Gercüş

The town's name in Syriac translates to "village of the walnut-tree".{{sfnp|Hoyland|Palmer|2023|p=206}} The Kurdish name is derived from the Kurdish word for "tell, settlement mound".{{sfnp|Radner|2006|p=299}}

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.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|p=54}} Gawson had been forced to leave Ṣalaḥ after it was discovered that his daughter had committed adultery with his servant Decius.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|p=54}} The village is also mentioned in the Life of Theodotus of Amida ({{died-in|698}}).{{sfnp|Hoyland|Palmer|2023|p=206}} In the Syriac Orthodox patriarchal register of dues of 1870, it was recorded that Kfar-Gawze had sixteen households, who paid twenty-nine dues, and did not have a church or priest.{{sfnp|Bcheiry|2009|p=53}}

In 1914, Kfar-Gawze was inhabited by 150 Syriacs, according to the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|pp=233, 427}} It was located in the kaza of Midyat.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|p=427}} It was populated by Syriac Orthodox Christians, Chaldean Catholics, and Muslims.{{sfnmp|1a1=Jongerden|1a2=Verheij|1y=2012|1p=249|Gaunt|2006|2p=233}} Amidst the Sayfo, at the end of July 1915, despite initially having promised to help and protect the Syriacs, the local Kurdish agha Yusuf Hasan Shamdin took some men from Kfar-Gawze to a place called Zaghore, where they were robbed and killed, and their bodies were thrown into a river.{{sfnmp|Gaunt|2006|1pp=233, 369|Travis|2018|2p=185}} The remaining Syriacs were made to do forced labour and many fled to Midyat.{{sfnp|Gaunt|2006|p=233}} The Mhallami Şeyh Fethullah forced the release of the captive Syriac women and children.{{sfnmp|1a1=Jongerden|1a2=Verheij|1y=2012|1p=249|Gaunt|2006|2pp=233–234}}

In 1960, the population was 2354.{{sfnp|Ritter|1967|p=11}} There were 90 Kurdish-speaking Christians in twelve families at Kfar-Gawze in 1966.{{sfnp|Ritter|1967|p=11}}

The following is a list of the number of Syriac families that have inhabited Kfar-Gawze 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.{{sfnp|Dinno|2017|p=384}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• 1915: 30{{sfnp|Courtois|2004|p=227}}
• 1966: 12{{sfnp|Ritter|1967|p=11}}
• 1978: 3
• 1979: 2
• 1981: 0

{{div col end}}

Notes

{{Notelist}}

Citations

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• {{cite book |first1=Naures|last1= Atto|title=Hostages in the Homeland, Orphans in the Diaspora: Identity Discourses Among the Assyrian/Syriac Elites in the European Diaspora|date=2011|url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/17919/THESIS-FINAL-ALL-15-Friday.pdf?sequence=1|access-date=27 December 2019 |publisher=Leiden University Press}}
• {{cite book|first1=Adem |last1=Avcıkıran|title=Kürtçe Anamnez Anamneza bi Kurmancî |date=2009|language=tr, ku}}
• {{cite book | last1 =Bcheiry|first1=Iskandar |date=2009|title=The Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Register of Dues of 1870: An Unpublished Historical Document from the Late Ottoman Period|publisher=Gorgias Press|url=https://archive.org/details/the-syriac-orthodox-patriarchal-register-of-dues-of-1870-an-unpublished-historic|access-date=21 March 2025}}
• {{cite book | last1 =Courtois| first1 =Sébastien de|date=2004|title=The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, The Last Arameans|publisher=Gorgias Press|translator=Vincent Aurora|url=https://archive.org/details/582217720-the-forgotten-genocide-eastern-christians-the-last-arameans-sebastien-|access-date=20 November 2024}}
• {{cite book | last1 =Dinno| first1 =Khalid S. |date=2017|title=The Syrian Orthodox Christians in the Late Ottoman Period and Beyond: Crisis then Revival|publisher=Gorgias Press|url=https://archive.org/details/the-syrian-orthodox-christians-in-the-late-ottoman-period-and-beyond-crisis-then-revival|access-date=26 November 2024}}
• {{cite book | last1 =Gaunt| first1 =David |date=2006|title=Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I|publisher=Gorgias Press|url=https://archive.org/details/massacres-resistance-protectors-muslim-christian-relations-in-eastern-anatolia-d|access-date=21 May 2023}}
• {{Cite book|last1=Hollerweger|first1=Hans|last2=Palmer|first2=Andrew|title=Turabdin: Living Cultural Heritage|year=1999|edition=2nd|publisher=Friends of Tur Abdin|language=en, de, tr}}
• {{cite book|last1=Hoyland|first1=Robert G.|last2=Palmer|first2=Andrew N.|title=The Life of Theodotus of Amida: Syriac Christianity under the Umayyad Caliphate|date=2023|publisher=Gorgias Press}}
• {{cite book |editor-last1 =Jongerden|editor-first1 =Joost|editor-last2 =Verheij|editor-first2 =Jelle |date=2012|title=Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915|publisher=Brill|url=https://archive.org/details/social-relations-in-ottoman-diyarbekir-1870-1915-by-joost-jongerden-jelle-verheij-z-lib.org|access-date=20 November 2024}}
• {{cite book|last1 =Palmer|first1 =Andrew|date=1990|title=Monk and Mason on the Tigris Frontier: The Early History of Tur Abdin|publisher=Cambridge University Press|url=https://archive.org/details/PalmerMonkAndMasonOnTheTigrisFrontier|access-date=15 July 2020}}
• {{cite journal| last1 =Radner|first1 =Karen|date=2006|journal=State Archives of Assyria Bulletin |volume=15 |title=How to reach the Upper Tigris: The route through the Tur Abdin|pages=273–305|url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/86463/1/86463.pdf|access-date=11 August 2020}}
• {{cite book | last1 =Ritter| first1 =Hellmut|date=1967|title=Turoyo: Die Volkssprache der Syrischen Christen des Tur 'Abdin|volume=1|publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag|language=de|authorlink=Hellmut Ritter|url=https://archive.org/details/turoyodievolkssp0001hell/page/n5/mode/2up}}
• {{Cite book|last=Tan|first=Altan|title=Turabidin'den Berriye'ye: Aşiretler - Dinler - Diller - Kültürler|publisher=Nûbihar|year=2011|language=tr}}
• {{cite book |editor-last1 =Travis| editor-first1=Hannibal|date=2018|title=The Assyrian Genocide: Cultural and Political Legacies|publisher=Routledge|url=http://www.aina.org/books/hannibal-travis-2018.pdf|access-date=30 October 2024}}

{{div col end}}

{{Gercüş District}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gercus}}

Category:Populated places in Batman Province

Category:Assyrian communities in Turkey

Category:Gercüş District

Category:Places of the Sayfo

Category:Kurdish settlements in Batman Province

Category:Populated places in ancient Upper Mesopotamia

{{Batman-geo-stub}}