Hatay Province

Hatay is a province in the southern part of Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast. Hatay is bordered by Syria on the south and east. The province has a mixed population of Turks and Arabs.

In ancient times it was called Antioch. It joined Turkey in 1939.  From 1938 to 1939, the city was an independent Arab emirate known as Hatay State. It then became a part of Turkey, which caused protests by the Arabs in the province. The protests were later shut down and many Arab Christians and Alawites fled to Syria. Currently, the province has mostly Turks and Arabs. The Turks mainly follow Sunni Islam and the Arabs follow either Alawite or Sunni Islam.

The province was badly damaged and many people died in the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake.

Districts

Hatay province is divided into 15 districts, listed below with their populations officially estimated as at 31 December 2022:

 Altınözü (60,344)
 Antakya (399,045)
 Arsuz (101,233)
 Belen (34,449)
 Defne (165,494)
 Dörtyol (128,941)
 Erzin (41,558)
 Hassa (56,675)
 İskenderun (251,682)
 Kırıkhan (121,028)
 Kumlu (13,333)
 Payas (43,919)
 Reyhanlı (108,092)
 Samandağ (123,447)
 Yayladağı (36,803)
Stamps issued as Hatay state, today Turkey