The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (ilçeler; sing. ilçe). In the Ottoman Empire and in the early Turkish Republic,[when?] the corresponding unit was the kaza.

Districts of Turkey
Türkiye'nin ilçeleri (Turkish)
CategoryUnitary state
LocationRepublic of Turkey
Number973
Populations1,615 (Yalıhüyük)-Konya Province – 957,398 (Esenyurt)-Istanbul Province
Areas5.2 km2 (2 sq mi) (Güngören)-Istanbul Province – 4,314.00 km2 (1,665.645 sq mi) (Siverek)-Şanlıurfa Province
Government
Subdivisions

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.[1] Additionally four provinces, Kocaeli, Sakarya and Hatay have their capital district named differently from their province, as İzmit, Adapazarı, Mersin and Antakya respectively.[2]

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.

Local government edit

Municipalities (belediye) can be created in, and are subordinate to, the districts in which they are located. Each district has at least one municipality (belde) in the district center from which both the municipal government for that municipality and the district government is administered. A municipality is headed by an elected mayor (belediye başkanı) who administers the local government for defined municipal matters. More and more settlements which are outside district centers have municipalities as well, usually because their population requires one. A municipality's borders usually correspond to that of the urban settlement it covers, but may also include some undeveloped land.

Villages (köy) outside municipalities and quarters or neighborhoods (mahalle) within municipalities are the lowest level of local government, and are also the most numerous unit of local government in Turkey. They elect muhtars to care for specific administrative matters such as residence registration. The designation slightly differs (köy muhtarı for village muhtar, mahalle muhtarı for quarter muhtar) and the tasks, which are largely similar but are adapted to their locality.

Greater municipalities (büyükşehir belediyesi) exist for large cities like Istanbul and İzmir that consist of an extra administrative layer run by an elected head mayor, who oversee the municipalities and mayors within the province. Currently, 30 provinces are administered by greater municipalities in addition to having separate municipalities for every district within the province.

List of districts with population edit

The districts and their populations (as of December 31, 2019) are listed below, by region and by province (with capital district in bold text).

