Şanlıurfa Province

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Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Turkey place Şanlıurfa Province (Template:Langx; Template:Langx),<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> also known as Urfa Province, is a province and metropolitan municipality in southeastern Turkey. The city of Şanlıurfa is the capital of the province which bears its name. Its area is 19,242 km2,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and its population is 2,170,110 (2022).<ref name=tuik>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and has a Kurdish majority<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> with a significant Arab and Turkish minority.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Districts

Districts of the Şanlıurfa Province

Şanlıurfa province is divided into 13 districts, listed below with their populations as at 31 December 2022 according to the official government estimates:<ref name=tuik/> Template:Div col

Template:Div col end

Geography

Template:Pie chart
Wind rose of the Urfa region, showing the primary directions where wind blows from.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp

With an area of Template:Cvt, it is the largest province of Southeast Anatolia with:

Şanlıurfa includes several major components of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (in Turkish Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi (GAP)) designed to:

  • exploit the hydropower potential of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers;
  • dramatically expand irrigation for agriculture; and
  • develop the economy of the region.

This very large-scale, state-sponsored development project involved the damming, redirecting, hydroelectric tapping and other use of rivers in this broad, semi-arid region. (The rivers then flow into Syria and Iraq). The GAP includes 22 dams and water supply for 1.8 million hectares for agricultural areas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Climate

The Urfa region is characterized by a semi-arid Mediterranean climate.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp Rainfall mostly comes in winter, when the temperature is mildest; summers are very hot and dry.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp Annual mean precipitation is 458.1 mm.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp The annual mean temperature is 18.5 °C.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp The coldest month is January, which has an average temperature of 2.7 °C, while the hottest month is July, with an average temperature of 39 °C.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp The dry season typically begins around April, peaks in intensity around July, and ends around October.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp Wind typically blows from the northwest, with west-northwest winds being the strongest.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp

The area around Urfa and Viranşehir, and continuing towards Mardin further east, is the driest part of a "desert-like steppe" region in southeastern Anatolia.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp This area is characterized by vast plains as well as "low and broad hills [that] come [one] after another".<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp As one approaches the Syrian border in the south, the climate gets drier due to less rainfall and it becomes more desert-like.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp In some areas, however, water from karstic sources makes things greener.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp

The plant life of this southeastern steppe region is less diverse than the steppes of central and eastern Anatolia because the dry season is longer here.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp Perennial xerophytes like Astragalus, Verbascum, Phlomis, Centaurea, and Cirsium predominate.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp In some sheltered valleys, though, pockets of Mediterranean flora still exist – remnants of what was once a more widespread distribution prior to a climactic shift in the region sometime in the past.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp

Geology

Geological map of the Urfa-Harran plain and surroundings (in German)

Most of Şanlıurfa province consists of Cenozoic formations.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp Calcareous formations are predominant on the Fatik plateau, west of the Urfa-Harran plain, and in the Tektek Mountains to the east of the plain.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp Among these are vast Eocene deposits north and west of Urfa, as well as younger Oligocene-Miocene deposits on the Tektek and lower Fatik plateaus.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp There are also basalt deposits, dating from the Pliocene-Quaternary periods, just north of the city of Urfa itself.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp These are associated with the Karacadağ Formation.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp These basalt deposits are generally covered by just 5 to 10 cm of soil deposits; in some places, though, there is thick enough topsoil for agriculture.<ref name="Kaya 2011"/>Template:Rp On the Harran plain, more recent alluvial deposits from the Quaternary period predominate.<ref name="Kaya 2011">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp

Economy

Agriculture is the largest economic sector in Şanlıurfa province.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp As of 2000, 43% of the province's GDP is in agriculture, 40% service, 11% industry, and 6% in construction.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp The total GDP is US$1.85 billion.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp

