{{Short description|Town in Mardin Province, Turkey}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Use British English|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox Turkey place | type = metro district | name = Dargeçit | image_skyline = Kerboran.JPG | image_caption = | image_map = Mardin location Dargeçit.PNG | map_caption = Map showing Dargeçit District in Mardin Province | coordinates = {{Coord|37.544|41.720|display=inline,title}} | province = Mardin | leader_party = | leader_name = | leader_name1 = | area_total_km2 = 519 | elevation_m = 940 | population_footnotes = <ref name=tuik/> | population_total = 27147 | population_as_of = 2022 | postal_code = | area_code = 0482 | website = }} '''Dargeçit''' ({{langx|ar|كربوران}}, {{langx|ku|Kerboran}},{{sfnp|Avcıkıran|2009|p=55}} {{langx|syr|ܟܦܪܒܘܪܐܢ|Karburan}})<ref>{{cite web |url=https://syriaca.org/place/539|date=9 December 2016|title=Karburan - ܟܦܪܒܘܪܐܢ|last1=Carlson|first1=Thomas A.|access-date=2 October 2024|website=The Syriac Gazetteer}}</ref>{{efn|Alternatively transliterated as Kafarbūrān, Kafar Boran, Kärbōrān, Karbūrān, Karboran, Karkh Buran, Keferboran, Kerburân, Kerburan, Kfar-Boran’da, Kfar-Boran, Kfarbūrān, Kferburan, or Kırbüran.{{sfnmp|1a1=Jongerden|1a2=Verheij|1y=2012|1p=322|2a1=Wilmshurst|2y=2000|2p=44|3a1=Courtois|3y=2013|3p=144|4a1=Barsoum|4y=2008|4p=15|5a1=Gaunt|5y=2006|5p=232|6a1=Kévorkian|6y=2011|6p=376|7a1=Tan|7y=2018|7p=117|Palmer|1990|8p=258|Ritter|1967|9p=11|Travis|2018|10p=185|Courtois|2004|11p=185|Bcheiry|2009|12p=50}} Nisba: Kärbōrānī.{{sfnp|Ritter|1967|p=11}}}} is a municipality and district of Mardin Province, Turkey.<ref>[https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306001414/https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx |date=6 March 2023 }}, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 19 September 2023.</ref> Its area is 519 km<sup>2</sup>,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.harita.gov.tr/uploads/files-folder/il_ilce_alanlari.xlsx|title=İl ve İlçe Yüz ölçümleri|publisher=General Directorate of Mapping|access-date=19 September 2023}}</ref> and its population is 27,147 (2022).<ref name=tuik>{{Cite web |title=Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports|url=https://biruni.tuik.gov.tr/medas/?kn=95&locale=en |access-date=19 September 2023|publisher=TÜİK|language=en|format=XLS}}</ref> The town is principally populated by Kurds of the Erebiyan tribe.{{sfnp|Tan|2018|p=109}} It is located in the historic region of Tur Abdin.{{sfnp|Barsoum|2003|p=559}}
==Etymology== The Kurdish and Syriac names of the village are derived from "kfar" ("village" in Syriac) and "buron" ("fallow land" in Syriac).{{sfnmp|Keser Kayaalp|2021|1p=163|Aras|2005|2p=50}}
==History== There was a Church of the East monastery of Mar Shallīṭā, located on the west bank of the Tigris near Karburan (today called Dargeçit), which was last mentioned in the eleventh century.{{sfnp|Wilmshurst|2000|p=91}} A community of adherents of the Church of the East is known to have existed at Karburan from the scribe and deacon Masʿūd, who copied a manuscript there in 1429/1430 (AG 1741).{{sfnmp|Wilmshurst|2000|1pp=44, 48|Carlson|2018|2p=113}} At the beginning of the 18th century, some Syriac Orthodox families at Karburan converted to Catholicism under the influence of French missionaries.{{sfnp|Aras|2005|p=61}} It was recorded by the priest Yuhanna of Basibrina from the Qardash family that Karburan was set on fire by an emir called Bidayn in 1714.{{sfnp|Barsoum|2008|p=133}} According to oral tradition, in the 1750s, the Christians of Karburan placed themselves under the protection of the Erebi tribe to protect themselves from bandits and Kurds in neighbouring villages.{{sfnp|Aras|2005|pp=60–61}}
