the lightest textile waste gets stranded here. all about the final stuff in the global fashion industry. fast fashion. watch now on you to the a group of syriac orthodox christians returning to their ancestral home in south eastern turkey. yeah. we want to revitalize the village, which has been vacant for the past 2 decades in santa fe story. it was to die. your live in your here it should. it's beautiful. here we have everything. as christians, we don't have the freedom one dreams of what we're trying to win,

that freedom of car and start living here again. living here on so far the . this is the village of east bar rock and south eastern turkey, not far from the border to syria. most of the houses here are deserted or old ruins . just a handful of people live here now, but among them is a woman who has returned relatively recently. a syriac orthodox, none her day begins at sunrise with morning prayers. a me sort of the she or that i know he's been stressed out to him to do i'm sisterhood to. to do going to bolden. i was born in this house on april, 2nd, 1972,

and i lived here until the age of 15. some fun from selling stuff. every day after morning prayers, a tune or 2 gone, goes for a walk around the village, which she calls xyz, its original name, and the aromatic language. when she was growing up here, it was still home to 270 christian families. them all for you have off imagine that here was, are pound my father and the other men would dive in here and could hold their breath long enough to swim underwater to the other side. like an awesome guy was teeming with lives. even here of these in west size, in the 19 eighties and nineties, this area was the scene of a military conflict between the turkish army and curtis, p. k. k. militias, the christians always in the minority here were costs between the 2 sides. stevens, exhibitor were neither turks nor occurs. it's just like we are, are american citizens flashed. we were basically being crushed between 2 stony

supplies and there was no way we could stay here. so we tried to persevere. war until the death threats and so on. and guns. in 1985, one such threat was made to her father by curtis and neighbors. he decided to sleep with his wife and 10 children to germany, and i never was in that same week we left for a symbol. and once we had our passports and tickets, we flew to germany every single day since 1985 i dreamt of being here in the village on diplomacy, the endorphin germany became a 2nd. tell them to have to know, but she never forgot where she came from. and she always held tight to her syriac orthodox faith. when she was of age, she decided to become a nun. over 30 years after moving to germany, she returned to her in central home and 2017 feeling her father's dying. wish 9 papa. so i told him my father was very ill in 2014, i have no right to change nurse, so i watched over him. i mean, i was with him day and night onto and shortly before he died he said to me in deep

breath, my dearest daughter, my wish list for life to return to the village, the village. he said after her father's passing, she used her inheritance to start rebuilding. our family home is ok. so voice, usually when i arrived at this well, had practically collapsed, is one here, it was over when i'm going to go in here on to here. and that's really it was important to restore the old houses eyes of the others to the youth rather than. ready ready the husband and these are the original stones, the visit because i was born right here and there was a rocker. my mother hung the rope and there was a baby to rock them to and fro. sho, tuna is

a member of the syriac christian minority, also known as paramedic syrian, called in or syria. the aromatic word for syria. their ancestors are believed to have been one of the very 1st christian communities. over the centuries, the group with its longstanding religious beliefs and own customs in language came under repeated attacks. and that predominantly muslim region most decided to leave their homeland. only about 2000 christians still live in the area. one percent of the communities numbers a century ago. today there are around $300000.00 syriac orthodox christians, living outside turkey, primarily in europe and the united states, almost half of the diaspora has found a new home in germany in the town of beating time dissing in. in south western germany, the syriac orthodox community comprises some 500 families,

the z mon, whose it was 17. when his family moved to germany from eastern turkey in 1990 the via hobbin. i think as christian was, we were looking for a new home that was christian. so we were looking in europe. i hope i could do. yeah. when we heard there was democracy, freedom them and weren't via i guess and above all peace slide please. and that was here and in your overall top seal, and i get my oil. but zima learned german and after doing an apprenticeship as a hair dresser opened his own salon. and met georgette. she too is christian, and had to emigrate it to germany from syria and 2000. the couple now have 2 sons

