Aksaray ( Turkish for white palace ; Heth. Nenessa , Pers. Gausara , Byzant. Ἀρχελαΐς Archelaïs or Taxara , Selj. Aksera ) is a central Anatolian city in Turkey and the capital of the Aksaray province . Aksaray is located in the Konya plateau , near the largest salt lake in Turkey ( Tuz Gölü ) and the snow-capped 3268 m high Hasan Dağı . The city comprises approximately 54% of the provincial and 75% of the current county population.
The city is also the administrative seat ( Merkez ) of the district of the same name in the center of the province. It is the largest and most populous district in the province in terms of area. In addition to the district town, there are eight other cities ( Belediye ): Bağlıkaya (3,114), Helvadere (2,716), Sağlık (2,648), Taşpınar (2,838), Topakkaya (2,948), Yenikent (5,479), Yeşilova (4,563) and Yeşiltepe (2,508 Pop.).
Almost half of the villages ( Köy , plural: Köyler ) in the province are in this district. Of these 83 villages, 13 have over 1,000 inhabitants. The largest villages are Kutlu (1,841), İncesu (1,726), Doğantarla (1,615), Sevinçli (1,611), Karaören (1,569) and Karacaören (1,512 inh .). The average population of the villages is 547, which is more than the average for the entire province (476).
The following table shows the comparative population level at the end of the year for the province, the central district and the city of Aksaray as well as the respective share at the higher administrative level. The figures are based on the address-based population register (ADNKS) introduced in 2007.
