Kilis

Kilis is a town in Southeastern Anatolia, just north of the Syrian border. In 2023 its population was 131,000.

There are many traces of ancient civilisations here, but Kilis was a small town until the 18th / 19th centuries, when it grew based on agricultural industries. The Ottomans governed this area from Aleppo, so after their defeat in the First World War it initially formed part of French-occupied Syria. But the peace treaty awarded it to the new Republic of Turkey, so the French withdrew and Turkish forces claimed it on 7 Dec 1921. That treaty drew the new border with Syria some 5 km south of Kilis.

The border continued to blight the town because of interminable wars and civil strife in Syria. There was smuggling and illegal crossings, from 2012 to 2019 a large refugee camp stood at Öncüpınar on the border, and ISIL fired rockets into Kilis. The turmoil was winding down when on 6 Feb 2023 the region on both sides was devasted by an earthquake. Many of the city's historic buildings and landmarks are badly damaged or have collapsed, and reconstruction is still under way.

Kilis is on Highway D-850 from Gaziantep (58 km) toward the Syrian border at Öncüpınar / Al-Salameh. The crossing is open 24 hours and the road continues south as A2 to A'zaz and Aleppo.

Highway D-410 runs west from Kilis to join D-825 from Kahramanmaraş to Antakya.

Özgür Koop run dolmuşes from Gaziantep, which set off whenever they fill up and take about an hour.

36.710137.11891 Kilis Otogar is on Mercidabık Cd, 1 km south of city centre.

Dolmuses and taxis ply the main streets.

• 36.717537.11781 Kilis Museum, Akcurun Cd 27, ☏ +90 348 813 2037. The city museum is in a former soap factory. It's temporarily closed.  (updated Sep 2026)
• 36.714737.11442 Tekke Mosque, off Muradiye Cd. This was centrepiece of an 16th-century Ottoman religious complex. In 2016 it was hit by a rocket from Syria, and re-building was still under way when the 2023 earthquake struck.  (updated Sep 2026)
• 36.71351737.1151673 Great Mosque (Ulu Camii). Built in its present form in 1388, this was damaged in the 2023 earthquake and is still under repair.  (updated Sep 2026)
• Muallak Mosque 100 m northeast of Great Mosque is 16th century. It's under repair.
• Eski Hamam is a historic bathhouse 200 m east of Great Mosque. It's no longer in use.
• 36.717737.11264 Murtaza Pasha Mosque was built in 1661, but re-built to the original pattern in 1948.
• 36.695437.12565 Sheikh Mansur Tomb is a shrine and mosque 3 km south of the city. It's close to the Syrian border, neglected and overrun with stray cats. Mansur was the head servant of the Prophet Muhammed.
• 36.69913837.1784626 Oylum Höyük (25 km east of Kilis). Sat-Thu 08:00-17:00. This is a tell, where successive periods of prehistoric building have heaped up into a large mound. It dates back to 4000 BCE, the Chalcolithic or Copper Age between the Neolithic and the Bronze. Excavations continue: the site is fenced off at other times, and how much you can see (if anything) is variable. The best artefacts such as mosaics are in museums at Gaziantep and Ankara, before the looters could grab them.  (updated Sep 2026)

• Football: Kilis play in the amateur leagues. Their 7 Aralık Stadium is 1 km north of city centre.
• Hamams - traditional Turkish baths - remain closed in 2026.

Small supermarkets cluster downtown. The most central is Bim at Cumhuriyet Cd 200, open daily 08:00-21:00.

Eating places are central, in the blocks north of Cumhuriyet Cd. They include Doğan Han Yemek, Kabalti Cafe, Tavacı İbrahim Usta, Aspava Cafe, Muzzo and Tavacı İzzet Usta. They're mostly open daily 08:00-22:00 or later.

Tap water is not safe to drink, stick to bottled.

No free-standing bars, some cafes may serve alcohol.

There's a cluster of cafes northwest edge of town near the University, where Doğan Güreş Paşa Blv joins Highway D-410.

• 36.715437.11411 Canbolat Paşa Konağı Hotel, Mevlana Sk 12, ☏ +90 507 9170164. Pleasant hotel in a restored Ottoman mansion.  (updated Sep 2026)
• 36.716237.1132 Olea Hotel, Şehitler Abidesi Cd, ☏ +90 348 814 8132929. Simple but comfy and mostly clean. B&B double 4000 TL.  (updated Sep 2026)
• 36.715537.12063 Saltuk Bey Konağı Hotel, Hilal Salonu Sk 13, ☏ +90 348 8134242. Comfy hotel in a restored mansion.  (updated Sep 2026) ^{[dead link]}

Kilis 7 Aralık University main campus is northwest edge of town, with Karataş campus downtown. Founded in 2007, it has 11,000 students and 250 teaching staff. Aralık means December and the name commemorates the city's liberation from French occupation on 7 Dec 1921.

As of Sep 2026 Kilis has 5G from all Turkish carriers, but the signal is patchy along the approach roads. The Syrian networks don't reach beyond the border.

• Gaziantep museum has Roman mosaics relocated from the flooded Tigris valley.
• Antakya has the most ancient Christian churches, carved out of the cliffs.
• Aleppo in Syria had a fine old town and citadel, wrecked by interminable wars.

Tokat ← Gaziantep ←

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→ Öncüpınar/al-Salameh → Becomes Syrian road → Tell Rifaat