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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.

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

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

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

Aydın Subregion

Districts of Aydın
Districts of Denizli
Districts of Muğla

İzmir Subregion

Districts of İzmir

Manisa Subregion

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

Central Anatolia

Kayseri Subregion

Districts of Kayseri
Districts of Sivas
Districts of Yozgat

Kırıkkale Subregion

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

Central-Eastern Anatolia

Malatya Subregion

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

Van Subregion

Districts of Bitlis
Districts of Hakkâri


Districts of Muş
Districts of Van

Eastern Black Sea Region

Ordu Subregion

Districts of Giresun
Districts of Gümüşhane
Districts of Ordu

Trabzon Subregion

Districts of Artvin
Districts of Rize
Districts of Trabzon

Eastern Marmara Region

Bursa Subregion

Districts of Bilecik
Districts of Bursa
Districts of Eskişehir

Kocaeli Subregion

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

Istanbul Region

Istanbul Subregion

Districts of Istanbul

Mediterranean Region

Adana Subregion

Districts of Adana
Districts of Mersin

Antalya Subregion

Districts of Antalya
Districts of Burdur
Districts of Isparta

Hatay Subregion

Districts of Hatay
Districts of Kahramanmaraş
Districts of Osmaniye

Northeast Anatolia

Ağrı Subregion

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

Erzurum Subregion

Districts of Bayburt
Districts of Erzincan
Districts of Erzurum

Southeastern Anatolia

Gaziantep Subregion

Districts of Adıyaman
Districts of Gaziantep
Districts of Kilis

Mardin Subregion

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

Şanlıurfa Subregion

Districts of Diyarbakır
Districts of Şanlıurfa

Western Anatolia

Ankara Subregion

Districts of Ankara

Konya Subregion

Districts of Karaman
Districts of Konya

Western Black Sea Region

Kastamonu Subregion

Districts of Çankırı
Districts of Kastamonu
Districts of Sinop

Samsun Subregion

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

Zonguldak Subregion

Districts of Bartın
Districts of Karabük
Districts of Zonguldak

Western Marmara Region

Balıkesir Subregion

Districts of Balıkesir
Districts of Çanakkale

Tekirdağ Subregion

Districts of Edirne
Districts of Kırklareli
Districts of Tekirdağ

See also

References

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