Kilis

Kilis is a city in south-central Turkey, near the border with Syria, and the administrative centre of Kilis Province.HistoryKilis is surrounded by three important cities named Gaziantep, Antakya and Aleppo, in the region in which the Anatolia Plateau ends and Syria plain begins. As a result of its proximity to the North Mediterranean, it is in a transition region between the Mediterranean climate and the continental climate. It is in the Northwestern part of the Mesopotamia region name as the "Fertile Crescent", which has been a settling area since the very beginning of history.Although there are not any definite information related to its foundation, today's Kilis City mainly developed and became urbanized during the Ottoman Period. However, traces of important cities found in the near surroundings of Kilis and the historical documents prove that important centres were always present here in every period. In the tablets belonging to the Assyrian period, the name 'Ki-li-zi' is written in cuneiform and a city named as "Ciliza Sive Urnagiganti" during the Roman Empire period is mentioned.In addition to centers such as Kirus antique city, Oylum Höyük, Ravanda Castle, Ilezi and Tarzime Han, many other residential areas starting from the Neolithic period have also been discovered in the surrounding of Kilis as a result of archaeological surface explorations. Hitting, Greek, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Crusader, Mameluk and Ottoman periods were experienced in the region respectively.