Siirt (; ; ; ) is a city in the Siirt District of

Siirt Province Siirt Province, (, ; ) is a province of Turkey, located in the southeast. The province borders Bitlis to the north, Batman to the west, Mardin to the southwest, Şırnak to the south, and Van to the east. Its area is 5,717 km2, and its pop ...

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 ...

. It had a population of 160,340 in 2021. The city is predominantly inhabited by

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

Neighborhoods

The city is divided into the neighborhoods of Afetevlerı, Alan, Algul, Bahçelievler, Barış, Batı, Conkbayır, Çal, Doğan, Dumlupınar, Halenze, İnönü, Karakol, Kooperatif, Sakarya, Tınaztepe, Ulus, Ülkü, Veysel Karani and Yeni.

History

Previously known as ''Saird'', in pre-Islamic times Siirt was a diocese of the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

(''Sirte'', Σίρτη in

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...

). In the medieval times,

Arzen Arzen (in Syriac ''Arzŏn'' or ''Arzŭn'', Armenian ''Arzn'', ''Ałzn'', Arabic ''Arzan'') was an ancient and medieval city, located on the border zone between Upper Mesopotamia and the Armenian Highlands. The site of the ancient Armenian capital ...

was the main city and it competed with Hasankeyf over the control the region, Siirt was only to become a center of the region in the 14th century. But it was still dependent from

Hasankeyf Hasankeyf is a town located along the Tigris, in the Hasankeyf District, Batman Province, Turkey. It was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981. Despite local and international objections, the city and its archaeological sites ...

until the 17th century. An illuminated manuscript known as the Syriac Bible of Paris might have originated from the Bishop of Siirt's library, Siirt's Christians would have worshipped in Syriac, a liturgical language descended from

Aramaic Aramaic (; ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written a ...

still in use by the Syriac Rite, Chaldean Rite, other Eastern Christians in India, and the

Nestorians Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinary, doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian t ...

along the Silk Road as far as China. The Chronicle of Seert was preserved in the city; it describes the ecclesiastical history of the Persian realm through to the middle of the seventh century. From 1858 to 1915 the city was the seat of a bishop of the

Chaldean Catholic Church The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic Catholic particular churches and liturgical rites, particular church (''sui iuris'') in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is ...

. Most of the city's

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

, including Addai Scher their archbishop were murdered during the

Assyrian genocide The Sayfo (, ), also known as the Seyfo or the Assyrian genocide, was the mass murder and deportation of Assyrian/Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish tribes during ...

along with the loss of artefacts such as the Syriac manuscript of

Theodore of Mopsuestia Theodore of Mopsuestia (Greek: Θεοδώρος, c. 350 – 428) was a Christian theologian, and Bishop of Mopsuestia (as Theodore II) from 392 to 428 AD. He is also known as Theodore of Antioch, from the place of his birth and presbyterate. ...

's De Incarnatione. Also during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Armenian population of Siirt became a victim of the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

Demographics

Historical

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 ...

recorded Siirt as a city inhabited by Kurds, Arabs, Assyrians, and Armenians. During the second half of the 19th century, many Armenians left Siirt due to persecutions and poor economic conditions. During the 1895

Hamidian massacres The Hamidian massacres also called the Armenian massacres, were massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in the mid-1890s. Estimated casualties ranged from 100,000 to 300,000, Akçam, Taner (2006) '' A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide a ...

, many Armenians were forcibly converted to Islam and the clergy was massacred. Before World War I, the

sanjak A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

of Siirt formed a Christian enclave with 60,000 Christians: 25,000

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

, 20,000

Syriac Orthodox The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The church upholds the Mia ...

, and 15,000

Chaldean Catholics The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic particular church ('' sui iuris'') in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is headed by the Chaldean Patriarchate. Employing in its liturgy the East Syri ...

. According to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, in 1914 there were 4,437 Armenians in the

kaza A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...

, with three churches, one monastery and two schools.

Agha Petros Petros Elia of Baz (; 1 April 1880 – 2 February 1932), better known as Agha Petros (), was an Assyrian military leader and statesman, best known for his role during World War I. He is considered a national hero for the Assyrians and other ...

mentions 40 Nestorian Assyrian families in the city of Siirt. Mardin Chaldean priest Joseph Tfinkdji lists 5,430 Chaldeans in the diocese: 824 in the town and the rest in surrounding villages. The community was led by Addai Sher. David Gaunt mentions some Yezidi presence. According to the 1927 census, the population in the whole district was almost exclusively Muslim, with the exception of two Catholics, one Protestant, four Armenians, 17 other Christians, and 38 "other religion".

