Arıca, Gercüş

Village in Batman Province, Turkey

Village in Batman, Turkey

Arıca

Village

Arıca

Location in Turkey

Coordinates: 37°30′32″N 41°26′38″E﻿ / ﻿37.509°N 41.444°E﻿ / 37.509; 41.444
Country| Turkey
Province| Batman
District| Gercüş
Population

(2021)

| 344
Time zone| TRT (UTC+3)

Arıca (Classical Syriac: ܟܦܪܐ ܥܠܝܬܐ, romanized: Kafro `Elayto,[1][nb 1] Kurdish: Kefri, Kefrê[4][5]) is a village in Batman Province in southeastern Turkey. It is located in the district of Gercüş and the historical region of Tur Abdin.

In the village, there are churches of Mor Aho and Mor Dimet,[6] Mor Jacob,[7] and Mor Barsaumo.[3] The Monastery of Mor Barsaumo is also located north of the village.[3]

The village is populated by Assyrians and by Kurds of the Kercoz tribe.[4] In 2021, the population was 344.[8]

## Etymology[edit]

The Syriac name of the village is derived from "kafro" ("village" in Syriac) and "elayto" ("upper" in Syriac), thus Kafro `Elayto translates to "upper village". This name serves to distinguish the village from Kafro Tahtayto ("lower village" in Syriac).

## History[edit]

Amidst the Assyrian genocide, in 1915, Kafro Elayto was populated by 80 Assyrian families and 30 Kurdish families.[7] After a five-day siege by a Kurdish force led by Yusuf Agha, most of the village's Assyrian population were massacred and their houses destroyed, and a few survivors fled to Inwardo.[7] The Assyrians later returned, and roughly 60 Assyrian families are recorded in the 1980s,[7] however, they were forced to flee due to the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, and as of 2012 there are no remaining Assyrians.[2]

## Notable people[edit]

* Mor Julius Yeshu Cicek (1942-2005), Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Central Europe
* Mehmet Şimşek (b. 1967), Turkish politician[9]

## References[edit]

Notes

1. ^ Alternatively transliterated as Kafro Helayto, Kafro Eleito,[2] or Kafro Eloyto.[3]

Citations

1. ^ "ܩܫܝܫܐ ܝܘܣܦ ܫܐܗܝܢ – القس يوسف شاهين". Syriac Electronic School (in Arabic). 28 March 2018. Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
2. ^ a b Tamcke (2012), p. 18.
3. ^ a b c Sinclair (1989), p. 319.
4. ^ a b Tan, Altan (2018). Turabidin'den Berriye'ye. Aşiretler - Dinler - Diller - Kültürler (in Turkish). p. 172\. ISBN 9789944360944.
5. ^ Biner (2019), p. x.
6. ^ "Threatened or destroyed churches and monasteries in the Tur Abdin". Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch Archdiocese of the Western United States. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
7. ^ a b c d "Kafro-Elayto". Foundation for Conservation and Promotion of the Aramaic Cultural Heritage (in German). Retrieved 14 July 2020.
8. ^ "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2021" (XLS) (in Turkish). TÜİK. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
9. ^ "Mehmet Şimşek - Munzinger Biographie". www.munzinger.de. Retrieved 2022-11-27.

## Bibliography[edit]

* Biner, Zerrin Ozlem (2019). States of Dispossession: Violence and Precarious Coexistence in Southeast Turkey. University of Pennsylvania Press.
* Sinclair, T.A. (1989). Eastern Turkey: An Architectural & Archaeological Survey, Volume III. Pindar Press. ISBN 9780907132349.
* Tamcke, Martin (2012). "The Collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the 'Seyfo' against the Syrians". The Slow Disappearance of the Syriacs from Turkey and of the Grounds of the Mor Gabriel Monastery, ed. Pieter Omtzigt, Markus K. Tozman, Andrea Tyndall. LIT Verlag Münster. pp. 15–25.

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Gercüş District

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