View source for Assyrians in Turkey

{{Short description|Ethnic group in the Republic of Turkey}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Turkish Assyrians
| image            = Assyrians Christians from Gaznakh.jpg
| caption          = Turkish Assyrian Christians in [[Cevizağacı, Beytüşşebap]]
| population       = 30,000<ref> {{cite web |title= 2018 U.S. Department of State International Religious Freedom Report: Turkey |url= https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-report-on-international-religious-freedom/turkey/ |access-date= 2020-05-20 |archive-date= 2020-04-25 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200425223904/https://www.state.gov/reports/2018-report-on-international-religious-freedom/turkey/ |url-status= live }}</ref>
| popplace         = [[Istanbul]] <br> Cities of [[Hakkâri (city)|Hakkâri]], [[Mardin]] and [[Yüksekova]] <br> [[Southeastern Anatolia Region]] (historically)
| langs            = [[Suret language|Suret]], [[Turoyo|Surayt]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]]
| rels             = [[Syriac Christianity]]
| related          = 
| native_name      = ܣܘܪܝܝܐ ܕܛܘܪܩܝܐ ([[Syriac language|Syriac]])
| native_name_lang = sy
| flag             = {{flagicon|Assyria}}  {{flagicon|Turkey}}
}}
{{Assyrian culture}}

'''Assyrians in Turkey''' ({{langx|tr|Türkiye Süryanileri}}, [[Syriac language|Syriac]]: ܣܘܪܝܝܐ ܕܛܘܪܩܝܐ) or '''Turkish Assyrians''' are the [[indigenous peoples|indigenous]] [[Semitic language|Semitic-speaking]] ethnic group and an oppressed minority of [[Turkey]], who are [[Eastern Aramaic]]–speaking [[Christians]], with most being members of the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], [[Chaldean Catholic Church]], [[Assyrian Pentecostal Church]], [[Assyrian Evangelical Church]], or [[Ancient Church of the East]].

They share a common history and [[Assyrian identity|ethnic identity]], rooted in shared [[Syriac language|linguistic]], [[Assyrian culture|cultural]] and [[Syriac Christianity|religious traditions]], with [[Assyrians in Iraq]], [[Assyrians in Iran]] and [[Assyrians in Syria]], as well as with the [[Assyrian diaspora]].{{sfnp|Hooglund|2008|pp=100–101}} Assyrians in such European countries as Sweden and Germany would usually be [[Turoyo]]-speakers or Western Assyrians,<ref>B. Furze, P. Savy, R. Brym, J. Lie, Sociology in Today's World, 2008, p. 349</ref> and tend to be originally from [[Turkey]].<ref name="Nineveh Press">{{cite book |last1=Lundgren |first1=Svante |title=The Assyrians: Fifty Years in Swedenq |date=15 May 2019 |publisher=Nineveh Press |isbn=978-91-984101-7-4 |page=14}}</ref>

The Assyrians were once a large ethnic minority in the [[Ottoman Empire]], living in the [[Hakkari province|Hakkari]], [[Sirnak province|Sirnak]] and [[Mardin province|Mardin]] provinces, but, following the [[Sayfo]] (1915, also known as the Assyrian genocide), most were murdered or expelled to [[Iraqi Kurdistan|northern Iraq]], northeast Syria, and northwest Iran, to join their fellow Assyrians. Most of those who survived the genocide and stayed in Turkey left the country for [[Western Europe]] in the 2nd half of the 20th century, due to conflicts between the [[Kurdistan Workers' Party]] (PKK) and the [[Turkish Land Forces]]. As of 2019, an estimated 300,000 of the country's 750,000 Assyrians live in [[Istanbul]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Assyrians community thrives again in southeastern Turkey|url=https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2019/01/10/assyrian-community-thrives-again-in-southeastern-turkey|last=DHA|first=Daily Sabah with|date=2019-01-10|website=Daily Sabah|language=en|access-date=2020-05-20|archive-date=2019-01-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110220953/https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2019/01/10/assyrian-community-thrives-again-in-southeastern-turkey|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Yusuf Çetin, Spiritual Leader of the Syriac Orthodox Community, as of 2023, there are 25,000-30,000 Assyrians in Turkey, including 17,000 to 22,000 in Istanbul,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-06 |title=Cumhuriyetin ilk kilisesi açılıyor… Süryani Ruhani Lideri’nin ilk röportajı CNN Türk’te |url=https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/cumhuriyetin-ilk-kilisesi-aciliyor-suryani-ruhani-liderinin-ilk-roportaji-cnn-turkte-42341964 |access-date=2023-10-07 |website=www.hurriyet.com.tr |language=tr}}</ref> most of them in [[Yeşilköy]], where the new [[Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church]] was inaugurated on 8 October 2023.<ref name=DS20231008/>

