The devastating 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes occurred along the active East Anatolian Fault at a strike-slip fault where the Arabian plate is sliding past the Anatolian plate horizontally.

[4][5] According to the American Museum of Natural History, the Anatolian transform fault system is "probably the most active in the world".

This convergence manifests in compressive features within the oceanic crust beneath the Mediterranean as well as within the continental crust of Anatolia itself, and also by what are generally considered to be subduction zones along the Hellenic and Cyprus arcs.

The northern edge is a transform boundary with the Eurasian plate, forming the North Anatolian Fault zone (NAFZ).

But studies of the North Anatolian Fault indicate that Anatolia is de-coupled from the Eurasian plate.