The Syriac Orthodox Church, also known as West Syriac Church or West Syrian Church, officially known as the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, and informally as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox church that branched from the Church of Antioch. The bishop of Antioch, known as the patriarch, heads the church and possesses apostolic succession through Saint Peter, according to sacred tradition. The church upholds Miaphysite doctrine in Christology, and employs the Liturgy of Saint James, associated with James the Just. Classical Syriac is the official and liturgical language of the church.
Tur Abdin is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria and famed since Late Antiquity for its Christian monasteries on the border of the Roman Empire and the Sasanian Empire. The area is a low plateau in the Anti-Taurus Mountains stretching from Mardin in the west to the Tigris in the east and delimited by the Mesopotamian plains to the south. The Tur Abdin is populated by more than 80 villages and nearly 70 monastery buildings and was mostly Syriac Orthodox until the early 20th century. The earliest surviving Christian buildings date from the 6th century.
Mardin Province is a province and metropolitan municipality in Turkey. Its area is 8,780 km2, and its population is 870,374 (2022). The largest city in the province is Kızıltepe, while the capital Mardin is the second largest city.
Mardin is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris River.
Mor Hananyo Monastery or Monastery of Saint Ananias is an important Syriac Orthodox monastery located three kilometers south east of Mardin, Turkey, in the Syriac cultural region known as Tur Abdin. Mor Hananyo Monastery was the headquarters of the Syriac Orthodox Church from c. 1160 until 1932.
Dayro d-Mor Gabriel, also known as Deyrulumur, is the second oldest surviving Syriac Orthodox monastery in the world behind Mar Mattai Monastery in Northern Iraq. It is located on the Tur Abdin plateau near Midyat in the Mardin Province in southeastern Turkey. It has been involved in a dispute with the Turkish government that threatened its existence. Syriac Orthodox culture was centered in two monasteries near Mardin, Mor Gabriel Monastery and Deyrulzafaran.
Dargeçit is a municipality and district of Mardin Province, Turkey. Its area is 519 km2, and its population is 27,147 (2022). The town is principally populated by Kurds of the Erebiyan tribe. It is located in the historical region of Tur Abdin.
Beth Kustan is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Midyat, Mardin Province in Turkey. It is inhabited by Assyrians who belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church and speak Turoyo, a dialect of Neo-Aramaic. The village had a population of 154 in 2022. It is located in the historic region of Tur Abdin.
Altıntaş is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Midyat, Mardin Province in Turkey. The village is inhabited by Assyrians and Kurds of the Dermemikan tribe. The village had a population of 214 in 2021. It is located in the historic region of Tur Abdin.
Christianity in Turkey has a long history dating back to the early origins of Christianity in Asia Minor during the 1st century AD. In modern times the percentage of Christians in Turkey has declined from 20-25% in 1914, to about 2% in 1927, to 0.2–0.4% today Sources estimate that the Christian population in Turkey ranges between 180,000 and 320,000. However, the exact number remains unclear due to the absence of a religious census in the country. The percentage of Christians in Turkey fell mainly as a result of the late Ottoman genocides: the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the emigration of Christians that began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century, and due to events such as the 1942 Varlık Vergisi tax levied on non-Muslim citizens in Turkey and the 1955 Istanbul pogrom against Greek and Armenian Christians. Exact numbers are difficult to estimate, as many Turkish former Muslim converts to Christianity often hide their Christian faith for fear of familial pressure, religious discrimination, and persecution.
Mount Izla, also Mountain of Nisibis or briefly in the 9th century Mount Kashyari, is a low mountain or ridge near Nisibis in what once a part of Assyria, then Sassanid Persian province of Asoristan, but is now southeastern Turkey, along the border with Syria. The ridge is the location of dozens of ancient monasteries which were built by the Assyrian Church of the East and Syriac Orthodox Church in the early centuries of Eastern Rite Christianity. In modern times, all of the monasteries are in ruins except for that of Mar Melke reconsecrated in the 1930s, Mor Yakub Monastery, founded in Dibek in 2012–2013, and the Monastery of Mor Augin which was refounded in 2008 after being abandoned in the 70's.
Elbeğendi is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Midyat, Mardin Province in Turkey. The village is populated by Assyrians and had a population of 46 in 2021. It is located atop Mount Izla in the historic region of Tur Abdin.
Dereiçi is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Savur, Mardin Province in Turkey. In 2023, the population was 187. It is populated by Assyrians who speak the Mardin dialect of Arabic. It is located by Mount Qoros in the historic region of Tur Abdin.
Çatalçam is a neighbourhood of the municipality and district of Dargeçit, Mardin Province in southeastern Turkey. It is located in the historical region of Tur Abdin. The village is populated by Assyrians and had population of 33 in 2021.
Güngören is a village in the municipality and district of Midyat, Mardin Province in Turkey. it is populated by Assyrians and by Kurds of the Dermemikan tribe. The village had a population of 174 in 2022. It is located in the historic region of Tur Abdin.
Mar Yakov Church or Mor Yakup Church, also known as the Church of Saint Jacob in Nisibis, is a historic church in Nusaybin, southeastern Turkey. Archaeological excavations revealed that the 4th-century church building was originally the baptistery of a cathedral, which no longer exists. It is not determined whether this church belonged to Syriac Orthodox Church or the Church of the East, but it is under the jurisdiction of the Syriac Orthodox Church which it is most likely linked to.
Anıtlı is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Midyat, Mardin Province in Turkey. It is located in the historical region of Tur Abdin.
Bülbül is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Yeşilli, Mardin Province in Turkey. The village is populated by Assyrians and had a population of 67 in 2021.
Üçköy is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Nusaybin, Mardin Province in Turkey. The village is populated by Assyrians and had a population of 432 in 2021. It is located in the historical region of Tur Abdin.
Dibek, also known as Daskan, is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Nusaybin, Mardin Province in Turkey. The village is populated by Assyrians and Kurds and had a population of 45 in 2021. The Kurdish population is Yazidi. It is located atop Mount Izla in the historic region of Tur Abdin.