==History==
===Ottoman era===
[[File:Assyrian population 1914.svg|thumb|Percentage of the prewar population that was Assyrian, presented by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation to the 1919 peace conference.
{{legend|#8800aa|More than 50%}}
{{legend|#cc00ff|30–40%}}
{{legend|#d42aff|20–30%}}
{{legend|#dd55ff|10–20%}}
{{legend|#e580ff|5–10%}}]]
[[File:Tur Abdin.svg|left|thumb|Map of Assyrian settlements in their homeland, [[Tur Abdin]]]]
The [[Ottoman Empire]] had an elaborate system of administering the non-Muslim "[[People of the Book]]." That is, they made allowances for accepted monotheists with a scriptural tradition and distinguished them from people they defined as pagans. As People of the Book (or ''[[dhimmi]]''), Jews, Christians and Mandaeans (in some cases Zoroastrians) received second-class treatment but were tolerated.

In the Ottoman Empire, this religious status became systematized as the "[[Millet (Ottoman Empire)|millet]]" administrative pattern. Each religious minority answered to the government through its chief religious representative. The Christians that the Ottomans conquered gradually but definitively with the conquest of [[Constantinople]] in 1453 were already divided into many ethnic groups and denominations, usually organized into a hierarchy of bishops headed by a patriarch.{{sfn|Gaunt ''et al.''|2017| pp=18–19}}{{sfn|Gaunt|2015|p=86}}

As for the [[Assyrian tribes|5 Assyrian Tribes]] of [[Hakkari (historical region)|Hakkari]], The [[Mor Shimun|Shimun Patriarchate]] in [[Qodshanis]], who the Tribes worshipped because it was the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]'s Holy See: was directly subservient to the [[Sublime Porte]], who the see paid the [[tax]]es to which they collected from the tribes.<ref>Nisan 2002, p.188: "The wild Christian tribes of Hakkari, whither no Government of any sort has ever extended, still pay tribute to their Patriarch for transmission to the Sultan; and not taxes through the tax collector."</ref>

Those who had converted to [[Protestantism]] did not want to pay an annual tribute to the older churches through local bishops who then passed some of it up to the Patriarch who then passed some of it to the Porte in the form of taxes. They wanted to deal directly with the Porte, across ethnic lines (even if through a Muslim administrator), in order to have their own voice and not be subjected to the rule of the Patriarchal system. This general Protestant charter was granted in 1850.<ref>John Joseph, ''Muslim–Christian Relations and Inter-Christian Rivalries in the Middle East: The Case of the Jacobites in an Age of Transition'', State Univ of New York Press, 1983, {{ISBN|0-87395-600-1}}</ref>
[[File:Syrian Women of the Kurdistan Mountains in Flight.png|thumb|Assyrian women fleeing through the mountains during ''[[Sayfo]]'', 1915]]
Gaunt has estimated the Assyrian population at between 500,000 and 600,000 just before the outbreak of World War I, significantly higher than reported on Ottoman census figures. [[Midyat]], in [[Diyarbekir vilayet]], was the only town in the Ottoman Empire with an Assyrian majority, although divided between Syriac Orthodox, Chaldeans, and Protestants.{{sfn|Gaunt|2015|p=87}} Syriac Orthodox Christians were concentrated in the hilly rural areas around Midyat, known as [[Tur Abdin]], where they populated almost 100 villages and worked in agriculture or crafts.{{sfn|Gaunt|2015|p=87}}{{sfn|Üngör|2011|p=13}} [[Assyrian culture|Syriac Orthodox culture]] was centered in two monasteries near [[Mardin]] (west of Tur Abdin), [[Mor Gabriel Monastery|Mor Gabriel]] and [[Deyrulzafaran]].{{sfn|Üngör|2011|p=15}} Outside of the area of core Syriac settlement, there were also sizable populations in the towns of [[Diyarbakır]], [[Urfa]], [[Harput]], and [[Adiyaman]]{{sfn|Gaunt ''et al.''|2017| p=19}} as well as villages. Unlike the Syriac population of Tur Abdin, many of these Syriacs spoke other languages.{{sfn|Gaunt|2020|p=57}}

