Syria refugees swell Christian community in Turkey.docx

7/27/2019 Syria refugees swell Christian community in Turkey.docx

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Syria refugees swell Christian community in Turkey

By Diana Darke Eastern Turkey

Syria's Christians belong to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, but chased

away by the threat of violence some are heading for neighbouring Turkey, where they have

been greeted with considerable enthusiasm.

Driven by a deep and humble faith, Father Joaqim is a young man with a sense of destiny. He

has returned from 11 years in Holland to revive his dying community in eastern Turkey.

We are standing together on the terrace of his newly restored monastery, high on a remote

escarpment near Nusaybin, looking south over the Mesopotamian Plain.

"Thank God our community is alive again," he says, his face radiating out from the distinctive

black cap of his Syriac Orthodox habit. "On Sundays our church is full with worshippers from the

village."



"You have transformed this place," I marvel, admiring the quality of the renovations. "Back in

the 1980s, when I first came here, there was no path and it took an hour to climb up here. Thisterrace was a vegetable patch and a local family was living in the ruins."

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What is Syriac Christianity?

Syriac Christianity dates back to the third century

It was dynamic in the first millennium, bringing Christianity to China and India

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23614968#story_continues_2




It also acted as a medium for the transmission of Greek thought to the Arab world

The Syriac language is closely related to Arabic and Hebrew

"Yes," he replies serenely, "They were Yezidis. They moved in after the last monk died. They

looked after the monastery very well."

The thought of a Syriac Orthodox monk being grateful to Yezidis, sometimes reviled as devil-

worshippers by Muslims and Christians alike, was a novel one.

But surprises like these come thick and fast in eastern Turkey, where the Turkish government

has invested heavily over the past decade, building hydro-electric dams on the Tigris and

Euphrates, extending agriculture and employment to help settle local communities, including

Kurdish ones.

As for the Syriac Christians, custodians of some of the earliest surviving churches in the world,

this was always their homeland, the region known as Tur Abdin, Syriac for "Mountain of the

Servants of God".

Father Joaqim guides me out of the blazing summer sun into a shady spot to sit. A young helper

appears with a tray of refreshments.

"Once there were 80 thriving monasteries here," he tells me. "This was the first, founded by

Mor Augen - St Eugene. He was a 4th Century pearl diver in the Red Sea, who taught us the

Egyptian monastic tradition."

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From Our Own Correspondent





He describes - without any trace of rancour - how successive persecutions from Christians,

Mongols and Turks decimated their numbers, leaving just a handful of monks struggling to keepthe main monasteries alive.

"When I returned two years ago," he continues, gently sipping his tea, "I asked the government

for permission to re-open the monastery, and they agreed.

"They paid for the new tarmac road to reach the foot of the mountain, and they paid to bring

the electricity. We paid for the road to continue up here and for the restoration works."

"That can't have been easy, getting permission from the government," I say.

"It was very easy. We were invited back officially." He explains how EU pressure has gradually

forced a change in Turkish policy. "The politicians now realise it is good to have us here. Rich

members of our community are returning from Europe and investing their life savings."

He pauses. "What is more difficult," he elaborates, "are the land disputes with our Kurdish

neighbours".

"In some places they use our churches as stables. We are only a minority, of course, but our

local MP is now a Christian from our community. He represents the Kurdish Party, so maybe we

can resolve our differences."



I gesture down to the plain below and ask about the war in Syria just across the border, within

sight of the monastery: "Are you afraid it will spill over here?"

"Not at all," he replies. "We want our brothers to come back from Syria. Most of them fled there

during the First World War. They have always shared our ancient Syriac language and culture.

Several of their families are living in our village. They help our church - and our football team,"

he smiles.

Across the Tur Abdin, some of the long-abandoned villages are slowly coming back to life, not

just with emigre families from the Syriac disapora returning from Europe, but also with co-

religionists from Syria, separated by an artificial border, returning to the bosom of their

community in Turkey.



A boutique hotel

in Midyat

From a low point of just 80 families, there are now around 150. A slick Syriac-staffed factory

even harvests the produce of Syriac vineyards, making Syriac wines for sale in the restaurants of

the new boutique hotels in the historic towns of Mardin and Midyat.

"What about that smart refugee camp outside Midyat?" I ask him. "It looked brand-new but half

empty."

"It is for Syriac Christians," Father Joaqim explains. "The land was donated by a Syriac

businessman. Like us, he hopes many Syriac Christians from Syria will come with their families

and settle here. Thank God for them."

Who could have imagined that in a remote corner of eastern Turkey, the war in Syria would be

reuniting an ancient community? Only Father Joaqim, perhaps.

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Syria refugees swell Christian community in Turkey.docx