Continuous uses of fossil fuels are bound to pollute the atmosphere and consequently unwanted greenhouse and climate change effects will come to dominate every part of the earth. It is, therefore, advised to exploit clean energy resources, and for many nations in the world to try to assess their environmentally friendly, clean energy resources such as wind energy. Hence, it is an urgent situation to determine the wind energy potential in every country. This paper gives the wind velocity, topography and wind energy variation maps obtained for Turkey with local and regional interpretations. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.