The Vilayet of Diyâr-ı Bekr (, ota, ولايت ديار بكر, ) was a first-level administrative division ( vilayet) of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

, wholly located within what is now modern Turkey. The vilayet extended south from

Palu Palu, which is officially known as the City of Palu ( Indonesian: ''Kota Palu''), is the capital and largest city of Central Sulawesi. Palu is located on the northwestern coast of Sulawesi and borders Donggala Regency to the north and west, Par ...

on the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location ...

and

Nusaybin Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...

on the edge of the

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

n plain. After the establishment of

Republic of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

in 1923, the region was incorporated into the newly created state. At the beginning of the 20th century, Diyarbekir Vilayet reportedly had an area of , while the preliminary results of the first Ottoman census of 1885 (published in 1908) gave the population as 471,462.Asia
by

A. H. Keane Augustus Henry Keane (1833–1912) was an Irish Roman Catholic journalist and linguist, known for his ethnological writings. Early life He was born in Cork, Ireland.George Grant MacCurdy, James Mooney and A. B. Legía - Antonio Flores, ''Anthro ...

, page 460 The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered.

History

The Vilayet of Diyarbakir was created in 1867. In 1867 or 1868 Mamuret-ul-Aziz and the Kurdistan Eyalet merged with and joined the Vilayet of Diyarbakir. In 1879–80 Mamuret-ul-Aziz was separated again from the Vilayet of Diyarbakir, and turned into the

Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Aziz The Vilayet of Mamuret-ul-Aziz,Vilayet of Ma'muretül'aziz, ''Redhouse Yeni Türkçe-İngilizce Sözlük'', On İkinci Basım, Redhouse Yayınevi, 1991, , p. 729, Ma'mûretü'l-Azîz, Ma'muretül Aziz or Mamûretü'l-Azîz ( Ottoman: ''Vilâyet- ...

. It was one of the six Armenian Vilayets of the Empire.

Administrative divisions

Sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...

s of the vilayet:Diyarbekir Vilayeti , Tarih ve Medeniyet
/ref> # Diyarbekir Sanjak (

Diyarbakır 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 Fortres ...

Lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a resul ...

, Silvan, Derik, Beşiri) # Mardin Sanjak (

Cizre Cizre (; ar, جَزِيْرَة ٱبْن عُمَر, Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar, or ''Madinat al-Jazira'', he, גזירא, Gzira, ku, Cizîr, ''Cizîra Botan'', or ''Cizîre'', syr, ܓܙܪܬܐ ܕܒܪ ܥܘܡܪ, Gāzartā,) is a city in the Cizre Di ...

Midyat Midyat ( ku, Midyad, Syriac: ܡܕܝܕ ''Mëḏyaḏ'', Turoyo: ''Miḏyoyo'', ar, مديات) is a town in the Mardin Province of Turkey. The ancient city is the center of a centuries-old Hurrian town in Upper Mesopotamia. In its long history, ...

, Savur,

and maybe

Silopi Silopi ( ku, Silopî) is a city and district of Şırnak Province in Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region, close to the borders of Iraq and Syria. The majority of its people are of ethnic Kurds. The district, composed of Silopi center, thre ...

) # Ergani Sanjak ( Maden,

) # Siverek Sanjak (Split from Diyarbekir in 1907) (

Siverek Siverek (from hy, Սեւավերակ, lit=black ruins, translit=Sevaverag, ku, Sêwreg) is a city and district in the south-east of Turkey, in Şanlıurfa Province. Population 107,634 (city); 247,000 (district) (2000 census). Siverek is in Şan ...

, Çermik,

Viranşehir Viranşehir ( ku, Wêranşar) is a market town serving a cotton-growing area of Şanlıurfa Province, in southeastern Turkey, 93 km east of the city Şanlıurfa and 53 km north-west of Ceylanpınar at the Syrian border. In Late Antiquit ...

)

Demographics

The Vilayet was a place in which the Christian population was systematically massacred during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

during the 1915 genocide in Diyarbekir.

References

*Hakan Özoğlu, "Kurdish Notables and the Ottoman State" SUNY, 2004

External links

* * Vilayets of the Ottoman Empire in Anatolia History of Batman Province History of Diyarbakır Province History of Elazığ Province History of Mardin Province History of Şanlıurfa Province History of Siirt Province 1867 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 1922 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire {{Ottoman-stub

History

Administrative divisions

Demographics

See also

References

External links