Karaman Province (Turkish: Karaman ili) is a province of central Turkey. It has an area of 9,163 km². It has a population of 232,633 (2010 est). According to the 2000 census the population was 243,210. Population density is 27.54 people/km². The traffic code is 70. The capital is the city of Karaman. Karaman was the location of the Karamanid emirate, which came to an end in 1486.

Karaman province is divided into 6 districts (capital district in bold):

Görmeli, a village in Ermenek district

Akpınar village in Ayrancı district

View of Ala Bridge near Ermenek

Coordinates: 37°01′23″N 33°05′39″E / 37.02306°N 33.09417°E / 37.02306; 33.09417

Karaman is a town in south central Turkey, located north of the Taurus Mountains, about 100 km (62 mi) south of Konya. It is the capital district of the Karaman Province. According to 2000 census, the population of the province is 231,872 of which 132,064 live in the town of Karaman. The district covers an area of 3,686 km² (1,423 sq mi), and the town lies at an average elevation of 1,039 m (3,409 ft). The Karaman Museum is one of the major sights.

The town owes its name to Karaman Bey who was one of the rulers of the Karamanid dynasty. The former name Laranda which in turn comes from the Luwian language Larawanda, literally "sandy, a sandy place".

In ancient times Karaman was known as Laranda. It was destroyed by Perdiccas in about 322 BC and later became a seat of Isaurian pirates. It belonged to the Roman and later Byzantine Empire until it was captured by the Seljuks in the early 12th century. Karaman was occupied by Frederick Barbarossa in 1190 . In 1256, the town was taken by the Turkish bey Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey and was renamed Karaman in his honour. From 1275, Karaman was the capital of the Karaman Beylik (and later Ottoman province) of Karamanid.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (IPA: [ɾeˈd͡ʒep tajˈjip ˈæɾdoan]; born 26 February 1954) has been Prime Minister of Turkey since 2003 and is chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which holds a majority of the seats in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Erdoğan served as Mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He graduated in 1981 from Marmara University's Faculty of Economics and Commercial Sciences. Erdoğan was also a semi-professional footballer from 1969 to 1982.

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