Malatya Province Explained

Type:metro province
Other Name:Malatya ili
Seat:Malatya
Leader Name1:Ersin Yazıcı
Leader Party:AKP
Leader Name:Sami Er
Area Total Km2:12259
Population Total:812580
Population As Of:2022
Website:
Area Code:0422

Malatya Province (Turkish: {{italics correction|Malatya ili; Kurdish: Parezgêha Meletî[1]) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey. Its area is 12,259 km2,[2] and its population is 812,580 (2022).[3] It is part of a larger mountainous area. The capital of the province is the city of Malatya, which has a population of 485,484 (2022).[4]

According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan.[5]

Districts

Malatya province is divided into 13 districts:

Demographics

According to German geographers Georg Hassel and Adam Christian Gaspari, Malatya was composed of 1200 to 1500 houses in early 19th century, inhabited by Ottomans, Turkmens, Armenians, and Greeks, while the mountainous areas in the sanjak of Malatya were mostly inhabited by Kurdish tribes such as Reşwan.[6]

The province had a population of 306,882 in 1927 of which was Muslim and Christians. Linguistically, Turkish was the most spoken first language at, followed by Kurdish at and Armenian at . The population increased to 410,152 in 1935 of which was Muslim and Christian. Turkish remained the most spoken first language at, followed by Kurdish and Armenian at . The province had a population of 483,568 in 1950 of which Turkish was spoken by of the population, followed by Kurdish at . Armenian remained the third most spoken language but decreased to . The modern province of Malatya does not fully coincide with the province of Malatya until 1954, before when the province also included the modern Turkish province of Adıyaman,[7] which was more than double Kurdish-speaking than Malatya according to the 1965 census.[8]

It was estimated in 2012 that about 20% to 30% of the province was Alevi of which the vast majority was Kurdish. This group is mostly politically aligned with nationalist Kurdish parties especially after the Sivas Massacre and activity of the Kurdistan Workers' Party since the early 1990s.[9]

History

German academic Barbara Henning describes the province as the regional center of Kurdish nationalism in the early 20th century. During this period, the local governor of the province and mayor of Malatya city were both sympathetic to the Kurdish cause and Celadet Bedir Khan, Kamuran Alî Bedirxan and other members of the Society for the Rise of Kurdistan visited the region various times and established cordial relations with the local tribes including with the Reşwan tribe.[10]

Local sites

Bibliography

External links

38.4842°N 38.1364°W

Notes and References

  1. News: Li Meletî 3 tax û li Êlihê gundek hatin kerentînekirin . 27 April 2020 . Rûdaw . 31 March 2020 . ku.
  2. Web site: İl ve İlçe Yüz ölçümleri. General Directorate of Mapping. 19 September 2023.
  3. Web site: Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports. 19 September 2023. TÜİK. en. XLS.
  4. Web site: Malatya. citypopulation.de. 23 January 2024.
  5. 2002. Kurds, Kurdistān. Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2. BRILL. 9789004161214. Turkish Kurdistan numbers at least 17 of them almost totally:... the provinces of Malatya, Tunceli, Elazığ, Bingöl, Muş, Karaköse (Ağrı), then Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Siirt, Bitlis and Van; Finally, the southern provinces of Şanlıurfa, Mardin and Çölamerik (Hakkarî)....
  6. Book: Gaspari . Adam Christian . Hassel . Johann Georg H. . Vollständiges Handbuch der neuesten Erdbeschreibung, von A.C. Gaspari, G. Hassel und J.G.F. Cannabich (J.C.F. Gutsmuths, F.A. Ukert). . 1821 . 208-209 . 7 December 2022 . Die Gebirgsthäler werden meistens von räuberischen Kiurdenstämmen, den Rischwan und Reschi, bewohnt[...] Sie hat 1,200 bis 1,500 Häuser, und wird von Osmanen, Turkmanen, Armeniern und Griechen bewohnt..
  7. Web site: Adıyaman Tarihi . T.C. Adıyaman Valiliği . 29 July 2021.
  8. Web site: Ahn . Elise Soyun . SEEING TURKISH STATE FORMATION PROCESSES: MAPPING LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION CENSUS DATA . 2011 . 105 . 29 July 2021.
  9. Book: Massicard, Elise. The Alevis in Turkey and Europe : Identity and Managing Territorial Diversity. Taylor & Francis Group. 2012. 9780415667968. 170–172.
  10. Book: Henning, Barbara. Narratives of the History of the Ottoman-Kurdish Bedirhani Family in Imperial and Post-Imperial Contexts: Continuities and Changes. University of Bamberg Press. 2018. 9783863095512. 443.