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 three provinces, Kocaeli, Sakarya, and Hatay have their capital district named differently from their province, as İzmit, Adapazarı, 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

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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

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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

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Aydın Subregion

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Districts of Aydın
 
Districts of Denizli
 
Districts of Muğla

İzmir Subregion

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Districts of İzmir

Manisa Subregion

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Districts of Afyonkarahisar
 
Districts of Kütahya
 
Districts of Manisa
 
Districts of Uşak

Central Anatolia

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Kayseri Subregion

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Districts of Kayseri
 
Districts of Sivas
 
Districts of Yozgat

Kırıkkale Subregion

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Districts of Aksaray
 
Districts of Kırıkkale
 
Districts of Kırşehir
 
Districts of Nevşehir
 
Districts of Niğde

Central-Eastern Anatolia

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Malatya Subregion

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Districts of Bingöl
 
Districts of Elazığ
 
Districts of Malatya
 
Districts of Tunceli

Van Subregion

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Districts of Bitlis
 
Districts of Hakkâri


 
Districts of Muş
 
Districts of Van

Eastern Black Sea Region

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Ordu Subregion

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Districts of Giresun
 
Districts of Gümüşhane
 
Districts of Ordu

Trabzon Subregion

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Districts of Artvin
 
Districts of Rize
 
Districts of Trabzon

Eastern Marmara Region

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Bursa Subregion

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Districts of Bilecik
 
Districts of Bursa
 
Districts of Eskişehir

Kocaeli Subregion

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Districts of Bolu
 
Districts of Düzce
 
Districts of Kocaeli
 
Districts of Sakarya
 
Districts of Yalova

Istanbul Region

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Istanbul Subregion

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Districts of Istanbul

Mediterranean Region

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Adana Subregion

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Districts of Adana
 
Districts of Mersin

Antalya Subregion

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Districts of Antalya
 
Districts of Burdur
 
Districts of Isparta

Hatay Subregion

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Districts of Hatay
 
Districts of Kahramanmaraş
 
Districts of Osmaniye

Northeast Anatolia

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Ağrı Subregion

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Districts of Ağrı
 
Districts of Ardahan
 
Districts of Iğdır
 
Districts of Kars

Erzurum Subregion

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Districts of Bayburt
 
Districts of Erzincan
 
Districts of Erzurum

Southeastern Anatolia

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Gaziantep Subregion

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Districts of Adıyaman
 
Districts of Gaziantep
 
Districts of Kilis

Mardin Subregion

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Districts of Batman
 
Districts of Mardin
 
Districts of Şırnak
 
Districts of Siirt

Şanlıurfa Subregion

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Districts of Diyarbakır
 
Districts of Şanlıurfa

Western Anatolia

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Ankara Subregion

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Districts of Ankara

Konya Subregion

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Districts of Karaman
 
Districts of Konya

Western Black Sea Region

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Kastamonu Subregion

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Districts of Çankırı
 
Districts of Kastamonu
 
Districts of Sinop

Samsun Subregion

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Districts of Amasya
 
Districts of Çorum
 
Districts of Samsun
 
Districts of Tokat

Zonguldak Subregion

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Districts of Bartın
 
Districts of Karabük
 
Districts of Zonguldak

Western Marmara Region

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Balıkesir Subregion

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Districts of Balıkesir
 
Districts of Çanakkale

Tekirdağ Subregion

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Districts of Edirne
 
Districts of Kırklareli
 
Districts of Tekirdağ

See also

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References

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