Agriculture

Şanlıurfa province is a major producer of cotton, wheat, and barley.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp Cotton production in particular increased dramatically after the GAP was initiated in 1995.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp The influx of irrigation availability meant that many farmers could switch from dry to irrigated agriculture, and cotton's high market value enticed a majority of farmers to start planting it.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp The province's annual cotton yield rose from 277,000 tons in 1995 to 708,602 tons in 2004.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp By 2021, the province produces 42% of all cotton in Turkey.<ref name="Şimşek 2021">Template:Cite news</ref> As of 2008, the province also produced 11% of all dry legumes, 6.4% of barley, and 4% of wheat in the country.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp Other crops include red lentil, pistachio, grape, sesame, and various vegetables.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp In terms of animal husbandry, sheep and goats are the most important.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp As of 2015, about 32% of the province's workforce is employed in agriculture.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp However, the employment share of agriculture has been declining.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp Another problem is that excessive irrigation has caused increased soil salinity.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp

Pistachio clusters growing on a tree in Şanlıurfa province. The province is one of Turkey's leading pistachio producers.

Şanlıurfa province is among the leading producers of pistachios in Turkey.<ref name="Ayaydın 2022">Template:Cite news</ref> As of 2021, the province has 29.7 million pistachio trees and produced 38,576 tons of pistachios — about a third of the national total of 119,000 tons.<ref name="Ayaydın 2022"/> However, most of the processing for the pistachios is done in Gaziantep instead.<ref name="Ayaydın 2022"/>

The province is also a major producer of several varieties of peppers.<ref name="AjansUrfa 2022 peppers">Template:Cite news</ref> As of 2021, Şanlıurfa province produced 77,663 tons of capia peppers; 6,180 tons of sivri peppers; and 1,296 tons of bell peppers.<ref name="AjansUrfa 2022 peppers"/>

Agriculture in Şanlıurfa province is dominated by large-scale landowners.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, an influx of Syrian refugees willing to work for cheap have changed the agricultural labor market here.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp Local seasonal farm workers, who demand higher wages, are unable to find work in the province and are increasingly temporarily migrating to other provinces for seasonal farm work.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp

Dairy products

Urfa cheese (Urfa peyniri) bears similarity to other cheeses in the region, such as Diyarbakır's örgü, Kahramanmaraş's Maraş-sıkma, or Gaziantep's Antep-sıkma.<ref name="Yalçın et al 2007">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp It is mostly made from sheep and goat milk.<ref name="Yalçın et al 2007"/>Template:Rp Most production is done in villages using traditional techniques and low-tech equipment and lacking hygienic standards or pasteurized milk; however, industrial-scale production has begun in recent decades.<ref name="Yalçın et al 2007"/>Template:Rp There is no single standardized method of production for Urfa cheese, so its qualities can vary.<ref name="Yalçın et al 2007"/>Template:Rp It is aged for anywhere between 3 and 7 months.<ref name="Yalçın et al 2007"/>Template:Rp

Another regional specialty is Urfa butter (Urfa yaği), a type of clarified butter made from sheep's milk.<ref name="Urfa Sade Yaği">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp It is made in Urfa itself as well as in other towns in the province like Siverek, Viranşehir, Ceylanpınar, and Harran.<ref name="Urfa Sade Yaği"/>Template:Rp

Industry

Industry has been increasing in employment share in Şanlıurfa province, reached 16% in 2006.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp The biggest industries include food processing (especially baked goods and dairy products) and textiles (especially cotton fabrics), which as of 2002 together employ 54% of industrial workers in the province.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp Other important industries (based on location quotient) include treatment and coating of metals (especially copper) and the manufacturing of pumps, compressors, and other agricultural equipment.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp

Important industries in Şanlıurfa province (as of 2002)<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp
Industry Number of firms Number of employees
Manufacture of crude oils and fats 9 86
Dairy products and cheese making 6 1,727
Ice cream manufacturing 9 19
Grain mills 142 324
Bread, pastry, and other baked goods 803 3,315
Preparing and spinning of cotton fabrics 57 966
Wood carpentry and joinery 366 766
Baked clay bricks, tiles, and other construction products 57 189
Concrete construction products 8 121
Plaster construction products 5 22
Ready-mix concrete 6 105
Metal carpentry and joinery 106 270
Forging, pressing, stamping, and roll forming of metals; as well as powder metallurgy 47 105
Treatment and coating of metals 183 317
Manufacture of pumps and compressors 19 92
Tractor manufacturing 11 34
Manufacture of non-electric domestic appliances 42 106
Manufacture of electric motors, generators, and transformers 10 73
Jewellery making 82 103
Collection, purification, and distribution of water 8 224
Test drilling and boring 7 14
General construction 67 1,993
Construction of water projects 3 794

