Siirt Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Siirt
Municipality
City center
Siirt Location in Turkey
Country	Turkey
Province	Siirt
Area
• District	283.87 km² (109.60 sq mi)
Population (2012)
• Urban	135,350
• District	145,784
• District density	513.559/km² (1,330.112/sq mi)

Siirt (Arabic: سِعِرْد Siʿird, Armenian: Սղերդ Sġerd, Syriac: ܣܥܪܬ siʿreth, Kurdish: Sêrt, Ottoman Turkish: سعرد Greek: Σύρτη) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the seat of Siirt Province). The population of the city according to the 2009 census was 129,188. The majority of the city's population is Kurdish.

History
Landmarks
Trivia
Climate
Images for kids
See also

History

Previously known as Saird, in pre-Islamic times Siirt was a diocese of the Eastern Orthodox Church (Sirte, Σίρτη in Byzantine Greek). An illuminated manuscript known as the Syriac Bible of Paris may have originated from the Bishop of Siirt's library, Siirt's Christians would worshipped in Syriac, a liturgical language descended from Aramaic still in use by the Chaldean Rite, other Eastern Christians in India, and the Nestorians along the Silk Road as far as China. The Chronicle of Seert was preserved in the city; it describes the ecclesiastical history of the Persian realm through the middle of the seventh century. From 1858 to 1915 the city was the seat of a bishop of the Chaldean Catholic Church. Most of the city's Assyrians, including Addai Scher their archbishop were killed during the Assyrian Genocide along with the loss of the Syriac manuscript of Theodore of Mopsuestia's De Incarnatione.

Landmarks

The city's landmark is the Great Mosque (Ulu Cami) built in 1129 by the Great Seljuk Sultan Mahmut II who belonged to the main branch of the dynasty that ruled from Baghdad after this Turkish Empire had split into several branches. The mosque was restored in 1965.

Trivia

Siirt is famous in Turkey for its hand-made blankets (Siirt battaniyesi). Many visitors find themselves departing with one offered as a present. The traditional kilims produced by the Jirikan clan (aşiret Arabic: عشیرة) and revived since 1996 through joint efforts involving official instances and citizens are also much prized. Another product of interest is the Bıttım soaps proper to the region. Siirt also has an extremely rich culinary and spa culture. Depending district centers of Aydınlar (former Assyrian-rooted name was Tillo) with its historical medrese is renowned as a religious center and Pervari for its honey based on the particularly rich flora.

Siirt was Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's constituency from 2003 to 2007. His wife, Mrs. Emine Erdoğan, is from Siirt and the PM had been elected to the Turkish Grand National Assembly in a by-election held in Siirt in 2003.

Although Siirt remains one of the poorer cities in Turkey, some neighborhoods have fine and modern housing including new shops, banks and hotels.

Climate

Siirt has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa) with very hot and dry summers and cold and wet winters. During winter months there is frequent frost and occasional snowfall.