Aksaray Province

Aksaray Province (Turkish: Aksaray ili) is a province in central Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Konya along the west and south, Niğde to the southeast, Nevşehir to the east, and Kırşehir to the north. Its area is 7,659 km2,[2] and its population is 433,055 (2022).[1] The provincial capital is the city of Aksaray.

Aksaray Province
Aksaray ili
Province
Location of the province within Turkey
Location of the province within Turkey
CountryTurkey
SeatAksaray
Government
 • ValiMehmet Ali Kumbuzoğlu
Area
7,659 km2 (2,957 sq mi)
Population
 (2022)[1]
433,055
 • Density57/km2 (150/sq mi)
Time zoneTRT (UTC+3)
Area code0382
Websitewww.aksaray.gov.tr

Aksaray is one of the four provinces in the area of Cappadocia, along with Nevşehir, Niğde and Kayseri. Also the 3,000-metre (9,843 ft) volcano Mount Hasan stands between Aksaray and Niğde. Summers are hot and dry on the plain, but the area is green and covered in flowers in springtime, when water streams off the mountainside. The 2,400 m2 salt lake (0.59 acres), Tuz Gölü, lies within the boundaries of Aksaray, a large area of swamp with a maximum depth of 1 metre (3 ft 3 in).

Districts
Districts before 2017

Aksaray province is divided into 8 districts (capital district in bold):

Etymology

In antiquity the area was named Archelais Garsaura, which was mutated to Taksara during the Seljuk Turkish era, and then to Aksaray. Aksaray means "White Palace" in Turkish.

Aksaray Castle

The Aksaray Castle was a four-cornered, stone-built, solidly built castle on a large area, on the edge of the Melendiz river. It was built in the middle of the city.[3] The bastion and its towers were not very high. With all their bastions, teeth and bodies, their crenellated holes and their calculated towers always faced each other. During the siege, the strong warriors of each tower guarded the towers with rifles. There were five gates on the side of the fortresses. Küçükkapı faces west. Demirkapı opens to the qibla. Keçikapısı also opens towards the qibla. Ereğlikapısı opens to the south and Konyakapısı opens to the west. The guards of these gates are the tax collectors. A warehouse was built in the castle to store wheat during the rebels' time. It has no arsenal. There are big balls thrown during Ramadan and other festivals.[4]

Population
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1927127,031—    
1990326,399+1.51%
2000396,084+1.95%
2010377,505−0.48%
2020423,011+1.14%
Source:Turkstat[5][6]

History
Aksaray Kilim, 18th century. The kilim was probably made by a group of settled Hotamis Turkmen in the Aksaray region. It may have been used for a funeral, and was later donated to the local mosque.

The plains of central Anatolia have been settled for 8,000 years, and the area around Aksaray bears monuments to a string of civilisations that have settled on the plain in that time. The mound of Aşıklı Höyük in the town of Kızılkaya indicates a settlement dating back to 5,000BC (and also a skull of a woman who had apparently been trepanned, the earliest known record of brain surgery).

Later the Silk Road came through here so caravanserai and then larger and larger settlements were built to supply and shelter travellers and traders. The city and surroundings of Aksaray thrived in the Roman, Byzantine and the Turkish periods.

Ekecik Mountain - View from the northern slope.

Today Aksaray is a rural, agricultural province, its people religious and conservative. Since the 1950s many have moved to Europe as migrant workers. The population of Aksaray has long included a higher proportion of Kurdish people than most central Anatolian provinces. Many of them were resettled here from Tunceli and other eastern cities following the Sheikh Said rebellion in the 1920s.[7]

Places of interest

See also

References
  1. "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports" (XLS). TÜİK. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  2. "İl ve İlçe Yüz ölçümleri". General Directorate of Mapping. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  3. Bekir Deniz. "The Citadel of Aksaray" (in Turkish). Retrieved 2023-01-16.
  4. Aksaray e-Ansiklopedi. "Encyclopedia about Aksaray Castle" (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-10-13.
  5. "Census Results". Turkstat. Archived from the original on 2016-08-02. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  6. "Online library of Turkstat". Turkstat. Archived from the original on 2014-06-02. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
  7. "TÜRK OTAĞI || Türkçüler ve Türkçülük". Archived from the original on 2007-05-03. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
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Notes

38°25′51″N 33°51′44″E

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