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Silvan, Diyarbakır

Coordinates: 38°08′32″N 41°00′05″E / 38.14222°N 41.00139°E / 38.14222; 41.00139
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Silvan
District and municipality
Map showing Silvan District in Diyarbakır Province
Map showing Silvan District in Diyarbakır Province
Silvan is located in Turkey
Silvan
Silvan
Location in Turkey
Coordinates: 38°08′32″N 41°00′05″E / 38.14222°N 41.00139°E / 38.14222; 41.00139
CountryTurkey
ProvinceDiyarbakır
Area
1,252 km2 (483 sq mi)
Elevation
810 m (2,660 ft)
Population
 (2022)[1]
86,161
 • Density69/km2 (180/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+3 (TRT)
Postal code
21640
Area code0412
Websitewww.silvan.bel.tr

Silvan (Kurdish: Farqîn;[2] Ottoman Turkish: ميا فارقين, romanized: Meyafarikîn,[3] Armenian: Սիլվան, romanized: Silvan[4]) is a municipality and district of Diyarbakır Province, Turkey.[5] Its area is 1,252 km2,[6] and its population is 86,161 (2022).[1] It is populated by Kurds.[2]

History

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Silvan has been identified by several scholars as one of two possible locations (the other being Arzan) of Tigranakert (Tigranocerta), the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Armenia, which was built by King Tigran the Great (ruling 95–55 BC) and named in his honor.[7][8]

Roman era

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In 69 BC, the army of Republican Rome defeated Tigran's troops in the battle of Tigranocerta. The city lost its importance as a thriving center for trade and Hellenistic culture in the following decades. In 387 AD, with the Peace of Acilisene, Tigranakert was made part of the Byzantine Empire.

Around 400 AD, the city's bishop, Marutha (later, saint Maruthas), brought a large number of relics of Christian martyrs persecuted under Sassanid rule back from Sassanid Persia. For this reason Tigranakert was renamed Martyropolis (Μαρτυρούπολις), "city of the martyrs." Following the reforms of Justinian I (rule 527–565), the city was made the capital of the province of Fourth Armenia.[9] The city was inconclusively besieged by the Persians in the last phase of the Iberian War.

The city suffered heavily in the Battle of Martyropolis in 588 AD, but soon prospered again.[10]

Islamic era

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It was known by the name of Mayyāfāriqīn after the Arabs took over this region in the 7th century. It was then controlled by the first three Arab Caliphates until it came under the control of the Hamdanids in 935, then the Buyids in 978, then it came under the Kurdish Marwanids and became the capital of their dynasty until the end of the 11th century.[11] The city and the entire province of Diyarbakir were taken in 1085 by the Seljuks under Malik-Shah I.

During the following years, the city changed hands several times due to rivalries between Seljuk clans and local rulers. In 1118, the Artukids took the city. They resisted the attacks of Zengid ruler Imad al-Din Zengi for many years. The Artukid Husam al-Din Timurtash built the Malabadi Bridge near Meiafarakin, one of the wonders of the time by its dimensions. The dynasty remained in place but preferred to reside in Mardin, leaving a governor to preside over Meiafarakin.

In early 1260, the city, defended by its last Ayyubid ruler Al-Kamil Muhammad, suffered the Siege of Mayyāfāriqīn, and its population then massacred by the Mongol army led by Hulagu Khan, with the help of his Georgian and Armenian allies.[12][13] The Artukids eventually disappeared in 1408 under the attacks of the Qara Qoyunlu.

Ottoman Empire

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In 1896, reports by the British Vice Consul Hallward indicate that many villages were destroyed during the Armenian massacres in 1895. Hallward was engaged in the rebuilding of about 35 villages.[14]

21st century

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An ambush killing 13 Turkish soldiers occurred in the forests of Silvan by Kurdistan Workers' Party separatists, who also lost seven killed in action.

