Kilis

Kilis is a city in south-east Turkey, near the border with Syria, and the administrative centre of Kilis Province.It lies near the Syrian border north of Aleppo, Syria, and is often identified with the ancient town of Kilisi mentioned in Assyrian records. It was occupied by France after World War I but was returned to Turkey in 1921.The country around Kilis is fertile, producing olives, grapes, and pistachio nuts. The town’s major industries are silk and cotton manufacture. Kilis lies on the main highway from Aleppo to Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras.

Kilis is surrounded by three important cities named Gaziantep, Antakya and Aleppo, in the region in which the Anatolia Plateau ends and the 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.The Oncupınar Syrian border crossing is 5 km (3 mi) to the south and the large city of Gaziantep is 60 km (37 mi) to the north. Indeed, until 1996 Kilis was a district of Gaziantep Province, being made into a province by Tansu Ciller following an open vote-winning gambit in the 1995 general election.