Under the leadership of the [[Patriarch of the Church of the East]], based in [[Qudshanis]], [[Assyrian tribes]] ruled the [[Hakkari (historical region)|Hakkari]] mountains (east of Tur Abdin, adjacent to the [[Ottoman–Persian border]]) with ''aşiret'' status—in theory granting them full autonomy—with subordinated farmers.{{sfn|Gaunt|2015|p=87}} Hakkari is very mountainous with peaks reaching up to {{convert|4,000|m}} separated by steep gorges, such that many areas could only be accessed by footpaths carved into the side of mountains.{{sfn|Gaunt|2020|p=58}} The Assyrian tribes sometimes fought each other on behalf of their [[Kurd]]ish allies.{{sfn|Gaunt|2020|p=59}} Church of the East settlement began to the east on the western shore of [[Lake Urmia]] in [[Qajar Iran|Persia]], in the town of [[Urmia]] and surrounding villages; just north, in [[Salamas]], was a Chaldean enclave. There was a Chaldean area around [[Siirt]] in [[Bitlis vilayet]] (northeast of Tur Abdin and northwest of Hakkari),{{sfn|Gaunt|2015|pp=86–87}} which was mountainous but less so than Hakkari,{{sfn|Gaunt|2020|p=58}} but the bulk of Chaldeans lived farther south, in modern-day Iraq and outside of the zone that suffered genocide during World War I.{{sfn|Gaunt|2015|pp=86–87}}

===Republic of Turkey===
After 1923, local politicians went on an [[Anti-Christian sentiment|anti-Christian]] campaign that negatively affected the Syriac communities (such as [[Adana]], [[Urfa]] or Adiyaman) that had not been affected by the [[Sayfo|1915 genocide]]. Many were forced to abandon their properties and flee to Syria, eventually settling in [[Aleppo]], [[Qamishli]], or the Khabur. The [[Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East|Syriac Orthodox patriarchate]] was expelled from Turkey in 1924, despite its declarations of loyalty to the new Turkish government.{{sfn|Gaunt|2020|p=88}} Unlike Armenians, Jews, and Greeks, Assyrians were not recognized as a minority group in the 1923 [[Treaty of Lausanne]].{{sfn|Biner|2019|p=xv}} The remaining population lived in submission to Kurdish aghas, and were subjected to constant harassment and abuse which pushed them to emigrate.{{sfn|Biner|2011|p=371}}{{sfn|Biner|2019|p=xv}} Turkish laws [[denaturalized]] those who had fled and confiscated their property. Despite their actual citizenship rights, many Assyrians who remained in Turkey had to re-purchase their own properties from Kurdish aghas or risk losing their Turkish citizenship.{{sfn|Biner|2011|p=371}} Some Assyrians continued to live in Tur Abdin until the 1980s; this was the last substantial Christian population in Turkey living rurally in its original homeland.{{sfn|Gaunt|2020|p=69}} Some scholars have described ongoing exclusion and harassment of Syriacs in Turkey as a continuation of the [[Sayfo]].{{sfn|Biner|2019|pp=14–15}}
[[File:Eskikale-Mardin Merkez-Mardin, Turkey - panoramio (3).jpg|thumb|[[Mor Hananyo Monastery]] is an important [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriac Orthodox]] monastery in [[Tur Abdin]], Turkey.{{sfn|Üngör|2011|p=15}}]]
Unlike other persecuted [[Christianity in Turkey|Christian groups]] like the [[Greeks in Turkey|Greeks]] and [[Armenians in Turkey|Armenians]], the Assyrian community of Turkey managed to sustain its numbers after the [[Assyrian Genocide]] but they had many hardships nevertheless. In the 1960s, it became increasingly unsafe for Assyrians/Syriacs in [[Midyat]], the regional centre of [[Tur Abdin]]. Muslims incited violent anti-Christian protests as a response to events unfolding in [[Cyprus]]. This led to many Assyro-Syriacs not seeing a future for themselves in their ancestral homeland.<ref name="Nineveh Press"/> By the 1980s the Assyrian population of Turkey was around 70,000 people,<ref>"The Assyrians of Turkey are a remnant population of the formerly large Assyrian Jacobite faction. They number about 70,000 souls." http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/assyrians-in-iran#pt3 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204215842/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/assyrians-in-iran#pt3 |date=2015-02-04 }}</ref> although down from the 300,000 or so in total who survived after the genocide. The currently diminished number of 28,000 Assyrians today was caused largely due to [[Kurdish–Turkish conflict (1978–present)|Kurdish insurgencies]] in the 1980s and the bad state of most of the Middle East, along with the forever looming issue of Turkish governmental discrimination.<ref name="aina.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.aina.org/releases/20141202192116.htm|title=Turkey's Duplicitous Game With Assyrians|website=aina.org|access-date=19 August 2017|archive-date=15 January 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150115210442/http://www.aina.org/releases/20141202192116.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> By the end of the conflict in the late 1990s, less than 1,000 Assyrians were still in [[Tur Abdin]] or Hakkari, with the rest living in Istanbul.

