Diyarbakır

Country: Turkey · 1,732,396 inhabitants

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Wikivoyage

Diyarbakır (Kurdish and Zaza: Amed; the Turkified form of Diyarbekir is also common in colloquial Kurdish) is the largest city in Southeastern Anatolia. It is on the Tigris, one of the greatest rivers of the Middle East, and is considered by many to be the capital of the Kurdish people.

Wikipedia

Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province.

Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, it is the administrative capital of the Diyarbakır Province of southeastern Turkey. It is the second-largest city in the Southeastern Anatolia Region. As of December 2024, the Metropolitan Province population was 1,833,684 of whom 1,164,940 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of the 4 urban districts (Bağlar, Kayapınar, Sur and Yenişehir).

Diyarbakır has been a main focal point of the conflict between the Turkish state and various Kurdish separatist groups, and is seen by many Kurds as the de facto capital of Kurdistan. The city was intended to become the capital of an independent Kurdistan following the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres, but this was disregarded following subsequent political developments.

On 6 February 2023 Diyarbakır was affected by the twin Turkey-Syria earthquakes, which inflicted some damage on its city walls.