Beth Kustan, Mardin

Beth Kustan (Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܩܘܢܨܛܢ‎, literally 'The House of Constantine', Kurdish: Baqisyan‎, Turkish: Alagöz) is an Assyrian village in the Mardin Province of Turkey. It is located 26 kilometres from Midyat. In 2011 there were 95 people in the village.

History

Beth Kustan, like many other villages in the Tur Abdin region, was probably inhabited in pre-Christian times, and it is believed that the village was a place of rest for travellers and the army of Constantine I repeatedly passed through the village. In the 4th century, Tur Abdin was Christianised and the local Church of Mor Eliyo was built in 343 AD. The saint Mor Gabriel was born here in 574, and went on to become bishop of the nearby monastery of Qartmin.

Located near the village is the Shu'o d-Helane, a rock named after Saint Helen, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine I. Also around the village are the destroyed churches of Mor Osyo and the Mother of God, believed to have been destroyed by Tamerlane in the year 1400.

In 1915, at the beginning of the Assyrian genocide, 120 families lived in the village and was ruled by Yuhanon of the Beth-Yahko clan. Haco, a Kurdish chieftain of the Khortek clan from a neighbouring village, warned the villagers of Beth Kustan of the impending attacks by Kurds and Turks on the local Assyrian Christian population, and advised them to flee the village. The villagers did not initially believe Haco, however, after hearing of the destruction of Zaz, all but two elderly villagers fled to Hah. The Kurds reached the village later and plundered all that had been left, as well as killing the two elders who had stayed behind. The villagers could not return to Beth Kustan until 1922, and with the permission of Agha Chalabi, they were allowed to rebuild and live there once again.

External links

• Beth-Kustan Web-Site
• Fotos