Kızıltepe


Kızıltepe is a town in, and a district of Mardin Province of Turkey. As of 2014, the town had a population of 225,888. Most of the people are Kurds but there are some Arabs, Turks and Christians.

Government

In the local elections of March 2019 Nilüfer Elik Yılmaz was elected as Mayor. But on 15 November 2019 she was dismissed and a trustee was appointed. The current District Governor is Huseyn Cam, who also appointed as trustee.

History

The town has a historic 13th century great Friday mosque built by the Artukids.
In the late 1980s there existed a refugee camp for Kurds who fled persecution by Saddam Hussein.
It was also the scene of clashes between protesting Kurds and Turkish riot police in 2006. In Kiziltepe have been imposed curfews in the past.
Kızıltepe, with +48.8 °C on August 14, 1993, holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Turkey.