Tag: Mardin

  • Video: Ryan Doyle – Mardin, Turkey Assassins Creed style

    Video: Ryan Doyle – Mardin, Turkey Assassins Creed style

    trailer for the 26 minute doc about the history and heritage of Mardin and how people have adapted to different cultures, lifestyle, religion and architecture.
    Red Bull athlete searches in exploration using his style of Parkour for the perfect canvas to paint his art on. Mardin Time Run

  • Syriacs returning to Turkey after 1980s migration to Europe

    Syriacs returning to Turkey after 1980s migration to Europe

    Syriac families who fled to Europe starting in the 1980s due to instability caused by terrorist activities in Turkey’s East and Southeast have recently started returning to their homeland due to a decrease in terrorism in Turkey.

    Syriacs have lived for about 5,000 years in the provinces of Mardin, Batman and Şırnak, and some migrated to various foreign countries because of the fighting between the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists that broke out in the region in 1980. The other reason behind the migration was the unsolved murders of about 50 Syriac individuals that occurred between 1985 and 1995. As a result, 2,845 Syriac families migrated to various European countries due to a lack of safety in the region.

    However, with the reduction of terrorist activities in the region, some Syriac families started to return to their homeland in the 2000s. Ninety-one of 2,845 Syriac families returned to their homes in eastern and southeastern Turkey.

    Speaking to the Radikal daily, some returnees said they are happy to come back to Turkey but complain about a lack of infrastructure in their hometowns. They also say that young people are having problems adapting to the region because they had been born and raised in Europe.

    Priest Saliba Erden, a Syriac who returned to Turkey after living in Switzerland for about 20 years, said that his children, who were born and grew up in Switzerland, have had many problems adapting to their new home. Erden said, “In order to overcome these problems, we have built modern houses in the villages, but when my children go out, they see the ruined village of Şırnak.”

    Saying that they had to migrate in 1984 to Switzerland from Şırnak’s Basibrin village, Erden added: “Our return has improved the morale of Syriac families who wanted to migrate from the village but gave up on going. We rebuilt 15 houses and repaired another 17 in the village.”

    “The most prominent problem in the village is now infrastructure deficiencies and ignorance. My daughter had to go to Germany to continue her education because girls have difficulties getting an education in the region due to some ignorant beliefs,” Erden noted.

    Erden said that although there have been some developments in providing water and electricity through the initiatives of the İdil district governorate, some problems remain in the village with the drainage system and road construction.

    Aziz Demir, another Syriac who returned from Europe in 2006 to his native Kafro village in Mardin, said when they returned to their village, no one lived there anymore because it had been declared a “prohibited area” due to terrorism activities during the ’80s. He said he struggled to get the prohibition on the village removed through diplomatic channels and eventually succeeded. Demir added that after he built his house and installed electrical wiring and a water supply system for the village, 12 families returned to live in Kafro.

    Noting that they had to migrate in 1985 because they were caught between the PKK and the state’s forces, Demir said: “My homeland and history are here [in Kafro village]. We had to go, but when conditions improved in the region, we came back.” Demir also said that he has two children, now aged 18 and 21, who experienced problems adapting, but they have begun to overcome them.

    Returning to Ahvil village in Mardin’s Midyat district in 2010, Tuma Çelik said he does not regret returning to his hometown, even though most of the houses had collapsed and were in bad condition, and the village also has some deficiencies in infrastructure.

    Saying that he was asked by the villagers to be the mukhtar (head) of the village, Çelik added: “Syriac communities and Muslim communities are getting along well now, and they represent an example for people in the other parts of Turkey. The Muslims’ act of making me a mukhtar of the village is a sign of this peace.”

    via Syriacs returning to Turkey after 1980s migration to Europe.

  • Turkey Debates the Village Guard System

    Turkey Debates the Village Guard System

    Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 90
    May 11, 2009
    By: Saban Kardas

    In last week’s bloodbath at an engagement party, masked gunmen armed with assault rifles killed 44 people including the bride and the groom in a small village in Turkey’s southeastern province Mardin. As the country debated the causes of this carnage, attention shifted to an evaluation of the village guard system. Since some of the victims and alleged assailants were members of the system, calls for its dissolution or reform have been raised by the opponents of Turkey’s counter-terrorist policy. The security bureaucracy and nationalist forces have reacted quickly to defend this institution.

