Urfa

Şanlıurfa Province (Turkish: Şanlıurfa ili , Kurdish: Parêzgeha Rihayê) or simply Urfa Province is a province in Southeast Anatolia, Turkey. The city of Şanlıurfa is the capital of the province which bears its name. The population is 1,663,371 (2010 census).

Population in 1990 was 1,001,455; 551,124 in the district centers, 450,331 in rural villages. By 2000, the population of Şanlıurfa province had grown to 1,436,956 and that of Şanlıurfa city, 829,000.

Şanlıurfa, pronounced [ʃanˈlɯuɾfa], often simply known as Urfa in daily language (Kurdish Riha, Arabic الرها al-Ruhā, Syriac ܐܘܪܗ Urhoy, Armenian Ուռհա Owr'ha), in ancient times Edessa, is a city with 482,323 inhabitants (2009 estimate) in south-eastern Turkey, and the capital of Şanlıurfa Province. It is a city with a predominant Kurdish and Turkmen population. Urfa is situated on a plain under big open skies, about eighty kilometres east of the Euphrates River. The climate features extremely hot, dry summers and cool, moist winters.