GAZİANTEP PROVINCIAL DIRECTORATE OF CULTURE AND TOURISM

OĞUZELİ

        UZELİ CENTRAL DISTRICT
        Central district Oğuzeli is a border city to Syria and located in the southeast of Gaziantep. It is 18 kms to the city center and surrounded by Nizip and Karkamış in the east, Elbeyli district of Kilis in the west and Syria in the south. The area is 506 square kilometers, the altitude is 750 m. According to the address-based population registration system of 2012, the total population of the city is 28.844, and the population of the city center is 17.014. The history of the region dates back to B.C 3000 due to excavations in historical Tılbaşar Castle near Gündoğan village in the district. The population of the center was 2290 in 1881 and it became a district on 14 February 1946 by the law number 4859. The district was one of the first settlements of Seljuk Turks in Anatolia and its name derived from the name of ‘Oğuz Turks’. It has been a Turkish homeland for 10 centuries since Yavuz Sultan Selim conquered the district in 1517. Due to the architecture of Orta Mosque and historical bridge, it is understood that they remained from Seljuk Period.