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 Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Turkey. According to various estimates, they compose between 15% and 20% of the population of Turkey. There are Kurds living in various provinces of Turkey, but they are primarily concentrated in the east and southeast of the country within the region viewed by Kurds as Turkish Kurdistan.
During the violent suppressions of numerous Kurdish rebellions since the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, such as the Sheikh Said Rebellion, the Ararat rebellion, and the Dersim Rebellion, massacres have periodically been committed against the Kurds, with one prominent incident being the Zilan Massacre. The Turkish government categorized Kurds as "Mountain Turks" until 1991, and denied the existence of Kurds. The words "Kurds" or "Kurdistan" were banned in any language by the Turkish government, though "Kurdish" was allowed in census reports. Following the military coup of 1980, the Kurdish languages were officially prohibited in public and private life. Many people who spoke, published, or sang in Kurdish were arrested and imprisoned. In Turkey, it is illegal to use Kurdish as a language of instruction in both public and private schools. The Kurdish language is only allowed as a subject in some schools.
Aramaic (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: ארמית, romanized: ˀərāmiṯ; Classical Syriac: ܐܪܡܐܝܬ, romanized: arāmāˀiṯ) is a Northwest Semitic language that originated in the ancient region of Syria and quickly spread to Mesopotamia, the southern Levant, Sinai, southeastern Anatolia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Arabia, where it has been continually written and spoken in different varieties for over 3,000 years.
Aramaic served as a language of public life and administration of ancient kingdoms and empires—particularly the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Neo-Babylonian Empire, and Achaemenid Empire—and as a language of divine worship and religious study within Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism. Several modern varieties of Aramaic are still spoken. The modern eastern branch is spoken by Assyrians, Mandeans, and Mizrahi Jews. Western Aramaic is still spoken by the Muslim and Christian Arameans (Syriacs) in the towns of Maaloula, Bakh'a and Jubb'adin in Syria. Classical varieties are used as liturgical and literary languages in several West Asian churches, as well as in Judaism, Samaritanism, and Mandaeism. The Aramaic language is considered endangered, with several varieties used mainly by the older generations. Researchers are working to record and analyze all of the remaining varieties of Neo-Aramaic languages in case they become extinct.
The Eastern Anatolia region (Turkish: Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ.
It is bordered by the Black Sea Region and Georgia in the north, the Central Anatolia Region in the west, the Mediterranean Region in the southwest, the Southeastern Anatolia Region and Iraq in the south, and Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran in the east.
Gaziantep Province (Turkish: Gaziantep ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality in south-central Turkey. It is located in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region. Its area is 6,803 km, and its population is 2,154,051 (2022). Its capital is the city of Gaziantep. It neighbours Adıyaman to the northeast, Şanlıurfa to the east, Syria and Kilis to the south, Hatay to the southwest, Osmaniye to the west and Kahramanmaraş to the northwest.
An important trading center since ancient times, the province is also one of Turkey's major manufacturing zones, and its agriculture is dominated by the cultivation of pistachio nuts.
Arabs in Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye Arapları; Arabic: عرب تركيا) are about 1.5 million or 5 million (including the Syrian refugees) citizens or residents of Turkey who are ethnically of Arab descent. They are the third-largest minority in the country after the Kurds and the Circassians and are concentrated in a few provinces in Southeastern Anatolia. In addition to this native group, millions of Arab Syrian refugees have sought refuge in Turkey since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
The geographical regions of Turkey comprise seven regions (Turkish: bölge), which were originally defined at the country's First Geography Congress in 1941. The regions are subdivided into 31 sections (Turkish: bölüm), which are further divided into numerous areas (Turkish: yöre), as defined by microclimates and bounded by local geographic formations.
"Regions" as defined in this context are merely for geographic, demographic, and economic purposes and do not refer to an administrative division.
Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region. It is located approximately 185 km (115 mi) east of Adana and 97 km (60 mi) north of Aleppo, Syria and situated on the Sajur River.
The city is thought to be located on the site of ancient Antiochia ad Taurum and is near ancient Zeugma. Sometime after the Byzantine-ruled city came under the Seljuk Empire, the region was administered by Armenian warlords. In 1098, it became part of the County of Edessa, a Crusader state, though it continued to be administered by Armenians, such as Kogh Vasil.