Urfa

Şanlıurfa [ʃanˈlɯuɾfa], also known simply as Urfa (Arabic الرها ar-Ruhā, Armenian Ուռհա Urha, Kurdish رها Riha, Aramaic ܐܘܪܗܝ Urhoy) and known by its ancient name Edessa (ancient Greek Ἔδεσσα), is the provincial capital of the Turkish province of Şanlıurfa, with over 2 million Inhabitants. Since the last territorial reform, the city has been a Büyükşehir Belediyesi (metropolitan municipality), making it identical in area and population to the province. The city is called Peygamberler şehri Şanlıurfa ("glorious prophet city of Urfa").

Geography

Şanlıurfa is located in southeastern Turkey and is the capital of the province of the same name. Geographically and historically, the city belongs to Northern Mesopotamia. It has had significant population growth in the years since the beginning of the 21st century.

Urfa is located about 80 km from the Euphrates and about 40 km from the Turkish-Syrian border in the northwest of a fertile plain enclosed by mountains to the west, north and east. To the southeast lies the plain of Harran. Three streams flow through the city, Karakoyun, Dschalzak and Siren, whereby the course of the Karakoyun must have been rerouted as early as Roman times, as can be seen from the city maps of Carsten Niebuhr from 1766 and Helmuth von Moltke from 1838. The bazaar of Urfa, which is worth seeing, is considered the largest in the Near East after that of Aleppo.

Urfa lies at the crossroads of ancient trade routes. An east-west connection ran from Persia and Nisibis to an Euphrates ford at Samsat and the Mediterranean coast, a north-south connection went from the Anatolian highlands and Diyarbakır to Harran and Syria. The city has its own airport, served by Turkish Airlines and others, connecting Urfa with Ankara and Istanbul. The nearest interregional airport is Diyarbakır Airport, located about 180 kilometers to the northeast.

Population

Urban development

The following table provides information on the development of the population figures of the city (Şehir), district (İlçe) and province (İl) of Bingöl. The figures were taken from the results of the censuses of the indicated years published as PDF files, available via the library of the TURKSTAT (TÜİK).