Turkey is divided into 81 provinces . Each province is divided into a number of different districts (). The provincial governorate is set in the central district (). The central area usually bears the name of the province (e.g. the city of Van is the central district of Van Province). There are only 3 exceptions to this naming scheme:

• Antakya of Hatay province
• Izmit of Kocaeli province
• Adapazari of Sakarya province