East Thrace East Thrace East Thrace or Eastern Thrace ( or simply "Trakya"; , "Anatoliki Thraki"; , "Iztochna Trakiya"), also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of the modern Republic of Turkey that is geographically part of Southeast Europe. It accounts for 3% of Turkey's land area but comprises 14% of Turkey's total population. The rest of the country is located on the Anatolian peninsula, geographically in Western Asia. East Thrace is of historic importance as it is next to a major sea-based trade corridor. It is currently also of specific geostrategic importance because the sea corridor, that
East Thrace be Mediterranean in character. It can descend to about 12°C and can rise to about 32°C, similar to Asian Turkey. East Thrace has an area of 23,764 km (3 percent of the country), slightly smaller than Sardinia, and a population of about 11 million people or about 14 percent of the total population (in 2015); the population density is around 430 people/km, compared to about 80 people/km for Asiatic Turkey, which is also called Anatolia or Asia Minor. However, densities are skewed by the metropolis of Istanbul. The two continents are separated by the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus (collectively known as