In 2001, the Turkish government invited Assyrians/Syriacs to return to Turkey,<ref name=nyt120404>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/world/middleeast/hopes-to-revive-the-christian-area-of-turkey.html?pagewanted=all |title=Hopes to Revive the Christian Area of Turkey |first=Susanne |last=Gusten |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 4, 2012 |access-date=February 28, 2017 |archive-date=January 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120190454/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/world/middleeast/hopes-to-revive-the-christian-area-of-turkey.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref> but some speculate that the offer was more of a publicity stunt, as a land law passed a short time before caused Assyrians who owned untilled farms or land with forests on them (which a large amount did, as those in diaspora could not till or maintain the properties they owned while living elsewhere) to have the land they owned confiscated by the state and sold to third parties. Another law made it illegal for non-Turkish nationals to purchase land in Mardin province, where most Assyrians would have immigrated to.<ref name="aina.org" /> Regardless of those laws a few did come, such as those who still had their citizenship and could buy property and managed to avoid having their land taken – but many more who could have come back could not due to the laws passed.
[[File:StEphremSyriacOrthodoxChurchInYesilkoy.jpg|thumb|[[Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church]], the first church built since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey]]
Some Assyrians who have fled from [[ISIL]] have found temporary homes in the city of [[Midyat]]. A refugee center is located near Midyat, but due to there being a small Assyrian community in Midyat, many of the Assyrian refugees at the camp went to Midyat hoping for better conditions than the refugee camp had. Many refugees were given help and accommodation by the local Assyrian community there, perhaps wishing that the refugees stay, as the community in Midyat is in need of more members.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141229-syriac-christians-refugees-midyat-turkey/|title=Middle Eastern Christians Flee Violence for Ancient Homeland|date=29 December 2014|work=National Geographic|access-date=19 August 2017|archive-date=29 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141229215711/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141229-syriac-christians-refugees-midyat-turkey/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2013, Assyrians were allowed to open the first school operating in their mother tongue since 1928. The same year, 55 Syriac churches, monasteries, and cemeteries in [[Mardin Province]] confiscated by the Turkish state were returned to them. On 8 October 2023, the [[Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church]] opened, the first church built since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey.<ref>{{Cite web |title='Syriac Orthodox church gives Istanbul new richness' |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/syriac-orthodox-church-gives-istanbul-new-richness/1548812 |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=aa.com.tr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-04 |title=Türkiye's 1st Orthodox church built in post-republic era set to open |url=https://www.dailysabah.com/turkiye/minorities/turkiyes-1st-orthodox-church-built-in-post-republic-era-set-to-open |access-date=2023-10-05 |website=Daily Sabah}}</ref> As of 2023, the Syriac community owns 113 properties registered in the name of community foundations.<ref name=DS20231008>{{Cite web |date=2023-10-08 |title=President Erdoğan inaugurates Türkiye's 1st post-republic era church |url=https://www.dailysabah.com/turkiye/minorities/president-erdogan-inaugurates-turkiyes-1st-post-republic-era-church |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=Daily Sabah}}</ref>

