STONE CİTY'S MARDİN

STONE CİTY'S MARDİN

Mardin Province is a province of Turkey with a population of 779,850.{fact source needed} The population was 835,173 in 2000[1]. The capital of the Mardin Province is Mardin. Located near the traditional boundary of Anatolia and Mesopotamia, it has a diverse population with a Arabic majority in provinces Mardin, Midyat, Yeşilli, Savur, Ömerli and significant minorities of Kurds, Syriacs and Turks. And with a Kurdish majority in provinces Kızıltepe, Nusaybin, Derik, Mazıdağı, Dargeçit and significant minorities of Arabs,Assyrians, Syriacs and Turks
The local Syriac Christian community, while much reduced due to the results of the Assyrian Genocide, supports two of the oldest monasteries in the world, Dayro d-Mor Hananyo (Turkish Deyrülzafaran, English Saffron Monastery) and Deyrulumur Monastery. The Christian community is concentrated on the Tur Abdin plateau and in the town of Midyat, with a smaller community (approximately 100) in the provincial capital.

Politically the area is competitive between the governing moderate-Islamist Justice and Development Party and Kurdish nationalist Democratic People’s Party, and the True Path Party has some strength, especially in rural parts of the province.[2] The area was the scene of bitter fighting between the Turkish Army and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party for much of the 1970s and 1980s.
The old town of Midyat, second city of the province

Unemployment and poverty are serious problems, and there has been considerable out migration to western and southern Turkey, although the reduction in political violence, coupled with infrastructure improvements such as a new civil airport at the provincial capital and improvements to the Ankara-Baghdad highway are helping ameliorate matters.

Mardin is an Aramaic word and means “fortresses”.

Districts
Mardin province is divided into 10 districts (capital district in ‘bold):

* Dargeçit
* Derik
* Kızıltepe
* Mardin
* Mazıdağı
* Midyat
* Nusaybin
* Ömerli
* Savur
* Yeşilli

Mardin
Mardin is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for its Arab-style architecture, and for its strategic location on a rocky mountain overlooking the plains of northern Syria.[1] Mardin has a very mixed population, Turks, Assyrians, Syriacs, Arabs and Kurds all represent large groups.

History
The earliest settlers in Mardin were Assyrian Christians, arriving in the 3rd century AD; in fact, the old Assyro-Babylonian religion existed in Mardin until the 18th century.[3] Most Syriac Orthodox churches and monasteries in the city, which are still active today, date from the 5th century AD, such as the Deyrülzafarân Monastery.[citation needed] Mardin is likely the Maride and Marida of the Greeks and Romans. Another important church, Kırklar Kilisesi (Church of the 40 Martyrs), originally built in the name of Benham and Saro, the two sons of the Assyrian ruler who executed them because they chose to become Christian, dates from 569 AD.Mardin remained a heavily Christian area during its control by Muslim Arabs between the seventh and twelfth centuries, and even during its use as a capital by the Artukid Turkish dynasty which ruled Eastern Anatolia and Northern Mesopotamia between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. The 12th century Sitti Radviyye Madrasa, the oldest of its kind in Anatolia, dates from this period. The lands of the Artukid dynasty fell to the Mongols who took control of the region in 1394, but the Mongols never directly governed the area. Mardin was later controlled by the Turkish Akkoyunlu kingdom. The Kasımiye Madrasa was built by Sultan Kasım, son of the Akkoyunlu Sultan Cihangir, between 1457 and 1502.

Main post office building

Historical landmarks

Mardin has often been considered an open-air museum due to its historical architecture. Most buildings use the beige colored limestone rock which has been mined for centuries in quarries around the area. The whole city has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site under the "Mardin Cultural Landscape".

 

Monastery of Deyrul Zafran

 

Churches

• Meryemana (Virgin Mary) Church
• Mor Yusuf (Surp Hovsep; St Joseph) Church
• Mor Behnam (Kırk Şehitler) Church - built in the name of Mor Behnam and Mort Saro, the son and daughter of a ruler; dates back to 569 AD
• Deyrü'z-Zafaran Monastery - The Syriac Orthodox Saffron Monastery was founded in 439 AD and is one of the oldest monasteries in the world and the only one that is still functioning in southern Turkey. From 1160 until 1932, it was the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, until the Patriarchate relocated to the Syrian capital Damascus. The site of the monastery itself is said to have been used as a temple by sun worshipers as long ago as 2000 BCE.^[19][20]
• Mor Mihail Church
• Mor Semune Church
• Mor Petrus and Pavlus (SS. Peter and Paul) Church
• Red (Surp Kevork) Church
• Mor Cercis Church
• Mor Efraim Monastery

 

The Great Mosque of Mardin

 Mosques

• Great Mosque (Ulu Camii) - constructed in the 12th century by the ruler of the Artukid Turks, Qutb ad-din Ilghazi. It has a ribbed dome and a minaret that soars above the city. There were originally two minarets, but one collapsed many centuries ago.
• Melik Mahmut Mosque - built in the 14th century and contains the tomb of its patron Melik Mahmut. It is known for its large gate which features elaborate stonework.
• Abdüllatif Mosque (Latfiye Mosque) - built in 1371 by the Artukid ruler Abdüllatif. Its minaret was destroyed by Tamerlane's army and rebuilt many centuries later in 1845 by the Ottoman Governor Gürcü Mehmet Pasha.
• Şehidiye Medresse and Mosque - built in 1214 by Artuk Aslan. It has an elaborate ribbed minaret and an adjoining madrassa.
• Selsel Mosque

 

Zinciriye Medrese

 

• Necmettin Gazi Mosque
• Kasım Tuğmaner Mosque
• Reyhaniye Mosque - the second largest mosque in Mardin after Ulu Camii. Built in the 15th century, it has a large courtyard and open hallway featuring a fountain.
• Hamidiye Mosque (Zebuni Mosque) - built before the 15th century, it is named after its patron Şeyh Hamit Effendi.
• Süleymanpaşa Mosque
• Secaattin and Mehmet Mosque
• Hamza-i Kebir Mosque
• Şeyh Abdülaziz Mosque
• Melik Eminettin el-Emin Mosque
• Sıtra Zaviye Mosque
• Şeyh Salih Mosque
• Mahmut Türki Mosque
• Sarı Mosque
• Şeyh Çabuk Mosque - built in the 14th century and contains the tomb of its patron Şeyh Çabuk
• Nizamettin Begaz Mosque
• Kale Mosque
• Dinari Mosque

Zinciriye Medrese

Madrassas

• Zinciriye Medrese (Sultan Isa Medrese) - constructed in 1385 by Najm ad-din Isa. The madrasa is part of a complez that includes a mosque and the tomb of Najm ad-din Isa.
• Sitti Radviyye Medrese (Hatuniye Medrese) - built in the 12th century in the honor of Sitti Radviyye, the wife of Najm ad-din Alpi. There is a footprint that is claimed to be that to be that of the Prophet Muhammad.
• Kasımiye Medrese - construction started by the Artukids and completed by the Akkoyunlu under Sultan Kasım. It has an adjoining Mosque and a Dervish lodge.