Turkish Forum

Tag: Syriac community

  • Exhibition of Assyrian Photographs Before 1915 Opens in Istanbul

    Exhibition of Assyrian Photographs Before 1915 Opens in Istanbul

    The Syriac [Assyrian] community in Turkey is represented in a new exhibition titled “The Life of Ottoman Syriacs before 1915,” which represents their past experiences in Anatolia regarding the 1915 incidents.

    Photographs collected from various personal archives in Europe are being showcased at the exhibition, which opened yesterday. The exhibition will be on display at the Human Rights Association (IHD) in Istanbul’s Taksim district, opening on May 1 as part of commemorations of the tragic events of 1915.

    Syriac intellectual Sabo Boyaci, who headed the organization of the event, said the IHD was the first to come up with the offer.

    “At the beginning of this century, the ancient peoples of Anatolia, including Syriacs, experienced many bloody tragedies. Syriacs named the tragedies they faced ‘Seyfo’ [meaning ‘sword’],” Boyaci said.

    “They felt such great fears that they could not even express the misfortunes they experienced. With this exhibition, the disaster that Syriacs experienced will be reflected for the public,” he said.

    “We particularly tried to choose the photos displaying the places where Syriacs were densely populated, which reflected their social life in the relevant years. We included pictures of intellectuals, schools and churches,” Boyaci said.

    According to Boyaci, the exhibition will also cover a number of texts depicting “communal subversions” within the Syriac community. The Syriac community has so far preferred to remain in the background and has not brought their problems onto the agenda. When asked why they were now trying to make the “Seyfo” public, Boyaci said the time was right.

    “It is a community that experienced bitter traumas. So we can’t expect them to easily express themselves. The point we have reached so far shows that we have partly overcome this trauma. Thanks to the works conducted by Syriacs who migrated abroad, we are managing to overcome our traumas,” he said.

    ‘Impossible a decade ago’

    The current Syriac population in Turkey is said to be around 15,000, most of whom live in Istanbul. A large number of Syriacs migrated to Europe during the 1990s.

    “The Syriacs in the diaspora are closely following the latest developments in Turkey. They have been able to see the changes that have taken place. Even if they are far away, their hearts belong to their homeland, where they were born. It is not easy to end this affection. They wish for the well-being of the country, while demanding respect for the tragedies experienced by their ancestors,” Boyaci said.

    “We could not have opened such an exhibition only a decade ago. The improvement of democratic culture is still a little slow, but still we regard the point we have reached as progress,” he added.

    via Exhibition of Assyrian Photographs Before 1915 Opens in Istanbul.

  • 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’s waning Syriac Christian community to submit report to EU

    Turkey’s waning Syriac Christian community to submit report to EU

    PanARMENIAN.Net – A report detailing the problems Turkey’s long forgotten Syriac Christian communities face, prepared with the backing of the European Syriac Union (ESU) and the Dutch Foreign Ministry, will be presented to European Parliament in the coming days.

    “Previously issued statements were based on estimated information, but now we have concrete conclusions,” Tuma Çelik, the head of ESU’s Turkey branch, told the Hürriyet Daily News.

    The report prepared by the Southeastern Syriac Culture in Solidarity Association is based on research conducted in the southeastern provinces of Mardin, Şırnak and Batman, where there once was a heavily concentrated Syriac Christian population.

    The occasion marks the first time such a study was conducted in Turkey’s eastern and southeastern regions, Çelik said on behalf of the association.

    Entitled “Syriacs in a Multi-Cultural Environment and the Right of Property,” the report covers a number of issues, including the unresolved murders of Syriacs in connection with the 1980s and 1990s fighting between government forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the southeast.

    The Syriac population in Mardin’s Midyat district, a traditional Syriac homeland, fell from 1800 residents before the year 1985 down to a mere 130 residents in 2011, while the same figure in the district of Yemiþli dropped from 270 down to 18, according to the report.

    Syriac populations in other districts mentioned in the document also experienced a similar decline, despite very slight increases over the past decade.

    The report also covers other issues, such as the occupation of lands owned by Syriacs, the problems Syriacs who fled and those returning to Turkey have faced and other rights violations, HDN reported.

    via Turkey’s waning Syriac Christian community to submit report to EU – PanARMENIAN.Net.

  • Istanbul to have first Syrian church built in the city

    Istanbul to have first Syrian church built in the city

    The Syrian Christian community has achieved, after many years, permission to build its own place of worship from the Government and the President. In Istanbul there are about 17 thousand Syrians, who mostly fled coming from the south east of the country in the mid 80s.

    TURCHIA f 1008 Chiesa siriacaIstanbul (AsiaNews / Agencies) – The Syrian Christian community in Turkey has received approval for the construction of its first church in turkish territory. The building should be built in the district of Yesilkoy, Istanbul, and should meet the needs of a community of about 17 thousand Syrians living in the metropolis. After years of discussion and caveats, the approval came from the Turkish Prime Minister and President. The leader of the Syriac community, Kenan Altınışık said that work will begin as soon as the location has been chosen.

    “Half of our community live in the neighborhood of Yeşilköy, or the surrounding area. We rent churches for Sunday celebrations, but we can begin to celebrate only at 11.30, while, according to our tradition, the ceremony should end by 10.30 am, “says Kenan Altınışık.

    The land for the construction of the church will be assigned to the ancient Christian community by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, construction costs will be covered by the Syrians. A City Hall official said that they are already looking for a suitable land available for building the new church. The building will be built in a style with clear traces of the ancient Syriac culture. Contacts are ongoing between the community and officials to find a location that is satisfactory. In addition to the church a community center will also be built, the title given to the new place of worship will be “Church of Mother Mary “. The Syrians come mainly from the southeast of the country. Many of them migrated to Istanbul and abroad in the mid-80s, because of political instability in the region at the time.

    via TURKEY Istanbul to have first Syrian church built in the city – Asia News.