Samandağ

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Samandağ District Capital, Hatay Province.The vast majority of the population is composed of Arabic speakers who adhere to the Alawite sect of Shia Islam. There are also Sunni Arabs and Turkmens. There are Armenian and Antiochian Greek Christian communities in the district, with around 2,000 people. The village of Vakıflı is Turkey's only remaining rural Armenian community. Politically Samandağ is traditionally left-leaning. In the 2009 local elections, Freedom and Solidarity Party (ÖDP) candidate Mithat Nehir was elected mayor of the ilçe with 34.20% of the votes (the CHP candidate got 31.77%, the AKP one 14.07%) he was then the sole victorious ÖDP candidate in the entire republic. In September 2013, he joined the CHP under which banner he successfully contested the next 2014 local elections. In the local elections in March 2019 Refik Eryılmaz was elected Mayor for the Republican People's Party (CHP). The current District Governor is Murat Kütük.