Kurdistan: Dara

                            Tigranakert

•Ancient Armenian city

•Thriving metalworks and glass production

•Place of the Armenian Genocide

•Constantius II built the city walls (built of black basalt ) by 349 AD: extend for 6 km, very prominent today

•The Syriac orthodox church of Our Lady 3rd cent.

                      Sylvan (Martyropolis)

•Probable location of the ancient capital of Armenia built by king Tigran the Great (95-55 BC)  In 69 BC, battle won by Romans

•387 AD : part of Byzantine empire

•in 400, the bishop brought a large number of relics back from Persia. Relics of martyrs of Christians. For this reason named Martyropolis.

                                 Mardin (Marida)

•Syriac Orthodox churches

•Monastery 5 km east of city: Saffron monastery at the site was a sun worshippers structure from 2,000 BC within the monastery

           Nusaybin (Antiocheia Mygdonia)

•Plutarch suggested it was populated by Spartans

•Newly discovered church of St. Jacob

•Had medical school of Nisibis

•Center of Nestorian Christianity

•30 km away the roman city of Dara – Anastasiopolis of the 6th cent. (today village of Oguz). Extensive ruins

•important garrison town. Building started in 505 AD during Emperor Anastasius

Haberli

•Assyrians most ancient Christian community in Turkey

•Due to lack of jobs, most have immigrated

•4th cen.t Mor Gabriel monastery : one of the world’s oldest, visitors from Europe attended traditional Christmans services and ate traditional Christmas meals of boiled meat and onions

•Assyrians began adopting Christianity in the 1st century, 600 years before the regiuon was conquered by Arabs

                               Midyat

•historic churches

•24 km away is the monastic church of Meryemanna (El Hadra). This 5th cent. foundation sports a 2-storey wedding cake turret with blind arches atop a pyramidal roof, archways and lintels are also heavily ornamented

•mar Yakoub monastic church

•Mar Kyriakos

•Mar Azazael church

            Hasankeyf (Cephe)

•remarkable remains original Roman, later Byzantine bishopry of Cephe

•Threated by the Ilisu Dam across the Tigris, stopped for the moment

•World outcry stopped dam construction

•Thousands of churches, caves