Claim: The Dodecanese are off the coast of a region.

Anatolia -LRB- from Greek Ἀνατολή , Anatolḗ -- `` east '' or '' -LRB- sun -RRB- rise '' ; in modern -RRB- , in geography known as Asia Minor -LRB- from Mīkrá Asía -- `` small Asia '' ; in modern -RRB- , Asian Turkey , Anatolian peninsula , or Anatolian plateau , is the westernmost protrusion of Asia , which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey . The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north , the Mediterranean Sea to the south , and the Aegean Sea to the west . The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland .   Traditionally , Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands -LRB- Armenia Major -RRB- . This region is now named and largely situated in the Eastern Anatolia Region of the far north east of Turkey and converges with the Lesser Caucasus -- an area that was incorporated in the Russian Empire region of Transcaucasia in the 19th century . Thus , traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey . However , since the Armenian Genocide and declaration of the Turkish Republic in 1923 , the Armenian Highlands had been renamed Eastern Anatolia by the Turkish government , and Anatolia is often considered to be synonymous with Asian Turkey , which comprises almost the entire country ; its eastern and southeastern borders are widely taken to be the Turkish borders with neighboring Georgia , Armenia , Azerbaijan , Iran , Iraq , and Syria , in clockwise direction .   The ancient inhabitants of Anatolia spoke the now-extinct Anatolian languages , which were largely replaced by the Greek language starting from classical antiquity and during the Hellenistic , Roman and Byzantine periods . The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th century and continued under the Ottoman Empire between the early 14th and early 20th centuries . However , various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by minorities in Anatolia today , including Kurdish , Assyrian , Armenian , Arabic , Laz , Georgian , and Greek .