East Thrace includes two narrow straits, provides access to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea for the navies of five countries: Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, and Georgia. The region also serves as a future connector of existing Turkish and European high speed rail networks. East Thrace includes all in the eastern part of the historical region of Thrace. The area includes all the territories of the Turkish provinces of Edirne, Tekirdağ and Kırklareli, as well as those territories on the European Continent of the provinces of Çanakkale and Istanbul. Due to the moderating effect of the surrounding seas, the climate tends to
Pomaks in Turkey tongue. It is very hard to estimate the number of Pomaks along with the Turkified Pomaks who live in Turkey, as they have blended into the Turkish society and have been often linguistically and culturally assimilated. According to "Milliyet" and "Turkish Daily News" reports, the number of the Pomaks along with the Turkified Pomaks in the country is about 600,000. Pomaks in Turkey The Pomaks in Turkey refers to an ethnic group, who are predominantly Muslim and speak their own dialect of Bulgarian. They mostly live in Eastern Thrace, though some are also present in Anatolia. In the census of