Şırnak Province

Şırnak Province Şırnak ili
Province of Turkey
Damlabaşı, Şırnak Province
Location of Şırnak Province in Turkey
Country	Turkey
Region	Southeast Anatolia
Subregion	Mardin
Government
• Electoral district	Şırnak
Area
• Total	7,172 km2 (2,769 sq mi)
Population (2010-12-31)
• Total	430,109
• Density	60/km2 (160/sq mi)
Area code(s)	0486
Vehicle registration	73

The Şırnak Province (Turkish: Şırnak ili, Kurdish: Parêzgeha Şirnex‎) is a Turkish province in southeastern Anatolia. As of 2013, the province had an estimated population of 475,255 people. The majority of the province's population is Kurdish.

Geography

Midin

The province borders Siirt Province to the north, Van Province to the northeast, Mardin Province to the west, Batman Province to the northwest, Syria to the southwest, and Iraq to the southeast. Şırnak Province has some mountainous regions in the west and the south, but the majority of the province consists of plateaus, resulting from the many rivers that cross it. These include the Tigris, and its tributaries Hezil and Kızılsu, and also Çağlayan. The most important mountains are the Cudi (2089 m), the Gabar, the Namaz and the Altın. Şırnak is the poorest province of Turkey with an average of 508 TL per capita.

Districts

Şırnak province is divided into 7 districts (capital district in bold):

• Beytüşşebap
• Cizre
• Güçlükonak
• İdil
• Silopi
• Şırnak
• Uludere

Turkish Forces' operation, 1992

Main article: Battle of Şırnak

On 18 August 1992, Turkish forces, attacked the city, killing 54 people, mostly children and women. For three days, homes were burned, livestock were killed, people were brutally killed. 20,000 out of 25,000 residents fled the city, Amnesty International reported.

During the operation, a curfew was imposed in the town and when it finally ended, the whole city was in ruins.

While the town was under bombardment, there was no way to get an account of what was happening in the region as journalists were prevented from entering the city centre which was completely burned down by the security forces. Şırnak was under fire for three days and tanks and cannons were used to hit buildings occupied by civilians.

On 26 August 1992, Amnesty International sent requests to then Prime Minister, Süleyman Demirel, Interior Minister Ismet Sezgin, Emergency Legislation Governor Ünal Erkan and Şırnak province governor Mustafa Mala, to immediately initiate an independent and impartial inquiry into the events, to ensure no-one was mistreated in police custody and to make their findings public.