TUR ABDIN 2018

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.