Turhal urban geography

Turhal, which administratively belongs to the city of Tokat, is situated in the Central Black Sea part of the Black Sea Region. Turhal is situated on a rift-plain from tectonic origins with alluvial-fill and over the North Anatolian Fault in the Yeşilırmak river basin, and the Turhal Sugar Factory, which was founded in 1934, had an important role in Turhal's acquisition of an urban character. The aforementioned factory has procured the improvement and the diversification of the urban functions and besides it has significantly influenced the spatial development of the city. As of 2012, the population of Turhal is 63,600. Turhal is a city where the industry played a crucial role. However, with time, the industry lost its primary role. Today, among the economically active population , 81% works in the service industry, 5% in agriculture and 14% in the industry sector. Turhal is on the route between Sivas-Tokat-Amasya highway and it is 69 km. away from the E-80 Highway, which connects Istanbul to Black Sea region. Thanks to these features, it is the administrative and the commercial center of the areas that are tied to it. The urbanization in Turhal has a demographic character. Especially with the establishment of Turhal Sugar Factory, new employment opportunities appeared, and with Turhal becoming a town in 1944, it became a city which attracted immigrants and which had a highly developed service sector. In time, the immigration the town allowed for went beyond the economic development and this caused a sudden increase in population, which rendered the urbanization of the town to be shaped by demographic characters. After 2000, Turhal has become a city, which gave immigration rather than receiving it. There are some real problems caused by the geological and the geomorphological characters of the town. As a research area, it is considered as a first degree seismic-zone. Since the alluvial-fills, which the town was built on, are loosely structured soils, there is a real danger of substantial damage in case of a possible earthquake. These surfaces are also the ones where the liquefaction of ground is high. Key Words: Geography, Urban Geography, City, Tokat, Turhal