in 2005 enabled students to observe geographical data given on the maps in their authentic surroundings. He also states that this leads to permanent learning and adds: “We need to use a map reflecting the true features of the places to teach the students. In that way they will learn a region in practical and authentic terms. It is not possible to teach three main climate zones or mountains or three main flora zones on a seven-region map.”
Administrative, geographical maps
Associate Professor Ahmet Ertek (president of Turkish Geographical Society): You can see the traces of geographical criteria decided in 1941 in today’s weather forecasts. I do not think their decisions in 1941 were misleading because you cannot explain the differences in Turkey in one go. For instance, the annual rainfall in the Black Sea region is 2,000 mm while it is 200 mm in Karapınar, Konya. I admit that Bilecik falls within four different regions, but the provincial borders of a province do not affect its regional borders. Provincial borders are administrative, while regional borders are geographical.