than the Arabian plate. These observations, along with the absence of crustal shortening in the Anatolian plate normal to Arabian plate movement, indicate that suction from the African plate subducting and rolling back beneath the Anatolian plate is primarily responsible for the west/southwest movement of the Anatolian plate and the counterclockwise rotation of the region.

Previously, the crust under the Aegean Sea was described as a part of the Anatolian plate, and the different directions of motion