did the scientist say it's a still unclear how long this one will go on for i sent you up to date, so will i move? well, news at the top of the hour coming up on the w and next close up focuses on unfolded ox christian communities in to advertise the vibrant habitat and listening place of loan in the mediterranean sea mazda and just following up to carry him to us exploring modem, lodge styles, to amy and admitted to alien jenny. this week on the dw, the a

group of syriac orthodontics christians returning to their ancestral home in south eastern turkey. we want to revitalize the village which has been vacant for the past 2 decades in santa fe story. it was to die. your living, yours is true. 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 heart and started living here again, living here and 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 is just a handful of people live here now. but among them is a woman who has returned relatively recently. a syriac orthodox. none per day

begins at sunrise with morning prayers. me sure to be sure. the, the, me and i shall, he's pinterest, out to in a joke. i'm sisterhood to, to do going to bold. and i was born in this house on april, 2nd, 1976. and i lived here until the age of 15. some fun from felicia. 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 of the optim guy. it was

teeming with lives. even here of these and russell dies 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. you have anything better to we are neither turks nor curtis, as far as we are or may a different settings. for instance, flashed we were basically being crushed between 2 stony supply and there was no way we could stay here. so we tried to persevere water until the death threats and so on and gun. as in 1985, one such threat was made to her father by curtis and neighbors. he decided to fleet 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. and every single day since 1985 i dreamt of being here in the village on diplomacy, the endorphin germany became a 2nd. tell him to have to know,

but she never forgot where she came from. and she always held tight to her syriac orthodox space. 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 my father was very ill in 2014 a month ago. nobody changed 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 dear his daughter, my wish list for life to return to the village without a village. he said, go outside, i can stop after her father's passing. she used her inheritance to start rebuilding . her family home is ok. so voice usually when i arrived at this well, had practically lab one here. it was all really on the when he when he and that's really it was important to restore the old houses size of your dollars to live with

rather than. ready ready the husband and these are the original stones, the i was born right here and there was a rocker. my mother hung the rope and there was a baby to rocks and to and fro. sho. tuna is a member of the syriac christian minority, also known as ever america 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 to day 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 and the town of b to kind of dissing in, in south western germany, the syria 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 and freedom that weren't via i guess and above all peace slide please. and that was here and in your overall appeal in 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 a couple now have 2 sons and a daughter every sunday, after church service, the family gathers together for lunch. so i cannot say no, probably our children were all born here. where there are other traditions fuel vehicles, we've tried to find a compromise that includes our ancestors, vague meetings, vague. so if in english are him isn't to assimilate. jo bonds we have what's rather

to integrate yet. it was in to come, we really make an effort on that front of the out. i need just tell me what you that home both here under turkey by them. i know i see this having 2 homes. i, my one is the home of my parents. the other is the home. i was born in the wonderful day 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'd never truly left it behind the dark based on the day when you're there, you feel grounded about it. so by do. but every time you leave this homeland, you think man, 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 future hold?

sean really does way on your mind body to get done. can you because of the o z mon. as 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 sell a lot of moms do the i'm off to our village and wanted to say good bye to you both need to know how the head of the is manny 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 missing the that's why we've been in germany for 32 years to the day and the above

on the my dad has never been back home. the mom has been able to go twice to the milwaukee with that. so i'm on the wrong english. there's a and don't go back to the homeland without saying good bye 1st. and then other than kidney stone, we need their prayers for us really to be at their 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 there 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 built next to her parents old home. she wants to provide other attorneys with a roof over their heads while their homes are under construction. a young hey, but 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. obviously stuff and here's another room and it sleeps for best. and so 10 people can stay the night here. i have 32 beds appear in total wine because he's been hot too, and his plans for the house don't. and there, she also wants to set up a kind of school and helping women whose family stayed in the region and who never went to school. 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 these is 5 because those are jobs you can do from home to them and escal and has come. and us been having that training means you at least have a profession minutes and the whole thing and tom sister had to know as 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. the kid now has around $7000.00 volunteers running schools and other projects in $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 bulldozer, 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 lot of

