Cizre

Cizre
Aerial view of Cizre
Cizre
Coordinates: 37°19′30″N 42°11′45″E / 37.32500°N 42.19583°E / 37.32500; 42.19583Coordinates: 37°19′30″N 42°11′45″E / 37.32500°N 42.19583°E / 37.32500; 42.19583
Country	Turkey
Province	Şırnak
Government
• Mayor	Vacant (mayor has been imprisoned)
• Kaymakam	Ahmet Adanur
Area
• District	467.64 km2 (180.56 sq mi)
Elevation	377 m (1,237 ft)
Population (2012)
• Urban	106,831
• District	124,804
• District density	270/km2 (690/sq mi)
Post code	73200
Website	www.cizre.bel.tr

Cizre (pronounced [ˈdʒizɾe]; Kurdish: Cizîr‎ or Cizîra Botan, Arabic: جزيرة ابن عمر‎‎ Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar, Syriac: ܓܙܝܪܐ‎ Gzirā or Gziro) is a town and district of Şırnak Province in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey, on the border with Syria, just to the northwest of the Turkish-Syrian-Iraqi tripoint.

It is populated by a majority of Kurds in addition to Assyrian/Syriac people and other minorities. It is surrounded by the Tigris on the north, east and south; this gives it its name, which means "island" in Arabic (جزيرة, jazīra).

Cizre has a mediterranean climate (Csa in the Koeppen climate classification) with wet, mild, rarely snowy winters and dry, extremely hot summers. Daily summer temperatures of 113 °F (45 °C) or higher are common, as well as below freezing temperatures in the winter.

Cizre is historical Gazarta and Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar (Arabic: جزيرة ابن عمر‎‎), an important town during the Abbasid period and the Crusades as a gateway connecting Upper Mesopotamia to Armenia.