Though the language of Christ is on everyone�s tongue these days � the Syriac Christian�s in South East Turkey who still use it in their daily life, feel forgotten.
In the area known to them as Tur Abdin, located between the Syrian boarder and the banks of Tigris river, is a dwindling community of Christians struggling to hold on to what had been theirs for more than a thousand years before the Turks claimed it. As recently as the 1930�s around 70,000 Syriac Christians lived in the area about the size of Delaware, but after a century of repression that nearly did away with their language and culture, that number today stands closer to 2000.
As Turkey�s bid for EU membership draws nearer pressures to reform have been taking effect. Just this month Turkey was credited by EU and US officials for the reforms that have been sweeping through parliament include abolishment of the death penalty, criminalizing the use of torture � and boosting new freedoms of __expression as well as better treatment of its large Kurdish minority.
�We feel the changes � says religious leaders at Mor Gabriel monastery who still only speak with journalist on conditions of anonymity � and in the same breath they worry that too much emphasis is being placed on the more visible Kurdish minority which numbers around 15 million. The concerned talk around the monastery today is a repeat of history like the outcome of the Lausanne Peace Treaty between Turkey and Europe back in 1923 which guaranteed minority rights for Turkey�s Armenian, Greek and Jewish communities but left out the Syriac Christians and ever since has been the loophole used by the Turkish government to justify its restricted freedoms on the area�s Christians including banning repairs to their churches and the teaching of their ancient language
People here are aware that speaking about it can get you blacklisted or worse yet a prison sentence.
Just last year a teacher was arrested and indicted for speaking out against the education ministry�s urging that all 5th and 7th graders compose an essay on the fallacious claims that the Turkish government was involved in the genocide.
�I don�t think we will really know freedom until officially in the EU.� � says community officials at Mor Gabriel Monastery
Laws coming out of Ankara and the law here along Arab boarders is not always the same thing.�
In the city Midyat, considered the center of Syriac Community, where the church bells compete with minaret�s calls for prayer � the population is a mix of Kurds, Arabian, Turks, Christians, and even a few Zoroastrian � also known as fire worshipers. The market place is a cultural scene of women in the all covering �burka� along side Kurdish women with facial tattoos and colorful headbands. The Christians are said to stand out because of their impeccable dress � an effect of their history as the region�s artisans; tailors, jewelers and stone masons, which fine workmanship can still be seen on the arabesque ornamentation over church doorways and the bell towers�.
Today Midyat�s church bells are ringing with an added spark as earlier this month they held the grand opening of The Syriac Culture and Social Club of Midyat which was attended by over 700 Syriac Christian from the area and its vast diasporas who came in from as far away as Australia for the historical even.
Gebro Tokgoz, President of the Syriac Culture and Social Club, which is already expanding to offer housing for visiting diasporas and language classes for older generations deprived of a Syriac language education, claims the problems today are more about lack of finances than restrictions.
As the music played and young boys and girls paraded around in tradition costumes conversations around the table about the new changes was going on. Locals and diasporas were all talking about the government beginning to return property that had been confiscated from emigrating Christians and the slow but steady return of families �back home�. To date, seven villages have been repopulated by returning Christians from Northern Europe and the village church bells which laid silent for decades are now ringing again.
But as the celebrations inside the walls of the park commenced � outside the guarded gate a group of local men were threatening violence over a visiting family of Syriac Christians and calling for them to leave the country. Police were called in and escorted the pack away from the entrance.
�This is why we do not want to return.� Says an emotional Syriac Christian who�s camera was smashed in the melee. �The laws change but people are still the same� If this was Germany they would be taken away but here the police talk with them, pat them on the back and send them home - and everything is okay� THE END