Viranşehir

{{main|Constantia (Osrhoene)}}

According to the Byzantine historian John Malalas, the city was built by the Roman Emperor Constantine I on the site of former Maximianopolis, which had been destroyed by a Persian attack and an earthquake. During the next two centuries, it was an important location in the Roman/Byzantine Near East, playing a crucial role in the Roman–Persian Wars of the 6th century as the seat of the dux Mesopotamiae (363–540). It was also a bishopric, suffragan of Edessa. Jacob Baradaeus was born near the city and was a monk in a nearby monastery. The city was captured by the Arabs in 637.

The city became the base for the Ottoman statesman of Kurdish origin Ibrahim Pasha, leader of the Kurdish Milan tribe, in the late nineteenth century. Beginning in 1891, Ibrahim Pasha led several regiments of the state-sponsored tribal light cavalries known as the Hamidiye Brigades. He enjoyed the favor of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and also extended protection to local Christian populations, with some 600 families taking up residence in the district by the early 1900s.{{Cite book|title = Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915|last = Jongerden|first = Joost|publisher = Brill|year = 2012|location = Leiden|pages = 62–65}} The British spy and diplomat Mark Sykes claimed that Ibrahim Pasha had also saved some 10,000 Christians in the midst of the massacres of the 1890s.{{Cite book|title = The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913-1950|last = Üngör|first = Uğur Ümit|publisher = Oxford University Press|year = 2011|location = New York|pages = 18}} The historian Janet Klein writes that "on the eve of the Young Turk Revolution, Ibrahim Pasha was one of the most powerful figures in all of Kurdistan."{{Cite book|title = The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone|last = Klein|first = Janet|publisher = Stanford University Press|year = 2011|location = Stanford, Calif.|pages = 102}} Yet after the revolution, Ibrahim Pasha could no longer count on the support of the palace. He died on 27 September 1908 of dysentery, hotly pursued by Ottoman troops near Nusaybin.{{Cite book|title = The Margins of Empire: Kurdish Militias in the Ottoman Tribal Zone|last = Klein|first = Janet|publisher = Stanford University Press|year = 2011|location = Stanford, Calif.|pages = 103–104}}

On the eve of World War I, Viranşehir's Armenian population of numbered 1,339. The city's kaimakam apparently objected to May 1915 orders of raids on the population, but higher-ups eventually prevailed, and the entire population was massacred or sent to Ras al-'Ayn.{{Cite book|title = The Armenian Genocide: a Complete History|last = Kevorkian|first = Raymond|publisher = Tauris|year = 2011|location = New York|pages = 366}}

{{Historical populations

|align = left

|percentages = pagr

|source = 1990 census,{{Cite web | url = https://kutuphane.tuik.gov.tr/pdf/0013349.pdf | title = 1990 General Census | date = 1991 | publisher = Turkish Statistical Institute | language = Turkish | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210831205734/https://kutuphane.tuik.gov.tr/pdf/0013349.pdf | archive-date = 31 August 2021 | url-status = live }} 1997 census{{Cite web | url = https://kutuphane.tuik.gov.tr/pdf/0014235.pdf | title = 1997 Population Count | date = 1999 | publisher = Turkish Statistical Institute | language = Turkish | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221030113057/https://kutuphane.tuik.gov.tr/pdf/0014235.pdf | archive-date = 30 October 2022 | url-status = live }} and TÜIK (2007-2022){{cite web|url=https://biruni.tuik.gov.tr/medas/?kn=95&locale=en |title=Population Of SRE-1, SRE-2, Provinces and Districts|publisher=TÜIK |access-date=11 October 2023}}

|1990|100361

|1997|163975

|2007|152469

|2012|172422

|2017|192966

|2022|207315

}}

Thanks to the income from cotton, Viranşehir is a fast-growing town.

