Districts of Turkey
The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (ilçeler; sing. ilçe). In the Ottoman Empire and in the early Turkish Republic, the corresponding unit was the kaza.
| Districts of Turkey Türkiye'nin ilçeleri (Turkish) | |
|---|---|
| Category | Unitary state |
| Location | Republic of Turkey |
| Number | 973 |
| Populations | 1,615 (Yalıhüyük)-Konya Province – 957,398 (Esenyurt)-Istanbul Province |
| Areas | 5.2 km2 (2 sq mi) (Güngören)-Istanbul Province – 4,314.00 km2 (1,665.645 sq mi) (Siverek)-Şanlıurfa Province |
| Government |
|
| Subdivisions |
|
Politics of Turkey |
|---|
Turkey portal
|
Most provinces bear the same name as their respective provincial capital districts. However, many urban provinces, designated as greater municipalities, have a center consisting of multiple districts, such as the provincial capital of Ankara province, The City of Ankara, comprising nine separate districts. Additionally four provinces, Kocaeli, Sakarya and Hatay have their capital district named differently from their province, as İzmit, Adapazarı, Mersin and Antakya respectively.
A district may cover both rural and urban areas. In many provinces, one district of a province is designated the central district (merkez ilçe) from which the district is administered. The central district is administered by an appointed provincial deputy governor and other non-central districts by an appointed sub-governor (kaymakam) from their district center (ilçe merkezi) municipality. In these central districts the district center municipality also serves as the provincial center municipality. Both the deputy governor and sub-governors are responsible to the province governor (vali). Greater Municipalities, however, are administered differently where a separate seat of municipality exists for the entire province, having administrative power over all districts of the province.