[4] Other minor groups include Armenians, Chechens and Turks, while Jews lived in the area before migrating to Israel around 1948.

[8] Social relations between Arabs and Kurds have historically been difficult with hostility, prejudice and stereotypes but have in recent years improved.

[9] Arabs with Assyrians did not take part in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict and the position of the two groups have been described as being 'submissive' to the Turkish state, creating distrust between them and the Kurds.

Mardin city had previously been governed by pro-state parties supported by local Arabs.

[11] Despite the difficult relations, Arab families have since the 1980s joined the Kurdish cause,[9] and Arab and Assyrian politicians from Mardin are found in Peoples' Democratic Party including Mithat Sancar and Februniye Akyol.

[25] It was estimated that 25,000 Assyrian members of the Syriac Orthodox Church still lived in the province in 1979.

[27] In Mardin agriculture is an important branch accounting for 70% of the province's income.

After the foundation of Turkey, the province has been a target of a Turkification policy, removing most traces of a non-Turkish heritage.

[31] The province was included in the First Inspectorate-General (Turkish: Birinci Umumi Müfettişlik) over which the Inspector General ruled.

The Inspectorate-General span over the provinces of Hakkâri, Siirt, Van, Mardin, Bitlis, Sanlıurfa, Elaziğ and Diyarbakır.