Tur Abdin (Arabic:طور عبدين;Kurdish:Tor;[1]Latin:Turabdium;Syriac:ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ orܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ,Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn[2]) is a hilly region situated in southeasternTurkey, including the eastern half ofMardin Province, andŞırnak Province west of theTigris, on theborder with Syria and famed sinceLate Antiquity for its Christianmonasteries on the border of theRoman Empire and theSasanian Empire. The area is a low plateau in theAnti-Taurus Mountains stretching fromMardin in the west to the Tigris in the east and delimited by theMesopotamian plains to the south. The Tur Abdin is populated by more than 80 villages and nearly 70 monastery buildings and was mostlySyriac Orthodox with aSyriac Catholic minority until the early 20th century.[3] The earliest surviving Christian buildings date from the 6th century.[3]
The name "Tur Abdin" isSyriac:ܛܘܪ ܥܒܕܝܢ,lit. 'Mountain of the Servants [of God]'.[3][4] Tur Abdin is of great importance to theSyriac Orthodox, for whom the region used to be a monastic and cultural heartland.[5] TheAssyrian community of Tur Abdin natively refer to themselves asSūryāyê/Sūryōyê orSūrāyê/Sūrōyê (Syriac:ܣܘܪ̈ܝܐ), and traditionally speak a centralNeo-Aramaic dialect calledTuroyo.[6][7]
Tur Abdin is a mountain linked to themountain of Izla that overlooksNisibin. The region sharing its name is home to numerous monasteries and cells, as well as around fifty villages, both large and small. Two-thirds of the residents in these villages areSyriac Christians, while the remainder consists ofMuslims andYezidis. The capital of Tur Abdin isMidyat.[8]
The town ofMidyat and the villages of Hah,Bequsyone,Dayro da-Slibo,Saleh (with the old monastery of Mor Yaqub),Iwardo (with Mor Huschabo),Anhel,Kafro, Arkah (Harabale, with Dayro Mor Malke), Beth Sbirino, Miden (Middo),Kerburan, Binkelbe with Mor Samun Zayte andBeth Zabday (Azech) were all important Syriac Orthodox settlements among with countless other villages. Hah, today called Anıtlı, has the ancient 'Idto d'Yoldath-Aloho, the Church of the Mother of God.Ignatius Aphrem I mentions the following settlements in his book: to the east of Tur Abdin are Anhil, Fifyath, and Qartmin; to the west are Bati, Habsnas, Salah, 'Urnus, 'Aynward, Kafra, Kafarze, Kafrsalta, Kafrshami, and Kandarib; to the north are Alin, Baqsyan, Hah, Hisn Kifa, Dayr Salib, Zaz, and Karburan; and to the south are Arbo, Badebe, Basibrina, Banim'im, Tamars, Hbob, Sari Awastir, 'Arban, and Meddo. The abandoned villages and those whose locations are unknown include Halih, Zabdiqa, Kafryab, and Kalasht.[8]
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Tur Abdin was referred to as the "Land of the Arameans" in the inscriptions ofAssur-Bel-Kala, indicating that some territories west and northwest of Assyria were considered to be inhabited byArameans.[9]
Assyrian kingAdad-nirari II, who came to throne in the late 10th century BCE, removed theArameans from political power in the Kashiari mountains (Tur Abdin).[10] In the 9th century BCE,Ashurnasirpal II described crossing the plateau of Tur Abdin (which he calls "Kashyari") on his way to attack the region ofNairi, more than once.[11][12] He erected a monument inMatiate, modern-dayMidyat in Tur Abdin, which remains to be found.[13] His successor,Shalmaneser III, also crossed Tur Abdin,[14] whom the Arameans later would again rebel against at the end of his term.[15]
Most ancient monuments in Tur Abdin are Christian, but as attested by Ashurnasirpal II, the area has a pre-Christian history. Older names of the area indicate that the people living here worshippedAssyrian deities.[16] Arches on the north side of the churches inZaz andSaleh suggest pre-Christian buildings originally stood on the sites.[17]Ancient Assyro-Babylonian religion is believed to have survived in the region until as late as the 18th century.[18]
In 586 B.C. the prophetEzekiel mentions the famed wine of Izlo, on the southern edge of the plateau of Tur Abdin, in his prophecy against Tyre.[citation needed]
TheMor Gabriel Monastery, one of the oldestSyriac Orthodox churches in the world, was founded in 397 by the ascetic Mor Shmu'el (Samuel) and his student Mor Shem'un (Simon). According to tradition, Shem'un had avision in which anangel commanded him to build a House of Prayer at a location marked by three large stone blocks. When Shem'un awoke, he took his teacher to the site and discovered the stone that the angel had indicated. It was at this spot that Mor Gabriel Monastery was constructed.[19]
