Evaluation of Hz. Süleyman Mosque in Diyarbakir province in terms of faith tourism

Since the existence of humankind, places considered sacred have always been the center of attention. Sacred places are at the center of religious tourism and these places offer historical and spiritual meaning to their visitors. In this context, Diyarbakır is one of Turkey's leading destinations for religious tourism as a deep-rooted city that has hosted different civilizations and religions. In this ancient city, Islam, Christianity and other beliefs have coexisted for centuries, and the city has hosted sacred places of different religions. While Diyarbakır draws attention as a city that bears the traces of different beliefs before Islam, it was conquered and annexed to Islamic lands in 639, during the caliphate of Hz. Ömer, by the Islamic armies under the command of Iyaz bin Ganem. The conquest of Diyarbakır was an important turning point in terms of Islam's establishment in the region; many companions were martyred during this process and were buried in the graveyard of Hz. Süleyman Mosque. Hz. Suleyman Mosque is a sacred place of worship that contains the graves of 27 companions who played an important role in the spread of Islam in Anatolia and has great meaning for Muslims as a spiritual place of devotion and prayer. In this context; Hz. Suleyman Mosque and Companions' Tomb located in Diyarbakır province, which has an important potential in terms of religios tourism, was selected as the study area. Within the scope of this thesis, it is aimed to determine the importance of Hz. Suleyman Mosque in terms of religios tourism and to determine the contribution of the mosque to tourism and to bring it to the place it deserves in terms of religios tourism. In addition, suggestions that can make positive contributions to the development of the mosque in terms of faith tourism, to identify current problems, to determine the situations that are seen as negative and ideas about innovations that can be made in this direction are presented. The method of the study is a qualitative research method and in-depth information was obtained by preparing semi-structured interview questions as a data collection tool.