Şanlıurfa (province)

Şanlıurfa Province (Şanlıurfa ili; 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 area of the province is 18,584 km2 and its population was officially estimated at 2,143,020 as at 31 December 2021. The province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan and has a Kurdish majority with a significant Arab and Turkish minority. Şanlıurfa province is divided into 13 districts (capital district in bold), listed below with their populations as at 31 December 2021 according to the official government estimates: Urfa (The former Central district, which in 2014 was split into three districts: Eyyübiye (386,852), Haliliye (392,661) and Karaköprü (252,151)). Akçakale (120,834) Birecik (94,608) Bozova (53,878) Ceylanpınar (89,871) Halfeti (41,663) Harran (94,207) Hilvan (42,766) Siverek (266,971) Suruç (101,178) Viranşehir (205,380) Area 18,584 km2 (7,173 sq. miles), the largest province of Southeast Anatolia with: Adıyaman Province to the north; Syria to the south; Mardin Province and Diyarbakır Province to the east; Gaziantep Province to the west; Şanlıurfa includes several major components of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (in Turkish Güneydogu Anadolu Projesi (GAP)) designed to: exploit the hydropower potential of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; dramatically expand irrigation for agriculture; and develop the economy of the region. This very large-scale, state-sponsored development project involved the damming, redirecting, hydroelectric tapping and other use of rivers in this broad, semi-arid region. (The rivers then flow into Syria and Iraq). The GAP includes 22 dams and water supply for 1.8 million hectares for agricultural areas. The Urfa region is characterized by a semi-arid Mediterranean climate. Rainfall mostly comes in winter, when the temperature is mildest; summers are very hot and dry. Annual mean precipitation is 458.1 mm. The annual mean temperature is 18.5 °C. The coldest month is January, which has an average temperature of 2.