Midyat

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Sunset in Midyat (August 2004), from the roof of the Syriac-Orthodox St. Akhsnoyo church. Source: www.Midyat.eu

Midyat (Turoyo: Mëḏyaḏ) is a district of Mardin Province of Turkey. The ancient city is the epicenter of a centuries-old Christian Syriac enclave in Southeast-Turkey, widely familiar under its Aramaic name Tur Abdin. A cognate of the name Midyat is first encountered in an inscription of the Neo-Assyrian king Ashur-nasir-pal II (883-859 B.C.). This royal text depicts how Assyrian forces conquered the Aramean city and its surrounding villages. In its long history, the city of Midyat has remained politically subjected by various rulers - from the Assyrians of old to the modern Turks.

Due to repeated maraudings from invading Mongol, Turkic and Kurdish tribes into Tur Abdin culminating in the end of the 14th, 19th and beginning of the 20th century in deliberate assaults and mass killings - the Syriac population of Tur-'Abdin was severely decimated. Shortly before, during and after the Genocide of 1915, a number of Syriac families from Midyat sought refuge in the neighboring Arab countries, such as Southern Syria and Lebanon.

Although now a tiny minority of less than 1% of the population, Christian churches dominate the skyline of Midyat

Notwithstanding the many foreign invasions, Midyat from its very existence had continuously been populated by Syriacs. After the so-called Gastarbeiter ('guest worker') era, though, commencing in the early 1960s, the city was soon to be nearly completely emptied from its native inhabitants, who now left a vacuum to be filled by penetrating Kurdish clans.

It is generally estimated that until the early 1960s, Midyat was inhabited by more than 500 families, of which the Christian Syriacs constituted over 90% of the total populace. To date, there are no more than approximately 100 Syriac families residing in Midyat, compared to 60,000 - 85,000 Kurdish citizens. It should be noted that many widows/widowers and aged couples are included and that some families are Syriac immigrants from the neighboring towns and villages. The congregation of the city is still awaiting the consecration of a new priest.