Aegean Region edit

Aydın Subregion edit

Aydın Province edit
 
Districts of Aydın
Denizli Province edit
 
Districts of Denizli
Muğla Province edit
 
Districts of Muğla

İzmir Subregion edit

İzmir Province edit
 
Districts of İzmir

Manisa Subregion edit

Afyonkarahisar Province edit
 
Districts of Afyonkarahisar
Kütahya Province edit
 
Districts of Kütahya
Manisa Province edit
 
Districts of Manisa
Uşak Province edit
 
Districts of Uşak

Central Anatolia edit

Kayseri Subregion edit

Kayseri Province edit
 
Districts of Kayseri
Sivas Province edit
 
Districts of Sivas
Yozgat Province edit
 
Districts of Yozgat

Kırıkkale Subregion edit

Aksaray Province edit
 
Districts of Aksaray
Kırıkkale Province edit
 
Districts of Kırıkkale
Kırşehir Province edit
 
Districts of Kırşehir
Nevşehir Province edit
 
Districts of Nevşehir
Niğde Province edit
 
Districts of Niğde

Central-Eastern Anatolia edit

Malatya Subregion edit

Bingöl Province edit
 
Districts of Bingöl
Elazığ Province edit
 
Districts of Elazığ
Malatya Province edit
 
Districts of Malatya
Tunceli Province edit
 
Districts of Tunceli

Van Subregion edit

Bitlis Province edit
 
Districts of Bitlis
Hakkâri Province edit
 
Districts of Hakkâri


Muş Province edit
 
Districts of Muş
Van Province edit
 
Districts of Van

Eastern Black Sea Region edit

Ordu Subregion edit

Giresun Province edit
 
Districts of Giresun
Gümüşhane Province edit
 
Districts of Gümüşhane
Ordu Province edit
 
Districts of Ordu

Trabzon Subregion edit

Artvin Province edit
 
Districts of Artvin
Rize Province edit
 
Districts of Rize
Trabzon Province edit
 
Districts of Trabzon

Eastern Marmara Region edit

Bursa Subregion edit

Bilecik Province edit
 
Districts of Bilecik
Bursa Province edit
 
Districts of Bursa
Eskişehir Province edit
 
Districts of Eskişehir

Kocaeli Subregion edit

Bolu Province edit
 
Districts of Bolu
Düzce Province edit
 
Districts of Düzce
Kocaeli Province edit
 
Districts of Kocaeli
Sakarya Province edit
 
Districts of Sakarya
Yalova Province edit
 
Districts of Yalova

Istanbul Region edit

Istanbul Subregion edit

Istanbul Province edit
 
Districts of Istanbul

Mediterranean Region edit

Adana Subregion edit

Adana Province edit
 
Districts of Adana
Mersin Province edit
 
Districts of Mersin

Antalya Subregion edit

Antalya Province edit
 
Districts of Antalya
Burdur Province edit
 
Districts of Burdur
Isparta Province edit
 
Districts of Isparta

Hatay Subregion edit

Hatay Province edit
 
Districts of Hatay
Kahramanmaraş Province edit
 
Districts of Kahramanmaraş
Osmaniye Province edit
 
Districts of Osmaniye

Northeast Anatolia edit

Ağrı Subregion edit

Ağrı Province edit
 
Districts of Ağrı
Ardahan Province edit
 
Districts of Ardahan
Iğdır Province edit
 
Districts of Iğdır
Kars Province edit
 
Districts of Kars

Erzurum Subregion edit

Bayburt Province edit
 
Districts of Bayburt
Erzincan Province edit
 
Districts of Erzincan
Erzurum Province edit
 
Districts of Erzurum

Southeastern Anatolia edit

Gaziantep Subregion edit

Adıyaman Province edit
 
Districts of Adıyaman
Gaziantep Province edit
 
Districts of Gaziantep
Kilis Province edit
 
Districts of Kilis

Mardin Subregion edit

Batman Province edit
 
Districts of Batman
Mardin Province edit
 
Districts of Mardin
Şırnak Province edit
 
Districts of Şırnak
Siirt Province edit
 
Districts of Siirt

Şanlıurfa Subregion edit

Diyarbakır Province edit
 
Districts of Diyarbakır
Şanlıurfa Province edit
 
Districts of Şanlıurfa

Western Anatolia edit

Ankara Subregion edit

Ankara Province edit
 
Districts of Ankara

Konya Subregion edit

Karaman Province edit
 
Districts of Karaman
Konya Province edit
 
Districts of Konya

Western Black Sea Region edit

Kastamonu Subregion edit

Çankırı Province edit
 
Districts of Çankırı
Kastamonu Province edit
 
Districts of Kastamonu
Sinop Province edit
 
Districts of Sinop

Samsun Subregion edit

Amasya Province edit
 
Districts of Amasya
Çorum Province edit
 
Districts of Çorum
Samsun Province edit
 
Districts of Samsun
Tokat Province edit
 
Districts of Tokat

Zonguldak Subregion edit

Bartın Province edit
 
Districts of Bartın
Karabük Province edit
 
Districts of Karabük
Zonguldak Province edit
 
Districts of Zonguldak

Western Marmara Region edit

Balıkesir Subregion edit

Balıkesir Province edit
 
Districts of Balıkesir
Çanakkale Province edit
 
Districts of Çanakkale

Tekirdağ Subregion edit

Edirne Province edit
 
Districts of Edirne
Kırklareli Province edit
 
Districts of Kırklareli
Tekirdağ Province edit
 
Districts of Tekirdağ

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Ankara ilinin ilçeleri ve merkez ilçeleri". 26 January 2024.
  2. ^ "İki İsimli İllerimiz ve İsmi Değiştirilen İllerimiz". 7 October 2018.