Diyarbakır

Diyarbakır (Turkish; Ottoman دیاربکر Diyâr-i Bekr, German 'Land of Bekr', Kurdish Amed, Armenian Ամիդ Amid, Zazaic Diyarbekir, Aramaic ܐܡܝܕ Amedu) is the second largest city in southeastern Anatolia in Turkey after Gaziantep. Diyarbakır is located on a basalt plateau on the right bank of the Tigris River in Southeast Anatolia. Since a territorial reform, the city has been a Büyükşehir Belediyesi, making it identical in area and population to the province. Already in ancient times it was important under the name Amida. Kurds live predominantly in the city.

Outline

By court decision, the city received a lord mayor's office on 28 December 1993 and was declared a metropolitan municipality. Since then, the urban area covers 2060 km². The city consists of 82 districts (tr: Mahalle) and four municipalities. These are called Bağlar, Kayapınar, Sur and Yenişehir. The four municipalities are also counties of Diyarbakır province. After the territorial reform of 2014, all municipalities of the remaining counties in the province were directly subordinated to the mayor.

Politics

In the 2014 municipal elections, Gültan Kışanak (BDP) was elected mayor. Since the BDP sought to establish more political equality between men and women, but local law does not recognize a formal dual leadership for the mayoralty, a deputy of the opposite sex with equal rights was formally appointed in each of the mayoralties won by the BDP. In Diyarbakır, the deputy was Fırat Anlı. In the media, they are called co-mayors. On October 25, 2016, both were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offenses. On November 1, Cumali Atilla was appointed as a forced administrator. Anlı was conditionally released on July 14, 2017. Kışanak remains in custody. (As of September 2018)

City Council