Öğündük, İdil

Öğündük (; ) is a village in the İdil District of Şırnak Province in Turkey. The village is populated by Syriacs and had a population of 367 in 2021. It is located in the historic region of Beth Zabday in Tur Abdin.

In the village, there is a church of Mar Jacob Malphono. The village is known for its viticulture and wine-making.

History

Midun (today called Öğündük) was probably named after the nearby Roman border fort of Mindon along the frontier with the Sasanian Empire in the Melabas Hills of Tur Abdin. The efforts of the Roman general Belisarius to construct the fort in 528 prompted a battle in which the Romans were defeated as per Procopius' ''History of the Wars''. It was attacked by Bakhti Kurds in 1453 alongside the neighbouring villages of Beth Sbirino, Bēth Isḥaq, and Araban, according to the account of the priest Addai of Basibrina in appended to the ''Chronography'' of Bar Hebraeus. Bakhti Kurds attacked Midun, as well as the villages of Bēth Isḥaq and Araban, again in 1457 and many of the villagers, including the priests Behnam and Malke, were killed.

It was looted by the emir Bidayn in 1714. The village was visited by Reverend George Percy Badger in December 1850 and noted it was served by one church and two priests, but it did not have a school. The Kurdish rebel Yezdanşêr attacked and looted the village in 1855. The Swiss orientalist Albert Socin noted that he was offered Assyrian cylinder seals at Midun in 1870. In the Syriac Orthodox patriarchal register of dues of 1870, it was recorded that the village had one hundred and thirty-two households, who paid six hundred and fifty-six dues, and was served by the Church of Morī Ya'qūb Malfonō and five priests. After the Hamidian massacres in the 1890s, Armenian refugees from Palu settled a section of the village called Sanhatkar. Midun was visited by the English traveller Mark Sykes in the early 20th century.

In 1914, Midun was inhabited by 1500 Syriacs, according to the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation. It was located in the ''kaza'' of Midyat. There were 150 or 500 Syriac families in 1915 with thirty-one different clans and ten churches. They belonged to the Syriac Orthodox Church. Amidst the Sayfo, the village was surrounded and repeatedly attacked by neighbouring Kurdish tribes for a week. Although the Kurdish attacks were repulsed, the villagers opted to take refuge at nearby Beth Sbirino as Midun's location in the plains left it vulnerable. A number of villagers were killed as they travelled to Beth Sbirino; consequently, Kurds of the Domanan tribe seized their homes and settled at Midun. With the help of Chelebi Agha, some villagers were able to return after the war and came under the patronage of the Domanan tribe. In the aftermath of the Sheikh Said rebellion, 150 Syriacs were deported from Midyat, ‘Iwardo, Anhel, Mzizah and Midun, according to a letter in the Vatican Apostolic Archive.

In 1960, there were 873 residents. 1000 Christians in 140 families inhabited Midun in 1966 and spoke both Turoyo and Kurdish. A significant number of the village's Syriac population emigrated to Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium in the late 20th century. In 1990, the village was transferred from Mardin Province to Şırnak Province. On 9 January 1994, Melke Tok, priest of Midun, was abducted whilst en route from İdil to Bsorino. The priest was later released after negotiations, and attested that, whilst in captivity, he was buried alive and pressured into converting to Islam. In 2007, 257 Syriacs in 50 families populated Midun. A land dispute between two families resulted in one death and one injury at the village in April 2013. In 2014, a Syriac girl from Midun, who had been reportedly kidnapped by a Muslim man by force, was returned with the help of Agha Abdullah Taş. It was reported that vineyards and gardens in the village were burned in arson attacks in 2019. By 2022, the village was inhabited by under 400 people from 55 families.

Demography

Families

The following is a list of the number of Syriac families that have inhabited Midun 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: 150/500
*1966: 140
*1978: 128
*1979: 125
*1981: 109
*1987: 80
*1995: 45
*1997: 40
*1999: 50
*2007: 50

Population

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

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{{İdil District

Villages in İdil District
Tur Abdin
Populated places in ancient Upper Mesopotamia
Assyrian communities in Turkey
Places of the Sayfo