Kaleli (;, ) is a former village in the municipality and district of

Nusaybin Nusaybin () is a municipality and district of Mardin Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,079 km2, and its population is 115,586 (2022). The city is populated by Kurds of different tribal affiliation. Nusaybin is separated from the larger Kurd ...

, the

Mardin Province Mardin Province (; ; ; ) is a province and metropolitan municipality in Turkey. Its area is 8,780 km2, and its population is 870,374 (2022). The largest city in the province is Kızıltepe, while the capital Mardin is the second largest ci ...

. The village was populated by

Yazidi Yazidis, also spelled Yezidis (; ), are a Kurdish-speaking endogamous religious group indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran. The majority of Yazidis remaining in ...

Kurds Kurds (), or the Kurdish people, are an Iranian peoples, Iranic ethnic group from West Asia. They are indigenous to Kurdistan, which is a geographic region spanning southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northeastern Syri ...

of the Dasikan tribe. It was unpopulated as of 2021.

History

Girefshe (today called Kaleli) was historically inhabited by

Syriac Orthodox Christians The Syriac Orthodox Church (), also informally known as the Jacobite Church, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian denomination, denomination that originates from the Church of Antioch. The church currently has around 4-5 million followers. The ch ...

. The village was owned by Jallo Hanna. The

Syriac Catholic The Syriac Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic ''sui iuris'' (self-governing) particular church that is in full communion with the Holy See and with the entirety of the Catholic Church. Originating in the Levant, it uses the West Syriac R ...

bishop Gabriel Tappouni recorded that 150 Syriacs in 30 families populated Girefshe in 1913 and were served by one priest. It was inhabited by 400 Syriacs in 1914, as per the list presented to the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation. There were 40 Syriac families in 1915, many of whom were originally from Arbo. Amidst the

Sayfo The Sayfo (, ), also known as the Seyfo or the Assyrian genocide, was the mass murder and deportation of Assyrian people, Assyrian/Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan (Iran), Azerbaijan province by Ottoman Army ...

, the village's population took refuge at the Monastery of Mor Malke with their property and cattle. By 1987, there were no remaining Syriacs. Due to the oppressive Turkish state, the village saw a large-scale emigration to

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

from 1985 on. The Yazidis would largely settle in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Prior to the migration, the village had around 130 households of around 500 people but the village was completely left by 1989. Since 2011, many of these families decided to return but were prevented to do so due to Turkish bureaucracy. Feleknas Uca of the HDP took the case to the

Turkish Parliament The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

in 2017. The village was declared a special security zone from 4 August to 18 August 2023.

References

Notes Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Authority control Neighbourhoods in Nusaybin District Tur Abdin Former Yazidi communities in Turkey Kurdish settlements in Mardin Province Former populated places in Turkey Historic Assyrian communities in Mardin Province Places of the Sayfo