Güngören, Midyat

Güngören (, , or ) is a village in the municipality and district of Midyat, Mardin Province in Turkey. it is populated by Syriacs and by Kurds of the Dermemikan tribe. The village had a population of 174 in 2022. It is located in the historic region of Tur Abdin.

In the village, there is a church of Mor Stephanos and Mor Yuhannon.

Etymology

The Syriac name of the village Kafarbe is derived from "kefr" ("village" in Syriac).

History

Kafarbe (today called Güngören) is attested in the ''Life'' of Abbā Sallārā () by the name of Bēt Mar Fāfā. It is mentioned in an inscription from AD 776/777 ( AG 1088) at the nearby Mor Gabriel Monastery. The inscription records the placement of a bread trough at the monastery by Isaiah of Fōfyāth, ''shawshbino'' (relative by sponsorship) of Mor Zechariah of ‘Ayn-Wardo, who had been a disciple of Mor Simeon of the Olives (). An inscription at the Church of Mor Stephanos and Mor Yuhannon, dated to AD 779, indicates it was either built or extensively rebuilt in that year. It has been suggested that much of the church's nave was likely rebuilt in 1465. In the 18th century, the village was settled by Dermemikan Kurds from Doğubayazıt. In the Syriac Orthodox patriarchal register of dues of 1870, it was recorded that the village had 17 households, who paid 50 dues, and was served by the Church of Morī Isṭefānūs without a priest.

In 1914, 200 Syriacs inhabited Kafarbe, according to the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation. They belonged to the Syriac Orthodox Church. Amidst the Sayfo, the Syriacs were warned by their Kurdish neighbours to flee and thus 70 Syriacs fled to the nearby Mor Gabriel Monastery, and a Kurdish attack on the village in that year failed. Kafarbe was attacked again in 1917 and most of the surviving villagers were killed. The refugees remained at the monastery until the autumn of 1917, when they were captured following an assault on the monastery by Kurds of the Azzam clan led by Shandi. They were taken to their own parish church where they were then murdered. Only a few Syriacs survived the massacre as some had fled to ‘Ayn-Wardo.

In 1922, Syriac and Kurdish villagers of Kafarbe fought together to successfully expel the Kurds that had occupied the Mor Gabriel Monastery. There were 115 Kurdish-speaking Christians in 20 families at the village in 1966. In the 1970s, the Syriac and Kurdish villagers came into conflict with one another, which led the former to emigrate abroad to Germany and the Netherlands.

Demography

Families

The following is a list of the number of Syriac families that have inhabited Kafarbe per year stated. Unless otherwise stated, all figures are from the list provided in ''The Syrian Orthodox Christians in the Late Ottoman Period and Beyond: Crisis then Revival'', as noted in the bibliography below.

*1915: 40
*1966: 20
*1978: 21
*1979: 17
*1981: 15
*1987: 8

Population

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gungoren, Midyat
Neighbourhoods in Midyat District
Assyrian communities in Turkey
Tur Abdin
Kurdish settlements in Mardin Province
Places of the Sayfo