 |
Februniye Akyol | |
|---|---|
| Fabronia Benno | |
| Co-mayor of Mardin | |
| In office 2014–2016 | |
| Co-mayor | Ahmet Türk |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1988 (age 34–35) Turkey |
| Alma mater | Mardin Artuklu University |
| Occupation | Politician |
Februniye Akyol (Christian name:Fabronia Benno [1] ) is an Syriac-Assyrian [2] [3] politician and was co-mayor of Mardin. She is a part of the Syriac Orthodox Church, [4] and thus the first Christian woman to lead one of Turkey's 30 metropolitan municipalities. [5]
Born to a silversmith and baptized as Fabronia Benno she studied the Assyrian language at the Artuklu University in Mardin. [1] While she was still studying at the University pursuing her master's degree,she was asked by politicians of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) to become a candidate for the mayorship of Mardin together with the Kurdish politician Ahmet Türk. [1] It was the imprisoned Abdullah Öcalan who suggested that a female Syriac should run for the co-mayorship in Mardin. [1] She first had doubts due to the Kurdish role in the Armenian and Assyrian genocides but Türk,who as one of the first Kurds who apologized to the Armenian and Assyrian communities,eventually compelled her to run. [1]
Akyol had to run for office with the Turkish name Februniye Akyol,due to long-standing limitations for the cultures and languages of ethnic and religious minorities in Turkey. [1] Assyrians are not recognized as a Turkish religious minority,nor are they permitted to teach the Syriac language. [1] The Turkish constitution prohibits the use of languages other than Turkish in both public and private schools. [1] Put forward as a candidate by the BDP two months before the elections, [1] she was elected co-mayor in the municipal elections on the 30 March 2014. [1] The BDP splits all top posts between a man and a woman to boost female participation in politics. [6] On the 17 November 2016 she and Ahmet Türk were dismissed as the Co-Mayors of Mardin. [6]
Assyrians are an indigenous ethnic group native to Assyria,a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians descend from their ancient counterparts,originating from the ancient indigenous Mesopotamians of Akkad and Sumer,who first developed the civilisation in northern Mesopotamia that would become Assyria in 2600 BCE. Modern Assyrians may culturally self-identify as Syriacs,Chaldeans,or Arameans for religious,geographic,and tribal identification.
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.
Diyarbakır is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province.
Hakkâri Province,is a province in the southeast of Turkey. The administrative centre is the city of Hakkâri. The province had a population of 278,218 in 2021. The current Governor is İdris Akbıyık. The province encompasses 8 municipalities,140 villages and 313 hamlets.
The Sayfo or the Seyfo,also known as the Assyrian genocide,was the mass slaughter and deportation of Assyrian/Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish tribes during World War I.
Al-Hasakah Governorate is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is located in the far north-east corner of Syria and distinguished by its fertile lands,plentiful water,natural environment,and more than one hundred archaeological sites. It was formerly known as Al-Jazira Province. Prior to the Syrian Civil War nearly half of Syria's oil was extracted from the region. It is the lower part of Upper Mesopotamia.
Mardin Province is a province in Turkey with a population of 870,374 in 2022. The largest city in the province is Kızıltepe,while the capital Mardin is the second largest city with a population of 129,864.
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.
Derik is a town in the Derik District in Mardin Province of Turkey. The town had a population of 18,942 in 2021.
Midyat is a town in the Midyat District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It had a population of 83,148 in 2021.
Savur is a town and seat of the Savur District in the Mardin Province of Turkey.
Inwardo or Gülgöze is a village in the Midyat District of the Mardin Province of Turkey.
The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social-democratic and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party (DEHAP). The party was established in 2005 and succeeded in getting elected more than ninety mayors in the municipal elections of 2009. On 11 December 2009,the Constitutional Court of Turkey banned the DTP,ruling that the party has become "focal point of activities against the indivisible unity of the state,the country and the nation". The ban has been widely criticized both by groups within Turkey and by several international organizations. The party was succeeded by the Peace and Democracy Party.
Silvan is a municipality and district of Diyarbakır Province,Turkey. Its area is 1,252 km2,and its population is 86,161 (2022).
Ahmet Türk is a Turkish politician of Kurdish origin from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). He has been a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for several terms and was elected twice as the Mayor of Mardin. He was born into a family of Kurdish clan and tribal chiefs in southeastern Turkey.
Emine Ayna,is Turkish Kurd politician She was a member of the former Democratic Society Party (DTP). She joined the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP),after the Constitutional Court banned DTP on 11 December 2009.
Selahattin Demirtaş is a Turkish politician,author,political prisoner and former member of the parliament of Turkey. He was the co-leader of the left-wing pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP),serving alongside Figen Yüksekdağfrom 2014 to 2018. Selahattin Demirtaşannounced that he left politics after the May 2023 elections.
The Jazira Region,formerly Jazira Canton,,is the largest of the three original regions of the de facto Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). As part of the ongoing Rojava conflict,its democratic autonomy was officially declared on 21 January 2014. The region is in the Al-Hasakah Governorate of Syria.
Erol Dora is a lawyer and a politician of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP). A member of the Assyrian people community in Turkey,he is a well-known advocate for minority rights,Assyrian particularly the human rights situation of Turkey's Christian minorities.
The Defence of Iwardo was a military engagement between Ottoman authorities and Assyrian defenders led by Gallo Shabo in 1915,during the Assyrian genocide. The pockets of resistance during the Assyrian genocide was named "Midyat Rebellion" after Midyat,the largest Assyrian town in Tur Abdin by the Ottoman authorities.