Middle East DVEP - Armed Forces Pest Management Board

MONTH J F M A M J J A S O N DMaximum 12 14 18 23 29 33 36 35 33 27 19 13Minimum 1 2 4 8 11 14 17 17 14 9 4 2Monthly PrecipitationMean (mm) 58 38 24 14 8 0 0 0 0 10 28 52______________________________________________________________________________________c. Population and Culture. Most inhabitants live along the western borders, wherethe population density exceeds 125 persons per sq km. The cities of Damascus andAleppo account for more than 44% of the total population. In contrast, the barren easterndesert has a population density of 3 persons per sq km. The population (not including18,000 Arabs and 17,000 Israeli settlers in the Israeli occupied Golan Heights) is 89%Arab, 6% Kurd, 2% Armenian, and 3% others. Total population 16.7 million; 51%urbanized; literacy rate 70%.d. Water, Living and Sanitary Conditions. Lack of municipal sewage and watersystems, poor food sanitation, and overcrowded living conditions are typical throughoutSyria. Syria’s largest cities generally have sewage treatment systems. However, dumpingof untreated sewage directly into freshwater sources and the sea is common, andvegetables grown in the Damascus and Aleppo areas were still being irrigated withsewage-contaminated river water as of 1993. Indiscriminate disposal of excreta occurs inurban and rural areas. Solid waste is collected regularly in Damascus and Aleppo. Inother areas, solid waste is disposed of indiscriminately. Throughout Syria there is greatpotential for attraction and build-up of vector, rodent and other pest populations.M. Turkey.a. Geography. Turkey has a land area of approximately 770,750 sq km. It is slightlylarger than Texas and can be divided into five physiographic areas: (1) The AnatolianPlateau is an arid, treeless plain in central Turkey with shallow valleys and round hills thatvary in elevation from 600 m in the west to above 1,830 m in the east. (2) The barrenEastern Highlands cover the eastern one-third of the country and reaches a peak elevationof 5,150 m at Mount Ararat, Turkey’s highest peak. (3) The Aegean coast in the west andsouthwest consists of gently sloping plateaus and broad, fertile valleys. (4) The Black Seaarea in the north comprises a narrow band of coastal plain that gives rise to the PonticMountains, with a peak elevation of 3,950 m. (5) In the south, the Mediterranean coastalarea is a fertile plain that rises sharply into the Taurus Mountains, with a peak elevation of4,100 m. More than 90% of Turkey lies in earthquake zones.b. Climate. Turkey’s climate is characterized by extremes, with wide seasonal andregional variations. In winter, the narrow coastlands of the Black, Aegean, andMediterranean Seas have milder temperatures and receive more rainfall than the interior.Regional differences are much less marked in summer. In coastal areas, the mean dailytemperature for August, the hottest month, is 28 o C, and for January, the coldest month,9 o C. Mean annual rainfall varies from 650 mm on the Aegean and Mediterranean Seacoasts to more than 2,540 mm on the Black Sea coast. The semiarid Anatolian Plateau,58