Suruç | |
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 The town hall of Suruç | |
 Map showing Suruç District in Şanlıurfa Province | |
  Suruç Location in Turkey Show map of Turkey Suruç Suruç (Şanlıurfa) Show map of Şanlıurfa | |
| Coordinates:36°58′30″N38°25′28″E / 36.97500°N 38.42444°E /36.97500; 38.42444 | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Province | Şanlıurfa |
Area | 744 km2 (287 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[1] | 100,961 |
| • Density | 136/km2 (351/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+3 (TRT) |
| Postal code | 63800 |
| Area code | 0414 |
| Website | www |
Suruç (pronounced[ˈsuɾutʃ];Kurdish:Pirsûs;[2]Syriac:ܣܪܘܓSruḡ[3]) is a municipality anddistrict ofŞanlıurfa Province, Turkey.[4] Its area is 744 km2,[5] and its population is 100,961 (2022).[1] It is on a plain near theSyrian border 46 kilometres (29 mi) southwest of the city ofUrfa. Its inhabitants areKurds.
Suruç is situated in a fertile district that is well-suited to growing fruits and grapevines.[6] It is centrally located between theEuphrates on the west and Urfa andHarran on the east; it is about a day's journey from both cities (using pre-industrial transportation).[6] This traffic brought it some degree of commercial prosperity as well.[6] This was also helped by its historical status as apost station betweenRaqqa andSumaysat.[6] The town itself was primarily agricultural, andIbn Jubayr in the 12th century described seeing orchards and irrigation channels within the area of the town itself.[6]
In antiquity theSumerians built a settlement in the area. The city was a centre of silk-making. They were succeeded by a number of other Mesopotamian civilisations.
Constantine the Great,Roman emperor who reigned from 306 to 337, brought the town under the control of the city ofEdessa. One of the most famous residents of the district is its 6th-centurySyriac bishop and poet-theologianJacob of Serugh.[7] TheCatholic Church hold thebishopric as atitular see of that church,[8] though they had little presence in the area, while the Syriac church holds a separate Bishopric in the town.
Tell-Batnan was visitedEmperor Julian on his march fromAntioch to theEuphrates in 363.[9]
The town surrendered in 639 toIyad ibn Ghanm during theMuslim conquest of the Levant.[6] In the 900s it came under theHamdanid dynasty.[6] Later, it was captured by the Byzantines during a period when they were relatively strong in the region.[6] In the late 1090s, a civil war between theSeljuk princes ofDamascus andAleppo enabled the earlyArtuqid princeSökmen to establish a principality based at Suruç.[10] This only lasted briefly, though — in 1101, the crusaderBaldwin I of Jerusalem captured Suruç.[11] For almost half a century, Suruç then formed part of the crusaderCounty of Edessa.[6] This is alluded to in the works of the contemporary poetal-Hariri: the hero of hismaqāmāt, Abū Zayd al-Sarūjī, is a native of Suruç who was driven out by the Christians.[6] Crusader rule in Suruç came to an end in January 1145, when the town was captured byImad ad-Din Zangi.[6]
In the 1300s,Abu'l-Fida described the town as lying in ruins.[6] In 1517 the area was brought into theOttoman Empire bySelim I.
In late Ottoman times, Suruç was the seat of akaymakam.[6]
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On 19 October 2014, journalistSerena Shim died in a car crash in Suruç.
On 20 July 2015, at approximately 12:50 GMT, asuicide bombing occurred. It killed 34 people and injured over 100 others outside the Amara Cultural Center.[12]
Ahead of the Juneanticipated 2018 Turkish elections, four people were killed in Suruç while anAKP candidate toured the city's market.[13] According to pro-Kurdish sources, AKP representative Ibrahim Halil Yıldız went to local shopkeeper Hacı Esvet Şenyaşar where a brawl started.[14]
These events happened days after Erdogan was filmed encouraging identification and intimidation of opposition voters on sites.[15]
In thelocal elections on 31 March 2019 Hatice Çevik was elected as Mayor.[16] Kenan Aktaş was appointedKaymakam, as representative of the state.[17] On 15 November 2019 Çevik was detained, and the next day she was dismissed and Kenan Aktaş appointed as a trustee.[18]
There are 95neighbourhoods in Suruç District:[19]
In hisseyahatname,Evliya Çelebi mentioned that the plain of Suruj was initially inhabited byArabs andTurkomans in mid-medieval era, while upon his visit in the 17th century, he observed that the plain was mainly inhabited byKurds from the Dinayi, Barazi, Kuhbinik, and Jum tribes andTurkomans.[20]
According toAgha Petros, before theAssyrian genocide, Suruç (Serudj) had close to 2,000Assyrian residents.[21]
Today, Suruç is inhabited mostly by ethnicKurds andTurks.
Batnae was important enough in theRoman province ofOsroene to become asuffragan bishopric of its capital Edessa's Metropolitan, yet was to fade. The most famous Bishop of the city wasJacob of Serugh, the great Syriac Christianhymnographer born around 451 atKurtam on theEuphrates and educated atEdessa becoming a priest at Hawra in the Serugh district, as a wandering pastor of several villages. At the age of 67 he was made bishop of Batnan, where he died around 521. Jacob avoided the theological controversies of his age, and is claimed with equal eagerness byChalcedonian andnon-Chalcedonian Christians as one of their own. He wrote several Hymns, 760 homilies and the Syriac translation of Evagrius.[22]
Another Bishop wasAbraham of Batnae,[23] a contemporary ofBasil of Caesarea.
The bishopric would be nominally restored in two differenttitular bishoprics, for different Catholic rite-specific particular churches.
Established in the early 20th century, under repeatedly changed names: Bathna(-Jarug), Bathnan(Sarugh), Bathnae. Suppressed in 1933, restored under its present name in 1965.
It has had the following incumbents, all of the lowest (episcopal) rank :
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