Diyarbakır Province


Diyarbakır Province, is a province in southeastern Turkey. The province covers an area of 15,355 km2 and its population is 1,528,958. The provincial capital is the city of Diyarbakır.

History

It has been home to many civilisations and the surrounding area including itself is home to many Mesolithic era stone carvings and artifacts. The province has been ruled by the Akkadians, Hurrians, Mittani, Medes, Hittites, Armenians, Neo-Babylonians, Achaemenids, Greeks, Romans, Parthia, Byzantium, Sassanids, Arabs, Seljuk Empire, Mongol Empire, Safavid dynasty, Marwanids, and Ayyubids.
The majority of the province's population today is Kurdish.

In Turkey

In order to Turkefy the local population, in June 1927 the Law 1164 was passed which allowed the creation of Inspectorates-General. The Diyarbakır province was therefore included in the so-called First Inspectorate General, which span over the provinces of Hakkâri, Siirt, Van, Mardin, Bitlis, Sanlıurfa, Elaziğ and Diyarbakır.The first UM was created on the 1 January 1928 and centered in Diyarbakır. The UM was governed by an Inspector General, who governed with a wide-ranging authority over civilian, juridical and military matters.The office of the Inspector General was dissolved in 1952 during the government of the Democrat Party. The Diyarbakır province though was still banned for foreign citizens until 1965.

Modern history

From 1987 to 2002, Diyarbakir Province was part of the OHAL region which was declared to counter the Kurdistan Workers' Party and governed by a so called Supergovernor who got invested with additional powers than a normal Governor. In 1987 he was given the power to relocate and resettle whole villages, settlements and hamlets. 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 with the Decree No. 430.

Districts

Diyarbakır province is divided into 14 districts:

Population