InLate Antiquity, the area was part of theRoman Empire's province ofMesopotamia and served as an important center of Roman Christianity, referred to in Latin asMons Masius orIzla.[3] The region was fortified byEmperor Constantius II (r. 337–361), who built the fortress ofRhabdion to protect it during theRoman–Persian Wars.[3] After the failure ofJulian's Persian War in 363, the Tur Abdin became part of theSasanian Empire along with the remaining territory of the fiveTranstigritine provinces and the nearby strongholds ofNisibis andBezabde.[3] The numerous monasteries of the Tur Abdin eventually became part of theChurch of the East organized at theCouncil of Seleucia-Ctesiphon in 410. They mainly took theMiaphysite position ofnon-Chalcedonian Christianity after theCouncil of Chalcedon of 451. After a period of persecution by theChalcedonianstate church of the Roman Empire and during theByzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, the monasteries of the Tur Abdin enjoyed a particular prosperity under Arab rule in the latter 7th century.[20]
The fortress of Rhabdion was mentioned by the 6th-century Greek historianProcopius, while the 6th-centuryNotitia Antiochena [es] and the work of the 7th-century Greek geographerGeorge of Cyprus both attest thatTurabdium was anepiscopal see.[3] The bishop of Turabdium's seat was probably the village of Hah, in which were, besides the functioning 6th-century monastery, several ruined churches including the cathedral.[3] Tur Abdin became part of theRashidun Caliphate in 640, during theMuslim conquest of the Levant.[3] The Syriac Orthodox communities flourished under early Islamic rule; nearly 30 structures are known to have been wholly built or rebuilt in the following 150 years, during which most of the villages' churches were built.[3]
After the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, a schism occurred between the two claimants of theSee of Antioch: the Miaphysites (formally established as theSyriac Orthodox Church) and the Chalcedonians (formally established as theGreek Orthodox Church). The latter had the full support of imperial power, which then caused theMiaphysites to be "severely persecuted as hereticalMonophysites [sic] by the Byzantine Emperors" according toWilliam Dalrymple, which led the Syriac Orthodox Church hierarchy to retreat to the "inaccessible shelter of the barren hills of the Tur Abdin."[21]
Before World War I, theSyriac Christian population of theOttoman Empire has been estimated at around 619,000. Figures from theArmenian Patriarchate of Constantinople indicate that more than one fifth lived in theArmenian vilayets: about 60,000 in Diyarbakır, 25,000 inSebastia, 18,000 inVan, 15,000 in Bitlis, and 5,000 inKharberd.[22]Midyat, inDiyarbekir vilayet, was the only major town in the Ottoman Empire with an Assyrian majority, although this population was divided amongSyriac Orthodox,Chaldean Catholics, andProtestants.[23] Syriac Orthodox Christians were concentrated in the hilly rural areas around Midyat, where they populated almost 100 villages and worked in agriculture or crafts.[23][24] Syriac Orthodox culture was centered in two monasteries near Mardin (west of Tur Abdin):Mor Gabriel andDeyrulzafaran.[25] Outside of the area of core Syriac settlement, there were also sizable populations in the towns ofDiyarbakır,Urfa,Harput, andAdiyaman[26] as well as villages. Unlike the Assyrian population of Tur Abdin, many of these Assyrians spoke other languages besidesSyriac.[27]
DuringWorld War I, around 300,000 Assyrian Christians were killed in the genocide perpetrated by theOttoman Empire, known in Syriac asSayfo, meaning 'the sword.' In the last few decades, caught between Turkish assimilation policies againstKurds andKurdish resistance, many Assyrians have fled the region or been killed. Today, only about 5,000 Assyrians remain, which is a quarter of the Christian population from thirty years ago. Most have fled to Syria (where the city ofQamishli was established by them), Iraq (where significant Syriac Orthodox communities had existed inMosul,Bartella, andBashiqa), Europe (particularlySweden,Germany,France, theUnited Kingdom and theNetherlands),Australia and theUnited States.[28] In the past few years, a few families have returned to Tur Abdin from thediaspora.[29]
Due to migration, the Syriacs' main residential area in Turkey today isIstanbul, where around 20,000 lives there.[30]
As of 2019, an estimated between 2,000 and 3,000 of the country's 25,000Assyrians live in Tur Abdin,[31] and they are spread among 30 villages,hamlets, and towns.[31] Some of these locations are dominated by Assyrians while others are dominated by the Kurds.[31] As part of a return movement, some Syriac Orthodox Christians returned to Tur Abdin villages from Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.[32][33][31] Some have also relocated to Tur Abdin from Syria and other parts of Turkey, due to theIslamic State andKurdish–Turkish conflict, respectively.[34]
