Tarsus is a municipality and district of Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 2,029 km2, and its population is 350,732 (2022). It is a historic city, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin metropolitan area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey. Tarsus forms an administrative district in the eastern part of Mersin Province and lies at the heart of the Çukurova region.

Mersin Province, formerly İçel Province, is a province and metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. Its area is 16,010 km2, and its population is 1,916,432 (2022). The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezitli, Toroslar and Yenişehir. Next largest is Tarsus, the birthplace of Paul the Apostle. The province is considered to be a part of the geographical, economical and cultural region of Çukurova, which covers the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay.