Şanlıurfa in the context of Abraham

The Southeastern Anatolia region (Turkish: Güneydoğu Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous city in the region is Gaziantep. Other big cities are Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Mardin and Adıyaman.

It is bordered by the Mediterranean region to the west, the Eastern Anatolia region to the north, Syria (Rojava) to the south, and Iraq (Southern Kurdistan) to the southeast.

The Welfare Party (Turkish: Refah Partisi, RP) was an Islamist political party in Turkey. It was founded by Ali Türkmen, Ahmet Tekdal, and Necmettin Erbakan in Ankara in 1983 as heir to two earlier parties, National Order Party (MNP) and National Salvation Party (MSP), which were banned from politics. The RP participated in mayoral elections at that time and won in three cities Konya, Şanlıurfa, and Van. Their vote percentage was approximately 5%.

The Welfare Party participated in the 1991 elections in a triple alliance with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Reformist Democracy Party (IDP). They gained 16.9% of the vote. They won 62 deputies to parliament, but 19 deputies of MHP (with founding Democratic Movement Party on 25 December 1991 and joining the MÇP on 29 December 1991) and 3 of IDP left the Welfare Party after the election. Their popular vote increased over the years until they became the largest party under Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan in 1996. The coalition government of Erbakan was forced out of power by the Turkish military in 1997, due to being suspected of having an Islamist agenda.

The County of Edessa (Latin: Comitatus Edessanus) was a 12th-century Crusader state in Upper Mesopotamia. Its seat was the city of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey).

In the late Byzantine period, Edessa became the centre of intellectual life within the Syriac Orthodox Church. As such it also became the centre for the translation of Ancient Greek philosophy into Syriac, which provided a stepping stone for the subsequent translations into Arabic. When the crusades arrived, it was still important enough to tempt a side-expedition after the siege of Antioch.

Şanlıurfa Province (Turkish: Şanlıurfa ili; Kurdish: Parêzgeha Rihayê), also known as Urfa Province, is a province and metropolitan municipality in southeastern Turkey. The city of Şanlıurfa is the capital of the province which bears its name. Its area is 19,242 km, and its population is 2,170,110 (2022). The province is considered part of Turkiye and has a Kurdish majority with a significant Arab and Turkish minority.

Şanlıurfa Castle, or Urfa Castle in short, is a castle overlooking the city center of Şanlıurfa (previously Edessa), Turkey. The castle was built by the Osroene in antiquity and the current walls were constructed by the Abbasids in 814 AD. Today, the castle functions as an open-air museum.

During excavations at the castle, archaeologists uncovered a mosaic floor likely dating to the fifth century, adorned with Greek inscriptions as well as plant, animal and geometric designs. Nearby, several tombs were discovered, thought to belong to clergy who once served in the area.

The Taş Tepeler (Turkish, literally 'Stone Mounds') are a group of Neolithic archaeological sites in Upper Mesopotamia (al-Jazira), near the city of Urfa in modern-day Turkey. They are the remains of a number of settlements dating to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) period (c. 10,000–7000 BC), during transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer societies to settled agricultural communities in the region.

Rumkale (lit. 'Roman Castle'; Armenian: Հռոմկլա, romanized: Hromgla) is a ruined fortress on the Euphrates, located in the province of Gaziantep and 50 km west of Şanlıurfa.

Although Rumkale is sometimes linked with places mentioned in ancient sources, the foundations of the structure can be traced back to the Byzantine rule the earliest, when the fortress was the seat of a Syriac Orthodox bishopric. Rumkale evolved into a town when its Armenian civilian population grew in the 11th century. The fortress slipped away from the Byzantine rule when Philaretos Brachamios (r. 1071–1087), a Byzantine general of Armenian origin, usurped control of the region amidst the political turmoil caused by the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. Rumkale then came under Kogh Vasil, whose adoptive son and successor Vasil Dgha was tortured by Baldwin II of Edessa and forced to relinquish his lands, including Rumkale, to the Crusader states in 1116. Sometime between 1148 and 1150, Catholicos Grigor III Pahlavuni purchased the fortress making it the headquarters of the Armenian Apostolic Church, although it continued to house Syriac Orthodox and Catholic representatives. The town later became part of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, and by 1268, became isolated from the rest of the Cilician domains.