Troy, situated at a distance of 30 km from the Dardanelles. Troy, which had been founded in the year 3000 B.C., and was demolished and reconstructed nine times until the year 500 A.D., was inhabited incessantly for 3500 years.Troy I. which had been founded in the year 3000 B.C., was demolished in the year 2500 B.C., and Troy II.
that was founded in its place, was brought to its end by a fire in the 2300's B.C. Troy III, IV. and V. were founded successively. After these strata which were not indicative of a great deal of activity, Troy VI. was founded between the years 1800-1275 B.C. This Troy which is worthy of attention today with its city walls in good condition, was succeeded by Troy VII which is the stratum where the famous war was made.

This stratum is divided into strata VIIa and VIIb respectively, and the Trojan war, which was the first war in the world between the east and the west, took place in Troy VIIa in the years of 1200 B.C. During this war many people came to the aid of Troy from various places of Anatolia, but because of the trick of the "Wooden Horse", the city fell and Troy was burnt and destroyed. The Trojans who could save themselves from this massacre, built their city over again and kept on living there. Troy VIII. which followed Troy VII, acquired the properties of the Hellenistic period, and Troy IX became the Troy of the Roman period. Schliemann conducted excavations in Troy in 1870; following him, Dörpfeld and later in the year 1935, Blegen from America, continued the excavations there.

A magical and spectacular natural site, unique in the world, Pamukkale (Hierapolis) is a fairyland of dazzling white, petrified castles. Thermal spring waters laden with calcareous salts running off the plateau's edge have created this fantastic formation of stalactites, cataracts and basins. The hot springs have been used since Roman times for their therapeutic powers. Both the thermal center with its motels and thermal pools, and the ruins of the ancient city of Hierapolis, are situated on the plateau.

Pamukkale (Hierapolis) is now covered by a comprehensive protection and construction plan and needed restoration work has already begun.

An agreement ratified in Barcelona on February 16, 1976 in regard to the "Prevention of Pollution in the Mediterranean" and a Protocol relevant to special areas of protection have all gone into effect. Within the framework of this protocol the following have been designated as special protection areas:

- Dilek Yarimadasi (Peninsula)
- Olympos Beydaglari (Beyda Mountains)
- Gelibolu Yarimadasi Milli Park (Gelibolu Peninsula National Park)

Furthermore, in accord with the same agreement, 100 sites along the shores of the Mediterranean sea which share a common importance, and seventeen other sites around the country have come under protection. Work is being undertaken at an international level. The seventeen sites are as follows:

Antalya, Aspendos, Bursa, Didyma, Ephesus, Fethiye-Ölüdeniz, Halikarnassos, Istanbul, Kaunos, Kekova, Knidos, Miletos, Pergamon, Phaselis, Priene, Troy, Xanthos.

An agreement on the Protection of the European Archaeological Heritage has also been signed.

An agreement signed between Turkey and the Council of Europe countries on the protection of the European architectural heritage has been ratified by Law 3534 and brought into effect.

The region of the central Anatolia which is called Cappadocia was surrounded by Galatia (Ankara) and Lykaonia (Konya) to the west, Armenia to the east, Pontus to the north and Kilikia to the south. It shows a spectacular and surprisingly different landscape with its wind and water eroded volcanic tuff based soil. There are thousands of natural, pyramid shaped rock formations and cave-like settlement places carved by humans since the early ages throughout the region.

Cappadocia is located approximately 50km. to the south of Mount Erciyes (Argaeus), a former volcano. The violent eruptions of Erciyes covered whole area with a thick layer of volcanic ash. During the following ages this hardened tuff created a bizarre landscape by the strong influence of the wind and water erosion. Some of these chimney-like rock formations were dug-in as home or sometimes a church by the local people.

They used to speak a different language than their neighbors. Famous geographer and historian Strabon mentioned about these people in his book "Geographica" with their separate culture and language. This fertile country was occupied by its stronger neighbors throughout the ages. Persians, Macedonians and Romans were among the rulers of the land and its people in different times.

During the early periods of Christianity, the first followers of Jesus and his apostles settled in the area to hide from the soldiers of Roman Empire. It is known that St.Paul was looking for a secure place after expelled from Jerusalem. He came to Cappadocia and established the first Christian colony in this region with his followers.

According to Herodotus, the people of Cappadocia were called Syrians by their neighbors in Anatolia. The name Cappadocian was first used by Persians. They called the land Cappadocia and the people living on it Cappadocian.

Cappadocia was known to be a wealthy country with its fertile land and trade links with the neighbors. The first kingdom of Anatolia was founded in this region by the Hattis, 2000 years before Christ. There are various ruins in this area remained from the Hatti kingdom period.

Finally, this important region of Anatolia was conquered and ruled by the Seljuks and Ottomans.