== Language ==
Unlike Armenians, Jews, and Greeks, Assyrians were not recognized as a minority group in the 1923 [[Treaty of Lausanne]] and could not open schools teaching their language.<ref name=Varli/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sabah |first=Daily |date=2019-08-26 |title=Last 17 years a golden era for minority communities, witnessing period of increased rights |url=https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2019/08/26/last-17-years-a-golden-era-for-minority-communities-witnessing-period-of-increased-rights |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=Daily Sabah |language=en-US}}</ref> The last Assyrian-language school was closed in 1928.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-08-03 |title=Türkiye'de modern tarihin ilk Süryani Kilisesi için temel atıldı |url=https://tr.euronews.com/2019/08/03/turkiye-de-modern-tarihin-ilk-suryani-kilisesi-icin-temel-atild-erdogan-ve-imamoglu-torene |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=euronews |language=tr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title='Syriac Orthodox church gives Istanbul new richness' |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/syriac-orthodox-church-gives-istanbul-new-richness/1548812 |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref>

On 18 June 2013, the Ankara 13th Circuit Administrative Court ruled in favor of Assyrians' right to use their mother tongue as stated in the Treaty of Lausanne.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Akbulut |first=Olgun |date=2023-10-19 |title=For Centenary of the Lausanne Treaty: Re-Interpretation and Re-Implementation of Linguistic Minority Rights of Lausanne |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/ijgr/aop/article-10.1163-15718115-bja10134/article-10.1163-15718115-bja10134.xml |journal=International Journal on Minority and Group Rights |volume=-1 |issue=aop |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1163/15718115-bja10134 |issn=1385-4879|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>[[:tr:s:Beyoğlu Süryani Kadim Meryemana Kilisesi Vakfı 2013|Ankara 13th Circuit Administrative Court, 18 June 2013 (E. 2012/1746, K. 2013/952)]].</ref> The Ministry of Education accepted the decision and a first kindergarten opened in 2014.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Government's Move Expected to Help Save Assyrian Language |url=http://www.aina.org/news/20131101185040.htm |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=www.aina.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |title=The Assyrian case: The impact of the European Union on Turkey`s minority rights concept |url=https://acikbilim.yok.gov.tr/handle/20.500.12812/231553 |publisher=Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü |date=2018-08-06 |degree=masterThesis |language=en |first=Ayman |last=Köseoğlu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Erdem |first=Fazıl Hüsnü |last2=Öngüç |first2=Bahar |date=2021-06-30 |title=SÜRYANİCE ANADİLİNDE EĞİTİM HAKKI: SORUNLAR VE ÇÖZÜM ÖNERİLERİ |url=https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/duhfd/issue/63313/959939 |journal=Dicle Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi |language=tr |volume=26 |issue=44 |pages=3–35 |issn=1300-2929}}</ref> In 2023, [[Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]] announced the opening of a new Assyrian school, funded by the government.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan: Nefret suçlarına göz yumanlar, farklı kültürlerin bir arada yaşama iradesini dinamitlemektedir |url=https://www.aa.com.tr/tr/gundem/cumhurbaskani-erdogan-nefret-suclarina-goz-yumanlar-farkli-kulturlerin-bir-arada-yasama-iradesini-dinamitlemektedir/3011693 |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=www.aa.com.tr}}</ref>

Classical Syriac and modern [[Surayt]] are taught are [[Mardin Artuklu University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=T.C. MARDİN ARTUKLU ÜNİVERSİTESİ - Süryanice |url=https://www.artuklu.edu.tr/mauzem/suryanice |access-date=2023-10-21 |website=www.artuklu.edu.tr}}</ref>

