The Southeast Anatolia Region

The Southeast Anatolia Region, which neighbors the East Anatolia and Mediterranean regions, covers 9.7% of Turkey with an approximate surface area of 75,000 km². It also borders Syria and Iraq. The population of the region is 6,608,619 according to the 2000 census. 4,143,136 of the population live in urban and 2,465,483 in rural areas. It has the second highest population growth rate of 24.79‰ following the Marmara Region.

Within the scope of the Southeast Anatolia Project (GAP) which has changed the fate of the region, irrigated agriculture has been adopted and the production of industrial crops has greatly increased on some plains. The best quality cotton in the region is grown here.

Petroleum is the most significant underground resource in the region. Some of the crude oil extracted in the environs of Raman, Garzan and Kahta is refined at the Batman Refinery, one of the most important industrial plants in the region.

Gaziantep is the most important city in the Southeast Anatolia Region in terms of industrialization. The textile, machinery and food industries are quite developed. Meanwhile, there are cement, food processing, metal products and agricultural equipment manufacturing plants in Diyarbakir, Mardin and Sanliurfa.

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Partenope figure, Zeugma - GAZIANTEP