Draft to change centers of two southeastern provinces in parliament

According to the draft, Şırnak’s Cizre district and Hakkari’s Yüksekova district will become the centers of the two provinces, which will also be renamed Cizre and Yüksekova. 

The district of Hakkari and the district of Şırnak, meanwhile, will be renamed as Çölemerik and Nuh, respectively, as part of the draft.  

In January, the Turkish government announced its intention for such a change amid security operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Hakkari borders Iran and Iraq, while Şırnak is located on Turkey’s borders with Iraq and Syria.

The motive behind the initiative is to ease and promote the enlargement of Cizre and Yüksekova, which are geographically more suited to such development but lack security and infrastructure due to their subservient statuses under the provinces of Şırnak and Hakkari, then-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said at the time.

“We may make some administrative moves such as converting Cizre and Yüksekova into provincial centers because their settings are very convenient for this. We are working on the expansion of cities in regards to Cizre in Şırnak and Yüksekova in Hakkari,” Davutoğlu said.