The following is a list of national parks in

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 ...

History

The concept of a national park was introduced for the first time in Turkey by Selahattin İnal, who argued that "nature reserves should have the status of a national park and they should be determined according to natural beauty and touristic potential criteria." The concept was included in the 25th article of the Forest Law adopted on 31 August 1956, and was included in the legal plane for the first time. The General Directorate of Forestry, which is given the responsibility of the national parks by law, is authorized to declare a national park for the purpose of using it as a scientific and public sports and recreation area, provided that the

fauna Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is ''funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as ''Biota (ecology ...

and

flora Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous (ecology), indigenous) native plant, native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' ...

of the forested areas are preserved. Until 1983, only areas that had forest cover fell within the category of national parks, but the National Parks Law, which was adopted on 9 August 1983, new protection statuses such as

nature parks A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected natural area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscapes ...

, nature preserve areas, and

nature monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, nat ...

s were established and areas with historical, touristic or cultural values could now be declared as national parks even if they were not covered by forests. According to the current version of the law, the declaration of a new national park falls within the powers of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which takes the advice of the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning on zoning, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on historical and touristic matters. In the cases where the area set to become a national park consists of lands belonging to the public as well as fields belonging to the individuals, the area is taken under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, which can use measures such as

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

, transfer, allocation or donation under the Expropriation Law. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has the right to organize, manage, or operate national parks. The right to operate is valid only for national parks not covered by the

state forest A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federated state, or territory. Background The precise application of the terms vary by jurisdiction. For example: * In Australia, a ...

s, and the right to operate the state forests cannot be transferred in accordance with article 169 of the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

. The management of the national parks is directly done by the Directorate of National Parks, a subbranch of the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks, which itself is controlled by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Yozgat Pine Grove National Park, one of the remaining ruins of the ancient forests in

Central Anatolia The Central Anatolia Region ( tr, İç Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Ankara. Other big cities are Konya, Kayseri, Eskişehir, Sivas, and Aksaray. Located in Central Turkey, it is borde ...

, was declared Turkey's first national park on 5 February 1958.

Antalya la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 07xxx , area_code = (+90) 242 , registration_plate = 07 , blank_name = Licence plate ...

has the highest number of national parks among the provinces by having five national parks within its boundaries. With a height of and an area of , Mount Ararat National Park is Turkey's largest and highest national park. The last area to be declared a national park was Botan Valley National Park, which was listed on 15 August 2019. Turkey has a total of 44 national parks, which cover an area of .

Key

National parks

National parks by province

Former national parks

Map

References

;Inline citations ;Sources * *

External links

*
National parks map system
{{Asia topic, List of national parks of

National parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...