The Mayor of Viransehir, Leyla Güven, was detained in December 2009 under Turkey's anti-terror legislation. Her trial began on 18 October 2010. She was released in July 2014 with 30 other local elected representatives, after four years of detention."Congress pleased by a release of Leyla Güven and the other elected representatives detained in Turkey"; http://www.coe.int/t/congress/files/topics/leyla-guven/default_en.asp

Serhat Dicle Inan from the Peoples' Equality and Democracy Party (DEM) was elected Mayor of Viranşehir in the 31 March 2024 Local Election.{{Cite web|url=https://www.yenisafak.com/yerel-secim-2019/sanliurfa-viransehir-ilcesi-secim-sonuclari|title=Şanlıurfa Viranşehir Seçim Sonuçları – Viranşehir Yerel Seçim Sonuçları|last=Şafak|first=Yeni|date=2019-09-12|website=Yeni Şafak|language=tr-TR|access-date=2019-12-12}} The current Kaymakam is Önder Koç.{{Cite web|url=http://www.viransehir.gov.tr/kaymakam-onder-koc|title=Kaymakam Önder Koç|website=www.viransehir.gov.tr|access-date=11 October 2023}}

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There are 148 neighbourhoods in Viranşehir District:[https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx Mahalle], Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 19 September 2023.

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• Abalar
• Adaköy
• Akçataş
• Akkese
• Alakonak
• Altınbaşak
• Anıt
• Arısu
• Arıtır
• Aşağıtınaz
• Aslanbaba
• Atatürk
• Atıcılar
• Ayaklı
• Ayrıdüşen
• Azadi(Evrenpaşa)
• Bahçelievler
• Bakımlı
• Ballıca
• Başaran
• Başköy
• Beğrük
• Binekli
• Bozca
• Burç
• Büyükbardakçı
• Büyükçavuş
• Büyükgörümlü
• Büyükmutlu
• Çalıcık
• Çamurlu
• Ceylan
• Çiftçiler
• Çiftekuyu
• Çokran
• Cumhuriyet
• Dedeköy
• Defterdar
• Değim
• Demirci
• Dikili
• Dinçer
• Dinçkök
• Ekinciler
• Ekindöver
• Elbeğendi
• Elgün
• Emiroğlu
• Engelli
• Eser
• Eskikale
• Eşkin
• Esvetoğlu
• Evcimen
• Eyyüpnebi
• Germen
• Göğerli
• Göktepe
• Gölbaşı
• Gölcük
• Gömülü
• Gönüllü
• Gözeli
• Gözler
• Güleryüz
• Gürpınar
• Güzlek
• Hürriyet
• İncirli
• İsa Harabesi
• Işıldar
• Kadıköy
• Kale
• Karakuzu
• Karataş
• Karatepe
• Kargalı
• Karınca
• Kavurga
• Keçeli
• Kemerli
• Kervansarayı
• Kınalıtepe
• Kırbalı
• Kırkgöz
• Kışla
• Kızlarsarayı
• Kolağası
• Konakyeri
• Koşulu
• Kucak
• Küçükmutlu
• Küçüktopça
• Kumçeşme
• Kurtulmuş
• Kururoğlu
• Malta
• Mehmetçik
• Nergizli
• Oğlakçı
• Övüncük
• Özal
• Pınarlar
• Reyhanlı
• Sağırtaş
• Şahinli
• Sakalar
• Samanlı
• Sarıbal
• Şarkpınar
• Satıcık
• Sayoba
• Şehit
• Selahattinieyyubi
• Sepetli
• Sergen
• Sevgili
• Şırnak
• Sözeri
• Süleymaniye
• Tanyeli
• Taşönü
• Taşyaka
• Tekke
• Tekneli
• Tepedüzü
• Toklu
• Tunçbilek
• Türkeli
• Üçgül
• Uğurlu
• Ulaklı
• Yaban
• Yağızlar
• Yarpuz
• Yayık
• Yazgüneşi
• Yeni
• Yenişehir
• Yeşilalıç
• Yeşildurak
• Yıldız
• Yolbilen
• Yollarbaşı
• Yüceler
• Yukarıbağ
• Yukarıdilimli
• Yukarışölenli

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• Jacob Baradaeus (c. 500–578), Bishop of Edessa
• Ibrahim Pasha Milli (1843-1908), Kurdish chief
• Bilge Özgen (1935*), musical Artist
• Şivan Perwer (1955*), musical Artist
• Nureddin Nebati (1964*), politician
• Ayşe Sürücü (1983*), politician
• Semra Güzel (1984*), medical doctor and a politician
• Deniz Kadah (1986*), footballer
• Dilan Kunt Ayan (1989*), politician
• Deniz Undav (1996*), footballer

{{Reflist}}

{{Districts of Turkey|provname=Şanlıurfa}}

{{Viranşehir District}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Viransehir}}

Category:Cities in Turkey

Category:Populated places in Şanlıurfa Province

Category:Districts of Şanlıurfa Province

Category:Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey

Category:Kurdish settlements in Turkey