Siverek

Siverek was historically known in medieval Arabic as Hisn ar-Ran, which was corrupted into Greek Chasanara (Greek: Χασαναρᾶ) as found in the Escorial Taktikon.[6] The town came under Byzantine control sometime after 956 and by the early 970s had become the seat of a strategos.[6]

In the Ottoman Empire period Siverek was within the Diyarbekir vilayet, and it had several Christian settlements.[7]

9,275 Armenians lived in the kaza on the eve of the First World War according to the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople. They had eight churches and three schools. 5,450 Armenians and 1,200 Syriacs lived in the town of Siverek. 6,550 Syriacs lived in 32 surrounding villages.[8] Armenian men were massacred in May 1915, followed by the deportation of the women and children, as part of the Armenian genocide.[8] Faiz El-Ghusein reported that the road between Urfa and Severek was littered with corpses.[8]

In common with other districts of Şanlıurfa, business and politics in Siverek are strongly influenced, even controlled, by a powerful clan. Siverek is the home town of Sedat Bucak, the former DYP member of parliament who survived the car crash in the Susurluk scandal. He is the leader of the Bucak tribe, one of whom has represented the area in the Turkish Parliament since its foundation. Sedat Bucak remains a friend of former DYP leader Mehmet Ağar.[9] In the local elections in March 2019, Şehmus Aydın was elected mayor.[10] He resigned due to health problems in 2020, and was succeeded by Ayşe Çakmak (AKP).[11] The current kaymakam is Musa Aydemir.[12]

There are 180 neighbourhoods in Siverek District:[13]

Siverek has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa).

• District governor's office
• Siverek
• Siverek Son Haber