MHALMOYTO

By Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen, Journalist and Moderator at Suroyo TV  Shahro d-Elath   ܫܗܪܐ  ܕ ܐܠܐܬ (Elath Veneration Day) Two kilometers southwest of the Mhalmoyto village of Dayro Zbino (Acirli), just below the main road that runs from Midyat to Mardin, is the famous underground city of Elath. The town is…

JÖNKÖPING, Sweden – The Syriac diaspora of the village of Habses has announced this month its intention to fully restore the centuries old Syriac Orthodox Saint Simon of the Olives Church and the Saint Lo’ozor (Lazarus) Monastery in their village in the Mhalmoyto Region, southeast Turkey. In a post on…

By Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen, Journalist and Moderator at Suroyo TV  Despite the fact that the majority of the Mhalmoye are Muslims today, they still follow many of the traditions of their Christian ancestors. Likewise, names of places, ancient churches, monasteries, wells, and caves still bear witness to Christian tradition through…

By Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen journalist and moderator at Suroyo TV  The village of Kfar Shomac ܟܦܰܪܫܳܡܰܥ (Turkish: Budakli) The village of Kfar Shomac ܟܦܰܪܫܳܡܰܥ is located on an old caravan road between Midyat and Nsibin. In the seventeenth century, the village, like several other villages, belonged to the Mor Gabriel…

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’…

MUNICH, Germany – Fuat Shamun Oduncu, a professor of medicine at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and a specialist in hematology, oncology and palliative care, today received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his career-long work in cancer research, palliative medicine and medical ethics The…

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…

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…