Sirnak
Encyclopedia
Şırnak is a town in southeastern Turkey. It is the capital of Şırnak Province
Şırnak Province
The Şırnak Province is a Turkish province in southeastern Anatolia. It has a population of 430,109 . The population was 353,197 in 2000....

, a new province that split from the Hakkari province. The Habur border gate with Iraq which is one of Turkey's main links to Middle Eastern countries is also on Şırnak.

Toponymy

It is believed that the settlement was originally called "Sehr-i Nuh" (the city of Noah) since it was near Cudi Mountain where Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...

 finally landed after the Flood. The original name later transformed into "Sernah".

History

During the Guti Empire's reign in the region, a special inscription style called "civi zend" was invented. Mount Cudi, surrounded by other mountains to the east and northeast and plains to the west and southwest has a unique place in history. It is the mountain on which Noah's Ark is believed to have landed. One of its peaks, at over 2000 meters, is "Noah's Visit" (some Islamic scholars argue that Noah landed on Cudi mountain).

Other historical assets of Şırnak include a rock carving from the Assyria
Assyria
Assyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...

ns describing a figure on horseback (in Meseici village near Kasrik Pass); other rock carvings dating back to the Neolithic Age which corresponds to 7000 BC
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....

 (in Beytüşşebap
Beytüssebap
Beytüşşebap is a district of Şırnak Province of Turkey....

); fortresses of Kale, Meme Kale and Kaletivuru; bridges of the Kasrik Pass which reflect the art stone working in the time of Seljuks
Great Seljuq Empire
The Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Persianate, Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf...

; and Virgin Mary Church in Cizre
Cizre
Cizre is a town and district of Şırnak Province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, located at the border to Syria, just to the north-west of the Turkish-Syrian-Iraqi tripoint....

 (not to be confused with the one in Ephesus
Ephesus
Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...

).

Demographics and Geography

The population of Sirnak province is 430,424 (2009 census) living in an area extending over 7,172 square kilometers. Beytüşşebap, Cizre, Guclukonak, Idil
Idil
İdil is a district of Şırnak Province of Turkey. The predominant religion in the region is Islam, although it was once the home of many Anatolian Assyrian/Syriac Christians, who are part of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch and who were speakers of the Syriac language an Aramaic dialect...

, Silopi
Silopi
Silopi is a district of Şırnak Province in Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region, close to the border with Iraq. The district, composed of Silopi center, 3 depending townships with own municipalities and 23 villages has an urban population of 73,400 .The Habur frontier gate, the only major...

 and Uludere
Uludere
Uludere is a village and district of Şırnak Province of Turkey....

 are the administrative districts of Şırnak. The population of the Şırnak city is 63,664.

Climate

Şırnak has a continental climate
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...

 with cold, snowy winters and very hot, long and dry summers. Humidity is always low throughout the year due to its inland positioning, which makes the hot summer heat more bearable. The average temperature in August is 28 °C (82.4 °F) whilst the average temperature in January is 2 °C (35.6 °F). February and March are the wettest months, July and August being the driest, with literally no precipitation at all.

Politics

The mayor of Şırnak, Ramazan Uysal, was arrested in October 2011, as part of the KCK
Koma Civakên Kurdistan
Koma Civakên Kurdistan is a Kurdish organization founded by Abdullah Öcalan as formerly named Koma Komalên Kurdistan to put in practice his ideology of democratic confederalism.Abdullah Öcalan is the group's honorary leader , however due to his...

 investigation, and, as of 12 October 2011, remains in detention.

On 15 October 2011 it was announced that the Ministry of the Interior had suspended him from his functions.

Economy

In Şırnak, agriculture
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, animal husbandry and border trade form the backbone of economic life. Wheat, barley and lentil are the main crops. Cotton is grown as an industrial crop. Cizre and Silopi raise high quality pomegranate and grape. Animal husbandry is practiced by nomadic people
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...

. They mainly breed sheep and various types of goats (ordinary goat, Angora goat, and brown haired goat specific to the area).

Traditional handicrafts consist of carpet, kilim
Kilim
Kilims are flat tapestry-woven carpets or rugs produced from the Balkans to Pakistan. Kilims can be purely decorative or can function as prayer rugs. Recently-made kilims are popular floor-coverings in Western households.-Etymology:...

and bag weaving. Şırnak scarves are woven out of sheep and goat wool. Beytüşşebap is well known for its kilims.

For the future, Şırnak is expected to flourish in meat processing and leather industries and to market its asphalt which has an estimated reserve of 29 million tons.

External links

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