Is Şanlıurfa safe?
Turkey · Asia · data updated 2026-09-04
Şanlıurfa is a city in Turkey, home to about 740k people, and one of 6,168 cities worldwide ranked on this site from published safety data. It currently ranks 5,053 of 6,168, with a safety score of 52.6 out of 100 - mid-table: neither the data for concern nor the data for reassurance dominates.
Emergency 112 (ambulance, fire, police)
- UK FCDO advises against all travel to parts of this country1 named areas - see "areas to avoid" below.
Deadliest recorded locations nearby
- Ayn al Arab district16 deaths · 2 events
- Ain Issa countryside in northern Al-Raqqah countryside15 deaths · 1 event
- Qarqouzaq bridge area, which connects Ain Al-Arab (Kobani) city to Manbij city in eastern Aleppo countryside.11 deaths · 1 event
UCDP-recorded organized-violence deaths within 100 km of Şanlıurfa, 2022-2024, at the locations the source itself names. Conflict deaths, not street crime.
Areas the UK FCDO advises against visiting country
- Turkey-Syria border
Named in the official UK travel advice for Turkey (in full or in part - the advisory lists exact boundaries and exceptions). These are country-level warnings and may be far from Şanlıurfa.
How safe is Şanlıurfa really?
No published homicide figure exists for Şanlıurfa itself, so the national rate stands in: Turkey recorded 2.4 homicides per 100,000 people in 2024 - close to the global city median. The city itself may be safer or more dangerous than its country's average. Turkey's income inequality is middling (Gini 43.7) - in this dataset inequality predicts city violence better than any other structural factor, so this neither raises nor lowers the picture much.
Şanlıurfa also carries some conflict exposure: UCDP recorded 284 deaths from organized violence within 100 km across 114 events in 2022-2024 - a factor crime statistics alone would miss. The deadliest recorded locations in that radius were Ayn al Arab district (16 deaths), Ain Issa countryside in northern Al-Raqqah countryside (15 deaths), Qarqouzaq bridge area, which connects Ain Al-Arab (Kobani) city to Manbij city in eastern Aleppo countryside. (11 deaths).
What the travel advisories say
The US State Department currently rates Turkey at level 2 of 4 - "Exercise increased caution" (updated 2026-06-08). The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of this country, naming 1 specific areas - listed above with the official advisory linked for exact boundaries and exceptions. Both advisories are country-level: no official source publishes verified neighborhood-level crime guidance for individual cities, which is why this page reports named areas only where an official source names them.
What to watch out for in Turkey
Terrorism in Turkey · Political situation · Protecting yourself and your belongings · Counterfeit banknotes · Drink and food spiking · Methanol poisoning · Sexual assault · Taxi safety · E-sims · Ramadan · Personal ID · Children and accommodation · Dress code · Personal injury claims · +19 more
Topic headings from the official UK FCDO travel advice for Turkey — country-level, not specific to Şanlıurfa. Read what each one says →
The numbers
- Homicide rate
- 2.4 /100knational rate, 2024
- Conflict deaths
- 284within 100 km, 2022-2024 (UCDP)
- Income inequality
- Gini 43.7country, 2023
- Human development
- HDI 0.853country, 2023
- Income
- $44,630/yrGNI per capita PPP · context only, not scored
- Population
- 740kurban centre · 11,042/km²
Country context for travelers
- Road deaths
- 6.7 /100kWHO, 2019 · often the biggest real travel risk
- Political stability
- 49/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · higher = more stable
- Rule of law
- 42/100World Bank WGI, 2024 · police and courts reliability
- Corruption perceptions
- 31/100Transparency International, 2025 · higher = cleaner
- Natural-hazard risk
- 5.2/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Women, Peace & Security
- 0.66Georgetown WPS Index, 2025 · 0-1, higher = better
- Air quality
- 26.4 µg/m³PM2.5 annual mean, 2023 · WHO guideline is 5
- Safely managed drinking water
- no dataof the population · WHO/UNICEF JMP
- Healthcare capacity
- 2.2 doctors /1k3.1 hospital beds per 1,000
- Malaria
- 0 /1k at riskWHO, 2020 · listed for endemic countries only
Natural hazards in Turkey
- Earthquake
- 9.3/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Flood
- 6.0/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Tsunami
- 5.0/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
- Drought
- 2.1/10EU INFORM, 2026 · higher = riskier
Hazard types scoring under 1 out of 10 are not listed. These describe Turkey as a whole, not Şanlıurfa specifically.
Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Turkey (as of 2025).
All country-level figures shared by every city in Turkey; none of them affect the safety score.
How the score works
One fixed, calibrated mix for every city: 40% homicide · 25% peace · 25% equality · 10% HDI. Homicide and conflict deaths are measured outcomes; income inequality carries the structural share because it predicts real city violence far better than national income (which is shown above but scored at zero). Each factor maps to 0-100 against fixed anchors, missing data drops out and is never estimated, and cities with data behind less than half the weighting get “no data” instead of a score. For Şanlıurfa that gives 52.6/100. Full methodology, anchors and sources →
Şanlıurfa compared with Gaziantep
| Measure | Şanlıurfa | Gaziantep | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Safety score | 52.6 | 49.1 | +3.4 — better for Şanlıurfa |
| Homicide ratecity-measured where published, otherwise the national rate | 2.4 /100k | 2.4 /100k | ±0.0 /100k |
| Conflict deaths within 100 km | 284 | 1,013 | −729 — better for Şanlıurfa |
Differences are plain arithmetic between the two stored figures — nothing is modelled. Both cities are in Turkey, so they share every country-level figure and only the city-level ones are listed. Full report for Gaziantep →
Nearby cities
- Siverek 67.9
- Adıyaman 57.9
- Viranşehir 53.7
- Nizip 50.1
- Manbij, Syria 56.1
- Gaziantep 49.1
- Raqqa, Syria 57.9
- Malatya 67.9
See Şanlıurfa on the interactive map → · Safest cities in Asia → · Full travel briefings →