Silopi is a city and seat of Silopi District in the Şırnak Province of Turkey. The city is mainly populated by Kurds of Sipêrtî and Zewkan tribes and had a population of 108,880 in 2023. Adalet Fidan of the HDP was elected mayor in 2019 but deposed the same year and replaced by the sub-governor (kaymakam), Sezer Işiktaş, as acting mayor. Large sections of the city were damaged in 2016 during clashes between Turkish forces and the PKK.

Neighborhoods

The city is divided into the eleven neighborhoods: Barbaros, Başak, Cudi, Cumhuriyet (Kizir), Dicle, Karşıyaka, Nuh, Ofis, Şehit Harun Boy, Yenişehir and Yeşiltepe.

History

Recent history

Since July 2015, the Kurdish-Turkish conflict in the region has escalated, and 34 people have been killed in Silopi. On 7 August 2015 clashes between Turkish security forces and the Kurdish militant PKK group may have killed three people. Government reports claimed "terrorists" were killed, while pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party lawmaker Faysal Sarıyıldız said that the casualties were civilians and that he had seen no sign of armed militants. Turkish authorities placed the city under curfew from 14 December 2015 to 4 January 2016. According to the Peoples' Democratic Party, 20 people were killed.

Employment

Şırnak Silopi power station is powered by asphaltite coal and is claimed both to emit air pollution and to be an important source of employment. In 2020 the EBRD proposed a just transition to support workers who may lose jobs due to the decline of coal in Turkey. Peanuts are grown.

Population

Population history from 2007 to 2023: