Southeastern Turkey

Well, we are about 3 trips behind on this site, so I guess we should get busy sending the updates. Should have details and photos on our recent trips to Greece and Morocco to follow, but we'll start out with our October trip to Southeastern Turkey--Mardin, Şanlıurfa, and surroundings.

Dennis had a week off for fall break, so we decided to head to this totally different area of Turkey and take a rental car between places. We flew into and out of Diyarbakır--the largest city in the region but also one of the poorest. It is the center of Turkey's Kurdish population, and has been the site of significant unrest related to the Kurdish struggle in recent history. We didn't spend much time there. We picked up our car and headed southeast to Mardin.



Looking south from our hotel toward Syria

Mardin lies a little bit north of the Syrian border, and is unlike any other city we have seen. It sits on a high hill overlooking the northern end of the fertile valley formed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers--a fantastic view into Mesopotamia. In addition, the city dates back to the Middle Ages, and has worked to preserve the architecture of that time. Even new buildings are required to be built in the same style and from the same quarry as those built a thousand years ago. Thus Mardin offers some pretty spectacular sights that we could not adequately capture with the camera.




 A view of the eastern side of Mardin, along with the Ulu Camii, built in the 1000s



Ayran served as it should be, in a bowl with a ladle.

You can really only explore Mardin on foot, and we covered most of the town, traversing the numerous staircases and narrow alleys to see the Kasim Pasha Medrese, Ulu Mosque, and Mardin Museum, among other sights. The food here was exceptional, as it was for the entire trip--plenty of lamb to be had, along with spiced rice and various minced-meat dishes.




We also took a day to visit Midyat and the Tur Abdin area, east of Mardin.  Most notable about this area is that it is home to the Syriac Orthodox Christian community, which has lived here since the founding of the Church in Antioch by Paul and Barnabas almost 2000 years ago.  Antioch was the first Christian community founded outside Jerusalem.  The Syriac Church, along with other eastern Christian rites, split with the Catholic Church after the Council in Chalcedon (modern-day Kadıköy, the Asian side of Istanbul) in 451.  They didn't agree with the Church on the issue of Jesus having two distinct natures (divine and human).  Looks like we're getting into a little too much detail here...Dennis did a final presentation on the Syriac Christian community in one of his classes.  Final interesting fact: Syriac Christians still conduct worship in a language that closely represents Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke.

We visited several Syriac Christian sites, including the Mor Gabriel Monastery, the longest-running still-active Christian monastery in the world, which was founded in the year 397.  We also visited the Mor Meryemana Monastery, which the local guy who showed us around told us was built in the first century, but was more likely built in the 700s.  Closest to Mardin was the Deyrul Zaferan Monastery, built in 497 and the largest in the area and the seat of the Syriac Christian community from the 1300s to the 1900s, although now more of a tourist site.  It was interesting to see this small community that has survived in this area since the dawn of Christianity, despite the numerous wars, conquests, and changes of power that have taken place all around it over the centuries.

Paul digs the twin bell towers at the Mor Gabriel Monastery, and the ancient church at Mor Meryemana

Active Syriac churches on the outskirts of Midyat

Bell towers are the common theme in Tur Abdin, and a clear contrast to surrounding minarets.

After Mardin, we moved west across northen Mesopotamia to Şanlıurfa, also known just as Urfa, another unique city close to the Syrian border, with a significant Arabic-speaking population (not common in Turkey).  This city is ancient, and claims to be the site of Abraham's birth--Abraham is not only an important figure in Jewish and Christian tradition, but in Islamic tradition as well.  His reputed birthplace is now a holy site surrounded by a large mosque complex, and the destination for many Muslim pilgrims.  The site is adjacent to the Balıklı Göl, which means Fishy Lake, which is pretty much just like it sounds, but also carries importance as the site of Abraham's deliverance from King Nimrod, according to Islamic tradition.  The entire area makes for a very nice park, and we enjoyed the cool evening among the throngs of other Urfalı families out on the town.

We also visited Harran, the remains of an ancient city between Urfa and Akçakale (the town on the Syrian border where 5 Turkish citizens had been killed by a Syrian mortar round earlier that month--we did not go there).  Harran has been inhabited for about 5000 years, and is even mentioned in Genesis Chapter 12 as the place Abraham (then Abram) lived for a while.  The town is no longer the center of commerce it once was, but its ruins, only a small portion of which have been excavated, indicate that it was a big deal back in the day.  The most notable remains inlcude the tower at the center of the city, which the Turkish government claims was a minaret for the public Great Mosque.  However, according to many scholars the tower predates Islam, and was likely an astronomical observatory as part of an ancient university, according to the local guide we picked up entering town.  Who to believe?
Harran is also the site of numerous beehive-shaped houses, the primary architecture until about 15 years ago.  The rooves were shaped this way since wood to support a ceiling is scarce in the area; plus, it makes it easier for smoke from an indoor fire to escape.


Tower in Harran, along with some Roman ruins

Our guide told us that four more significant historical sites could be found east of Harran--we ventured out that way, but the road was in pretty bad shape and we only had enough time to visit the first one--a cave/quarry where much of the rock used to build structures in the area was harvested.  Once we showed up a gaggle of children followed us around, showing us the different caves and excited about Paul.  They were probably from one or two families, and spoke Arabic as their first language, though they are only taught in Turkish in school.

Our last stop on the way back to Diyarbakır from Urfa was the Göbekli Tepe (Potbelly Hill) archaelogical site, one of the most revealing sites about prehistory in the world. Previously the oldest identified built-up site was Çatal Hüyük, which was determined to be about 10000 years old. Archaeologists discovered Göbekli Tepe, a grouping of what appears to be several temples or ritual buildings, about 18 years ago, and determined it to be over 12000 years old. This means that during a time that scientists previously thought humans lived only as nomadic hunter-gatherers, a community settled in this area and organized itself at least long enough to construct these impressive buildings. Large stones likely used as column or pillars in the buildings remain, with animals and anthropomorphic figures carved into the sides of the stone. We were able to talk to a couple of the archaeologists on site, who have been working for years painstakingly excavating, recording, and analyzing the ruins. Pretty awesome stuff.

Stone figure excavated from Göbekli Tepe



Göbekli Tepe excavation site

Ancient ducks on ancient rocks

 We finally headed back to Diyarbakır for our flight out.  We got into town early and thought we could pick up some lunch.  No luck--all the shops were closed, lots of people (some with their faces covered) were milling around, and burning tires and overturned dumpsters were blocking the streets.  It looked like the police were beginning to mobilize.  Locals had been demonstrating in support of a hunger strike carried out by imprisoned Kurds--another day on the edge in Diyarbakır.  We decided to be on our way home and went to the airport.

 

Paul is excited for more RUINS!

In Urfa; Dennis needs a haircut, big time.