    Turkey first developed the village guard system to quell the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Local men were recruited as a paramilitary force to both protect themselves and aid the security forces fighting PKK militants in south-eastern Turkey. Village guards’ familiarity with the terrain, as well as the local language and dialects were important assets, and this helped to enhance the operational capability of the Turkish security forces. Moreover, by putting tens of thousands of tribesmen on the government’s payroll, the Turkish state sought to co-opt these and create revenues to address the root causes of joining the PKK (Terrorism Focus, October 1, 2008).

    Village guards, numbering around 90,000 at the height of the PKK’s campaign, are currently around 58,000-strong. Although the system began as a temporary measure, it has become an integral part of Turkey’s security apparatus. The guards, however, have frequently been criticized for their alleged involvement in criminal activities or human rights abuses. According to Interior Ministry records, village guards were the target of over 5,200 criminal investigations and as a result 853 guards were arrested for various crimes (Cihan Haber Ajansi, May 8). A recent report released by the Human Rights Association revealed that between January 1992 and March 2009 village guards committed various human rights violations, including forced evacuation, burning villages, kidnapping and rape. In the last seven years guards have killed 51 people and wounded 83 (ANKA, May 9).

    The Mardin incident occupied Turkey’s agenda last week, reigniting the debate over the village guards. So far, around 10 suspects including some village guards have been arrested, but the exact motivation behind the attack is still unknown. Explanations range from a feud between the families involved, to the social structure in the region which is based on feudal relations and the dominance of religious orders. In this context, the decayed village guard system has been advanced as a possible cause of the incident (Cihan Haber Ajansi, May 8).

    The Interior Minister Besir Atalay raised expectations that the government might consider reform. After noting that some village guards were among both the victims and assailants, while the weapons used in the attacks belonged to the guards, Atalay told reporters that the ministry was saddened by their involvement and was evaluating the situation (Cihan Haber Ajansi, May 6). President Abdullah Gul also noted that if the shortcomings of the village guard system caused the attacks, then the government would take the necessary steps (Hurriyet Daily News, May 7).

    The main opposition party Republican People’s Party (CHP), and the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) called for a parliamentary investigation into the killings in Mardin. The Parliament’s Human Rights Investigation Commission formed a sub-commission, scheduled to visit the region later this week to conduct an investigation into the incident (Anadolu Ajansi, May 7).

    The pro-Kurdish DTP put a large part of the blame on the village guard system, arguing that had the state not armed these people, the carnage would not have occurred. As part of its overall opposition to Turkey’s policies on the Kurdish question, the DTP was an ardent critic of this system, demanding its dissolution. DTP deputies are campaigning for a parliamentary inquiry into this system, alleging that the village guards have become a criminalized network, and have undermined the social fabric and individuals’ psychological health in the region (ANKA, May 6).

    However, the defenders of the system are against any attempt to reduce the causes of the Mardin attack to the weaknesses of the village guard system. A representative from the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) argued that the village guard system had served important functions in combating terrorism and it should be preserved (Anadolu Ajansi, May 6).

    A spokesman for the Turkish military, Brigadier-General Metin Gurak defended the village guards during his weekly press briefing. He said that it would be unwise to hold the entire institution responsible (Milliyet, May 8). Interior Minister Atalay supported this view and defended the village guards. Though noting that the government will take into account the criticism of the guards, Atalay added that the dissolution of this institution was not on the agenda (www.cnnturk.com, May 9).

    The deputy prime minister and government spokesman Cemil Cicek, also supported the system, arguing that it had emerged out of necessity and these conditions remained. Cicek added: “It is necessary to avoid hasty conclusions. If some of them are involved in wrongdoing, then necessary action will be undertaken… It is wrong to attack the entire institution, because of the recent incident” (www.ntvmsnbc.com, May 10).

    The debate on the village guard system is likely to continue and the opponents of Turkey’s anti-terrorism policy will repeat their demands for its dissolution. However, many security experts regard it as a necessary counter-terrorist tool and argue that Turkey will need this institution as long as the PKK remains active. Since the government and the Turkish military appear to share this view, and PKK terrorism is unlikely to end soon, a partial reform of this system may be more realistic rather than its complete dissolution.

    https://jamestown.org/program/turkey-debates-the-village-guard-system/