Turkey is a contiguous transcontinental country, located mostly on Anatolia in Western Asia and on East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Iran and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea is to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.Turkey's location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia makes it a country of significant geostrategic importance. The area now called has been inhabited since the Paleolithic,including various Ancient Anatolian civilizations and Thracian peoples.After,Alexander the Great's conquest, the area was Hellenized, whichSee More