land surrounded by grapevines via fine told him and god willing will have our 1st harvests in 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 board during the summer months to a sister also lives in xyz newer a built a house in the village last year and now helps out of the 2 women planted sumac shrubs. here. the plants, dried berries are made into a popular spice of 2 and a 100 to a great deal of convincing before nora was ready to make the move back home. yeah. what's happened to my, what hotel now has achieved so far and is still doing go, is just an extraordinary must have him on the most long, some 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. ready 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 the moment, is that the hurry to make it in time for the service? just after arriving to the area, 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 lovely. 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. this is the, this is the son of the deceased. lead me food and the owner 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, simone's youngest son, my time, is visiting the village of his ancestors yourself. if i've seen the deluxe culture here, not deal,

and there are different things you can do here compared to germany, must be like, drive a tractor on a motorbike. all the altura car, the button baton. it isn't just here to have fun. she moaned and georgette want 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. vote does he, mon, and his brothers spent a few days here when they were 14 the should. it was great to be here. he'll be with him 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 in the whole land . and what life was like in a monastery on the high month of uh, the month. okay. and then 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 audience. kind of go to boost lives in the united states. every summer she brings her son here to spend a month that more gabrielle. ah sure. that the students are so happy here they show in they do voluntary work in the monastery, but there's time for other things to luckily pray. 3 times a day when there are no ceremonies scheduled, they bowed down before god. it's not difficult to close. 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. what time isn't it sure if he wants to return for his next summer vacation.

over and size a toner has visitors arriving from germany today. friends of her sister, nura from fryeburg that's i mean they're in there which i can read and do it's about the church. the building is from before the christian era. 1800 b. c. how many can you see the remark writing? now 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. they put one other king, death on the shooting of the best was all stay and stay, 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 of time. we're 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 coach, black 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. it's on this channel. this is one of the few

places where you can hear church bells, london was india and that the treasure that she's, it's just 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. 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. where people used to have an issue with some star, someone maybe even refused to sell their grapes, saw by the reflector on as a customer popular sosa and people started making and selling wines 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 to do 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 a form 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 pursued

a dream like that yet. so and how happy should only last year with different dreams of building a new life in europe. i'm doing 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 itself 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. but in the years it should be. these 3 have come here from europe. 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. i would like somebody that took us a long time to build up a new life abroad. it wasn't easy. i got all of the time the music we had quite a few difficulties at 1st, but now we've adjusted the other stuff. and even though like in the back of my children wasn't dilemma. saw the every time's e mail and visit says,

childhood village. she feels torn, he and his family have a good life in germany. medina, it says past or could it 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. i become a grand that visual for life and then maybe after i'm retired, i could come here more often and for longer live in the. but my children would definitely not come with me on okay, and i'm not sure my wife would either. well, and it's something we've never really talked about because it's simply not an option right now. but you involve these buys coming to visit. sure. but living here, honestly, it's still too early to say yeah, they've been. no, it's so flu comes in the

weather. uh, 4 weeks later, it's now late september and the most important festival of the year is underway inside the villages, patron saint dena is being honored. the toner, 2 guns, which has come true with members of the diaspora attending in large numbers. um awesome. yeah. okay. so i think either all originally from the village, they have come from suite in the netherlands, germany and belgium to celebrate the festival pack horse for us to fire the present . here from florida, i've already seen 5 people who i went to school with the guns and he is i'm and so we decided to reunite with everyone again con around 300 syriac orthodox christians have come home at least for the duration of the festival. the festival in the

throes building a house means for you, discovering our roots and increasing the place where we can feel at home on the so we feel secure, loved one mind giving me a guy to get logan. i leave if it's also about 3 discorporate, the traditional values that define people index the sometimes they went to cry, tears of joy, but i tried to hold myself together. we age thing and prayed together. everything is one community have to put 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 zones 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 pricing strategies with a lot say what crazy the or the another in charlotte

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