A number of Syriac Orthodox families in the village converted to Protestantism upon the arrival of English and American missionaries in the region in the 1830s and the establishment of a Protestant mission at Mardin in 1858.{{sfnp|Aras|2005|pp=53–54}} Some Syriac Orthodox families at Karburan joined the Syriac Catholic Church in the 1850s.{{sfnp|Aras|2005|p=53}} Muhammad Beg was killed at Karburan by Yezdanşêr and Musawwar Beg during their revolt in 1855.{{sfnmp|Barsoum|2008|1p=131|Tan|2018|2p=118}} In the Syriac Orthodox patriarchal register of dues of 1870, it was recorded that Karburan had 96 households, who paid 324 dues, and it was served by the Church of Morī Qūryāqūs and four priests.{{sfnp|Bcheiry|2009|p=50}} Following the arrival of the American missionary Caleb Frank Gates at Mardin in 1880, Syriac Protestants in the village appealed to him to establish a Protestant church at Karburan.{{sfnp|Aras|2005|p=54}} However, opposition to the construction of a Syriac Protestant church in the village from the Syriac Orthodox villagers led to a raid on the house of the leader of Protestants, in which the leader's son was killed and 200 sheep were stolen.{{sfnp|Aras|2005|p=54}} Despite this, a Syriac Protestant church was later built at Karburan.{{sfnp|Aras|2005|p=54}}
There were 300 Syriac, Armenian, and Kurdish families at Karburan in 1900.{{sfnp|Woźniak-Bobińska|2020|p=164}} In 1914, Karburan was inhabited by 2000 Syriacs, according to the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|pp=232, 427}} In 1915, the village was populated by 500 Christian families, including Syriacs and Armenians, and 60 Muslim families.{{sfnmp|Gaunt|2006|1p=232|Courtois|2004|2p=227}} The Syriac population was divided between Syriac Orthodox Christians, Syriac Catholics, and Syriac Protestants.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|p=232}} There were more than 350 Syriac Orthodox families.{{sfnp|Courtois|2004|p=186}} Twelve Syriac priests, one monk, and Mor Antimos Ya’qub of Esfes, the Syriac Orthodox bishop of Dayro da-Slibo, resided at Karburan.{{sfnmp|Gaunt|2006|1p=232|Takahashi|2011}} At this time, the village was one of the largest and richest villages in Tur Abdin and acted as a commercial and craftwork centre due to its many water mills.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|p=232}}
Amidst the Sayfo, in 1915, survivors of massacres in neighbouring villages fled to Karburan and informed the villagers of their plight.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|pp=232–233}} A council held by the Syriac notables was unable to agree upon a course of action and Mor Antimos Ya’qub was taken to the town hall by the Turkish ''mudir'' (village-level government official), where he eventually converted to Islam, believing that this would spare him.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|pp=232–233}} The Syriacs were consequently forced to barricade themselves in seven large building complexes, popularly known as the "seven palaces", after coming under attack from Kurds led by Ömar and Mustafa, the sons of Ali Ramo.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|pp=232–233}} Some Syriacs who agreed to leave the buildings after having received assurances from the Turkish ''mudir'' were taken to the town hall and killed whereas another group that refused to leave their building was attacked by the Turkish gendarmes and massacred.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|pp=232–233}}
The Syriac villagers managed to hold off the Turkish troops for four days until they ran out of ammunition and thus their building complexes were stormed one by one and, after each building was captured, the Turkish troops took the captive Syriacs outside and killed them in front of the other defenders.{{sfnmp|Gaunt|2006|1p=233|Travis|2018|2p=185}} Mor Antimos Ya’qub, despite his conversion to Islam, was seized by Mustafa ibn Ali Ramo and was tortured on the roof of a building and either had his throat slit or he threw himself from the roof.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|p=233}} The bodies were then collected and burned on a large fire.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|p=233}} The French Armenian historian Raymond Kévorkian notes that 600 Syriacs were able to flee whilst the British historian David Gaunt attests that about 100 Syriacs from Karburan survived.{{sfnmp|Gaunt|2006|1p=233|Kévorkian|2011|2p=376}} Some Syriacs survived as they had fled to Hah whereas others had been away from Karburan when the massacres took place, and some children were kept as servants in Muslim households.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|p=233}}
