[3][4] It has the highest average altitude, largest geographical area, and lowest population density of the seven Turkish regions.

In 1923, the newly founded Republic of Turkey renamed the territory "Eastern Anatolia" as part of a wider policy of removing all non-Turkish names of places following the Armenian genocide.

[5][6][4][12] Beginning in 1880, the name Armenia was forbidden to be used in official documents of the Ottoman Empire, in an attempt to play down the role of Armenians in the region.

[4][13][12] The government of Sultan Abdul Hamid II replaced the name Armenia with such terms as "Kurdistan" or "Anatolia".

The process of "nationalization" of toponyms was continued and gained momentum under the Kemalists after the foundation of the Republic of Turkey.

Since most of the region is far from the sea, and has high altitude, it has a harsh continental climate with long winters and short summers.

During the winter, it is very cold and snowy, during summer the weather is cool in the highlands and warm in the lowlands.

The region contains 11% percent of the total forested area of Turkey, and it is rich in native plants and animals.