Silvan was also the site of serious clashes between Turkish government forces and Kurdish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatists in August 2015 during the wider Operation Martyr Yalçın.[15]

Naşide Toprak from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was elected Mayor of Silvan in the local elections in March 2019.[16] She was dismissed in March 2020, and Mehmet Uslu has been appointed as a trustee instead of her.[17]

Archaeology

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Archaeologists headed by professor Ahmet Tanyıldız, the vice-rector of Dicle University, announced in 2021 that they had discovered the grave of the Seljuk Sultan of Rum Kilij Arslan I, who fought against the Crusader forces. They also discovered his daughter Saide Hatun's burial site during nine days of work. Researchers dug two meters deep across a 35-square-meter area and focused their works on two gravesites in Orta Çeşme Park.[18][19]

Demographics

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The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople reported 13,824 Armenians living in the kaza of Silvan on the eve of World War I, all Kurdish-speaking. They had 28 churches, two monasteries, and 35 schools.[4] The town itself had 2,500 Armenian Apostolic Christians and 1,500 other Christians: Chaldeans (500 according to Priest Joseph Tfinkdji), Syriac Catholics, Syriac Orthodox, and Melchites. Assyrians call the city ܣܝܠܘܐܢ.[4]

Today, the municipality and district are Kurdish.[2][4]

Ecclesiastical history

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Main article: Diocese of Martyropolis

Composition

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There are 94 neighbourhoods in Silvan District:[20]

Notable people

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Notable sites

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports" (XLS). TÜİK. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b c Barnas, Rojen (2015). Sîlvan - Silîvan - Farqîn (in Kurdish). Nûbihar. p. 231.
  3. ^ Tahir Sezen, Osmanlı Yer Adları (Alfabetik Sırayla), T.C. Başbakanlık Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü, Yayın Nu 21, Ankara, p. 365.
  4. ^ a b c d "Kaza Silvan / Silîvan / ܣܝܠܘܐܢ - SIlwān / Նփրկերտ – Np'rkert / ܡܝܦܪܩܝܛ - Mayperqit / Mîyafariqîn / Miyafarkin / Miyafarquin / Me-frektho / Farqîn / Mifarqaṭ". Virtual Genocide Memorial. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
  5. ^ Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  6. ^ "İl ve İlçe Yüz ölçümleri". General Directorate of Mapping. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  7. ^ Avdoyan, Levon. "Tiganocerta: The City 'Built by Tigranes'" in Armenian Tigranakert/Diarbekir and Edessa/Urfa. Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.) UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series: Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces, 6. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2006, pp. 94-95.
  8. ^ (in Armenian) Hakobyan, Tadevos Kh. «Տիգրանակերտ» (Tigranakert). Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. vol. xi. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1986, pp. 699-700.
  9. ^ Adontz, Nicholas (1970). Armenia in the Period of Justinian: The Political Conditions Based on the Naxarar System. Trans. Nina G. Garsoïan. Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. p. 134.
  10. ^ Edwards, Robert W., "Martyropolis" (2016). The Eerdmans Encyclopedia of Early Christian Art and Archaeology, ed., Paul Corby Finney. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-8028-9017-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ van Bruinessen, Martin (2000). "Kurdistan in the 16th and 17th centuries, as reflected in Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname". The Journal of Kurdish Studies. 3: 25.
  12. ^ Runciman 1987, p. 305.
  13. ^ Bai︠a︡rsaĭkhan, D. (2011). The Mongols and the Armenians (1220-1335). Leiden ; Boston: Brill. p. 133-134. ISBN 978-90-04-18635-4. The Ayyubid ruler of Mayyāfāriqīn and Amida, Al-Kamil Muhammad, had broken his vow to Hűlegű to supply troops for the siege of Baghdad . (...) Hűlegű sent support, in the form of Mongol-Christian troops commanded by a certain Chaghatai and the Armenian Prince Pŕosh Khaghbakian. The Governor of Mosul, Badr al-Dīn Lu'lu', who was in conflict with al-Kāmil Muhammad, sent a supporting force to the Mongols commanded by his son, along with siege engineers to Mayyāfāriqīn.
  14. ^ Verheij, Jelle (2012). Jorngerden, Joost; Verheij, Jelle (eds.). Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915. Brill. pp. 107–108. ISBN 9789004225183.
  15. ^ "Turkey and the Kurds: The hatred never went away". The Economist. 12 September 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.
  16. ^ "Diyarbakır Silvan Seçim Sonuçları - 31 Mart Diyarbakır Silvan Yerel Seçim Sonuçları". secim.haberler.com (in Turkish). Retrieved 2019-11-10.
  17. ^ sabah, daily (2020-03-23). "5 HDP mayors in southeast Turkey detained in terror probe". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  18. ^ Gershon, Livia. "Turkish Archaeologists Discover Grave of Sultan Who Defeated Crusaders". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  19. ^ AA, DAILY SABAH WITH (2021-01-13). "Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Kılıç Arslan I's grave found in SE Turkey". Daily Sabah. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  20. ^ Mahalle, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  21. ^ "Ana Sayfa". Yekta Uzunoglu (in Turkish). Retrieved 2018-08-10.

Further reading

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