TUR ABDIN

ANKARA — The 13th-century Armenian Surp Minas Church (Սուրբ Մինաս) in the Zara district of Sivas Province has been the target of repeated diggings and associated destructions by illegal treasure hunters. According to a report published by the Armenian Agos newspaper, published in Turkey, the church’s cemetery was recently damaged…

MEDYAD, TUR ABDIN, Turkey—Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Tur Abdin Mor Timotheos Samuel Aktaş, along with the priest Ishak Ergün, presided over a Divine Liturgy at Mar Sharbel Church in Medyad (Midyat) in Tur Abdin. After the liturgy, a ceremony was held to ordain 40 deacons and deaconesses of various ranks, in accordance with the…

The Syriac University of Nisibis stands as one of the oldest educational institutions in history, a beacon of knowledge that illuminated the path of learning during Late Antiquity. Founded in the city of Nisibis, within the borders of the Roman Empire, in the late fourth century, it became a cultural…

MEDYAD, Turkey — Three sisters from Medyad (Midyat), in the historic region of Tur Abdin in southeastern Turkey, turned their shared dream into reality by opening Izla Café, a Syriac coffee shop celebrating the rich culinary heritage of their ancestors. Mariam, Songul, and Nahrin combined thousands of years of Syriac…

BERLIN — In a quiet digital classroom hosted by the Free University of Berlin, a handful of students of all ages scattered across the world lean into their screens. On keyboards and tablets, they tap out their first sentences in a language that once echoed through the stone alleys of…

MERDE, Turkey — The Syriac Orthodox Saffron Monastery, Dayro d’Zahfaran in Syriac, one of the most ancient monastic sites in the world, has been made an honorary member of the Iter Vitis Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. This recognition celebrates the monastery’s profound cultural, religious, and agricultural contributions…

MEDYAD (MIDYAT), Tur Abdin — On Sunday, the Federation of Syriac Associations in Turkey (Süryani Dernekler Federasyonu, SÜDEF), organized a memorial evening at its Medyad (Midyat) headquarters, in Tur Abdin to commemorate the Sayfo Genocide of 1915, during which the Syriac people were subjected to mass atrocities by the Ottoman…

IWARDO, Turkey — Residents of Iwardo village in Tur Abdin, southeastern Turkey, gathered at the historic Virgin Mary Church to commemorate the victims of the 1915 Sayfo Genocide. The ceremony reflected on the atrocities committed against the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) community during that period.  The Virgin Mary Church, once a strategic…

MEDYAD, Turkey — On the 110th anniversary of the Sayfo Genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire and its Kurdish tribal allies against the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people, the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (Halkların Eşitlik ve Demokrasi Partisi, DEM Party) and the Democratic Regions Party (Demokratik Bölgeler Partisi, DBP) organized a…

MIDYAT, TUR ABDIN — Evgil Türker, President of the Federation of Syriac Associations in Turkey (Süryani Dernekler Federasyonu, SÜDEF), asserted that the Sayfo Genocide mark a historic turning point and forms a core part of the identity of the Syriac  (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people. He urged the Turkish state to stop evading…