Midyat
Midyat (Midyad,مديات) is a town in the Midyat District of Mardin Province in Turkey. The ancient city is the center of a centuries-old Hurrian town in Upper Mesopotamia. In its long history, the city of Midyat has been ruled by various different leaders and nations. It had a population of 83,148 in 2021.
Before World War I, Midyat was the only town in the Ottoman Empire with an Assyrian/Syriac majority. According to the 1960 population census Midyat was home to 570 Christian households and only 30 Muslim households.
In the modern era, the town is populated by Assyrians, Kurds and Mhallami people. The old Estel neighborhood is about 80 to 85% Kurdish-populated.
The history of Midyat can be traced back to the Hurrians during the 3rd millennium. Ninth century BC Assyrian tablets refer to Midyat as Matiate, or city of caves due to the caves at eleth 3 km away from the city where the earliest inhabitants lived. Many different empires had ruled over Midyat including the Mitannians, Assyrians, Arameans, Armenians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Abbasids, Seljuks and Ottomans. Below the town exists an underground city named Matiate, which is assumed to have been in use for about 1900 years and at its peak been inhabited by up to 70'000 people.
The leading Syriac Orthodox family, the Safars, were highly placed in the Deksuri confederation, while other local Syriacs were aligned with the opposing, anti-government Heverkan confederation. In mid-1915, Christians in Midyat considered resistance after hearing about massacres elsewhere, but the local Syriac Orthodox community initially refused to support this. Hanne Safar Pasha was persuaded to break with other Christian leaders who wanted to organize an uprising in Midyat. Shortly thereafter, Safar was killed after all male members of the pacifist Protestant Hermez family. In late June, kaymakam Nuri Bey disappeared, likely executed by Mehmed Reshid after refusing to massacre local Christians. On 21 June, 100 men (mostly Armenians and Protestants) were arrested, tortured for confessions implicating others, and executed outside the city; this panicked the Syriac Orthodox. Local people refused to hand over their arms, attacked government offices, and cut telegraph lines; local Arab and Kurdish tribes were recruited to attack the Christians. The town was pacified in early August after weeks of bloody urban warfare which killed hundreds of Christians. Survivors fled east to the more-defensible Iwardo, which held out successfully with the food aid of local Yazidis.
Before World War I, Midyat was the only town in the Ottoman Empire with an Assyrian/Syriac majority. According to the 1960 population census Midyat was home to 570 Christian households and only 30 Muslim households.
In the modern era, the town is populated by Assyrians, Kurds and Mhallami people. The old Estel neighborhood is about 80 to 85% Kurdish-populated.
The history of Midyat can be traced back to the Hurrians during the 3rd millennium. Ninth century BC Assyrian tablets refer to Midyat as Matiate, or city of caves due to the caves at eleth 3 km away from the city where the earliest inhabitants lived. Many different empires had ruled over Midyat including the Mitannians, Assyrians, Arameans, Armenians, Medes, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Abbasids, Seljuks and Ottomans. Below the town exists an underground city named Matiate, which is assumed to have been in use for about 1900 years and at its peak been inhabited by up to 70'000 people.
The leading Syriac Orthodox family, the Safars, were highly placed in the Deksuri confederation, while other local Syriacs were aligned with the opposing, anti-government Heverkan confederation. In mid-1915, Christians in Midyat considered resistance after hearing about massacres elsewhere, but the local Syriac Orthodox community initially refused to support this. Hanne Safar Pasha was persuaded to break with other Christian leaders who wanted to organize an uprising in Midyat. Shortly thereafter, Safar was killed after all male members of the pacifist Protestant Hermez family. In late June, kaymakam Nuri Bey disappeared, likely executed by Mehmed Reshid after refusing to massacre local Christians. On 21 June, 100 men (mostly Armenians and Protestants) were arrested, tortured for confessions implicating others, and executed outside the city; this panicked the Syriac Orthodox. Local people refused to hand over their arms, attacked government offices, and cut telegraph lines; local Arab and Kurdish tribes were recruited to attack the Christians. The town was pacified in early August after weeks of bloody urban warfare which killed hundreds of Christians. Survivors fled east to the more-defensible Iwardo, which held out successfully with the food aid of local Yazidis.
Map - Midyat
Map
Country - Turkey
 |
|
| Flag of Turkey | |
One of the world's earliest permanently settled regions, present-day Turkey was home to important Neolithic sites like Göbekli Tepe, and was inhabited by ancient civilisations including the Hattians, Hittites, Anatolian peoples, Mycenaean Greeks, Persians and others. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great which started the Hellenistic period, most of the ancient regions in modern Turkey were culturally Hellenised, which continued during the Byzantine era. The Seljuk Turks began migrating in the 11th century, and the Sultanate of Rum ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, when it disintegrated into small Turkish principalities. Beginning in the late 13th century, the Ottomans united the principalities and conquered the Balkans, and the Turkification of Anatolia increased during the Ottoman period. After Mehmed II conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, Ottoman expansion continued under Selim I. During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman Empire became a global power. From the late 18th century onwards, the empire's power declined with a gradual loss of territories. Mahmud II started a period of modernisation in the early 19th century. The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 restricted the authority of the Sultan and restored the Ottoman Parliament after a 30-year suspension, ushering the empire into a multi-party period. The 1913 coup d'état put the country under the control of the Three Pashas, who facilitated the Empire's entry into World War I as part of the Central Powers in 1914. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Greek and Assyrian subjects. After its defeat in the war, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| TRY | Turkish lira | ₺ | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| AV | Avar language |
| AZ | Azerbaijani language |
| KU | Kurdish language |
| TR | Turkish language |