This study presents a GIS-based multi-criteria approach to identify the most preferred or suitable site for wind farms development in Karaburun Peninsula, İzmir. Criteria for analysis have been identified based on literature review and experts’ opinions. The selected criteria include environmental, technical, and economic as well as social factors. In order to estimate the weights or relative importance of the criteria, the pairwise comparison method in the context of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is implemented. The overall suitability of the study area is determined through the Weighted Overlay method, which is a sufficient weighted approach in geographical information system (GIS) environment. The outcome or suitability map is classified into five scored classes from the most suitable to less suitable and restricted area. On the whole, as the selection of optimal site for the wind farm development is a multi-dimensional process, this thesis intends to consider the following three significant subjects; (a) evaluating and identifying the most influential criteria for land suitability analysis of wind farms, (b) applying AHP as a multi criteria decision-making method to determine the criteria weights, (c) utilizing GIS as a tool to overlay the overall criteria and consequently to identify the potentially suitable location for the wind farms development. Regarding to the above mentioned, eight the most influential available criteria, which are consisted of wind potential, distance from preservation area, distance from settlements, forest, slope, elevation, distance from roads, and agriculture area are identified. Base on pairwise comparison different weights for each criterion is determined. Finally, by using GIS the suitability map for the study area is provided and the result compared with the existing wind farm locations. Keywords Wind farm, Suitability, Multi-criteria decision making method, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), and Geographic Information System (GIS).