Eastern Anatolia
Eastern Anatolia is a region in Turkey. It occupies the mountainous east of the country and has the harshest winters.| Tap on a place to explore it |
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Essential Destinations
Top destinations include Erzurum and Van.
Erzurum
Photo: Atsirlin, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Erzurum is one of the largest cities in Eastern Anatolia, with a population of about 363,000 in 2023, half that of Erzurum Province. It's at high altitude and has a ski resort.
Van
Photo: Bahoz, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Van is a city in Eastern Anatolia in Turkey. It's on the eastern shore of Lake Van near the border with Iran, so for Iranians it's an unlikely Reno, a holiday break from their restrictive theocracy.
Kars
Photo: Uspn, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Kars is a city in Eastern Anatolia with a population of 91,500 in 2022. The main reason to visit is the Armenian ruined city of Ani, and Kars town itself has several attractions.
Destinations to Discover
Explore places such as Malatya and Erzincan.
Malatya
Photo: Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Malatya is a city of half a million people in Eastern Anatolia. It has limited sights for a city of its size, but here you might break a journey to Mount Nemrut and the eastern fringes of Turkey.
Erzincan
Photo: Bertramz, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Erzincan is a city in Eastern Anatolia. It's modern, on a grid pattern, as its predecessor was destroyed by an earthquake in 1939. In 2022 its population was 150,714.
Elazığ
Elazığ is a city in the mountains of Eastern Anatolia, at an altitude of 1067 m and with a population of 387,072 in 2022. Although the railway and main eastern highway pass through, it's almost an island, as huge modern reservoir lakes surround it.
Muş
Photo: Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Muş is a city in the Eastern Anatolia mountains of Turkey, with a population of 117,000 in 2022. It's the seat of the province of Muş, with a total population of 400,000.
Ardahan
Ardahan is a city in Eastern Anatolia, some 100 km west of the tri-point of Turkey, Georgia and Armenia. It had a population of 42,000 in 2023 but limited sights, so you'd probably only visit in transit to Georgia.
Hakkâri
Photo: Engin Tavlı, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Hakkâri or Colemêrg, formerly known as Julamerk is a city in the namesake province in Eastern Anatolia, in the far southeastern corner of the country.
Tunceli
Photo: CanTuncelili, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Tunceli is a municipality in Tunceli District and capital of Tunceli Province, Turkey. The city has a Zaza majority. It had a population of 35,161 in 2021.
Ani
Photo: Ggia, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Ani is an abandoned city in Eastern Anatolia, 44 km east of Kars and right on the border with Armenia. It was the chief city of Armenia in the 11th century, but dwindled thereafter, and was abandoned in the 13th century.
Doğubayazıt
Photo: Ben Bender, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Doğubayazıt is a town in Eastern Anatolia, in the far east of Turkey near the border with Iran. It's therefore a transit hub, with a population in 2022 of 80,000.
Tatvan
Photo: Nemrutkardelen, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Tatvan is a town in Eastern Anatolia, on the western shore of Lake Van. It had a population of 82,000 in 2022, with another 17,000 in its associated villages.
Darende
Photo: Hüseyin Öcal, CC BY 3.0.
Darende is a town in the mountains of Eastern Anatolia in Turkey, with a population of 26,000 in 2023. You might break a journey between Sivas and Malatya here.
Kemaliye
Photo: Mehmetaergun, CC0.
Kemaliye is a town in Eastern Anatolia, perched in a canyon above the Karasu or Western Euphrates River. It used to be known as Eğin, and that name is still used locally. In 2022 its population was 5,200.
Keban
Keban is a town of Elazığ Province of Turkey. It is the seat of Keban District. Its population is 5,906. In the local elections 2024 the Nationalist Movement Party candidate Yücel Doğan was elected as Mayor.Lake Hazar
Photo: Şenol zümrüt, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lake Hazar is a lake in the Elazig province of Eastern Anatolian Region. It is home to resorts, beaches, several accommodation centers, and tourism centers. It also borders minor cities, and shows presence as an important tourism area.
Eastern Anatolia
- Type: Region with 4,170,000 residents
- Description: region of East Turkey
- Also known as: “Eastern Anatolia region” and “Eastern Anatolia Region”
- Neighbors: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Black Sea Turkey, Caucasus, Central Anatolia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Mediterranean Turkey, and Southeastern Anatolia
- Categories: region of Turkey and human-geographic territorial entity
- Location: Turkey, Middle East, Asia
- View on OpenStreetMap
This page is based on GeoNames, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikivoyage.
We’d love your help improving our open data sources. Thank you for contributing.
Satellite Map
Discover Eastern Anatolia from above in high-definition satellite imagery.
In Other Languages
From Albanian to Western Panjabi—“Eastern Anatolia” goes by many names.
- Albanian: “Rajoni i Anadollit Lindor”
- Arabic: “شرق الأناضول”
- Arabic: “منطقة الأناضول الشرقية”
- Arabic: “منطقة شرق الأناضول”
- Armenian: “Արևելյան Անատոլիա տարածաշրջան”
- Armenian: “Արևելյան Անատոլիա”
- Asturian: “Rexón d’Anatolia Oriental”
- Asturian: “Rexón de Anatolia Oriental”
- Azerbaijani: “Şərqi Anadolu regionu”
- Basque: “Ekialdeko Anatolia eskualdea”
- Belarusian: “Рэгіён Усходняя Анатолія”
- Belarusian: “Усходняя Анатолія”
- Bosnian: “Istočna Anadolija”
- Bulgarian: “Източен Анадол”
- Catalan: “Regió d’Anatòlia Oriental”
- Central Kurdish: “ھەرێمی ئاناتۆلیای ڕۆژھەڵات”
- Chechen: “Малхбален Анатоли”
- Chinese: “东安纳托利亚地区”
- Chinese: “東安納托利亞地區”
- Chinese: “東部安那托利亞地區”
- Czech: “Východní Anatolie”
- Dimli (individual language): “Mıntıqay Anatoliya Rocvetışi”
- Dimli (individual language): “Mıntıqaya Anatoliya Rocvetışi”
- Dutch: “Dogu Anadolu Bolgesi”
- Dutch: “Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi”
- Dutch: “Oost-Anatolie”
- Dutch: “Oost-Anatolië”
- Dutch: “Oost-Turkije”
- Esperanto: “Armena altebenaĵo”
- Esperanto: “Armena montaro”
- Esperanto: “Orienta Anatolia Regiono”
- Esperanto: “Orienta Anatolio”
- Esperanto: “Regiono Orienta Anatolio”
- Esperanto: “Արևելյան Անատոլիա”
- Estonian: “Ida-Anatoolia piirkond”
- Finnish: “Itä-Anatolian alue”
- French: “Anatolie orientale”
- French: “région de l’Anatolie orientale”
- French: “Région de l’Anatolie orientale”
- Galician: “Rexión da Anatolia Oriental”
- Georgian: “აღმოსავლეთ ანატოლიის რეგიონი”
- German: “Dogu Anadolu Bölgesi”
- German: “Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi”
- German: “Dogu Anadolu”
- German: “Doğu Anadolu”
- German: “Ostanatolien”
- Greek: “Περιοχή Ανατολικής Ανατολίας”
- Hebrew: “מזרח אנטוליה”
- Hebrew: “מחוז מזרח אנטוליה”
- Hungarian: “Kelet-anatóliai régió”
- Indonesian: “Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi”
- Indonesian: “Eastern Anatolia Region”
- Indonesian: “Kawasan Anatolia Timur”
- Italian: “Regione dell’Anatolia Orientale”
- Japanese: “東アナトリア”
- Japanese: “東アナトリア地域”
- Japanese: “東アナトリア地方”
- Korean: “동부 아나톨리아 지역”
- Korean: “동아나톨리아 지역”
- Kurdish: “Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi”
- Kurdish: “Herêma Rojhilatê Anatolyayê”
- Latvian: “Austrumu Anatolijas reģions”
- Macedonian: “Источна Анадолија”
- Marathi: “पूर्व अनातोलिया प्रदेश”
- Nepali: “पूर्वी एनाटोलिया क्षेत्र”
- Northern Frisian: “Uastanatoolien”
- Norwegian Nynorsk: “Aust-Anatolia”
- Norwegian Nynorsk: “Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi”
- Persian: “منطقه آناتولی شرقی”
- Persian: “ناحیه آناتولی شرقی”
- Portuguese: “Região da Anatólia Oriental”
- Romanian: “Regiunea Anatolia de Est”
- Russian: “Восточная Анатолия”
- Scots: “Eastren Anatolie Region”
- Serbo-Croatian: “Istočna Anadolija”
- Slovak: “Východná Anatólia”
- Slovenian: “Vzhodna Anatolija, Turčija”
- Slovenian: “Vzhodna Anatolija”
- Spanish: “Region de Anatolia Oriental”
- Spanish: “Región de Anatolia Oriental”
- Swahili: “Kanda ya Anatolia ya Mashariki”
- Tagalog: “Eastern Anatolia Region”
- Tagalog: “Silangang Rehiyon ng Anatolia”
- Tajik: “Анатулии Шарқӣ”
- Tamil: “கிழக்கு அனடோலியா பிராந்தியம்”
- Turkish: “Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi”
- Turkish: “Doğu anadolu”
- Uighur: “شەرقىي ئاناتولىيە رايونى”
- Ukrainian: “Східна Анатолія”
- Urdu: “مشرقی اناطولیہ علاقہ”
- Uzbek: “Sharqiy Onadoʻli viloyati”
- Western Panjabi: “مشرقی اناطولیہ علاقہ”
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About Mapcarta. Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, except for photos, directions, and the map. Description text is based on the Wikivoyage page “Eastern Anatolia”. Photo: Inkey, CC BY 2.5.