Turkish Christians are somehow confusing ethnicities, they are coming from the Arabs, Greeks, Romans, Abyssinians, Persians, and others. Religious, Syriac, the language of the “holy” book, Armenian and Kurdish. They follow different churches, such as Syriac, Catholic, and Protestant.
Most of them are in the region of Mardin and its surroundings. Specifically in the districts of Mediath, Al-Tire and Batlis.
They have names and languages often inferred from their ethnic background. “Bitlis” in eastern Anatolia and there are those who carry Arab names such as; “Abdullah, Naima, Jamil, Habib, Abu al-Khair, Abu al-Faraj” and others. And some of them carry religious Christian names, such as: “Thomas, Qaryakis, Antanios, Gerges, Michael, and Peter.
Origins of Turkish Christians
Among these Syriacs was the priest “Gnatius Ephrem the First Barsoum”; The Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, who was known as the “Bishop of the Arabs”.
And among them are the remnants of the missionaries and Christian tourists.
They used to flock to the region at the beginning of Christianity to spread it there, and they were from different homes, and various places, and among them were: The Egyptian, the Ethiopian, the Palestinian, the Antiochene, and the Greek.
Most of them settled in these areas, such as: “Mar Eugen. Al-Masry, Mar Isaiah Al-Halabi, Mar Yarth Al-Iskandari, Mar Kerabil Al-Qastini, Mar Otel Al-Majdali, and Mar Ya’qub Al-Masry.
Roman and Greek, such as: Ada, Aha, Danha, Shabba, Isaiah, Stephanos, Cyriacus, Philip, Theodora, Romanos, Gorgius.
Their Languages
They speak various languages, most of them speak the ancient primitive Arabic, which is the Mardinian or Halami dialect. Ghaleb, Shayban, Iyad, Bakr, Wati, and others) are mixing with some of those who are from Arabs.
Their Locations
They have old sales and monasteries that still keep their Arabic names to this day, such as: “Deir al-Jeb al-Barani” in Qartamayn, “The monastery of al-Qaim” in Qalith, and “Monastery of Mar Ya`qub al-Habis” near Salih and “Monastery of Saint John al-Tai” near Nusaybin The “Monastery of Mar Dudu Al-Sadousi” near Azakh, “Monastery of Saint Shimon Al-Zitouni” is in prison, “Deir Qouba” near Dafna, “Deir Al-Saffron” near Mardin, and “Deir Al-Omar” between Mediad and Kartimin, and these are the last two.
The Syriac Orthodox Church, at the beginning of the twentieth century, changed their names from “Deir al-Saffron” to “Markbarriel Monastery” and from “Deir al-Omar” to “Monastery of St. Hanania.”
They are in mountainous areas, and in villages, such as: “Haha, Arbu, Mazizikh, Kafarzi, Basbreen, Baqsian, Bani Kalb, Badabah, Anhal, Ain Warda, and Kufru Alito.” And many of these grandchildren still speak the Syriac Church language today.
Among these Christians are those who speak Kurdish as well, and live in villages such as: “Kufr Baha, Salih, Arnas, Karpuran, Yardu.” Most probably they are Kurdish Christians, and who He mixed them with other Christians; including the clergy, and others, and lived among them.
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, these Christians migrated to the Syrian Jazira, and were distributed in areas: “Derek, the Al-Baid graves, Qamishli, Tal Alo belonging, Al-Hadi Castle, Suleiman Sari, Haddad, Qasrouk, Baylouna, Umm Kif, Fatuma, and Kubeiba.