Kilis

Kilis is a city in south-central Turkey on the border with Syria and capital of Kilis Province. Kilis was part of the vilayet of Aleppo of the Ottoman Empire until the First World War when it was given to Turkey and had a mixed population of Circassians, Turkomans and Arabs. Before the Armenian Genocide, there was a considerable Armenian community in Kilis. There is also Jewish community. The population of the town was 20,000 in 1927, 45,000 in 1970, 60,000 in 1980 and 85,000 in 1990. It then fell in the 1990s to 70,000 by 2000. (The population is 82,109 as of 2010) Being a border town, Kilis has long had a reputation for smuggling and drug trafficking and although this has apparently been reduced, even today cigarettes, spirits and...