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ABSTRACTThis article examines the development of tourism in Turkey. It focuses mainly on the relationship between the country’s shifting geopolitical alignment and the recent changes in the countries of origin of its international tourist clientele. The study outlines geopolitical aspects of tourism, highlighting how it can be part of government strategies to reflect shifting geopolitical alliances and relationships. In the case of Turkey, there has been something of a move away from Europe and NATO towards enhanced relations with Russia and China. The article draws on an analysis of official statistics, interviews with key stakeholders in the Turkish tourism sector and direct field observations at tourist sites.

A comprehensive work was carried out to investigate natural radionuclides of 238U, 232Th and 40K in 73 soil samples collected from islands of Adır, Çarpanak and Akdamar on the Van Lake (Turkey) located at Eastern Turkey. Radioactivity concentrations of these radionuclides were measured by using a gamma spectrometer with NaI(Tl) detector to be from 4.11 to 77.1 Bq/kg, from 6.0 to 70.0 Bq/kg and from 133.05 to 749.77 Bq/kg with the mean values of 33.33 Bq/kg, 36.68 Bq/kg and 478.19 Bq/kg, respectively. In addition, the absorbed gamma dose rate in air (D) and annual effective dose equivalent (AED) were found to be 57.5 nGy/h and 70.5 μSv/year, respectively. We have shown that our results might be related to the geological formation type. The results were compared with some published ones in Turkey and the World, which were found within acceptable limits.

ABSTRACTThis article provides a critical account of geographical education in Turkey, a predominantly Muslim country which, as a result of regional conflicts and refugee crises, is currently much in the media. The picture of geography that emerges is of a discipline well established and generally popular in the school sector, but much less prominent in universities, where its role needs to be broadened beyond providing the next generation of school teachers. Across both sectors, key challenges are the professional development of staff, teaching and curriculum modernisation and engaging with both employability and the sustainability agenda – to which neither geography nor Islamic theological teaching in Turkey have yet given real prominence. A key starting point for change in Turkey's geographical education is the need to strengthen and rationalise the professional bodies that exist to promote geography.