Siirt / Sêrt

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

Siirt is famous in Turkey for its hand-made blankets (Siirt battaniyesi), traditional kilims produced by the Jirikan clan, and the Bıttım soaps from the region. Siirt also has an extremely rich culinary and spa culture. Depending district centers of Aydınlar 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.

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