The late patriarch of theSyriac Orthodox Church,Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum, authored a detailed work on the history of Tur Abdin up to his time, titledMaktbonuto d-ʿal ʾatro d-Ṭur ʿabdin, with a posthumously-published Arabic translation by Boulos Behnam (1963) and an English translation entitledHistory of Tur Abdin by Matti Moosa (2009).[35] Due to his ecclesiastical position, Barsoum had great opportunities to gather significant and previously little-known information for these biographies from variousSyriac prayer books, lectionaries, liturgical texts, andgospels in various churches throughout the East, particularly in Tur Abdin. He also discovered manuscripts that were unknown to otherOrientalists, who had to rely on those available in Western libraries.[8]
Historians ofEastern Christianity have often overlooked Tur Abdin. In this region, Syriac liturgy is still celebrated in ancient churches by a community ofSyriac Christian monks and villagers. Although theSyriac Orthodox andSyriac Catholic populations have been severely reduced through migration, outside interest in the area's culture has grown in recent years. With improved accessibility and the greaterpolitical stability of southeastern Turkey, the region has also become an increasingly popular destination for tourists.[36]
The Assyrians ofDiyarbekir Vilayet made significant resistance. Their strongest stand was at the villages ofAzakh,Iwardo, and Basibrin. For months, Kurdish tribes and Turkish soldiers commanded byÖmer Naci Bey were unable to subdue the mostly Syriac Orthodox andSyriac Catholic villagers who were joined byArmenian and other refugees from surrounding villages. The leaders of the Azakh fedayeen swore
"We all have to die sometime; do not die in shame and humiliation."
and lived up to their fighting words.[37][38]
On 10 February 2006 and the following day, large demonstrations took place in the city ofMidyat in Tur Abdin.Muslims, enraged by theJyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons, gathered in Estel, the new part of the city, and started marching towards the old part of Midyat (6 kilometers away), where the Assyrians live. The mob was stopped by the police before reaching oldMidyat.
In 2008 a series of legal challenges were made against themonastery of Mor Gabriel. Some local Kurdish villages sought to claim land on which the monastery had paid taxes since the 1930s as belonging to the villages, and made other accusations against the monastery. This led to considerable diplomatic and human rights action throughout Europe and within Turkey.[39]
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The most important Syriac Orthodox center in Tur Abdin is the monastery ofDayro d-Mor Hananyo, located 6 km southeast ofMardin, in the western part of the region. Constructed from yellow rock, the monastery is affectionately known asDayro d Kurkmo in Syriac,Dayr al-Zafaran inArabic, and Deyrülzafarân inTurkish, translating to the "Saffron Monastery". Founded in 493 AD, it served as the residence of theSyriac Orthodox Patriarch from 1160 until 1932. Although the patriarch now resides inDamascus, the monastery still houses the patriarchal throne and the tombs of seven patriarchs and metropolitans.
Today, the monastery is overseen by a bishop, a monk, and several lay assistants, and it functions as a school for orphans. The bishop of Mor Hananyo also serves as the patriarchal vicar of Mardin, with a mission to rebuild the monastery and preserve the history of the Syriac Orthodox Church. The monastery of Saint Ananias is recognized as part of theUNESCO World Cultural Heritage and has been visited by numerous notable figures, including the UK'sKing Charles III during his time asPrince of Wales.
In the centre of the Tur Abdin region, a few miles south ofMidyat, isDayro d-Mor Gabriel. Built in 397 AD, Mor Gabriel monastery is the second-oldest functioningSyriac Orthodox monastery in the world, behindMor Mattai Monastery. It is currently the residence of the Metropolitan Bishop of Tur Abdin, seven nuns, four monks and a host of guests, assistants and students. The monastery is charged with keeping the flame of Syriac Orthodox faith alive in Tur Abdin, for which it is as much a fortress as a church.[40]
The Saffron and Mor Gabriel monasteries are the most important of the region, existing along with six or seven other active monasteries:
The remains of several other monasteries can be found in the region, including the Mor Loʿozor Monastery. However, these sites are uninhabited and largely neglected, primarily due to the decline of the Christian population in the area, as well as the expropriation and seizure of monasteries.[45]
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