In the aftermath of the Sayfo, the Syriacs of Karburan largely adopted the Kurdish language as their mother tongue, whilst only a few continued to speak Syriac.{{sfnp|Atto|2011|p=237}} The population was 1285 in 1960.{{sfnp|Ritter|1967|p=12}} In 1966, 875 Kurdish-speaking Christians in 150 families inhabited Karburan.{{sfnp|Ritter|1967|p=12}} In 1970, Karburan was inhabited by 2000 people, of whom two thirds were Syriacs.{{sfnp|Courtois|2013|p=150}} From 1970 onwards, as a result of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict, the Syriacs of Karburan were forced to emigrate to Sweden, particularly the city of Västerås, Germany, and Belgium to escape the violent living conditions and thus the population dropped from about 300 families in 1975 to only 20 families in 1976.{{sfnmp|Atto|2011|1pp=198, 236|Yacoub|2016|2p=198}} By 1978, there were 16 Syriac families.{{sfnp|Dinno|2017|p=384}} Andreas (Endravos) Demir, the Christian mayor of Karburan, was killed by Kurds on 29 October 1978.{{sfnp|Aras|2005|p=26}} The final Syriac family left Karburan in 1979.{{sfnp|Courtois|2013|p=150}} The village's name was consequently changed to Dargeçit by the Turkish government.{{sfnp|Woźniak-Bobińska|2020|p=164}} The Church of Mar Cyriacus, which had been abandoned after the departure of the village's Syriac population, was later confiscated by the state treasury.{{sfnmp|Palmer|1990|1p=134|Barsoum|2008|2p=17|Tozman|2012|3p=149}} The Church of Mor Kuraykos was renovated by Syriacs in the diaspora whilst the Syriac Catholic and Syriac Protestant churches remain abandoned.{{sfnp|Woźniak-Bobińska|2020|p=164}} From the summer and autumn of 2015, Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militants fought against the Turkish government at Dargeçit until they were defeated in April 2016.{{sfnp|Yeğen|2021|p=325}}
==Government== The district of Dargeçit was established in 1987.<ref>{{Cite web |title=İl İdaresi ve Mülki Bölümler Şube Müdürlüğü İstatistikleri - İl ve İlçe Kuruluş Tarihleri |url=https://www.icisleri.gov.tr/kurumlar/icisleri.gov.tr/IcSite/illeridaresi/İstatistiki%20Bilgiler/İl%20İdaresi%20ve%20Mülki%20Bölümler/il%20ilce%20kurulus%20tarihleri_2019.pdf |access-date=27 December 2022 |page=62 |language=tr}}</ref> Dargeçit gained the status of town in 1989.{{sfnp|Atto|2011|p=198}} Since the 2013 administrative reform, Dargeçit is a metropolitan district and municipality. Prior to the reform, the district comprised the main town of Dargeçit (four neighbourhoods: Bahçebaşı, Safa, Saray and Tepebaşı), two towns (Kılavuz and Sümer), thirty-six villages and twenty-six hamlets.<ref name=tari>{{Cite web |title=Dargeçit Tarihçe |url=http://www.dargecit.gov.tr/tarihce |access-date=3 October 2023 |language=tr}}</ref>
There are 41 neighbourhoods in Dargeçit District:<ref>[https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx Mahalle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306001414/https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx |date=6 March 2023 }}, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 19 September 2023.</ref> {{div col|colwidth=15em}} * Akçaköy ({{Lang|ku|Îzar}}) * Akyol ({{Lang|ku|Derêca}}) * Alayunt ({{Lang|ku|Arbayê}}) * Altınoluk ({{Lang|ku|Gera Cafer}}) * Altıyol ({{Lang|ku|Serdef}}) * Bağözü ({{Lang|ku|Trîwa}}) * Bahçebaşı * Batur ({{Lang|ku|Batêr}}) * Baysun ({{Lang|ku|Êzdîna}}) * Beğendi ({{Lang|ku|Gizre}}) * Belen ({{Lang|ku|Bakvan}}) * Bostanlı ({{Lang|ku|Wersikê}}) * Çatalan ({{Lang|ku|Deyrik}}) * Çatalçam ({{Lang|syc|Dayro da-Slibo}}) * Çavuşlu ({{Lang|ku|Zêwkê}}) * Çelikköy ({{Lang|ku|Çêlik}}) * Çukurdere ({{Lang|ku|Gelîkur}}) * Değerli ({{Lang|ku|Îwan}}) * Gürgen ({{Lang|ku|Botijê}}) * Gürışık ({{Lang|ku|Gundê Xace}}) * Ilısu ({{Lang|ku|Germav}}) * Karabayır ({{Lang|ku|Zengan}}) * Kartalkaya ({{Lang|ku|Lîyan}}) * Kılavuz ({{Lang|ku|Xelilan}}) * Kısmetli ({{Lang|ku|Basiqil kêvil}}) * Korucu ({{Lang|ku|Şikeftika}}) * Kumdere ({{Lang|ku|Şibêbiyê}}) * Kuşluca ({{Lang|ku|Kopraz}}) * Ormaniçi ({{Lang|ku|Qawaqa}}) * Safa * Saray * Suçatı ({{Lang|ku|Kerbent}}) * Sümer ({{Lang|ku|Deywan}}) * Tanyeri ({{Lang|ku|Rover}}) * Tavşanlı ({{Lang|ku|Xirabê Qesrê}}) * Temelli ({{Lang|ku|Emara}}) * Tepebaşı * Ulaş ({{Lang|ku|Dîlan}}) * Yanılmaz ({{Lang|ku|Guriza}}) * Yılmaz ({{Lang|ku|Mêranê}}) * Yoncalı ({{Lang|ku|Zivinga Çelik}}) {{div col end}}
