Editing Tur Abdin (section)

== History ==
===Antiquity===
Tur Abdin was referred to as the "Land of the Arameans" in the inscriptions of [[Ashur-bel-kala|Assur-Bel-Kala]], indicating that some territories west and northwest of Assyria were considered to be inhabited by Arameans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Niehr |first=Herbert |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Aramaeans_in_Ancient_Syria.html?id=sW_AAgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y |title=The Aramaeans in Ancient Syria |date=2014-01-13 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-22943-3 |pages=340 |language=en}}</ref>[[Image:Mor gabriel portal inscriptions.jpg|thumb|Portal of the [[Mor Gabriel Monastery]]]]
[[File:MuttergotteskircheHah.JPG|thumb|[[Syriac Orthodox Church]] in [[Midyat]]]]
The [[Assyria|Assyrian]] king [[Adad-nirari II]], who came to throne in the late 10th century BCE, removed the [[Arameans]] from political power in the Kashiari mountains (Tur Abdin).<ref>{{cite book | first = Georges | last = Roux | title = Ancient Iraq | edition = 3rd | year = 1992 | publisher = Penguin | isbn = 9780140125238 | page = 283, ”…and dislodged from the Kashiari mountains (Tur ‘Abin)…“ | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/ancientiraq00roux }}</ref> 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 of [[Nairi]], more than once.<ref>From Kibaki I set out and approached Matiate (Midyat). Matiate and its villages I overcame . . . For six days in the midst of the mighty mountain of Kashyari (Tur Abdin) - a difficult country . . . I worked that mountain with iron axes . . . Then I caused my chariots . . . to pass over it . . . I passed mount Kashyari and came a second time to the lands of Nairi.</ref>{{sfnp|Radner|2006|pp=287-299}} He erected a monument in [[Matiate]], modern-day [[Midyat]] in Tur Abdin, which remains to be found.{{sfnp|Radner|2006|pp=299}} His successor, [[Shalmaneser III]], also crossed Tur Abdin.{{sfnp|Radner|2006|pp=288}}

Most ancient monuments in Tur Abdin are [[Christianity|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 worshipped [[Assyrian religion|Assyrian deities]].{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|pp=28-29}} Arches on the north side of the churches in [[İzbırak, Midyat|Zaz]] and [[Barıştepe, Midyat|Saleh]] suggest pre-Christian buildings originally stood on the sites.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|pp=29-30}} [[Assyro-Babylonian religion|Ancient Assyro-Babylonian religion]] is believed to have survived in the region until as late as the 18th century.{{sfn|Parpola|2004|p=21}}

In 586 B.C. the prophet [[Ezekiel]] mentions the famed wine of Izlo, on the southern edge of the plateau of Tur Abdin, in his prophecy against Tyre.{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

The Mor Gabriel Monastery, the oldest [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriac Orthodox]] church 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 a dream in which an Angel commanded him to build a House of Prayer in a location marked with three large stone blocks. When Shem'un awoke, he took his teacher to the place and found the stone the angel had placed. At this spot [[Mor Gabriel Monastery]] was built.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ww38.turabdin.info/timeline/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150419160012/http://turabdin.info/timeline/|url-status=dead|title=turabdin.info|archive-date=Apr 19, 2015|website=ww38.turabdin.info|access-date=Jan 30, 2023}}</ref>

