Avşa Island () or Türkeli is a Turkish

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

in the southern

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

with an area of about . It was the classical and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

Aphousia ( or Ἀφησιά) and was a place of exile during the Byzantine period. The Greek inhabitants fled to Sarti Chalkidiki after the 1923 population exchange. The island belongs to the Marmara District of

Balıkesir Province Balıkesir Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in northwestern Turkey with coastlines on both the Sea of Marmara and the Aegean Sea, Aegean. Its area is 14,583 km ...

in northwestern Turkey. It is a popular domestic tourist destination, especially for tourists from

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

. The local population is around 2,000 according to the last census, but during the summer season the number of visitors increases as far as forty to fifty thousand.

Transportation

The island is within reach from

by ship and ferry. It is also accessible from

Erdek Erdek is a municipality and district of Balıkesir Province, Turkey. Its area is 307 km2, and its population is 31,902 (2022). Located on the Kapıdağ Peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Erdek at the south of the Sea of Marmara, ...

and

Tekirdağ Tekirdağ () is a city in northwestern Turkey. It is located on the north coast of the Sea of Marmara, in the region of East Thrace. The city forms the urban part of the Süleymanpaşa district, with a population of 186,421 in 2022. Tekirdağ ...

by motorboat.

Location

The exact location of Avşa island is shown in the following map in red color. The larger island north of Avşa is the island of Marmara and the island to the east is

Paşalimanı Paşalimanı Island (), formerly Halone (), is an List of islands of Turkey, island in the southern Sea of Marmara in Turkey. The island is the fifth largest island of Turkey () and administratively belongs to the Erdek town of Balikesir Province ...

References

External links

* * Islands of the Sea of Marmara Islands of Turkey Populated places in Balıkesir Province Islands of Balıkesir Province {{Balıkesir-geo-stub

Transportation

Location

See also

References

External links