Cultural geography of Diyarbakir city (According to material culture elements)

Diyarbakir is located in the Tigris Section of the Southeastern Anatolia Region. The city of Diyarbakir was established next to the side of the plateau covered with basalts originating from Karacadağ and next to the Tigris River. In the west of the province, Adıyaman, Şanlıurfa, Malatya; Muş and Batman to the east, Mardin to the south; It is surrounded by the provinces of Elazig and Bingol in the north. Southeastern Taurus Mountains are located in the northern part of the province, Mardin-Midyat threshold is located in the south, and Karacadağ is located in the west. Diyarbakir has been an important trade center by hosting many civilizations as it has the feature of transition between Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Today, the city of Diyarbakir consists of two parts, the traditional houses and the new Diyarbakir. While the first settlement of the city consisted mostly of the area surrounded by walls, the new city developed in the north of the city outside the walls during the Republican period. The city started to develop rapidly with the construction of railways and highways during the Republic of Turkey. This study aims to reveal the cultural accumulation and cultural landscape that the people living in Diyarbakir have brought from the past to the present, in order to turn these conditions in their favor and the physical geographical conditions of the place of establishment of the City of Diyarbakir. Ethnographic research methods were used in this study, which will be carried out within the scope of qualitative research methods. Unstructured interview forms were used in order to benefit from oral and living culture with the on-site observation method, which is one of the data collection tools. After the field studies were completed, the data obtained from the observation and interview were evaluated and interpreted with the content analysis and the data obtained from the written sources with the document analysis data. It turns out that the city of Diyarbakir was created by blending its unique traditional houses, Turkish house and Mesopotamian culture, and it has a unique value in itself. It is seen that physical and human geography conditions are effective in the measures taken against the negative conditions of the hot climate and the architectural structures in harmony with the physical structure of the region in these traditional dwellings, where the traces of Islamic religion and Turkish culture are generally seen. It is seen that the culture of clothing and the culture of gastronomy are shaped by the influence of natural conditions and the cultural accumulation of its people.