From shipwrecks to sunken cities, it's Türkiye's treasures of the deep that make the country's coastline the perfect underwater playground for divers.

Türkiye sits at the intersection of ancient cultures and maritime trade routes, all of which have left their mark underwater, and when you add hundreds of dive sites and professional diving schools along every coastline, a rich underwater ecosystem of marine life and coral reefs, plus crystal clear waters and warm temperatures, divers are spoiled for choice.

Under the umbrella of the Inventory of Shipwrecks project, numerous studies are ongoing to preserve Türkiye's underwater cultural assets and open up shipwrecks to diving tourism. Çanakkale’s Gallipoli Historical Underwater Park is one such route, where divers can explore historical wrecks like the WWI British minesweeper HMS Lundy or the 19th century British steam passenger ship SS Milo.

Ali Eyüpoğlu, a physical education teacher and diving instructor, has a boat and a diving centre in Çanakkale. For him, the appeal of Türkiye for scuba divers is clear: "The coastline is abundant and has played host to various civilizations. The physical structures of our underwater archaeology are good, and Türkiye is among the leading countries in the world both in the academic field and in terms of underwater excavations and research".