and a daughter. every sunday, after church service, the family gathers together for lunch. fucking us, you know how they are children were all born here. where there are other traditional stealing vehicles, we've tried to find a compromise that includes our ancestors, vague meetings, vague. so if in english are in isn't to assimilate nearby and we have what's rather to integrate yet than the intake. i mean, really make an effort on that front of the out. i need just telling me she of why she's at home both here under turkey. i don't know how i see it as having 2 homes. i. my one is the home of my parents and the other is the home i was born in the wonderful day i as for the 1st 10 years after leaving turkey, the moment it was that did not dare venture back. but later, whenever it felt safe to do so,

he visited the village where he was born and grew up. in some sense, he never truly left it behind the dark based on the day when you're there, you feel grunted about it. so by the but every time he leaves this homeland, you think ma'am, when will i be back about how well and there's always the question of why i leave on break. yeah i one issue that search find out, go back for good is what does the teacher hold? shawn really does way on your mind body to get done. can you because of the o, z mon, and soon heading off for a vacation in his homeland, he always stops by his parents place to say good bye before setting off. they live in a neighboring apartment block. so i mom's, i feel like i'm off to our village and wanted to say good bye to you both need to

know how the head of the manning i'm an alias is that we're farmers in eastern turkey. they ran a small village store and made drugs out. in 1990 they fled to germany, bearing for their own safety. amid the conflict between the muslim turks and kurtz, the v as in the that's why we have seen in germany for 32 years to the day. and the pop up on my dad has never been back home. the mom has been able to go twice the mill worker that so i'm on the wrong english. this a and don't go back to the homeland without saying good bye. first. with an open kidney stone, we need their prayers for us really competitive phones. and when we arrive back here, we always go straight to them. that's within turkey does not recognize the syriac orthodox christians as

a religious minority. but the state does give land and churches back to those returning people from the diaspora are now rebuilding their old communities here near the syrian border. they're restoring old houses and constructing new ones. most of the christians, however, only spend their summer vacations in their ancestral villages. the. ready ready insides too. there are several new and restored homes, standing among the ruins. the largest house in the village belongs to sisterhood to an a 2 gun which she build next to her parents old home. she wants to provide other attorneys with a roof over their heads while their homes are under construction. yeah, i mean, we already have beds made up here. we have some bunk beds. oh, by the end of the rooms are finished. everything is ready to go on the system. and

here's another room that sleeps for best and that so 10 people can stay the night here. i have $32.00 beds appear in total wine price has been $2.00 and his plans for the house don't. and there, she also wants to set up a kind of school and helping women whose families state in the region and who never went to school, that she's already acquired 18 laptops and 12 sewing machines for the project. it's moved to a computer. i think i want to offer computer courses and showing lessons here which pieces 5, because those are jobs you can do from home to 10 am. and that's clear and has come . and us been having that training means you at least have a profession, minutes and moving on. tom sisterhood. tonight is a member of a serious orthodox church. in germany. in 2011, she launched a foundation which has a special focus on supporting girls and women. it now has around

$7000.00 volunteers running schools and other projects and $33.00 countries in addition to her parents house to and it has also inherited land here, a $28.00 hector's and total equivalent of around 20 soccer pitches. the bulldozers she's hired spent weeks clearing the rich soil of rocks and stones. via here we're going to have an olive grove with pistachio trees on the biggest plot of land surrounded by grapevines, trying to call him and god willing will have our 1st harvest and some 5 years time . talked often. this is my home who are all of this used to be formed. you a good time. we planted grain here, but there is nobody doing that now despite the fertile soil to vote during the summer months to a sister also lives in size. norah built

a house in the village last year and now helps out. the 2 women planted sumac shrubs here. the plants, dried berries are made into a popular spice. about 2 and a had to do a great deal of convincing. before nora was ready to make the move back home. yeah . that's what's happening to my what hotel now has a cheap so far and is still doing go is just an extraordinary must have one in mind the most long, so i'm long some sounding so my sister little by little, many people are putting fear aside and finding their way back here, beat up someone to come in. once they've harvested enough sumac berries, they plan to sell the spice and the region, the around 70 kilometers away is the villages nadine parts in turkish. in the summer, at least the centuries old christian churches have full congregations. again,

the dean is the home village of e mail and is that the hurry to make it in time for the service? just after arriving to the area in the afterwards, the worshippers gathered to share a meal. hello and enjoy your meal. now do this month if you see faces that you haven't seen in years. if you come once a year or once a decade, you meet new people, which is largely as tradition dictate the food is being provided by the relatives of a person who recently passed away. there's about 300 people here today about 20 minutes and this is the,