In a 2017 survey, 64% of Assyrians in Istanbul declared "Assyrian" as their mother tongue, while 27% declared Turkish.<ref name=Varli>{{Cite journal |last=Arikan |first=Arda |last2=Varli |first2=Ozan |last3=Kürüm |first3=Eyüp Yaşar |date=2017-05-01 |title=A Study of Assyrians’ Language Use in Istanbul |url=https://sciendo.com/article/10.1515/sm-2017-0003 |journal=Sustainable Multilingualism |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=56–74 |doi=10.1515/sm-2017-0003|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Religion==
[[File:Syriac Catholic Church in Istanbul.jpg|thumb|[[Syriac Catholic Church]] in Istanbul]]
The Assyrians are an ethnic group divided into a variety of different Christian churches, and those churches vary dramatically in liturgy and structure, and even dictate identity (see [[Terms for Syriac Christians]]). The predominant Christian denomination among Assyrians in Turkey is the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], with their 15,000–20,000 followers being called [[Syriac Orthodox Christians (Middle East)|Syriacs]].<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey">{{cite book|title=Religious Minorities in Turkey: Alevi, Armenians, and Syriacs and the Struggle to Desecuritize Religious Freedom| first=Christoph |last=Giesel|year= 2017| isbn= 9781137270269| page =169 |publisher=Springer|quote=}}</ref> Due to migration, the Syriacs' main residential area in Turkey today is [[Istanbul]], where between 12,000 and 18,000 live.<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey" /> Between 2,000 and 3,000 Syriac Orthodoxs still live in [[Tur Abdin]], and they are spread among 30 villages, [[Hamlet (place)|hamlets]], and towns.<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey" /> Some of these locations are dominated by Syriacs while others are dominated by the Kurds.<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey" /> Additionally, there are a few Syriac Orthodox Christian communities in [[İzmir]], [[Ankara]], [[İskenderun]], [[Diyarbakir]], [[Adıyaman]], [[Malatya]], [[Elazığ]], and a few other places.<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey" /> As part of the return movement some Syriac Orthodox returned to [[Tur Abdin]] villages from [[Germany]], [[Sweden]] and [[Switzerland]].<ref>Çaglar (2013), p. 122</ref><ref>Güsten (2016), p. 11</ref><ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey"/>

The second largest denomination is the [[Chaldean Catholic Archeparchy of Amida|Chaldean Catholic Church in Turkey]], which has around 7,000–8,000 members who live primarily in [[Diyarbakir]], [[Mardin]], [[Sirnak province]], and Istanbul. In 2016 it was estimated that there were about 48,594 [[Chaldean Catholics]] in Turkey.{{sfn|CNEWA 2016}} Diyarbakir was the city in which the Chaldean Catholic Church was founded when it [[Schism of 1552|separated in 1552]] from the [[Assyrian Church of the East]]. Prior to the [[Sayfo]] there was also a large community of Nestorians, or followers of the [[Assyrian Church of the East]], and Syriac Catholics. The [[Nestorian]] [[Assyrian Tribes|Tribes]] lived in the [[Hakkari (historical region)|Hakkari]] mountains on the southeastern edge of Turkey's border, which is now part of the modern day [[Sirnak province|Sirnak]] and [[Hakkari province]]s.<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey"/> Additionally, the Patriarch of the Nestorian church had his [[Episcopal see|See]] until mid-1915 based in a village in that region known as [[Konak, Hakkari|Qodshanis]] after he and his followers settled there in the 1660s, making Turkey the center of their church structure.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baum|first1=Wilhelm|last2=Winkler|first2=Dietmar W.|title=The Church of the East: A Concise History|location=London and New York|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2003|isbn=9781134430192|page=4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CnSCAgAAQBAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Joseph|first=John|year=2000|title=The Modern Assyrians of the Middle East|location=Leiden|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|isbn=9789004116412|page=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=79wj2hj4wKUC}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fredaprim.com/pdfs/2008/20080307a.pdf|title=Assyria and Assyrians Since the 2003 US Occupation of Iraq|last=Aprim|first=Frederick A.|date=7 March 2008|website=Fredaprim.com|access-date=6 May 2020|archive-date=7 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170807153159/http://www.fredaprim.com/pdfs/2008/20080307a.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Syriac Catholic Church]] had their See in [[Mardin]] during the 1800s after being driven out of [[Aleppo]] due to oppression by the Syriac Orthodox Church. A large community lived in the southeast in the [[Tur Abdin]] region until they were massacred and forced to flee during the [[Sayfo]] to Lebanon, where the See was reestablished. There is still a tiny Syriac Catholic community that lives in [[Mardin]] and Istanbul,<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey"/> but most Syriac Catholics now live in [[Iraq]], [[Syria]], and [[Lebanon]]. Syriac Protestant Churches exist in Turkey as well.<ref name="Religious Minorities in Turkey"/>

