Midyat

The history of Midyat can be traced back to the Hurrians during the third 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.[8] Below the town exists an underground city named Matiate, which is assumed to have been in use for about 1,900 years and at its peak been inhabited by up to 70,000 people.[9]

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.[10] In mid-1915, Christians in Midyat considered resistance after hearing about massacres elsewhere, but the local Syriac Orthodox community initially refused to support this.[11] 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.[12] In late June, kaymakam Nuri Bey disappeared, likely executed by Mehmed Reshid after refusing to massacre local Christians.[13] On 21 June, 100 Christian men (mostly Armenians and Protestants) were arrested, tortured for confessions implicating others, and executed outside the city; this panicked the Syriac Orthodox population.[14][15] Local people refused to hand over their arms, attacked government offices, and cut telegraph lines; local Arab and Kurdish tribes were recruited by the Ottoman government to attack the Christians.[14] The town was pacified in early August after weeks of bloody urban warfare which killed hundreds of Christians (Assyrians and Armenians).[16][17] Survivors fled east to the more-defensible Iwardo, which held out successfully with the food aid of local Yazidis.[17][18]

Telkari silver jewelry from Midyat, a popular export and handicraft

Midyat is the regional center of commerce for the district, and is one of the largest cities in Mardin Province. Similarly with Mardin, the city is known for its Syriac handicrafts such as carpets, towels and other cloth goods. More specific to the city is its Syriac silver crafts called telkari, which are handcrafted filigreed ornaments. To the east of the city there is a winery that makes traditional Syriac wine: a wine native to the region. Another staple in the Midyat market is its bulgur, which is a cereal food derived from wheat.[26]

Midyat, part of the province of Mardin, has a semi-arid climate with very hot and dry summers and cold, wet, and occasionally snowy winters. Temperatures in summer usually increase to 40 °C – 50 °C (104 °F – 122 °F) due to Mardin being situated right next to the border with Syria. Snowfall is quite common between the months of December and March, snowing for a week or two. Mardin has over 3,000 hours of sun per year. The highest recorded temperature is 48.8 °C.

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  Courtyard of the Kasr-i Nehroz hotel
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  A statue of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Kardeşlik Park
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  Midyat (2013): A picture of the Assyrian old town, taken from a rooftop in the southeastern part of the old town facing north.
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  A mosque in Midyat
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  The Protestant Church of Midyat, located in old Midyat- pictured prior to its renovation in 2014/2015.
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  Syriac Christian quarter in Midyat
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  Syriac Christian quarter in Midyat
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  Mor Gabriel Monastery
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  Panorama of the city of Midyat

• Gaunt, David (2006). Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I. Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-59333-301-0.
• Gaunt, David (2015). "The Complexity of the Assyrian Genocide". Genocide Studies International. 9 (1): 83–103. doi:10.3138/gsi.9.1.05. ISSN 2291-1847.
• Gaunt, David (2020). "The Long Assyrian Genocide". Collective and State Violence in Turkey: The Construction of a National Identity from Empire to Nation-State. Berghahn Books. pp. 56–96. ISBN 978-1-78920-451-3.
• Kaiser, Hilmar (2014). The Extermination of Armenians in the Diarbekir Region. İstanbul Bilgi University Press. ISBN 978-605-399-333-9.
• Kévorkian, Raymond (2011). The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85771-930-0.

• Study on the spoken Arabic of Midyat, in the Arabic language

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