Mardin Province


Mardin Province, is a province of Turkey with a population of 809,719 in 2017. The capital of the Mardin Province is Mardin. Located in southeastern Turkey near the traditional geographical boundary of Anatolia and Mesopotamia, it has a diverse population, composed of Kurdish, Arab and Assyrian people, with Kurds forming the majority of the province's population. A recent study from 2013 has shown that 40% of Mardin Province's population identify as Arabs, and this proportion increases to 49% in Mardin and 48% in Midyat, where Arabs form the majority.

History

Mardin comes from the Syriac word and means "fortresses".
The first known civilization were the Subarian-Hurrians who were then succeeded in 3000 BCE by the Hurrians. The Elamites gained control around 2230 BCE and were followed by the Babylonians, Hittites, Assyrians, Romans and Byzantines.
The local Assyrians/Syriacs, while reduced due to the Assyrian Massacres and conflicts between the Kurds and Turks, hold on to two of the oldest monasteries in the world, Dayro d-Mor Hananyo and Deyrulumur Monastery. The Christian community is concentrated on the Tur Abdin plateau and in the town of Midyat, with a smaller community in the provincial capital.
In 1927 the office of the Inspector General was created, which governed with martial law. The province was included in the First Inspectorate-General over which the Inspector General ruled. The Inspectorate-General span over the provinces of Hakkâri, Siirt, Van, Mardin, Bitlis, Sanlıurfa, Elaziğ and Diyarbakır. The Inspectorate General were dissolved in 1952 during the Government of the Democrat Party. The Mardin province was also included in a wider military zone in 1928, in which the entrance to the zone was forbidden for foreigners until 1965.
In 1987 the province was included in the OHAL region governed in a state of emergency. In November 1996 the state of emergency regulation was removed.

Districts

Mardin province is divided into 10 districts :