Carbonate rocks cover a large areal extent of Turkey. This geological feature has caused Turkey to have a great cave potential.  Although there is no exact number, Turkey has thousands of natural caves ranging from 15-20 metres to 12 kilometres in length and from 5 metres to 1250 metres in depth.

For many of us, caves, which do not go beyond a dark secret, have been both feared and sheltered places since the human race has existed on earth.  When people began to explore the caves and see the marvellous features of the cave world, these natural monuments became very important both scientifically and sportively, and fear was replaced by a sense of curiosity. This sense of curiosity has turned into scientific studies over time.

Whether the cave systems are small and short or large, long and deep, they harbour many species of living organisms. In other words, cave systems have hosted and continue to host many species, including humans. For this reason, it is essential to protect the caves in order to protect both the species living in them and the traces of past life.

Caves had an important place archaeologically as well as biologically. There are also caves in different parts of our country where people have lived for tens of thousands of years.

Some of the caves developed in carbonate rocks have cave deposits with very high visual value. Some of these caves have been opened to tourism and have made significant economic contributions to their regions. Karaca (Gümüşhane), Ballıca (Tokat), Tınaztepe (Konya), İncesu (Karaman), Gökgöl (Zonguldak), Ilgarini (Kastamonu), Mencilis (Karabük), Karain, Kocain, Beldibi, Damlataş, Dim, Altınbeşik, Zeytintaşı (Antalya), Gilindire, Taşkuyu, Astım (Mersin), Kaklık, Keloğlan (Denizli), İnsuyu (Burdur), Dupnisa (Kırklareli) and Oylat (Bursa) are important caves opened for tourism.

However, opening a cave to tourism is not enough for its protection. On the contrary, the caves opened for tourism suffer great damages due to lack of a healthy planning. For this reason, it is very important to carry out scientific studies for the caves that are considered to be opened for tourism.

There are approximately  60 caves, large and small, in the Thrace region. Some of these caves are not included in this book since they are considered as caves or lairs.

Asst. Prof. Yıldırım GÜNGÖR