wilaya

A wilaya is an administrative subdivision usually translated as province. The Turkish pronunciation of the (originally Arabic) word, vilayet, is the name for the Provinces of the Ottoman Empire.

Arabic

Note: The governorates of Iraq (muhafazah) are often translated as province, in opposite to official Iraqi documents and the general use for other arab countries. This conflicts somehow with the general translation for muhafazah (governorate) and wilaya (province). For Morocco which is divided into provinces and wilayas this translation would cause loosing information. For Sudan the term state is used. See also

Turkish

Vilyet (also eyalet or pashaluk) was the Turkish name for the provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The governor of a vilyet was called beylerbeyi or vadi.

Provinces of Tajikistan (singular: viloyat, plural: viloyatho)
Provinces of Turkmenistan (singular: welayat, plural: welayatlar)
Provinces of Uzbekistan (singular: viloyat, plural: viloyatlar)
subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire.

The current provinces of Turkey are called il in turkish.