Services

The largest part of the service sector in Şanlıurfa province, both in GDP and employment, is wholesale and retail trade.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp Many wholesalers and retailers in the province are closely linked to the agricultural sector - for example, through wholesale of seeds for farmers, wholesale of dairy products, retail sale of meat products, or retail sale of textiles.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp Another important activity in this sector is freight transport by road, which has a high location quotient for the province because it lies on the main road connection between the port of Mersin and the Habur border crossing into Iraq.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp

Demographics

As of 2000, the province has a population growth rate of 30.9%, which is well above the national rate of 14.9%.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp Average household size in the province is 6.87 people, which is above the national average of 4.5.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp About 42% of the province's population lives in rural areas and 58% in urban areas - a somewhat lower rate of urbanization than the country as a whole, which is 65% urban.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp The average per capita income is US$1,300 annually.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp The province has a low literacy rate - especially among women, who are only 52% literate in the province compared to 80% nationwide.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp The province also has high out-migration.<ref name="Pirili and Barbaros 2008"/>Template:Rp

Şanlıurfa province has the highest population of Syrian refugees in Turkey.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp There are an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 Syrian refugees in the province, including some 80,000 living in 4 refugee camps.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp The presence of large Kurdish and Arab populations in the province means that there is less of a language barrier for Syrians in Şanlıurfa province than in other parts of Turkey, and the similar cultural and religious values make the province a more comfortable setting for many migrants as well.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp As a result, tensions between locals and refugees are somewhat lower in Şanlıurfa province than elsewhere.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp

Employment for Syrians is concentrated most heavily in the construction, retail and wholesale, and agricultural sectors.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp Syrian labor is desirable for many employers because they are willing to work for lower wages than locals.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp For example, while mechanized cotton harvesting is an option for farmers, it is cheaper for them to hire Syrian workers to pick cotton by hand.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp Competition between Syrian and local seasonal farm workers has contributed to tension between the two groups, as the influx of Syrian labor has driven local farm workers to migrate to other provinces for seasonal farm work.<ref name="Lordoğlu and Aslan 2015"/>Template:Rp

Şanlıurfa province has one of the highest rates of child marriage in Turkey.<ref name="AjansUrfa 2022 child marriage">Template:Cite news</ref> According to TÜİK, there were 955 marriages of girls under the age of 18 in Şanlıurfa province in 2021, which was the second-highest in the country behind Gaziantep.<ref name="AjansUrfa 2022 child marriage"/>

Culture

The traditional culture of the city of Urfa differs from the rest of the province.<ref name = "Sayğan">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Cuisine

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The famous çiğ köfte belongs to the culinary traditions of the city and was unknown to the rural population until 1980s.<ref name = "Sayğan"/> Tırşik is a traditional dish of the rural population within the province.<ref name = "Sayğan"/>

Games and dance

"Çan Çekiç Oyunu" is a traditional dice game of Urfa played with eight dice for money.<ref name="Pinar and Özdurğun 2016">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:Rp "Dörtlü Oyunu" is a traditional dance of Urfa involving four people who each hold a red handkerchief in the right hand and a white one in the left hand.<ref name="Pinar and Özdurğun 2016"/>Template:Rp It is set to music played on the zurna and davul (types of horn and drum, respectively).<ref name="Pinar and Özdurğun 2016"/>Template:Rp

