Hatay

Hatay Province is Turkey’s southernmost province.Almost all of it is located outside Anatolia, on the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The administrative capital is Antakya (Antioch), and the port city of İskenderun (Alexandretta). It is bordered by Syria to the south and east and the Turkish provinces of Adana and Osmaniye to the north. The province is part of Cukurova (Cilicia), a geographical, economical and cultural region that covers the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye, and Hatay. There are border crossing points with Syria in the district of Yayladagı and at Cilvegozu in the district of Reyhanli.

The province, which was then known as Sandjak (county) of Alexandretta, was under French control as a part of the French Mandate of Syria between 1920 and 1938. In 1938, it appeared on the maps as the independent State of Hatay. Following a plebiscite a year later, it joined Turkey as the Hatay Province in 1939.It’s easy to point out Hatay on maps, even on those showing full continents, as it is where the southern border of Turkey, which follows roughly a straight line in a west-east fashion extends significantly southwards. Situated on the very northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea, where northern shores lying on a west-east direction curves into the Middle Eastern shore stretching north to south (traditionally known as the coasts of the Levant), it’s possible to find long and sandy beaches popular with the locals in the region, although the traditional centre of the region, Antakya/Antioch, is an inland city.