Malatya Province (Malatya)
According to the Encyclopedia of Islam, the province is considered part of Turkish Kurdistan.
According to German geographers Georg Hassel and Adam Christian Gaspari, Malatya was composed of 1200 to 1500 houses in early 19th century, inhabited by Ottomans, Turkmens, Armenians, and Greeks, while the mountainous areas in the sanjak of Malatya were mostly inhabited by Kurdish tribes such as Reşwan.
The province had a population of 306,882 in 1927 of which 98.9% was Muslim and 1% Christians. Linguistically, Turkish was the most spoken first language at 57.3%, followed by Kurdish at 40.2% and Armenian at 0.9%. The population increased to 410,152 in 1935 of which 99.3% was Muslim and 0.6% Christian. Turkish remained the most spoken first language at 60.2%, followed by Kurdish 39.3% and Armenian at 0.4%. The province had a population of 483,568 in 1950 of which Turkish was spoken by 64.8% of the population, followed by Kurdish at 34.9%. Armenian remained the third most spoken language but decreased to 0.2%. The modern province of Malatya doesn't fully coincide with the province of Malatya until 1954, before when the province also included the modern Turkish province of Adıyaman, which was more than double Kurdish-speaking than Malatya according to the 1965 census.
It was estimated in 2012 that about 20% to 30% of the province was Alevi the vast majority of which was Kurdish. This group is mostly politically aligned with nationalist Kurdish parties especially after the Sivas Massacre and activity of the Kurdistan Workers' Party since the early 1990s.
Map - Malatya Province (Malatya)
Map
Country - Turkey
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| Flag of Turkey | |
One of the world's earliest permanently settled regions, present-day Turkey was home to important Neolithic sites like Göbekli Tepe, and was inhabited by ancient civilisations including the Hattians, Hittites, Anatolian peoples, Mycenaean Greeks, Persians and others. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great which started the Hellenistic period, most of the ancient regions in modern Turkey were culturally Hellenised, which continued during the Byzantine era. The Seljuk Turks began migrating in the 11th century, and the Sultanate of Rum ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, when it disintegrated into small Turkish principalities. Beginning in the late 13th century, the Ottomans united the principalities and conquered the Balkans, and the Turkification of Anatolia increased during the Ottoman period. After Mehmed II conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, Ottoman expansion continued under Selim I. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire became a global power. From the late 18th century onwards, the empire's power declined with a gradual loss of territories. Mahmud II started a period of modernisation in the early 19th century. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 restricted the authority of the Sultan and restored the Ottoman Parliament after a 30-year suspension, ushering the empire into a multi-party period. The 1913 coup d'état put the country under the control of the Three Pashas, who facilitated the Empire's entry into World War I as part of the Central Powers in 1914. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Greek and Assyrian subjects. After its defeat in the war, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| TRY | Turkish lira | ₺ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| AV | Avar language |
| AZ | Azerbaijani language |
| KU | Kurdish language |
| TR | Turkish language |