Beth Kustan ( syr, ܒܝܬ ܩܘܣܛܢ, tr, Alagöz) is a village in Mardin Province in southeastern Turkey. It is located in the

Midyat District Midyat District is a district of the Mardin Province of Turkey. The seat of the district is the town of Midyat and the population was 118,625 in 2021. Status With the administrative reform in 2012, Midyat District contains seventy-two neighb ...

and the historical region of Tur Abdin. Beth Kustan is inhabited by Arameans who belong to the

Syriac Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = St_George_Syriac_orthodox_church_in_Damascus.jpg , imagewidth = 250 , alt = Cathedral of Saint George , caption = Cathedral of Saint George, Damascus ...

and speak Turoyo, a dialect of

Neo-Aramaic The Neo-Aramaic or Modern Aramaic languages are varieties of Aramaic that evolved during the late medieval and early modern periods, and continue to the present day as vernacular (spoken) languages of modern Aramaic-speaking communities. Within ...

. In the village, there are churches of

Mor Mor or MOR may refer to: Names and titles * Mór (given name), a list of people named Mór or Mor * Mor (surname), a list of people named Mor or Mór * Mor (honorific), or Mar, in Syriac Radio and television * Middle of the road (music) genre * ...

Dimet and Mor Eliyo. The village had a population of 153 in 2021.

Etymology

The Syriac name of the village is derived from "beth" ("house" in Syriac) and "Kustan" ("Constantine" in Syriac), thus Beth Kustan translates to "house of Constantine".

History

The church of Mor Eliyo was constructed in 343 AD. It is suggested that the village was founded by a member of the Roman limitanei (frontier militia) named Constans in the 4th century AD. At the onset of the Assyrian genocide, in 1915, Haco, '' agha'' (chief) of the Kurtak tribe, warned the villagers of an impending attack by Turkish and Kurdish soldiers. Despite initial hesitation, upon receiving news of the massacre of Assyrians at

Zaz ZAZ or Zaporizhzhia Automobile Building Plant ( uk, ЗАЗ, Запорізький автомобілебудівний завод, ''Zaporiz'kyi avtomobilebudivnyi zavod'' or ''Zaporiz'kyi avtozavod'') is the main automobile manufacturer of Ukr ...

, all but two villagers fled to the neighbouring village of Hah. Beth Kustan was subsequently ransacked by Kurdish soldiers, and the two remaining villagers were killed. The Assyrians resisted Kurdish and Turkish attacks at Hah until a truce was negotiated by Haco, but were not able to leave until Çelebi, ''agha'' of the Heverkan tribe, helped them to return to Beth Kustan in 1922. The village was officially named Alagöz in the 1930s as a result of the state's turkification policy. Most of the village's population were forced to leave in the 1960s and 1970s due to the Kurdish–Turkish conflict and emigrated abroad to the Netherlands, Germany, and

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. In 1993, it was alleged that seven villagers were detained and tortured by Turkish paramilitaries. On 12 February 2015, Beth Kustan was restored as the official name of the village.

Demography

The following is a list of the number of families that have inhabited Beth Kustan per year stated. Unless otherwise stated, all figures are from the list provided in ''Eastern Christianity, Theological Reflection on Religion, Culture, and Politics in the Holy Land and Christian Encounter with Islam and the Muslim World'', as noted in the bibliography below. *1900: *1966: 155 *1978: 73 *1979: 62 *1981: 63 *1987: 30 *1995: 15 *1997: 17 *2013: 15–23 *2021: 15 The following is a list of the number of people that have inhabited Beth Kustan per year stated. Unless otherwise stated, all figures are provided from the

Turkish Statistical Institute Turkish Statistical Institute (commonly known as TurkStat; tr, Türkiye İstatistik Kurumu or TÜİK) is the Turkish government agency commissioned with producing official statistics on Turkey, its population, resources, economy, society, and cu ...

. *2013: 144 *2014: 145 *2015: 150 *2016: 153 *2017: 164 *2018: 174 *2019: 167 *2020: 162 *2021: 153

Notable people

Gabriel of Beth Qustan Saint Gabriel of Beth Qustan ( syr, ܡܪܝ ܓܒܪܐܝܠ: ''Mor Gabriel''), also known as Saint Gabriel of Qartmin, was the Bishop of Tur Abdin until his death in 648. He is venerated as a saint in the Oriental Orthodox Church and his feast day is ...

(573/574–648), Syriac Orthodox Bishop of Tur Abdin *Timotheos Samuel Aktaş (b. 1945), Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Tur Abdin.

References

Notes Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Midyat District Assyrian communities in Turkey Tur Abdin Villages in Midyat District Places of the Assyrian genocide Populated places in ancient Upper Mesopotamia