Bewildering Beleaguerment: The Problem of Hakkari’s Abandoned Churches

Dr. Nicholas AL-JELOO, Kadir Has University

For nearly fifteen centuries, the rugged highlands of Hakkari served as a cradle of Syriac Christianity and a refuge for adherents of the Church of the East, from which they could protect themselves from persecution. The mountain stronghold of Qudshanis served as the patriarchate of this Church and, from there, its catholicos-patriarchs served as both the spiritual and temporal leaders of the semi-independent Assyrian tribes. This situation, however, was ended entirely with the expulsion of Hakkari’s Assyrians to Iran in 1915 and Iraq in 1924. With this, some 265 churches, monasteries, chapels, and shrines within the current boundaries of Hakkari province alone were left behind to their fate.

Since the dispossession of the Assyrians and their subsequent abandonment of their places of worship, these have undergone various stages of desecration. These entailed their slow conversion into stables, storage spaces, houses and mosques, with a small minority completely destroyed to build new residences, mosques or military bases. In the last twenty years, however, the trend has been toward outright damage and destruction as treasure hunters search in vain for fabled gold in the remaining structures. Of the 103 churches that have been located and photographed or studied, 68 are somewhat intact or in various stages of collapse, while 35 have been completely destroyed, with some of them requiring archaeological excavation.

The situation now is dire. If something is not done to preserve what remains, the entire memory of Hakkari’s Assyrians, and their historical contributions to the region, will be lost forever. Without a valid presence in Turkey since 1924, the Church of the East is unable to do enough to legally contest their current state, or work on an international agreement for their preservation. Since the eruption of hostilities between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish government in 1984, the Turkish Culture Ministry has been reluctant to authorize or contribute to any restoration efforts for threatened Christian places of worship in Hakkari, citing that they are in war zones and such efforts could be wasted in the end. This paper, after providing a background, will go through this current state of confusion, attempts at finding solutions, and possible options available to all stakeholders.