Playground games

"Derrebu Derinebu" is a tag-like playground game from Urfa that is a variant of the game "Darabil" from Gaziantep.<ref name="And 2003">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp In Derrebu Derinebu, players form two teams that face each other.<ref name="And 2003"/>Template:Rp A player from one team attempts to cross over to the other team, tag any number of players, and return, all while singing a rhyme without pausing for breath.<ref name="And 2003"/>Template:Rp The game locally known as "Arası Kesme" (called "Ara Kesme", "Esir Almaca", or other names in other parts of Turkey) is a capture-style game where one team tries to retrieve players from a designated area while the other team tries to stop them.<ref name="And 2003"/>Template:Rp A local variety of hide-and-seek (Saklambaç) is known as "Ebe Saklama".<ref name="And 2003"/>Template:Rp "Alkuç Balkuç" is an object-hiding game from Urfa where players stand in a circle and secretly pass an object from hand to hand.<ref name="And 2003"/>Template:Rp "Çukur Atma" is a marbles-type game of Urfa, except played with plum or apricot seeds instead of actual marbles.<ref name="And 2003"/>Template:Rp Another game particular to Urfa is "İğne Miğne Kiraz" and the finger-and-hand-based games "Beş Parmağı Yüz veya Bin Yapmak" and "Açıl Kilidim Açıl".<ref name="And 2003"/>Template:Rp

Music

A rich body of folk literature from Urfa is the mâni — a type of sung, single-stanza folk poetry consisting of seven lines with an A-A-B-A rhyme scheme.<ref name="Saraç 2018">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp The hoyrat is a local subgenre of the mâni where the first line is missing a syllable.<ref name="Saraç 2018"/>Template:Rp The hoyrat is a cultural tradition also present at Kirkuk in Iraq.<ref name="Saraç 2018"/>Template:Rp

Politics

On 1 January 1928, the province was included into the First Inspectorate-General over which an Inspector-General ruled according to the policies recommended in Report for Reform in the East.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Inspectorate was governed with martial law and span over the provinces of Hakkâri, Siirt, Van, Mardin, Bitlis, Şanlıurfa, Elaziğ and Diyarbakır.<ref name=":02">Template:Cite book</ref> The office of the Inspector General was dissolved in 1952.<ref name=":02" />

Şanlıurfa once being a relatively competitive province between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the True Path Party (DYP), it is now one of the most solid AKP provinces.

While the AKP managed to win Şanlıurfa with a comfortable 43.04% during the 2004 local elections, it has since then increased its margins of victory here. Following the diminishing popularity of smaller parties such as the DYP, Şanlıurfa heavily shifted towards the AKP, winning the November 2015 election with 64.55% of the votes. Şanlıurfa once again showed its status as an AKP stronghold in the 2017 referendum, with the Yes vote winning with a wide margin of 41.8%.

The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) came in second with 38.1 in the general elections in June 2015,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and with 28.2% the HDP was also second in the November 2015 general election.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) scored an exceptional 7.18% in the 1999 local elections. Its vote share eventually ebbed to a more usual 2.97% in the 2004 local elections. The MHP showed a significant recovery in the indecisive June 2015 election by winning 5.56% of the votes. However, the MHP went on to suffer from a nationwide loss in the upset November 2015 election, with its vote share declining to 2.75% in Şanlıurfa.

The centre-left Republican People's Party (CHP) usually maintains a modest share of slightly below 5%. Similar to the other two opposition parties, the CHP suffered a loss in Şanlıurfa, going from 4.10% in the June 2015 election to 2.70% in the November 2015 election.

The current Governor of Sanliurfa is Abdullah Erin.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Places of interest

The province is famous for its Abrahamic sites such as Balıklıgöl, where Prophet Abraham was cast by Nimrod into fire that is believed to have turned to water. Also the Mevlid-i Halil Mosque, where Abraham is believed to be born in the cave next to the mosque is well known.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Within the province, approximately 12 km (7 mi) northeast of the city of Şanlıurfa, is the pre-historic site of Göbekli Tepe, where continuing excavations have unearthed 12,000-year-old sanctuaries dating from the early Neolithic period, considered to be the oldest temples in the world, predating Stonehenge by 6,000 years.

The following tombs and sacred spots are located within the province:<ref>TÜRBELER</ref>

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References

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