Hasankeyf (Northern Kurdish: Heskîf, Arabic: حصن كيفا, Greek: Κιφας, Latin: Cepha, from Syriac: ܚܨܢ ܟܐܦܐ Ḥéṣn Kayfa) is an ancient town and district located along the Tigris River in the Batman Province in southeastern Turkey. It was declared a natural conservation area by Turkey in 1981. Predominantly Armenian and Arab before, a steady and significant Kurdish immigration from surrounding villages in the last 20–30 years—combined with the effects of the Assyrian[citation needed] and Armenian Genocide—has shifted the ethnic balance. Kurdish people form the majority of the city centre today.