Viranşehir
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Viranşehir ( ku, Wêranşar) is a market town serving a cotton-growing area of
Şanlıurfa Province Şanlıurfa Province ( tr, Şanlıurfa ili; ku, Parêzgeha Rihayê) or simply Urfa Province is a province in southeastern Turkey. The city of Şanlıurfa is the capital of the province which bears its name. The population is 1,845,667 (2014). The ...
, in southeastern
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, 93 km east of the city
Şanlıurfa Urfa, officially known as Şanlıurfa () and in ancient times as Edessa, is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. Urfa is situated on a plain about 80 km east of the Euphrates River. Its climate features ext ...
and 53 km north-west of
Ceylanpınar Ceylanpınar ( ku, Serêkaniyê, ar, رأس العين Ra's al 'Ayn, ota, رأس العين ''Resülayn'') is a district of Şanlıurfa Province in southeastern Turkey. On the border with Syria, it is reached by a long straight road across t ...
at the Syrian border. In
Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
, it was known as Constantina or Constantia ( el, Κωνσταντίνη) by the Romans and Byzantines, and Tella by the local Assyrian/Syriac population.


History

According to the Byzantine historian
John Malalas John Malalas ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Malálas'';  – 578) was a Byzantine chronicler from Antioch (now Antakya, Turkey). Life Malalas was of Syrian descent, and he was a native speaker of Syriac who learned how to write in Greek later in ...
, the city was built by the Roman Emperor
Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
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 The Roman–Persian Wars, also known as the Roman–Iranian Wars, were a series of conflicts between states of the Greco-Roman world and two successive Iranian empires: the Parthian and the Sasanian. Battles between the Parthian Empire and the ...
of the 6th century as the seat of the ''
dux Mesopotamiae Mesopotamia was the name of a Roman province, initially a short-lived creation of the Roman emperor Trajan in 116–117 and then re-established by Emperor Septimius Severus in c. 198. Control of the province was subsequently fought over betwe ...
'' (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 Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroene ...
.
Jacob Baradaeus Jacob Baradaeus (; grc, Ἰάκωβος Βαραδαῖος, label=Ancient Greek, Greek; ar, مار يعقوب البرادعي; syc, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܘܪܕܥܝܐ, label=Syriac language, Syriac), also known as Jacob bar Addai or Jacob bar Theophi ...
was born near the city and was a monk in a nearby monastery. The city was captured by the
Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...
in 639. The city became the base for the Ottoman statesman of
Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...
origin Ibrahim Pasha, leader of the Kurdish
Milan tribe The Milan ( ku, Mîlan) is a Kurdish tribe that was historically at the head of a multi-confessional tribal confederacy, and is the subject of one of the legends of origin of Kurds, together with their rivals, the Zilan. The tribal confederacy was m ...
, 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 Colonel Sir Tatton Benvenuto Mark Sykes, 6th Baronet (16 March 1879 – 16 February 1919) was an English traveller, Conservative Party politician, and diplomatic advisor, particularly with regard to the Middle East at the time of the First Wo ...
claimed that Ibrahim Pasha had also saved some 10,000 Christians in the midst of the
massacres A massacre is the killing of a large number of people or animals, especially those who are not involved in any fighting or have no way of defending themselves. A massacre is generally considered to be morally unacceptable, especially when per ...
of the 1890s. The historian Janet Klein writes that "on the eve of the
Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman Constit ...
, Ibrahim Pasha was one of the most powerful figures in all of Kurdistan." 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 Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
. On the eve of World War I, Viranşehir's Armenian population of numbered 1,339. The city's
kaimakam Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained a ...
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 one of the fastest-growing towns in Turkey, the population having more than doubled from 57,461 in 1990 to 121,382 in 2000 (census figures). (The urban population is 89,940 as of 2009. The Mayor of Viransehir,
Leyla Güven Leyla Güven (born 6 May 1964, Cihanbeyli, Konya Province, Konya, Turkey) is Peoples' Democratic Party (Turkey), HDP MP for Hakkari (electoral district), Hakkari, co-chair of the Democratic Society Congress (DTK) and former mayor of the municipali ...
, 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. Salih Ekinci from the
Justice and Development Party Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...
(AKP) was elected Mayor of Viranşehir in the 31 March 2019 Local Election. The current
Kaymakam Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained an ...
is Ömer Dereci.


Notable people

* Bilge Özgen (1935*), Musical Artist *
Şivan Perwer Şivan Perwer (born İsmail Aygün on 23 December 1955) is a Kurdish population, Kurdish poet, writer, musical teacher, singer, and performer on the ''Tembûr''. Perwer fled Turkey in 1976 due to the Kurdish nationalism and political tones of his ...
(1955*), Musical Artist *
Nureddin Nebati Nureddin Nebati (born 1 January 1964; Şanlıurfa, Viranşehir), is a Turkish politician who served as the Minister of Finance and Treasury of Turkey from 2021 to 2023. He has previously served in the Grand National Assembly as a member of Justi ...
(1964*), politician and currently serving as the Minister of Finance and Treasury of
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
. * Ayşe Sürücü (1983*), Politician * Semra Güzel (1984*), medical doctor and a politician *
Deniz Kadah Deniz Kadah (born 2 March 1986) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Altay. Personal life Kadah was born in Viranşehir in Turkey and grew up in Verden in Germany. He made his debut in the first team for Bundesliga ...
(1986*), Footballer


References

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