TUR ABDIN

BRUSSELS / TUR ABDIN – The Brussels-based non-governmental organization European Syriac Union (ESU) has launched a fundraising campaign in support of Syriac schools in their ancient homeland of Tur Abdin, southeast Turkey. On its social media pages, ESU states that the goal of the fundraising campaign is to support the…

MEHR, Şırnak, Turkey – In the case of the murdered Shmuni Diril and her missing husband Hirmiz Diril, Turkish law authorities have detained three suspects. Among the suspects is the couple’s relative Apro Diril. According to a tweet by the head of the Şırnak Bar Association Rojhat Dilsiz, today 3…

NORTH AND EAST SYRIA — In an interview conducted by the Media Office of the Sutoro (Syriac Security Forces), “Uncle” Shamoun spoke about the painful memories of the Sayfo Genocide of 1915. The Sayfo Genocide was committed by the Ottoman Empire and allied Kurdish, Arab, and Circassian forces in the…

TUR ABDIN / PARIS – Syriac fashion photographer Saima Altunkaya grew up in the Syriac diaspora in Hamburg and moved to Paris in 2002 to start her career in fashion photography. In 2013, she first visited Tur Abdin, the place where her parents grew up and emigrated from. The trip…

ANKARA / MARDIN — Turkish society in the 1980s and 1990s was highly polarized and militarized. The Turkish state and its powerful army were in an internal armed conflict with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partîya Karkerên Kurdistanê, PKK) and had, under the guise of the conflict, declared a large part…

TUR ABDIN, Turkey — Member of the European Syriac Union (ESU) and writer for Sabro Magazine David Vergili stated that the forced displacement of the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people has become a clear reality. Vergili said that during the rule of the Ottoman Empire, there were about 700,000 Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people…

SALEH, Turkey — At the age of 90, Atiya Duran, the last Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) resident in the village of Saleh in Tur Abdin, southeast Turkey, passed away. Duran was born in 1931 in the village of Sha’ban, adjacent to the city of Nsibin (Nusaybin). Atiya was born to Elias and…

TUR ABDIN, Turkey – Eight heritage churches and monasteries of the ancient Syriac region of Tur Abdin in southeastern Turkey have been nominated by Turkey for UNESCO’s Tentative List, reports pro-government newspaper Daily Sabah. With the addition of these Syriac churches and monasteries and the nomination of the historical town…

MERDO / TUR ABDIN, southeast Turkey — Yusef Yar, a member of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the duly elected mayor of Arkah village in Tur Abdin in southeast Turkey who was controversially removed from office by Turkish authorities last year, stated in a recent interview that a…

This article was originally published by Al-Monitor on 19 April 2020. The original can be found here. By Ayla Jean Jackley freelance journalist based in Istanbul MIDYAT, Turkey — The lone priest tending a remote monastery in southeastern Turkey gave uninvited visitors food and water when they darkened his door…