A report on the Syriac Christian population of Tur Abdin,
based on a visit in November 2018 by the Reverend Stephen Griffith (joined by
the Revd James Buxton for 4 days)
Introduction
I was first asked to report on the decline in the Syriac
Christian population of Tur Abdin in 1997 (when I was Anglican Chaplain in
Syria) by the Middle East Forum of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
Since leaving work in the region in 2003 I have continued visiting the region
and was Secretary of the Middle East Forum, created by Bishop Christopher
Chessun (now Bishop of Southwark), as well as leading a number of groups to the
region.
Tur Abdin
(Turabdin) is an area of southeast Turkey in eastern Mardin and western Şırnak
provinces. It consists of the city of Mardin, the towns of Midyat, Nuseybin and
Idil, and a number of villages of varying size in the rich farmland of the
Mesopotamian plain and the difficult terrain of the plateau to its north. It is
a mainly Kurdish, Kurmanji-speaking area with minorities of Arabs, Yezidis and
Christians. Since the attempted genocide of Christians in the region by the
Ottoman state in 1915 there has been a constant decline in the population, and
since the PKK rising in the 1980s this emigration has continued: not just
Christians, but among all sectors of the population. By 1990 the Christian
population had declined to around 2,000 people. Most migrated either within
Turkey to Istanbul, or largely to Germany and Sweden.
Changes in Turkish government policy in the early 1990s towards
the Kurds and other minorities led to encouragement to use local non-Turkish
languages and the return of emigrant families who brought with them wealth and
new skills. However, the dominance of the AKP under President Erdoğan,
while bringing economic development, has resulted in rebellion, state-organised
destruction and the suspension of democracy and human rights.
Tur Abdin has been affected by the Syrian civil war. It lies
immediately north of the Syrian (again mainly Kurdish) province of Hassakah;
the perceived support by the Turkish government in 2015 for ISIS in Syrian
Kurdistan led to violence between the Turkish government and the Kurds in
Turkey, with Idil, Nuseybin and the nearby city of Cizre being shelled and
bombed. This meant, among other things, that the flourishing tourism of Mardin
and around completely stopped, with impact for the Christian population. FCO
guidelines still warn against any travel in the region. However, there has been
a revival of internal Turkish tourism which has an immediate economic impact on
some of the Christians.
The roads in the region vary from excellent main roads to
poorly-maintained metalled ones and dirt tracks. In general they allow easy
access, and improvements over the last two decades have been significant.
For the Syrian Orthodox Church, Tur Abdin is divided into
two dioceses of Mardin and Tur Abdin, and the church properties are owned by
different vakfs (charitable
foundations).
Midyat and around
The town of Midyat
is an expanding, mixed town, with a monument in the suburb of Estel showing
symbols of Islam, Christianity and Yezidism, a sign that many of the local
Kurdish politicians espouse a multiculturalism. Nevertheless, what was once a
Christian town has only a few dozen Christian families, outnumbered by Kurdish
Muslims, Arab Muslims (mhalmoye) and a tiny remnant of Syriac Christians.
There is a priest in Midyat who cares for several church buildings and the
pastoral and religious needs of the Christians.
Midyat had a significant refugee camp for Syrians and
Iraqis, which recently closed.
The main secondary and tertiary schools in Midyat are used
by the whole population. For teenage boys from more remote villagers, the
monasteries (especially Mor Yakup in Salah, Mor Gabriel and Mor Malke) in the
area offer transport to and from school, as well as board, lodging and Syriac
language education. While this is an opportunity for boys, nothing is done for
the girls, and some of the younger leaders and monks are very frustrated that
this failure to develop education for the girls continues with ecclesiastical encouragement.
I have heard that in some villages many younger people have turned away from
the church and that, with exceptions the clergy and monks are not seen as on
the side of the people, nor as pastors.
The education offered to the boys
in the monasteries, supplementing the state curriculum, consists of learning to
read the Syriac script, reading the liturgical texts and singing the liturgical
music: the boys have roles in the daily morning and evening prayers, with the
liturgy being sung in classical Western Syriac (kthobonoyo). However this does not necessarily mean that they
understand classical Syriac, and it is notable that while many Syriac
Christians can recite the Lord’s Prayer, very few have any idea of what it
means. In one sense this is a Medieval world.
Mor Gabriel Monastery lies twenty minutes’ drive east from Midyat.