==Notable people== *Julius Abd al-Ahad Antar ({{reign|1882|1885}}), Syriac Orthodox bishop of the Monastery of the Cross.{{sfnp|Barsoum|2008|p=39}} *Yusuf Çetin ({{born-in|1954}}), Syriac Orthodox metropolitan and patriarchal vicar *Fuat Deniz (1967–2007), Assyrian-Swedish sociologist and writer
==References== '''Notes''' {{Notelist}} '''Citations''' {{Reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} *{{cite thesis |last=Aras |first=Ramazan |date=2005 |title=Migration and Memory: Assyrian Identity in Mardin Kerboran/Dargeçit|url=https://www.academia.edu/37070590/Migration_and_Memory_Assyrian_Identity_in_Mardin_Kerboran_Darge%C3%A7it |work= |degree=Master of Arts in History|location= |publisher= Boğaziçi University |access-date=18 April 2025}} *{{cite book |first1=Naures|last1= Atto|title=Hostages in the Homeland, Orphans in the Diaspora: Identity Discourses Among the Assyrian/Syriac Elites in the European Diaspora|date=2011|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/17919/THESIS-FINAL-ALL-15-Friday.pdf?sequence=1|access-date=27 December 2019 |publisher=Leiden University Press}} *{{Cite book |last=Avcıkıran |first=Adem|title=Kürtçe Anamnez, Anamneza bi Kurmancî |year=2009|access-date=}} *{{cite book | last1 =Barsoum| first1=Aphrem|date=2003|title=The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences|edition=2nd|publisher=Gorgias Press|translator=Matti Moosa|author-link=Ignatius Aphrem I|url=https://archive.org/details/EphremBarsoumMattiMoosaTheScatteredPearlsAHistoryOfSyriacLiteratureAndSciences|access-date=14 July 2020}} *{{cite book | last1 =Barsoum| first1 =Aphrem|date=2008|title=The History of Tur Abdin|publisher=Gorgias Press|translator=Matti Moosa|author-link=Ignatius Aphrem I|url=https://archive.org/details/the-history-of-tur-abdin|access-date=1 April 2021}} *{{cite book | last1 =Bcheiry|first1=Iskandar |date=2009|title=The Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Register of Dues of 1870: An Unpublished Historical Document from the Late Ottoman Period|publisher=Gorgias Press|url=https://archive.org/details/the-syriac-orthodox-patriarchal-register-of-dues-of-1870-an-unpublished-historic|access-date=21 March 2025}} *{{cite book | last1 =Carlson| first=Thomas A. |date=2018|title=Christianity in Fifteenth-Century Iraq|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=http://www.aina.org/books/cifi.pdf|access-date=12 November 2024}} *{{cite book | last1 =Courtois| first1 =Sébastien de|date=2004|title=The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, The Last Arameans|publisher=Gorgias Press|translator=Vincent Aurora|url=https://archive.org/details/582217720-the-forgotten-genocide-eastern-christians-the-last-arameans-sebastien-|access-date=20 November 2024}} *{{cite journal|first1=Sébastien de|last1=Courtois|title=Tur Abdin : Réflexions sur l'état présent descommunautés syriaques du Sud-Est de la Turquie, mémoire, exils, retours|journal=Cahier du Gremmamo |volume=21|date=2013|language=fr|url=https://www.academia.edu/7228305|pages=113–150}} *{{cite book | last1 =Dinno| first1 =Khalid S. |date=2017|title=The Syrian Orthodox Christians in the Late Ottoman Period and Beyond: Crisis then Revival|publisher=Gorgias Press|url=https://archive.org/details/the-syrian-orthodox-christians-in-the-late-ottoman-period-and-beyond-crisis-then-revival|access-date=26 November 2024}} *{{cite book | last1 =Gaunt| first1 =David |date=2006|title=Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I|publisher=Gorgias Press|url=https://archive.org/details/massacres-resistance-protectors-muslim-christian-relations-in-eastern-anatolia-d|access-date=21 May 