<gallery>
Syriac Orthodox church and cemetery in Zeytinburnu.jpg|Syriac Orthodox Church and Cemetery in Istanbul
Dêra Marpetyun a keldaniyan a Amêdê 2 2010.JPG|Mar Pithyoun (St. Anthony) Chaldean Catholic Church in [[Diyarbakır]]
Mor Gabriel Manastırı Kuleleri.jpg|[[Mor Gabriel Monastery]] in [[Tur Abdin]]
Virgin Mary Church Diyarbakir DSCF9174.jpg|[[St. Mary Church, Diyarbakır]]
Nahansicht Mutter-Maria-Kirche.jpg|[[Syriac Orthodox Church]] of the Virgin Mary, Istanbul
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Sources ==
* {{Cite book|last1=Gaunt|first1=David|last2=Atto|first2=Naures|last3=Barthoma|first3=Soner O.|chapter=Introduction: Contextualizing the Sayfo in the First World War|title=Let Them Not Return: Sayfo - The Genocide Against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire|year=2017|publisher=Berghahn Books|pages=1–32|isbn=978-1-78533-499-3|ref={{sfnref|Gaunt et al.|2017}}}}
* {{cite book |last=Hooglund |first=Eric |author-link=Eric Hooglund |editor1-first=Glenn E. |editor1-last=Curtis |editor2-first=Eric |editor2-last=Hooglund |editor2-link=Eric Hooglund |others=[[United States Library of Congress]], [[Federal Research Division]] |title=Iran: A Country Study |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/irancountrystudy00curt_2/page/81 |chapter-format=PDF |access-date=13 October 2013 |edition=5th |series=Area Handbook Series |year=2008 |publisher=[[United States Government Printing Office]] |location=[[Washington, D.C.]] |isbn=978-0-8444-1187-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/irancountrystudy00curt_2/page/81 81–142] |chapter=The Society and Its Environment |chapter-url-access=registration }}
*{{cite book |last=Gaunt|first=David |title=Collective and State Violence in Turkey: The Construction of a National Identity from Empire to Nation-State |date=2020 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1-78920-451-3 |language=en|chapter= The Long Assyrian Genocide|pages=56–96}}
*{{cite book |last1=Polatel |first1=Mehmet |title=The End of the Ottomans: The Genocide of 1915 and the Politics of Turkish Nationalism |date=2019 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=978-1-78831-241-7 |pages=119–140 |language=en|chapter=The State, Local Actors and Mass Violence in Bitlis Province }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Biner |first1=Zerrin Özlem |title=Multiple imaginations of the state: understanding a mobile conflict about justice and accountability from the perspective of Assyrian–Syriac communities |journal=[[Citizenship Studies]] |date=2011 |volume=15 |issue=3–4 |pages=367–379 |doi=10.1080/13621025.2011.564789|s2cid=144086552 }}
*{{cite book |last1=Biner |first1=Zerrin Özlem |title=States of Dispossession: Violence and Precarious Coexistence in Southeast Turkey |date=2019 |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |isbn=978-0-8122-9659-4 |language=en}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Gaunt |first1=David |title=The Complexity of the Assyrian Genocide |journal=Genocide Studies International |date=2015 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=83–103 |doi=10.3138/gsi.9.1.05 |s2cid=<!-- none --> |language=en |issn=2291-1847|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/690 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Üngör |first1=Uğur Ümit |author1-link=Uğur Ümit Üngör |title=The Making of Modern Turkey: Nation and State in Eastern Anatolia, 1913–1950|title-link=The Making of Modern Turkey |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-965522-9 |language=en}}
*{{cite web|title=The Eastern Catholic Churches 2016. Source: Annuario Pontificio|year=2016|website=CNEWA|url=http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/Roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat16.pdf|pages=3–4|ref={{harvid|CNEWA 2016}}|access-date=2022-03-23|archive-date=2016-10-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020094357/http://www.cnewa.org/source-images/roberson-eastcath-statistics/eastcatholic-stat16.pdf|url-status=dead}}

==See also==
{{Commons category|Assyrians in Turkey}}
* [[Assyrian homeland]]
* [[Christianity in Turkey]]
* [[Minorities in Turkey]]

== External links ==
* {{Cite web |title=İstanbul - Ankara Süryani Ortodoks Metropolitliği |url=https://www.suryanikadim.org/anasayfa.aspx |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=www.suryanikadim.org}}

{{Assyrian communities}}
{{Asia in topic|Assyrians in}}
{{Europe in topic|Assyrians in}}
{{Demographics of Turkey}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syriacs In Turkey}}
[[Category:Assyrians in Turkey| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Turkey]]