History
The town of Midyat and the villages of Hah, Bequsyone, Dayro da-Slibo, Salah (with the old monastery of Mor Yaqub), `Aynwardo (with Mor Huschabo), Anhel, Kafro, Arkah (Harabale, with Dayro Mor Malke), Beth Sbirino, Middo (Miden), Kerburan, Binkelbe with Mor Samun Zayte and Azech were all important Syriac Orthodox places among with countless other villages. Hah has the ancient `Idto d'Yoldath-Aloho, the Church of the Mother of God.
During the First World War, 500,000 Assyrian/Syriac people were killed in the Assyrian Genocide (called in Syriac Sayfo, simply 'the sword') and died alongside their coreligionists. In the last few decades, caught between Turks assimilation policies against Kurds, and Kurdish resistance, many Assyrians/Syriacs have fled the region or been killed. Today there are only 5000, a quarter of the Christian population thirty years ago. Most have fled to Syria, Europe (particularly Sweden, Germany, the UK and the Netherlands), Australia and the USA. However, in the past few years, a few families have begun to return to Tur Abdin.
Read more about this topic: Tur Abdin
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