The seat of the Bishop of Tur Abdin, Mor Timotheos Samuel Aktaş, Deir Mor
Gabriel has three monks and several teachers as well as administrative staff;
about 10 nuns function as domestic staff, providing the food and housekeeping
duties. Housing up to twenty school-age boys it is a major centre of
hospitality. Once again receiving numbers of tourists, nearly all from Turkey,
younger men guide visitors around the Great Church, built by Emperor Anastasius
in 512, the ‘Dome of Theodora’ (actually a magnificent Baptistery) and the
older church of St Mary, it is to this monastery that émigrés come to pay
respect to the Bishop as the head of the community.
Over the last decade the Bishop
has fought several legal battles against the Turkish state concerning ownership
of land. It needs to be said that when this was a monastery of hundreds of
monks much of this land would have been farmed, but it is now ‘forest’ covered
in various small oak and other trees; however the persistence of the Bishop in
standing up to often aggressive local and national politicians has been very
important in stabilising the population, and Bishop Samuel has been seen by
members of other minorities, (e.g. Yezidis and Alevis) as a brave leader
against oppression.
The Bishop has used financial
gifts from the diaspora to build new guest accommodation, roads and walls to
protect the land, as well as renovating the exquisite sixth century buildings
including stabilising fragile mosaics.
In former times the support of the
Diocese of Europe led to the purchase of a tractor and this set off much
agricultural development in the monastery’s substantial lands.
Twenty years ago Mor Gabriel was
an isolated place, fearful of its future. Today, thanks to the Bishop’s hard
work its future seems much more secure.
East of Mor Gabriel, a twenty
minute’s drive away lies the village of Bsorino
or Basibrin (Haberli in Turkish). Formerly a significant village with over
twenty churches and chapels, the most significant is that of Mor Dodo (St
Dadai) which is like a fortress, with large towers on the perimeter wall. A new
priest was appointed six or seven years ago, having lived for many years in
Switzerland and his encouragement has led to a dozen families returning,
building new homes and living for part or all of the year in the village. A new
building was in the process of being fitted out: it is to be used as a basis
for a nurse to make regular visits to support the older villagers. There was a
real sense that here there was a priest with a vision and a sense of pastoral
care.
Further east lies the substantial
village of Midun (Turkish: Midın),
which also has a relatively new priest. In previous visits I had grasped that
the Syriac teacher (malfono) was
concerned about the lack of understanding in terms of faith and had been
helping the children of the village, boys and girls, translate their services
and Scriptures into modern Syriac (Turoyo).
There has been a lot of new building, the land has been productive even if 2018
had been a poor year for rain and therefore for crops, and the village seemed
to be flourishing. It is protected by a very substantial army base (as is
Bsorino). The main issue is that of retention, and I remember a conversation
with the village priest that what they need is some sort of factory to employ
the young.
Tur Izlo
The mountain south of Midyat ends in a long line of cliffs
running east to west: along the cliff are a number of ancient monasteries and
the mountain itself is still a totally Christian area known as Tur (Mount)
Izlo. During the 1980s and 1990s the very wild mountain area was home to PKK
fighters, and most of the villages were emptied, so that only the village of
Harabale (Turkish Uςköy)
and the monastery of Mor Malke remained populated. With the coming of peace,
emigres
returned, building new (often magnificent) houses and even in the village of
Kafro a pizzeria.
With funding from abroad a ruined monastery on the height of the
mountain, the Monastery of Mor Yaqub
d-Qarno, was rebuilt and a monk (originally from Istanbul but who studied
in Chichester) moved in four years ago. The local villages of Harabemishka,
Sederi, and Badibbe have populations in the summer, but come the winter Mor
Yaqub is a lonely place and can be cut off for weeks by snow. Harabale, however, is a significant
village with developing public amenities. There is a sceptical n attitude among
some of the younger Christians towards the clergy and monks whom they see as
self-serving and uncaring. The monk at Mor Yaqub, by contrast, is seen as a
compassionate and trustworthy man and is himself frustrated by the lack of
vision and selfishness of the hierarchy.
Just south of Mor Yaqub is the
east-west scarp slope which gazes over the great plain of Mesopotamia which
stretches to Mosul, Baghdad and the Gulf. Along the escarpment are the remains
of five monasteries which were originally East Syrian (‘Nestorian’)
monasteries, some of which were abandoned in the nineteenth century, some
considerably later. The Monastery of Mor
Awgin (or Mor Augin) was abandoned by its last monk in 1974. This had been
a very dangerous area but within the last decade the decision to re-open it was
taken, and a young monk who had grown up in the Netherlands set to the task of
cleaning and rebuilding. It is a substantial site in a spectacular setting gazing
down on the plain, a few miles from the Syrian border, and seeks to be truly a
traditional monastery with a particular ministry of education. At present there
are two monks, seven students from Europe, the children of emigrants, and a
worker. The teaching of classical Syriac tied in with the regular series of
services gives a sense of discipline and order. The Abbot, Fr Joachim (Yokim in
Turkish) seeks to close the monastery off from visitors for several days a
week. As an example of a place with a vision being implemented the Monastery of
Mor Awgin is a real joy.
