The Black Sea region (Turkish: Karadeniz Bölgesi) (sometimes referred to as Pontus or Pontos) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Samsun. Other big cities are Zonguldak, Trabzon, Ordu, Tokat, Giresun, Rize, Amasya and Sinop.
It is bordered by the Marmara Region to the west, the Central Anatolia Region to the south, the Eastern Anatolia Region to the southeast, the Republic of Georgia to the northeast, and the Black Sea to the north.
Rize (Turkish pronunciation: [ɾi'ze]; Greek: Ριζούντα, romanized: Rizoúnta; Laz: რიზინი, romanized: Rizini; Georgian: რიზე) is a coastal city in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Rize Province and Rize District. Its population is 346,977 (2024). Rize is a typical Turkish provincial capital with little in the way of nightlife or entertainment. Since the border with Georgia was opened in the early 1990s, the Black Sea coast road has been widened and the town is much wealthier than it used to be. Current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's family has its roots in Rize and the local university is named after him. The city is linked by road with Trabzon (41 miles [66 km] west), Hopa (55 miles [88 km] east on the Georgian border, and Erzurum (south). The Rize–Artvin Airport started operating in 2022.
The Eastern Anatolia region (Turkish: Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ.
It is bordered by the Black Sea Region and Georgia in the north, the Central Anatolia Region in the west, the Mediterranean Region in the southwest, the Southeastern Anatolia Region and Iraq in the south, and Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran in the east.
Kussara (Kuššar) was a Middle Bronze Age kingdom in Anatolia. The kingdom, though apparently important at one time, is mostly remembered today as the origin of the dynasty that would form the Old Hittite Kingdom.
The geographical regions of Turkey comprise seven regions (Turkish: bölge), which were originally defined at the country's First Geography Congress in 1941. The regions are subdivided into 31 sections (Turkish: bölüm), which are further divided into numerous areas (Turkish: yöre), as defined by microclimates and bounded by local geographic formations.
"Regions" as defined in this context are merely for geographic, demographic, and economic purposes and do not refer to an administrative division.
The Laz people, or Lazi (Laz: ლაზი Lazi; Georgian: ლაზი, lazi; or ჭანი, ch'ani; Turkish: Laz), are a Kartvelian ethnic group native to the South Caucasus, who mainly live in Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. They traditionally speak the Laz language (which is a member of the Kartvelian language family) but have experienced a rapid language shift to Turkish.
Of the 103,900 ethnic Laz in Turkey, only around 20,000 speak Laz and the language is classified as threatened (6b) in Turkey and shifting (7) in Georgia on the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale.
Çorum (Turkish: Çorum İli) is a province in the Black Sea Region of Turkey, but lying inland and having more characteristics of Central Anatolia than the Black Sea coast. Its area is 12,428 km, and its population is 524,130 (2022). Its provincial capital is the city of Çorum, the traffic code is 19.
Melyat, is one of the main water streams of Pazar and Çayeli in the eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. Melyat is 20.3 kilometres (12.6 mi) long. It is 28 km from the city center of Rize. The source of the river is Cegalver Mountain in Hemşin district. River borders the villages of Zafer, Yavuzlar, Erenler, Çınartepe, Kaçkar, Kestanelik, Tektaş, Güneyköy, Şendere, Kuzayca, Örnek, Merdivenli, Leventköy and Balıkçı respectively.