Saturday, April 07, 2007

Turkey's Ancient Assyrian Christian Community Looks to the Future

"The Syriacs [Assyrians] in southeast Turkey are celebrating Easter, with high hopes for the future. There are approximately 2,000 Syriacs left in the hilly region around Mardin and Midyat in southeast Turkey, bound in by the Tigris to the north and east, and by the Syrian border to the south. Most villages of Tur Abdin are desolate and decayed. Approximately, 300 to 400,000 Syriacs from Turkey live in Europe.

The area is called Tur Abdin in the Syriac language (Aramaic). It is an ethnic and religious mosaic where four languages (Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish and Syriac) are spoken.

Syriacs are Christians whose gospels are written in Aramaic."
Turkey's Ancient Assyrian Christian Community Looks to the Future

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