Nuseybin
Sitting on the Syrian border the ancient city of Nisibis was the victim of an
astonishingly violent assault by the government forces against an uprising by
Kurdish opposition forces in 2016. Like Idil to the east of Turabdin, Nuseybin
saw significant destruction, possibly 20% of the town being destroyed. After
the bombing ended there has been considerable building of new housing.
There is only one Syriac family resident in what was in
ancient times the centre of religious controversy, with Jews, Christians,
pagans and Gnostics arguing their cases. The birthplace of the great St
Ephraim, he recorded the building of the church of St Jacob (Mor Yakub) in 359
which is still standing, and which is the centre of an archaeological park.
Mardin
The city, and regional capital of Mardin is at the western end of Turabdin. Its Cultural Landscape is
part of the Tentative list of Turkey in order to qualify for inclusion in the
World Heritage List. Much work has been done to improve the old town, while
over the last two decades there has been a massive building programme, with a
new airport and factories. Tourism has been flagged as a major factor in the
economy.
The various churches (of different denominations) are now cared
for by the one parish priest, with the Sunday liturgy moving from church to
church. Many of the Christians are silversmiths, or in the growing wine
production.
A short drive outside Mardin lies the Monastery of St
Ananias, (Mor Hananyo Manastırı in Turkish, and widely called Deir ul Zafaran, the Saffron Monastery.
The importance of this former patriarchal seat cannot be stressed. Close to the
regional city it is visited by many thousands of tourists and is the place
where most Muslim and secular Turks will meet native Christianity. Staffed by
two monks and several guides and workers, and hosting six or seven village boys
who attend local schools, and the residence of the Bishop Philoxinos Saliba
Özmen (who studied under Sebastian Brock, the doyen of all Syriac scholars, in
Oxford, there have been serious problems between the charitable foundation and
the Bishop, which seem to have eased. Under his leadership the tourist access
to the monastery has been improved greatly, with a fine visitor’s centre and a
new road. Bishop Saliba was also instrumental in establishing a Syriac course
at Mardin Artuklu University.
Twenty years ago, Deir ul
Zafaran felt like a very isolated, frightened place, expecting government
raids, closure, arrests or violent attack, today it is a thriving place where
the daily round of worship continues. It is welcoming, with the guides
enthusiastically helping visitors understand the life and history of the Syriac
Church and this monastery, and is carefully improving the landscape with new
olive trees, as well as other fruit and nut orchards.
Conclusion
Today, Tur Abdin’s Christian population is stable. However,
failure of those with money to invest in economic and social structures and
programmes has done nothing to retain the young. Expatriate money goes mainly
into magnificent holiday homes, projects like the renovation of abandoned
churches which will never be used, and supporting the lifestyle of some monks
and priests. The need for agricultural training, small agricultural businesses
and co-operatives, and education which will cause young people to stay in the
area is ignored both by many of the leaders and many wealthy expatriates.
It must be stressed that this is a remote and backward part
of the world, and one must admire those who have stayed, and even more those
who have returned; there are many heroes here. While some of the religious
leaders are perceived (rightly or wrongly) as self-serving, corrupt and greedy,
others are working hard to improve the life of the people in the villages and
towns. There is a desperate need for good religious education, from the village
teacher to the University.
Families need support. Young men in particular work
extremely hard on the land or in labouring, and find that young women leave to
marry in the community in Istanbul or in Germany and Sweden.
It is important to keep pressure on the Government of
Turkey, as this has been effective in turning what was a disastrous situation
in the 1990s to a time of relative stability. Encouragement in terms of support
for Syriac teaching at the university and monasteries, and expertise in
developing a sense of pastoral care among the clergy would be welcomed in many
places.
When William Dalrymple wandered these hills in the 1990s he
imagined that soon there would be no Christians left. Back in 1451 a Syrian
Orthodox Bishop wrote, ‘The end has come for the Christians. In Syria and
Mesopotamia Christianity is now extinct.’ Both were wrong.
