East Thrace

East Thrace (blue) within Thrace (yellow)East Thrace (blue) within the Marmara region of Turkey East Thrace landscape in Edirne Province, Turkey

East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey or Turkey in Europe, is the part of Turkey that is geographically in Southeast Europe. Turkish Thrace or also known as European Turkey accounts for 3 percent of Turkey's land area (an area of 23 764 km2) and 12 percent of the population. Asiatic Turkey, called Anatolia or Asia Minor, has an area of 755 688 km2 (97 percent of the country). The two are separated by the Dardanelles, Sea of Marmara and Straits of the Bosphorus, a route of about 361 km. The largest city is Istanbul, which straddles the Bosporus between Europe and Asia. East Thrace is of historic importance as it is next to a major sea trade corridor. It is currently also of specific geostrategic importance because the sea corridor, which includes two narrow straits, provides access to the Mediterranean Sea from the Black Sea for the navies of five countries: Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia. The region also serves as a future connector of existing Turkish, Bulgarian, and Greek high-speed rail networks. Due to the guest worker agreement with Turkey and Germany, some Turks in Germany originally come from Eastern Thrace, mostly from the Kırklareli Province.