Gercüş

Gercüş
Municipality
Gercüş Location in Turkey
Coordinates: 37°33′59″N 41°23′04″E
Country	Turkey
Province	Batman
Population  (2021)[1]	6,064
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
Website	www.gercus.bel.tr

Gercüş (Kurdish: Kercoz;[2][nb 1] Syriac: Kfar-Gawze)[nb 2] is a town and seat of the Gercüş District of Batman Province in Turkey. The town is populated by Kurds of the Kercoz tribe and had a population of 6,064 in 2021.[6][1]

History

According to the Life of Jacob of Ṣalaḥ, Kfar-Gawze (today called Gercüş) was founded by a wealthy Roman soldier named Gawson prior to Jacob's death in 421 AD.[7] Gawson had been forced to leave Ṣalaḥ after it was discovered that his daughter had committed adultery with his servant Decius.[7]

In 1914, Kfar-Gawze was inhabited by 150 Assyrians, according to the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation.[8] It was located in the kaza of Midyat.[9] There were thirty Assyrian families in 1915.[10] It was populated by Syriac Orthodox Christians, Chaldean Catholics, and Muslims.[11] Amidst the Sayfo, despite initially having promised to help and protect the Assyrians, the local Kurdish agha Yusuf Hasan Shamdin took some men from Kfar-Gawze to a place called Zaghore, robbed them, and then threw them in a river.[12] The remaining Assyrians were made to do forced labour and many fled to Midyat.[13] The Mhallami Şeyh Fethullah forced the release of the captive Assyrian women and children.[14]

In 1960, the population was 2354.[4] There were 90 Kurdish-speaking Christians in twelve families at Kfar-Gawze in 1966.[4] By 1987, there were no remaining Assyrians.[10]

Neighbourhoods

The town is divided into the neighbourhoods of Bağlarbaşı, Çukurçeşme, Pınarbaşı and Yolağzı.[15]

References

Notes

1. Also spelt as Kärcōs, Karjos, Kercews, Kerjoz, Kfarjos, or Gerçus.[3] Nisba: Kärcōsī.[4]
2. Alternatively transliterated as Kafar Gawsōn, Kafar Gawzō or Kfargusan.[5]

Citations

1. "31 ARALIK 2021 TARİHLİ ADRESE DAYALI NÜFUS KAYIT SİSTEMİ (ADNKS) SONUÇLARI" (XLS). TÜİK (in Turkish). Retrieved 16 December 2022.
2. Tan (2011), p. 110.
3. Avcıkıran (2009), p. 56; Ritter (1967), p. 11; Jongerden & Verheij (2012), p. 320; Travis (2018), p. 185; Gaunt (2006), p. 233; Atto (2011), p. 174.
4. Ritter (1967), p. 11.
5. Palmer (1990), p. 264; Atto (2011), p. 174; Courtois (2004), p. 227.
6. Tan (2011), p. 172.
7. Palmer (1990), p. 54.
8. Gaunt (2006), pp. 233, 427.
9. Gaunt (2006), p. 427.
10. Courtois (2004), p. 227.
11. Jongerden & Verheij (2012), p. 249; Gaunt (2006), p. 233.
12. Gaunt (2006), p. 233; Travis (2018), p. 185.
13. Gaunt (2006), p. 233.
14. Jongerden & Verheij (2012), p. 249; Gaunt (2006), pp. 233–234.
15. "Türkiye Mülki İdare Bölümleri Envanteri". T.C. İçişleri Bakanlığı (in Turkish). Retrieved 19 December 2022.

Bibliography

• Atto, Naures (2011). Hostages in the Homeland, Orphans in the Diaspora: Identity Discourses Among the Assyrian/Syriac Elites in the European Diaspora (PDF). Leiden University Press. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
• Avcıkıran, Adem (2009). Kürtçe Anamnez Anamneza bi Kurmancî (in Turkish and Kurdish).
• Courtois, Sébastien de (2004). The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, The Last Arameans. Translated by Vincent Aurora. Gorgias Press.
• Gaunt, David (2006). Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I. Gorgias Press. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
• Jongerden, Joost; Verheij, Jelle (2012). Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915. Brill.
• Palmer, Andrew (1990). Monk and Mason on the Tigris Frontier: The Early History of Tur Abdin. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
• Ritter, Hellmut (1967). Turoyo: Die Volkssprache der Syrischen Christen des Tur 'Abdin (in German). Vol. 1. Franz Steiner Verlag.
• Tan, Altan (2011). Turabidin'den Berriye'ye: Aşiretler - Dinler - Diller - Kültürler (in Turkish). Nûbihar.
• Travis, Hannibal, ed. (2018). The Assyrian Genocide: Cultural and Political Legacies (PDF). Routledge. Retrieved 30 October 2024.