Kızıltepe

District and municipality in Mardin, Turkey From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kızıltepe (Turkish pronunciation: [kɯˈzɯɫtepe]; Kurdish: Qoser;[2] Ottoman Turkish: تال ارمين, romanized: Tell Armen, lit. 'Armenian hill')[3] is a municipality and district of Mardin Province, Turkey.[4] Its area is 1,236 km2,[5] and its population is 267,151 (2022).[1] It is mainly populated by Kurds of the Kîkan Kurdish tribe.[6] Kızıltepe is situated in Mardin Province within the broader Kurdish-majority region of southeastern Turkey. Demographic research has identified the Mardin region as having a predominantly Kurdish-speaking population, with Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish) as the principal spoken language.[7] Kızıltepe is predominantly inhabited by Kurds and is situated within Mardin Province, which demographic studies have consistently identified as a Kurdish-majority province with high concentrations of Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish) speakers.[8][9]

CountryTurkey
Area
1,236 km2 (477 sq mi)
Elevation
498 m (1,634 ft)
Population
(2022)[1]
267,151
Quick facts Country, Province ...
Kızıltepe
District and municipality
Map showing Kızıltepe District in Mardin Province
Map showing Kızıltepe District in Mardin Province
Kızıltepe is located in Turkey
Kızıltepe
Kızıltepe
Location in Turkey
Coordinates: 37°11′38″N 40°35′10″E
CountryTurkey
ProvinceMardin
Area
1,236 km2 (477 sq mi)
Elevation
498 m (1,634 ft)
Population
 (2022)[1]
267,151
 • Density216.1/km2 (559.8/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+3 (TRT)
Area code0482
Websitewww.kiziltepe.bel.tr
Close

Government

In the local elections of March 2019 Nilüfer Elik Yılmaz was elected as Mayor.[10] But on 15 November 2019 she was dismissed and a trustee was appointed.[11] The current District Governor is Hüseyin Cam, who was also appointed as the state appointed trustee.[11]

History

The town has a historic 13th century great Friday mosque built by the Artuqids.

On 1 July 1915, during the 1915 genocide in Diyarbekir, there was a massacre in the village where its Christian population, the Assyrians were murdered by militia and Kurds. About seventy women were raped in the church, then put to death. Men, women, and children were killed indiscriminately and many victims were decapitated. After the massacre, Kurdish women stabbed any survivors to death. Rafael de Nogales visited weeks later and found "corpses barely covered with heaps of stone from which emerged here and there a bloody tress or an arm or leg gnawed on by hyenas".[12]

In the late 1980s there existed a refugee camp for Kurds who fled persecution by Saddam Hussein.[13]

It was also the scene of clashes between protesting Kurds and Turkish riot police in 2006.[14] In Kiziltepe have been imposed curfews in the past.[15]

The highest temperature ever recorded in Kızıltepe is 49.6 °C (121.28 °F) on 25 July 2025. [16]

Composition

There are 183 neighbourhoods in Kızıltepe District.[17] 10 of these (Atatürk, Bahçelievler, Cumhuriyet, Ersoylu, İpek, Koçhisar, Sanayi, Tepebaşı, Turgut Özal and Yeni Mahalle) formed the pre-2013 municipality of Kızıltepe.[18]

Notable people

Notes

Bibliography

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI