One of the oldest mosques in Siirt, the Cumhuriyet Camisi in the city centre was first called Hıdr-Ül Ahdar (Hudurul Ahdar), meaning 'the greenest of the green', and is thought to date from the early twelfth century. It took its present name in 1929, when it was repaired with the help of H. Hulki Aydın, Siirt's member of parliament, and its minaret was renewed.
It began as a single-domed building of cut stone; after the Seljuk period a space with two domes was added on the east, turning the plan into a rectangle. On the north side, two pointed-arched doors led into the prayer hall and the addition; they were later closed down to two small doors. The original mihrab, minbar and decoration did not survive the most recent repairs. The Sûk’ul Ayn Çeşmesi next to the mosque also dates from the Seljuk period. A tradition places the grave of Yakova, one of the apostles of İsa, inside the mosque, though no record of it has been found.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Siirt as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 2.8 °C in January to 30.7 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May and October; rainfall is heaviest in March (112 mm) and lightest in August (2 mm). Long-term means for 1939-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