In [[Late Antiquity]], the area was part of the [[Roman Empire]]'s [[Roman province|province]] of [[Mesopotamia (Roman province)|Mesopotamia]] and an important centre of [[State church of the Roman Empire|Roman Christianity]], called in {{Langx|la|Mons Masius}} or {{Langx|la|Izla|label=none}}.<ref name=":0" /> The Tur Abdin was fortified by the [[Roman emperor|emperor]] [[Constantius II]] ({{Reign|337|361}}), who constructed the fortress of [[Rhabdion]] to defend it during the [[Roman–Persian Wars]].<ref name=":0" /> After the failure of [[Julian's Persian War]] in 363, the Tur Abdin became part of the [[Sasanian Empire]] along with the remaining territory of the five [[Transtigritine provinces]] and the nearby strongholds of [[Nisibis]] and [[Bezabde]].<ref name=":0" /> The numerous monasteries of the Tur Abdin eventually became part of the [[Church of the East]] organized at the [[Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon]] in 410. They mainly took the [[Miaphysite]] position of [[non-Chalcedonian Christianity]] after the [[Council of Chalcedon]] of 451. After a period of persecution by the [[Chalcedonian Christianity|Chalcedonian]] [[state church of the Roman Empire]] and during the [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628]], the monasteries of the Tur Abdin enjoyed a particular prosperity under Arab rule in the latter 7th century.<ref>{{Citation|last=Mango|first=Marlia M.|title=Tur ʿabdin|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-5621|work=The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium|volume=|pages=|year=2005|editor-last=Kazhdan|editor-first=Alexander P.|orig-year=1991|edition=online|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-504652-6|access-date=2020-12-15|author-link=Marlia Mango|editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The fortress of Rhabdion was mentioned by the 6th-century Greek historian [[Procopius]], while the 6th-century ''[[Notitia Antiochena]]'' and the work of the 7th-century Greek geographer [[George of Cyprus]] both attest that '''Turabdium''' was an [[episcopal see]].<ref name=":0" /> 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]].<ref name=":0" /> The Tur Abdin became part of the [[Rashidun Caliphate]] in 640, during the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant]].<ref name=":0" /> 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.<ref name=":0"/>

After the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, the Syriac Orthodox Church split from the Greek-speaking Byzantine mainstream. They were then "severely persecuted as heretical [[Monophysites]] by the Byzantine Emperors", according to [[William Dalrymple (historian)|William Dalrymple]], which led the Syrian Orthodox Church hierarchy to retreat to the "inaccessible shelter of the barren hills of the Tur Abdin."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dalrymple, William.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43137270|title=From the holy mountain : a journey in the shadow of Byzantium|year=1998|isbn=0-00-654774-5|location=London|pages=91|oclc=43137270}}</ref>

===Modern===
Gaunt has estimated the Assyrian population at between 500,000 and 600,000 just before the outbreak of World War I, significantly higher than reported on Ottoman census figures. [[Midyat]], in [[Diyarbekir vilayet]], was the only town in the Ottoman Empire with an Assyrian majority, although divided between [[Syriac Orthodox]], [[Chaldean Catholics|Chaldeans]], and [[Protestants]].{{sfn|Gaunt|2015|p=87}} Syriac Orthodox Christians were concentrated in the hilly rural areas around Midyat, known as Tur Abdin, where they populated almost 100 villages and worked in agriculture or crafts.{{sfn|Gaunt|2015|p=87}}{{sfn|Üngör|2011|p=13}} Syriac Orthodox culture was centered in two monasteries near Mardin (west of Tur Abdin), [[Mor Gabriel Monastery|Mor Gabriel]] and [[Deyrulzafaran]].{{sfn|Üngör|2011|p=15}} Outside of the area of core Syriac settlement, there were also sizable populations in the towns of [[Diyarbakır]], [[Urfa]], [[Harput]], and [[Adiyaman]]{{sfn|Gaunt ''et al.''|2017| p=19}} as well as villages. Unlike the Syriac population of Tur Abdin, many of these Syriacs spoke other languages.{{sfn|Gaunt|2020|p=57}}
[[File:Syriac quarter in Mediyat1.jpg|thumb|View of the Syriac Christian quarter in [[Midyat]]]]

During [[World War I]], 300,000 Assyrian Christians were killed in the Ottoman Empire's [[Genocide]] in Syriac called ''[[Sayfo]]'', or 'the sword'). In the last few decades, caught between Turkish assimilation policies against [[Kurdish people|Kurds]], and Kurdish resistance, many Assyrians have fled the region or been killed. Today there are only 5,000, a quarter of the Christian population thirty years ago. Most have fled to [[Syria]] (where the city of [[Qamishli]] was built by them), [[Europe]] (particularly Sweden, Germany, the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[Netherlands]]), Australia and the United States. In the past few years, a few families have returned to Tur Abdin.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.lastampa.it/vatican-insider/en/2012/12/17/news/tur-abdin-the-lost-land-of-the-arameans-1.36352959/ | title=Tur Abdin: The lost land of the Arameans| website=[[La Stampa]]| date=17 December 2012}}</ref>