this is the son of the deceased. lead me food in honor of his father. the after 2 hours of chatting with other church goers, z moselle, takes off on a tour around medina. it's only the 2nd time. see mountains, youngest son, my time is visiting the village of his ancestors yourself if i've seen, but the last halter here not to under different things you can do here compared to germany too much because i drive a tractor or a motorbike all the all to or a car, the but my time isn't just here to have fun simone and georgette what their son to learn more about the culture of his ancestors. at a special summer course, more gabrielle is the oldest surviving syriac orthodox monastery in the world. both

z mon and his brothers spent a few days here when they were 14, the should. it was great to be here. he'll be a bit seems if i hope he likes it, that it would be interesting for him to spend a few nights here and get an idea of what things used to be like and the whole land . and what lake was like in a monastery on the high month of the month, open and close. i'm glad i found it. in the late 4th century, the monastery offers courses in the arabic language and about the culture of the syrian orthodox community. welcome much. i already has aromatic lessons, twice a week, back in germany, but that's not enough in his father's arts, kind of go to boost lives in the united states. every summer she brings her son here to spend a month at moore, gabriella. i sure that the students are so happy here officially, and they do voluntary work in the monastery. but there's time for other things to

leslie pray 3 times a day when there are no ceremony scheduled, they bowed down before god. it's not difficult to cool. the monastery can accommodate up to 30 students, religious education and language lessons as well as meals are funded by donations from other syriac orthodox christians. but tight isn't yet sure if he wants to return for his next summer vacation. over in size, a toner has visitors arriving from germany today. friends of her sister, nura from fryeburg, that's not, i mean they're in there which i can read and do. it's about the church in the building is from before the christian era, 1800 b c supplement. can you see the remark writing? it's likely that this place was used by some worshippers. there used to be windows here, and there is the entrance to the underground city just that's the,

i'm exhausted. the kind of makes me there are simply no words to con. taken this expanse, you can look in all directions as far as the i can see this, the oh good by the button. that's good. this is those, these elementary to the one down there. that's hours to enter the mountain where the houses are. those houses the church was closed for a period of 30 years. a toner has since had it restored with the help of other former residents. i'm going to show you where we were all baptized, all 10 brothers and sisters. the baptismal font has been restored. we were all baptized here. all the children in the village. this discharge

was the most wonderful childhood memory for all of us. to put one's other kingdom on the shooting of the best was all stay and stay because the entire village would gather in the courtyard to eat together. and so young an old i'm to get seated. we'll have a lot to take home with us. we'll be thinking of you that's nice type of respect is it's completely different from here to germany, also in terms of advancing their religion, which i now understand why you feel homesick outside were grateful for your invitation full frontier. there's a major festival coming up in 6 weeks time. a tune of hopes that the church is us will be full of people again, just like it used to be. marty and the largest city in the area has been a melting pot of cultures and religious faith for thousands of years with the east of turkey now relatively peaceful. again,

the tourists have started coming back. they numbered some 4000000 and 2021. despite the cobit 19 pandemic, strong, the city name of this is the oldest syrian quarter, and then we'll go to the curricular church. many of the people on this tour of the christian sides of our muslim turks in 2021, 9 churches and monasteries in martin were added to your nest goes tentative list of new world. cultural heritage sites is on this journal. this is one of the few places where you can hear church, bells, london was india and that the treasure that she this is my 5th time here. i wanted to show my friends have beautiful it is the community seems close knit and the people do a lot to preserve their culture. and large christians, in this area, were known for crafting silver jewelry and producing wine. just a few decades ago, the letter was met with fierce opposition in the region. $1700.00 and the drinking

wine is a sin and islam. whereas for christians, it's sacred. when people used to have an issue with this, we started some of the many even refused to sell their grapes, sought by the reflector on, as i've got more popular posts and people started making and selling wind themselves such a lot of in this era of reconciliation that ancient culture is now being marketed in new ways. august 15th is assumption day. an important holiday for christians here. worshippers gather for a ceremony in the church of saint mary and the village of passed. among them, our sister had 202 gun and cmon, who's the, it's a wonderful coincidence. i find someone i played soccer with 31 years ago and title that and he was a right back. i was left back. the

