Siirt Province, ( tr, , ku, Parêzgeha Sêrtê) is a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, located in the southeast. The province borders

Bitlis Bitlis ( hy, Բաղեշ '; ku, Bidlîs; ota, بتليس) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The city is located at an elevation of 1,545 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis R ...

to the north,

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...

to the west,

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location ...

to the southwest,

Şırnak Şırnak ( ku, شرنەخ, Şirnex) is a town in southeastern Turkey. It is the capital of Şırnak Province, a new province that split from the Mardin and Siirt provinces. The Habur border gate with Iraq which is one of Turkey's main links to Arab ...

to the south, and

Van A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller than a pickup truck and SUV, and bigger than a common car. There is some varying in the scope of the word across th ...

to the east. It has an area of 5,406 km² and a total population of 300,695 (as of 2010). The provincial capital is the city of

Siirt Siirt ( ar, سِعِرْد, Siʿird; hy, Սղերդ, S'gherd; syr, ܣܥܪܬ, Siirt; ku, Sêrt) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of Siirt Province. The population of the city according to the 2009 census was 129,188. History P ...

. The province is considered part of

Turkish Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan () refers to the southeastern part of Turkey, where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of th ...

and has a Kurdish majority. The current Governor of the Siirt province is Ali Fuat Atik.

History

In order to

Turkify Turkification, Turkization, or Turkicization ( tr, Türkleştirme) describes a shift whereby populations or places received or adopted Turkic attributes such as culture, language, history, or ethnicity. However, often this term is more narrowly ...

the

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

of Siirt, Law 1164 was passed in June 1927, which allowed the creation of Inspectorates-General (''Umumi Müffetişlik,'' UM) that governed with

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Martia ...

under a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...

. The Siirt province was included in the so called First Inspectorate General (''Umumi Müfettişlik,'' UM) in which an Inspector General governed with wide-ranging authority of civilian, juridical and military matters. The UM covered the provinces of Hakkâri, Siirt,

, Sanlıurfa, Elaziğ and

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortres ...

. The Inspectorate Generals were dissolved in 1952 during the government of the Democrat Party. Entrance to Siirt province was forbidden to foreigners until 1965. In July 1987, the Siirt province was included in to the state of emergency region

OHAL The OHAL region ( tr, Olağanüstü Hâl Bölge Valiliği, lit=Governorship of Region in State of Emergency) was a "super-region" created in Turkey under state of emergency legislation, as part of its approach to the Kurdish–Turkish conflict. Fr ...

, which was declared to counter the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK), and governed by a supergovernor who was invested with additional powers than a normal governor, including the power to relocate and resettle whole settlements. In December 1990 with the Decree No. 430, the supergovernor and the provincial governors in the OHAL region received immunity against any legal prosecution in connections with actions they made due to the powers they received from Decree No. 430. In November 1999, the state of emergency under which the province was governed was finally ended.

Districts

Siirt province is divided into 7

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

(capital district in bold): *

Baykan Baykan ( ku, Hawêl) is a district and city of Siirt Province of Turkey. In the Baykan district there are 30 villages. In the local elections in March 2019 Ramazan Sarsılmaz from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was elected mayor. Mehmet Tunç ...

* Eruh *

Kurtalan Kurtalan ( ku, Misircê) is a municipality in the Kurtalan District of Siirt Province in Turkey. The municipality is populated by Kurds of the Pencenarî tribe and had a population of 36,273 in 2021. Government In the local elections of 2019 B ...

Pervari Pervari ( ku, Berwarî) is a town and seat of the Pervari District of Siirt Province in Turkey. It is populated by Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian et ...

* Şirvan * Tillo

Notes

External links

{{Siirt-geo-stub