[2] Initially, Aintab was part of Syria according to the Treaty of Sèvres; but the success of Turkish War of Independence, Maraş, Antep and Urfa sanjaks of former Aleppo Vilayet remained in Turkey after 1921.

[3]: 28  Although it had been the poorest sanjak in Aleppo, it immediately became the richest one in Dulkadir (the beglerbeglik covered a lot of mountainous terrain and lacked major cities).

The early 1500s were a time of economic contraction for whole eastern Mediterranean region, but Aintab had been particularly effected because of a three-way political conflict in 1514-16 between the Ottomans, Dulkadirids, and Mamluks.

[3]: 29, 31–2  As later court documents from Aintab show, the region experienced "dislocation and loss of population" during those years as people fled the area.

[3]: 28  The Ottomans evidently lowered taxes in Aintab sanjak after they took over, which was their usual policy in recently-conquered areas – both to placate the locals and to stimulate economic growth and recovery.

[3]: 30  One factor was Süleyman the Magnificent's successful Mesopotamian campaign against Safavid Iran in 1534-36, which made trade routes in the region more secure.

Tax registers from Aintab sanjak show a trend where production of staple grains like wheat and barley was shifting more toward smaller villages.

Meanwhile, in the larger villages, people were increasingly employed in "cash crop farming, sharecropping, and non-farming occupations such as textile production and food processing".

This is possibly a side effect of increased economic prosperity: as "demand for land as well as for non-farming jobs outpaced availability", more and more men had a hard time getting into a good enough financial position to get married and start their own household.