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish politician and military officer who served as the second List of Presidents of Turkey, president of Turkey from 1938 to 1950, and as its Prime Minister of Turkey, pr ...

referred to the city as an Arab city eager to get Turkified, while Kurds lived in the outskirts.

Modern

constitute a majority in the city with a significant Arab community. The Kurdish tribes living in the city are the Botikan, Dudêran, Elîkan, Keşkoliyan, Silokan and Sturkiyan.

Government

In the municipal elections of March 2019 Berivan Helen Işık of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was elected mayor. She was dismissed from her post on 15 May 2020 and detained over terror charges. Ali Fuat Atik, the Governor of the Siirt province was appointed trustee by the Ministry of the Interior. On January 29 2025, another elected mayor from the pro-Kurdish DEM party was removed from office due to "convictions on terrorism-related offenses", according to the Interior Ministry, and was replaced by a state official.

Landmarks

The city's landmark is the Great Mosque (''Ulu Cami'') built in 1129 by the Great Seljuk Sultan Mahmud II who belonged to the main branch of the dynasty that ruled from

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

after the

Seljuks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persian culture. The founder of th ...

had split into several branches. The mosque was further developed by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. The mosque was restored in 1965.

Trivia

Siirt was

Turkish Prime Minister The prime minister of Turkey, officially the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (), was the head of government of the Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Turkish Parliament and presided over the ca ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

's constituency from 2003 to 2007. His wife, Mrs.

Emine Erdoğan Emine Erdoğan (; born 16 February 1955) is the current first lady of Turkey as the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Early and personal life Early life Emine Erdoğan was born as Cemal and Hayriye Gülbaran’s fifth child and only ...

, is from Siirt and the PM had been elected to the

Turkish Grand National Assembly The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

in a by-election held in Siirt in 2003. Although Siirt remains one of the poorer cities in Turkey, some neighbourhoods have fine and modern housing including new shops, banks and hotels.Siirt in South East Turkey Photo Gallery by Dick Osseman at
Pbase.com. Retrieved on 2011-04-16.

Climate

Siirt has a

hot-summer Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate ( ), also called a dry summer climate, described by Köppen and Trewartha as ''Cs'', is a temperate climate type that occurs in the lower mid-latitudes (normally 30 to 44 north and south latitude). Such climates typic ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Csa,'' Trewartha'': Cs'') with very hot, dry summers and chilly, wet winters. During winter months there is frequent frost and occasional snowfall.

Notable people

* Addai Sher,

Chaldean Catholic The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic particular church ('' sui iuris'') in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church, and is headed by the Chaldean Patriarchate. Employing in its liturgy the East Syri ...

archbishop of Siirt in Upper Mesopotamia was martyred in Siirt in 1915 during the 1915 Assyrian genocide * Mehmet Güney (1936*), Diplomat and judge
Archbishop Vicken Aykazian
(1951*), Diocesan Legate and Ecumenical Director for the Eastern Diocese of the

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

of America. * Coşkun Aral (1956*),

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

, photo journalist, television journalist and documentary film producer. * Ethem Sancak (1958*), Businessmen * Yasin Aktay (1966*), Chairman of Justice and Development Party in Turkey * Hasan Özer (1974*), footballer and manager *

Kerem Gürgen Kerem Gürgen is a Turkish amateur boxer in the featherweight (57 kg) division. He is currently a member of the squad at Gençlik Spor İl Müdürlüğü (GSİM) in Siirt. Career Gürgen boxed a gold medal in the featherweight division a ...

(1983*), boxer * Evin Demirhan (1995*), freestyle wrestler

Gallery

File:Bridge in siirt.jpg, A bridge in Siirt File:Ebul vefa mosque.jpg, Ebul Vefa Mosque File:Ibrahim hakkı shrine in siirt tillo.jpg, Ibrahim hakkı shrine in Siirt Tillo File:Siirt city hall(mayor).jpg, The city hall File:Siirt Tillo.jpg, Siirt Tillo File:Siirt Street scene 1526.jpg, Siirt Street scene File:Siirt Saat Kulesi 8416.jpg, Siirt Saat Kulesi File:Siirt Market area 8478.jpg, Siirt Market area File:Siirt Ulu Camii 1543.jpg, Siirt Ulu Camii File:Siirt Haci Abdulhakim Mosque 1512.jpg, Hacı Abdulhakim Sancak Çarşı Camii File:Siirt Haci Abdulhakim Mosque 1518.jpg, Hacı Abdulhakim Sancak Çarşı Camii Minber

References

External links

*
George_Grigore: Les principales caracteristiques de l'arabe parle a Siirt
{{Authority control Provincial municipalities in Turkey Populated places in Siirt District Kurdish settlements in Siirt Province Historic Assyrian communities in Siirt Province Arab settlements in Siirt Province Former Armenian communities in Siirt Province