Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey

Turkish municipalities in bigger provinces

There are 81 provinces in Turkey (Turkish: il). Among the 81 provinces, 30 provinces are designated metropolitan municipalities[1] (Turkish: büyükşehir belediyeleri). Metropolitan municipalities are subdivided into districts (Turkish: ilçe), where each district includes a corresponding district municipality, which is a second tier municipality.[2]

## History

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The first metropolitan municipalities were established in 1984.[3] These were the three most populous cities in Turkey, namely; Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir. In each metropolitan municipality a number of second level municipalities (ilçe municipality) were established. In 1986, four new metropolitan municipalities were established: Adana,[4] Bursa,[5] Gaziantep[6] and Konya.[7] Two years later the total number was increased to eight with the addition of Kayseri.[8] In 1993, seven new metropolitan municipalities were established: Antalya, Diyarbakır, Erzurum, Eskişehir, Mersin, Kocaeli and Samsun.[9] Following the earthquake of 1999, Sakarya was also declared a metropolitan municipality.[10]

Before 2004, only the urban centers with populations of more than 750,000 were declared metropolitan centers. However, in 2004, the concept of metropolitan municipality was redefined in Istanbul and Kocaeli, where thenceforth metropolitan municipality borders would overlap with provincial borders. In 2012, this was extended to other metropolitan municipalities.[11] Thus, all provinces with a population in excess of 750,000 were declared metropolitan municipality and accordingly the number of metropolitan municipalities has sharply increased. The following 13 cities became metropolitan municipalities:[11]

* Aydın
* Balıkesir
* Denizli
* Hatay
* Malatya
* Manisa
* Kahramanmaraş
* Mardin
* Muğla
* Tekirdağ
* Trabzon
* Şanlıurfa
* Van

With the addition of Ordu in 2013,[12] the total number of the metropolitan municipalities increased to 30.[13]

## List of metropolitan areas

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Ankara

Tekirdağ

Balıkesir

Bursa

Istanbul

Kocaeli

Sakarya

Eskişehir

Manisa

İzmir

Aydın

Muğla

Denizli

Antalya

Konya

Mersin

Adana

K. Maraş

Kayseri

Samsun

Ordu

Malatya

G. Antep

Şanlıurfa

Trabzon

Erzurum

Diyarbakır

Mardin

Van

Hatay

(Dark blue: Those provinces before 2012, light blue those after 2012)

Metropolitan municipalities  | Date of establishment  | Area (km2)  | GDP (billion US$)[14] | Population (2021)[15] | Number of districts

|
|
|
|
|

Adana | 05.06.1986 | 13,844 | 15.775 | 2,263,373 | 15
Ankara | 23.03.1984 | 25,632 | 74.285 | 5,747,325 | 25
Antalya | 09.09.1993 | 20,177 | 23.213 | 2,619,832 | 19
Aydın | 06.12.2012 | 8,116 | 7.260 | 1,134,031 | 17
Balıkesir | 06.12.2012 | 14,583 | 10.027 | 1,250,610 | 20
Bursa | 18.06.1986 | 10,813 | 33.641 | 3,147,818 | 17
Denizli | 06.12.2012 | 12,134 | 9.062 | 1,051,056 | 19
Diyarbakır | 09.09.1993 | 15,101 | 6.959 | 1,791,373 | 17
Erzurum | 09.09.1993 | 25,006 | 3.918 | 756,893 | 20
Eskişehir | 09.09.1993 | 13,960 | 9.078 | 898,369 | 14
Gaziantep | 20.06.1986 | 6,830 | 16.545 | 2,130,432 | 9
Hatay | 06.12.2012 | 5,524 | 11.298 | 1,670,712 | 15
Mersin[Note 1] | 09.09.1993 | 15,010 | 15.562 | 1,891,145 | 13
İstanbul | 23.03.1984 | 5,343 | 245.207 | 15,840,000 | 39
İzmir | 23.03.1984 | 11,891 | 51.460 | 4,425,789 | 30
Kayseri | 07.12.1988 | 16,970 | 11.956 | 1,434,357 | 16
Kocaeli[Note 2] | 09.09.1993 | 3,397 | 34.442 | 2,033,441 | 12
Konya | 20.06.1986 | 40,838 | 16.616 | 2,277,017 | 31
Malatya | 06.12.2012 | 12,259 | 4.324 | 808,692 | 13
Manisa | 06.12.2012 | 13,339 | 13.633 | 1,456,626 | 17
Kahramanmaraş | 06.12.2012 | 14,520 | 7.015 | 1,171,298 | 11
Mardin | 06.12.2012 | 8,780 | 4.737 | 862,757 | 10
Muğla | 06.12.2012 | 12,654 | 9.444 | 1,021,141 | 13
Ordu | 14.03.2013 | 5,914 | 3.685 | 760,872 | 19
Sakarya[Note 3] | 06.03.2000 | 4,824 | 9.102 | 1,060,876 | 16
Samsun | 09.09.1993 | 9,725 | 8.332 | 1,371,274 | 17
Tekirdağ | 06.12.2012 | 6,190 | 16.225 | 1,113,400 | 11
Trabzon | 06.12.2012 | 4,628 | 4.897 | 816,686 | 18
Şanlıurfa | 06.12.2012 | 19,242 | 6.413 | 2,143,020 | 13
Van | 06.12.2012 | 20,921 | 3.544 | 1,141,015 | 13
Turkey |  | 783,562  | 807.143  | 66,092,128  | 519

Since the total population of Turkey is 83,154,997, the population in the 30 provinces make up 77% of the population of the country.

## See also

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* Elections for Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey
* 2013 Turkish local government reorganisation
* Provinces of Turkey by population

## Notes

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1. ^ Formerly named İçel.
2. ^ Formerly the center city of Kocaeli Province was İzmit, which is now a district
3. ^ Formerly the center city of Sakarya Province was Adapazarı, which is now a district

## References

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1. ^ Statistical Institute page[permanent dead link]
2. ^ Law act no 5216 (in Turkish)
3. ^ Belleten of legislation (in Turkish)
4. ^ Art no 3306 (in Turkish)
5. ^ "Art no 3391" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
6. ^ "Art no.3398" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2014-01-31. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
7. ^ "Art no 3399" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
8. ^ "Art no 3508" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
9. ^ "Decree no 504" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
10. ^ "Art no 593" (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-31.
11. ^ a b "Art no 6360" (in Turkish).
12. ^ "North-eastern province of Ordu becomes metropolitan municipality". Anadolu Ajansı. 14 March 2013. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
13. ^ CNN Turk news (in Turkish)
14. ^ "Statistics by Theme > National Accounts > Regional Accounts". www.turkstat.gov.tr. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
15. ^ "2021 Türkiye Nüfusu", biruni.tuik.gov.tr

## External links

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* The critical Analysis of Transformation of Turkish metropolitan Municipality System Archived 2019-03-25 at the Wayback Machine

* v
* t
* e

Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey

* Adana
* Ankara
* Antalya
* Aydın
* Balıkesir
* Bursa
* Denizli
* Diyarbakır
* Erzurum
* Eskişehir
* Gaziantep
* Hatay
* İstanbul
* İzmir
* Kayseri
* Kocaeli
* Konya
* Kahramanmaraş
* Malatya
* Manisa
* Mardin
* Mersin
* Muğla
* Ordu
* Sakarya
* Samsun
* Şanlıurfa
* Tekirdağ
* Trabzon
* Van

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