the capital and second-largest city of turkey is ankara. the largest and the most crowded city is istanbul which is the only city in the world that has land on two different continents. the third largest city is the coastal city of i̇zmir which is the main port of the country. turkey is divided into 81 provinces. each province has its own little government but they can only make decisions about small things: the government in ankara decides important issues. the provinces are in 7 regions. each province is divided into districts. there are 973 districts altogether. the biggest main city at the european side of turkey is edirne in east thrace.