Hatay Province

Hatay Province (Turkish: Hatay ili, pronounced [ˈhataj]) is the southernmost province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey. Its area is 5,524 km (2,133 sq mi), and its population is 1,686,043 (2022). It is situated mostly outside Anatolia, along the eastern coast of the Levantine Sea. The province borders Syria to its south and east, the Turkish province of Adana to the northwest, Osmaniye to the north, and Gaziantep to the northeast. It is partially situated on the Cilician Plain, a large fertile plain along the Cilicia region. Its administrative capital is Antakya (ancient Antioch), making it one of the three Turkish provinces not named after its administrative capital or any settlement. The second-largest city is İskenderun (formerly Alexandretta). Sovereignty over most of the province was disputed with neighbouring Syria, which claimed that the province had a demographic Arab majority, and has separated from its territory in violation of the terms of the French Mandate for Syria that was established on the heels of World War I; however, the issue has remained largely dormant since the thawing of Syrian-Turkish relations in the 2000s.

History