TurkStat has established criteria for areas that will become provinces of Turkey

Specific criteria have been established to identify areas that will become new provinces. The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) has defined these criteria and completed research on areas. The most important criterion for the area to become a province will be population.

An area may apply for provincial status if:

- population of the area more than 100 thousand people
- It is more than 30 km from the centre of another province
- self-sufficient and not economically dependent on another province
- well-developed transport, social and medical systems

TurkStat also identified areas that are ideally defined:

- Silyri district in Istanbul
Chorlu district in Tekirdag
Bandhmir district in Balykesir
Inegel district in Bursa
Somah district in Manisa
- The Aliaga district of Izmir
Luleburgaz district in Kyrclary
Gebbe district in Kojaeli
Bafra district in Samsun
Erelly district in Zonguldak

Alanya also meets all the criteria required to obtain provincial status. However, the final decision will be made by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and may not match the data reported in TurkStat.

By the way, the last time the province was granted the status of Duzce region in 1999, becoming the 81st province of Turkey. No formal decision has since been made to transfer any area to the province.