2023}} *{{cite book |editor-last1 =Jongerden|editor-first1 =Joost|editor-last2 =Verheij|editor-first2 =Jelle |date=2012|title=Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915|publisher=Brill|url=https://archive.org/details/social-relations-in-ottoman-diyarbekir-1870-1915-by-joost-jongerden-jelle-verheij-z-lib.org|access-date=20 November 2024}} *{{Cite book |last=Keser Kayaalp|first=Elif|title=Church Architecture of Late Antique Northern Mesopotamia|year=2021}} *{{Cite book |last1=Kévorkian|first1=Raymond|title=The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History|year=2011}} *{{cite book | last1 =Palmer|first1 =Andrew|date=1990|title=Monk and Mason on the Tigris Frontier: The Early History of Tur Abdin|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://archive.org/details/PalmerMonkAndMasonOnTheTigrisFrontier|access-date=15 July 2020}} *{{cite book | last1 =Ritter| first1 =Hellmut|date=1967|title=Turoyo: Die Volkssprache der Syrischen Christen des Tur 'Abdin|volume=1|publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag|language=de|authorlink=Hellmut Ritter|url=https://archive.org/details/turoyodievolkssp0001hell/page/n5/mode/2up}} *{{cite encyclopedia | last1 =Takahashi|first1 =Hidemi |title=al-Ṣalīb, Dayr|encyclopedia=Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition|year=2011|publisher=Gorgias Press|url=https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/entry/al-Salib-Dayr}} *{{Cite book |last=Tan |first=Altan |title=Turabidin'den Berriye'ye. Aşiretler - Dinler - Diller - Kültürler |year=2018 |isbn=9789944360944|publisher=Pak Ajans Yayincilik Turizm Ve Diş Ticaret Limited şirketi |language=tr}} *{{cite book | last1 =Tozman| first1 =Markus |date=2012|chapter=Cadastral Registration of Lands and Preservation Orders in Turkey's South-East: Subtle Forms of Discrimination? |title=The Slow Disappearance of the Syriacs from Turkey and of the Grounds of the Mor Gabriel Monastery|editor1=Pieter Omtzigt|editor2=Markus K. Tozman|editor3=Andrea Tyndall|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|pages=139–156|url=http://www.aina.org/books/stgabriel.pdf|access-date=17 October 2024}} * {{cite book |editor-last1 =Travis| editor-first1=Hannibal|date=2018|title=The Assyrian Genocide: Cultural and Political Legacies|publisher=Routledge|url=http://www.aina.org/books/hannibal-travis-2018.pdf|access-date=30 October 2024}} *{{cite book | last1 =Wilmshurst| first1 =David|date=2000|title=The Ecclesiastical Organisation of the Church of the East, 1318–1913|publisher=Peeters Publishers|url=http://www.aina.org/books/ecclesiastical-organisation-of-the-church-of-the-east.pdf|access-date=30 October 2024}} *{{Cite book |last=Woźniak-Bobińska|first=Marta|title=Modern Assyrian/Syriac Diaspora in Sweden|year=2020|orig-year=2018|publisher=University of Lodz|translator=Marta Malina Moraczewska|url=https://www.academia.edu/74687320/Modern_Assyrian_Syriac_Diaspora_in_Sweden|access-date=18 April 2025}} *{{cite book | last1 =Yacoub| first1 =Joseph |date=2016|title=Year of the Sword: The Assyrian Christian Genocide, A History|publisher=Oxford University Press|translator=James Ferguson|url=https://archive.org/details/year-of-the-sword-the-assyrian-christian-genocide-a-history-by-joseph-yacoub-z-lib.org|access-date=21 November 2024}} *{{cite book | last1 =Yeğen| first1 =Mesut |date=2021|chapter=State Violence in ‘Kurdistan’|title=Collective and State Violence in Turkey: The Construction of a National Identity from Empire to Nation-State|editor1=Stephan H. Astourian|editor2=Raymond H. Kévorkian|publisher=Berghahn Books|pages=303–346}} {{div col end}}
{{Districts of Turkey|provname=Mardin|}} {{Dargeçit District}} {{Portal bar|Geography|Kurdistan|Turkey}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dargecit}} Category:Dargeçit Category:Tur Abdin Category:Historic Assyrian communities in Mardin Province Category:Populated places in Mardin Province Category:Districts of Mardin Province Category:Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey Category:Kurdish settlements in Mardin Province Category:Places of the Sayfo