Tur Abdin

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Tur Abdin 🌍 An ancient region in upper Mesopotamia
🕊️ The cultural & religious heartland of the Suryoye

23/09/2026

🙏 A compilation of various šahre (vigil gatherings) held in villages, churches and monasteries across Tur Abdin during the summer of 2026.

15/08/2026

🕊️ From the Feast of the Departure/Dormition of the Virgin Mary in the villages of Hah and Midyat in Tur Abdin. May her prayers be with us.

02/07/2026

⚽ Since 1996, the Tur Abdin Football Tournament has brought together villages, families, and generations through football.

This video shows the evolution of the tournament through highlights from three finals across three different decades:

2003 – Miden vs. Arkah
2012 – Beth Qustan vs. Arkah Mor Afrem
2022 – Midyat Mor Hobil Mor Abrohom vs. Miden Mor Yacoub

📜 Stone-carved inscriptions in Classical Syriac have been discovered in Eshtrako, an ancient Suryoyo village in Tur Abdi...
16/06/2026

📜 Stone-carved inscriptions in Classical Syriac have been discovered in Eshtrako, an ancient Suryoyo village in Tur Abdin.

Eshtrako has been empty of Suryoyo villagers and families since the late 1970s, but this discovery is a powerful reminder of the deep Suryoyo roots of the village and the wider Tur Abdin region.

The inscriptions are believed to be connected to an ancient church, with early estimates suggesting a possible date from the 4th or 5th century AD. Further analysis is expected to determine their exact age, origin, and meaning.

⚽️ Some country and World Cup team names in Turoyo.
14/06/2026

⚽️ Some country and World Cup team names in Turoyo.

⛪ Some Church vocabulary in Turoyo
02/06/2026

⛪ Some Church vocabulary in Turoyo

👨🏻‍🌾 Some farm vocabulary in Turoyo (Surayt)
23/05/2026

👨🏻‍🌾 Some farm vocabulary in Turoyo (Surayt)

06/04/2026

🌿 Palm Sunday celebrations and the Service of Lights ("Nahire") to enter Holy/Passion Week from various locations in Tur Abdin; specifically in Midyat, Bsorino, Arkah, and the Monastery of Mor Gabriel.

🙏 Thanks to on Instagram for their footage.

24/01/2026

🥟 Daniella and Manuella making traditional šamborakkat in the village of Kfarze in Tur Abdin.

Recorded by Mzizah News – follow them on Facebook and YouTube.

🧭 Gertrude Bell was a female British writer, traveler, archaeologist, and more who spent many years exploring and mappin...
17/01/2026

🧭 Gertrude Bell was a female British writer, traveler, archaeologist, and more who spent many years exploring and mapping the Middle East.

On May 19, 1909, during the time of Bishop Mor Philoxenos Abdelahad Beth Mase, she visited the Syriac Orthodox Monastery of Mor Augin in Tur Abdin.

She likely reached the monastery from the village of Sederi (Üçyol), which she referred to as "Usedere." In her diary, she recorded her visit in these words:

"Left at 6 and rode up through the oak woods to Der Mar Augen just over the lip of the hills … Mar Augen is the mother house [main monastery] of this district. We got to it after about 2 hours succeeding in pulling our horses down over the rocks.

There are 10 monks; they live mostly in caves some of which have upper chambers. I do not doubt that this is the real primitive monasticism.

The bp [Mor Philoxenos Abdelahad Beth Mase], an old man, has shut himself up in a cave, walled in and almost inaccessible above the monastery and intends to spend the rest of his days in silence. He eats once a day; the food is hoisted[?] up to him in a basket - burghul, bread, lentils and oil - none of the monks eat anything else.

The rais [abbot] … took me up to Mar Augen’s cell [living and prayer space] in the rocks above the monastery to the W [west]. The kitchen is a half open cave with a big cave behind it as storehouse - skins of burghul in it.

Several of the monks wd not [would not] look at a woman and were carefully sent into their caves. The rais [abbot] made an exception in my favour.

The monastery owns lands and vinyards but only so much of the produce is assigned to it by the church at large as is necessary for the livelihood of the monks …

The Rais [abbot] gave me lunch in his cell, omelet, burghul and raisins. He proposes, if allowed, to spend the rest of his days at Mar Augen. His native place is Mardin."

The Gertrude Bell Archive is located at the University of Newcastle in England.

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