Viranşehir () is a municipality and

district 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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of Şanlıurfa Province,

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its area is 2,297 km², and its population is 207,315 (2022). It is a market town serving a cotton-growing area, 93 km east of the city Şanlıurfa and 53 km north-west of Ceylanpınar at the Syrian border. In

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

, it was known as Constantina or Constantia () by the Romans and Byzantines, and Tella by the local Assyrian/Syriac population.

History

According to the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

historian John Malalas, the city was built by the Roman Emperor

Constantine I Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

on the site of former Maximianopolis, which had been destroyed by a Persian attack and an earthquake. During the next two centuries, it was an important location in the Roman/Byzantine Near East, playing a crucial role in the Roman–Persian Wars of the 6th century as the seat of the '' dux Mesopotamiae'' (363–540). It was also a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

, suffragan of Edessa. Jacob Baradaeus was born near the city and was a monk in a nearby monastery. The city was captured by the

Arabs Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of yea ...

in 637. The city became the base for the Ottoman statesman of Kurdish origin Ibrahim Pasha, leader of the Kurdish Milan tribe, in the late nineteenth century. Beginning in 1891, Ibrahim Pasha led several regiments of the state-sponsored tribal light cavalries known as the Hamidiye Brigades. He enjoyed the favor of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and also extended protection to local Christian populations, with some 600 families taking up residence in the district by the early 1900s. The British spy and diplomat Mark Sykes claimed that Ibrahim Pasha had also saved some 10,000 Christians in the midst of the massacres of the 1890s. The historian Janet Klein writes that "on the eve of the Young Turk Revolution, Ibrahim Pasha was one of the most powerful figures in all of

Kurdistan Kurdistan (, ; ), or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo- cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. G ...

." Yet after the revolution, Ibrahim Pasha could no longer count on the support of the palace. He died on 27 September 1908 of dysentery, hotly pursued by Ottoman troops near Nusaybin. On the eve of World War I, Viranşehir's Armenian population of numbered 1,339. The city's kaimakam apparently objected to May 1915 orders of raids on the population, but higher-ups eventually prevailed, and the entire population was massacred or sent to Ras al-'Ayn.

Modern city

Thanks to the income from cotton, Viranşehir is a fast-growing town. The Mayor of Viransehir, Leyla Güven, was detained in December 2009 under Turkey's anti-terror legislation. Her trial began on 18 October 2010. She was released in July 2014 with 30 other local elected representatives, after four years of detention. Serhat Dicle Inan from the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) was elected Mayor of Viranşehir in the 31 March 2024 Local Election. The current Kaymakam is Önder Koç.

Composition

There are 148 neighbourhoods in Viranşehir District:Mahalle
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 19 September 2023. * Abalar * Adaköy * Akçataş * Akkese * Alakonak * Altınbaşak * Anıt * Arısu * Arıtır * Aşağıtınaz * Aslanbaba * Atatürk * Atıcılar * Ayaklı * Ayrıdüşen * Azadi(Evrenpaşa) * Bahçelievler * Bakımlı * Ballıca * Başaran * Başköy * Beğrük * Binekli * Bozca *

Burç Burç is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Viranşehir, Şanlıurfa Province, Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called ...

* Büyükbardakçı * Büyükçavuş * Büyükgörümlü * Büyükmutlu * Çalıcık * Çamurlu * Ceylan * Çiftçiler * Çiftekuyu * Çokran * Cumhuriyet * Dedeköy * Defterdar * Değim * Demirci * Dikili * Dinçer * Dinçkök * Ekinciler * Ekindöver * Elbeğendi * Elgün * Emiroğlu * Engelli * Eser * Eskikale * Eşkin * Esvetoğlu * Evcimen * Eyyüpnebi * Germen * Göğerli * Göktepe * Gölbaşı * Gölcük * Gömülü * Gönüllü * Gözeli * Gözler * Güleryüz * Gürpınar * Güzlek * Hürriyet * İncirli * İsa Harabesi * Işıldar * Kadıköy * Kale * Karakuzu * Karataş * Karatepe * Kargalı * Karınca * Kavurga * Keçeli * Kemerli * Kervansarayı * Kınalıtepe * Kırbalı * Kırkgöz * Kışla * Kızlarsarayı * Kolağası * Konakyeri * Koşulu * Kucak * Küçükmutlu * Küçüktopça * Kumçeşme * Kurtulmuş * Kururoğlu * Malta * Mehmetçik * Nergizli * Oğlakçı * Övüncük * Özal * Pınarlar * Reyhanlı * Sağırtaş * Şahinli * Sakalar * Samanlı * Sarıbal * Şarkpınar * Satıcık * Sayoba * Şehit * Selahattinieyyubi * Sepetli * Sergen * Sevgili * Şırnak * Sözeri * Süleymaniye * Tanyeli * Taşönü * Taşyaka * Tekke * Tekneli * Tepedüzü * Toklu * Tunçbilek * Türkeli * Üçgül * Uğurlu * Ulaklı * Yaban * Yağızlar * Yarpuz * Yayık * Yazgüneşi * Yeni * Yenişehir * Yeşilalıç * Yeşildurak * Yıldız * Yolbilen * Yollarbaşı * Yüceler * Yukarıbağ * Yukarıdilimli * Yukarışölenli

Notable people

* Jacob Baradaeus (c. 500–578), Bishop of Edessa * Ibrahim Pasha Milli (1843-1908), Kurdish chief * Bilge Özgen (1935*), musical Artist * Şivan Perwer (1955*), musical Artist *

Nureddin Nebati Nureddin Nebati (born 1 January 1964; Viranşehir), is a Turkish politician who served as the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (Turkey), Minister of Finance and Treasury of Turkey from 2021 to 2023. He has previously served in the Grand National A ...

(1964*), politician * Ayşe Sürücü (1983*), politician * Semra Güzel (1984*), medical doctor and a politician * Deniz Kadah (1986*), footballer * Dilan Kunt Ayan (1989*), politician * Deniz Undav (1996*), footballer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viransehir Cities in Turkey Populated places in Şanlıurfa Province Districts of Şanlıurfa Province Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey Kurdish settlements in Turkey