TUR ABDIN

By Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen journalist and moderator at Suroyo TV  Macsarto ܡܰܥܣܰܪ̈ܬܐ (Ömerli) Macsarto (Ömerli) is a city and district in Mardin province, southeastern Turkey, and is located in the historic Syriac homeland of Tur Abdin. The Syriac name Macsarto ܡܰܥܣܰܪ̈ܬܐ (in the Mhalmi Arabic vernacular معسرتة) means ‘wine press’…

By Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen journalist and moderator at Suroyo TV  The city of Sawro is located in the middle of the Mhalmoyto Region and is already mentioned by the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II as an important city. Its name is derived from the Syriac (Aramaic) word Sawro ܨܰܘܪܳܐ , which…

TUR ABDIN, Turkey – On Easter Monday, Syriacs traditionally gather at the graves of their departed loved ones. In the Syriac homeland of Tur Abdin, young and old took to the cemeteries in Midyad, Midin, and Mzizah to pray, remember, to show their generosity in the name of the dead,…

BACINNE, Tur Abdin – In the Yazidi village of Bacinne (Güven), District of Midyat of Tur Abdin (Mardin and its surroundings), the Yazidi community celebrated with great joy Çarşema Sor, the festival that welcomes the beginning of spring and the first day of the new year. Many Yazidis and Syriacs…

HESSENA/MOUNT CUDI, Turkey – After many decades of vacancy and absence, Easter, the feast of the Resurrection or ‘Nuhomo’ in the Syriac language, was celebrated with great joy and enthusiasm in the Syriac village of Hessena, reports the monthly magazine Gazete Sabro. Many elderlies traveled thousands of miles to celebrate…

By Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen journalist and moderator at Suroyo TV  The waters of the Tigris River gave rise to the first settlements in the Fertile Crescent and Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilizations. Hesno d’Kifo is a very old settlement that already appears in ancient Assyrian clay writings. The city is…

By Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen journalist and moderator at Suroyo TV  Syriac families in Habses in the year 1870 Below is a list of the number of Christian Mhalmoye who lived in my home village of Habses. This list was compiled in 1870 by monk Abdallah Sadadi at the request of…

By Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen journalist and moderator at Suroyo TV  By the end of the 17th century most of the Mhalmayto Region had been forcibly Islamized. That is, with the exception of a few villages. The villages of Habses, Qeleth, Bnay Bil (bulbul) and Qalco d-Attho (Eski kale) escaped forced…

By Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen journalist and moderator at Suroyo TV  The Islamization of the Mhalmayto region started with the Islamic conquests of Upper Mesopotamia at the end of the tenth century. Islamization continued under the successive alternating Persian, Arab, and Turkish powers. To a large extent, these powers Islamized the…

TUR ABDIN, Turkey — The Heritage Preservation Center published information about two important projects, one about Edirne and the other about the Tur Abdin region. The Center stated that they visited Tur Abdin and inspected the architectural inscriptions found in the houses of Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people there. They also recorded…