Due to migration, the Syriacs' main residential area in Turkey today is [[Istanbul]], where around 20,000 lives there.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://eclj.org/religious-freedom/un/syriac-christians-and-of-their-heritage-in-turkey?lng=en | title=Event in Geneva on the Protection of the Aramean/Syriac Christians and of their Heritage in Turkey| website=[[European Centre for Law and Justice]]| date=26 January 2015}}</ref>

As of 2019, an estimated between 2,000 and 3,000 of the country's 25,000 [[Assyrians in Turkey|Assyrians]] live in Tur Abdin,<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey">{{cite book|title=Religious Minorities in Turkey: Alevi, Armenians, and Syriacs and the Struggle to Desecuritize Religious Freedom| first=Christoph |last=Giesel|year= 2017| isbn= 9781137270269| page =169 |publisher=Springer|quote=}}</ref> and they are spread among 30 villages, [[Hamlet (place)|hamlets]], and towns.<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey"/> Some of these locations are dominated by Syriacs while others are dominated by the Kurds.<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey"/> As part of a return movement, some Syriac Orthodox Christians returned to Tur Abdin villages from [[Germany]], [[Sweden]] and [[Switzerland]].<ref>Çaglar (2013), p. 122</ref><ref>Güsten (2016), p. 11</ref><ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey"/> Prominent diaspora communities exist in these countries, and often advocate a Syriac-Aramean identity affiliated with the Syriac Orthodox Church

===Christian resistance in Tur Abdin during WW1===
{{Main|Defence of Iwardo|Defense of Azakh}}
The Syriacs of [[Diyarbekir Vilayet]] made significant resistance. Their strongest stand was at the villages of [[Midyat rebellion|Azakh]], [[Defence of Iwardo|Iwardo]], and Basibrin. For months, Kurdish tribes and Turkish soldiers commanded by [[Ömer Naci Bey]] were unable to subdue the mostly Syriac Orthodox and [[Syriac Catholic Church|Syriac Catholic]] villagers who were joined by [[Armenians|Armenian]] and other refugees from surrounding villages. The leaders of the Azakh fedayeen swore <blockquote>We all have to die sometime, do not die in shame and humiliation</blockquote> and lived up to their fighting words.<ref name="Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi">{{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=Benny|last2=Ze’evi|first2=Dror|title=The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924|date=24 April 2019|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674916456|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=THSPDwAAQBAJ&q=Azakh&pg=PA373}}
</ref><ref name="GauntBet̲-Şawoce2006">{{cite book|last1=Gaunt|first1=David|last2=Bet̲-Şawoce|first2=Jan|title=Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L6wZvgAACAAJ|date=1 January 2006|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|isbn=978-1-59333-301-0|page=348}}</ref>

=== Recent conflicts ===
On 10 February 2006 and the following day, large demonstrations took place in the city of [[Midyat]] in Tur Abdin. [[Muslim]]s angry about the [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy|Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons]] gathered in Estel, the new part of the city, and started to march towards the old part of Midyat (6&nbsp;kilometers away), where the Assyrians live. The mob was stopped by the police before reaching old [[Midyat]].

In 2008 a series of legal challenges were made against the [[Mor Gabriel Monastery|monastery 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eclj.org/religious-autonomy/echr/cedh--la-turquie-a-exproprie-illegalement-un-monastere-edifie-au-ive-siecle#:~:text=The%20European%20Court%20of%20Human,violating%20the%20Foundation's%20property%20rights.|title=ECHR: Turkey Illegally Expropriated a Monastery Built in the 4th Century|website=European Centre for Law and Justice|date=3 October 2023}}</ref>