ceremony is being held down in the courtyard as there isn't enough space in the church for 500 worshippers. the service lasts over 2 hours, which is standard, in aramaic christian tradition. i wasn't expecting so many people. it's amazing and lovely to get a real experience of home. i liked it. it wasn't like it is in germany. we don't have many monasteries like this there. i'd like to come here more often. after the ceremony comes the traditional feast. assumption de marks the end of a fasting period for syriac orthodox christians. after abstaining from meat and

dairy products for 15 days. the next day, the mound visits the sides and medina where his grandfather's house once stood. it was the 2nd home for the moment until he and his family emigrated to germany. since he now owns the land, he could rebuild it. but does he want to call? i'm going to be honest. i haven't proceeded dream like that yet. so don't tell me how abrasion only last year with different dreams of building a new life in europe. i'm 1st thanks to god this my an oil managed to do all the good side down. yes. so, so i'll get you in the phase and this pieces of what is the most precious thing you can have. and then he, us citizen says there's peace here. maybe that dream will come to life and songs without noise. have they get around?

40 new houses had been built by christian families in medina, over the past decade. the contributions from the diaspora and the turkish states have also paid for a new sewage system as well as the street lighting and upgraded power lines. the z mon is visiting is and sean and uncle as ease. they were also born in medina, but unlike the moment they never left the village to shield out of a 150 families and 50 left. 5 of the couples, 10 children, live abroad. aziz and shoshone would love to see them return home permanently. one of the years it should be, these 3 have come here from your you could give them the entire village and they still didn't come back to me. my father's rights

getting married, so i'm not planning on coming back. and i would like somebody took us a long time to build up a new life abroad. it wasn't easy. i got a hold of the to turn the music. we had quite a few difficulties at 1st as the patrick. but now we've adjusted the other stuff and even a light came back and my children wasn't. dilemma saw the every time's e mail and visits his childhood village. she feels torn. he and his family have a good life in germany. medina, it says past code to become a future home for his family. the. ready we can't just leave behind our children and i have them when they get married and maybe have kids and you know, i become

a grand that visual for life and then maybe after i'm retired, i could come here more often and for longer i live in young but my children would definitely not come with me on. okay, and i'm not sure my wife would either. well then it's something we've never really talked about because it's simply not an option. right. nice. but you invite these buys, coming to visit. sure. but living here, honestly, it's still too early to say, yeah, they've been no, it's still flu guns that the weather. uh, 4 weeks later, it's now late september. and the most important festival of the year is underway in size. the the villages, patron saint dean, is being honored. the toner, 2 guns which has come true with members of the diaspora attending in large numbers . awesome. yeah. okay. yeah. i think i'm either all originally from the village.

they've come from sweden, the netherlands, germany, and belgium to celebrate the festival packhorse for us to fire this into yeah, from florida. i've already seen 5 people who i went to school with the guns in kits as i'm of the week i decided to reignite with everyone again con around 300 syriac orthodox christians have come home at least for the duration of the festival. the throws building a house means re discovering their roots and increasing the place where we can feel at home. so we feel secure and loved one mind giving me a guy to get logan. i believe it's it's, it's also about the re description and the traditional values that define or people might index the

sometimes they want to cry, tears of joy, but i try to hold myself together. we age saying and prayed together. everything is one community. we're back together again, and that's the most beautiful thing about life in a village community name. it's the way it once was and is now again, this is what i want you to be done. 17 families have plans to build new homes or restore old ones here in size. a 2 and a 2 guns has been traveling across the world to support your foundations, educational projects. but she's always happiest in her village. her old and new home. the

. let's talk about 1000000000. all these celebrations on one said. it depends on where you are in europe. doesn't last have been v, i'm interest trust in the us and india admiration. why our opinions so different from most exactly, influences, officer to, to, to work well made in germany in 30 minutes on the doubles the

. this is dw news line from valid sweeping migration reform. in the e. u. member states agreed to type the blogs, the system of the painstaking negotiation. they hope to reduce illegal migration to the european union as the number of the asylum request is rising. slipping. the plight of disciplines who manage to flee north korea. they tell us about the fears they have full family members still that the grim realities of being behind balls in north korea, china as willingness.