Christians in Turkey – A nun returns to her ancestral home – DW – 12/19/2023

Hatune Dogan, a Syriac Orthodox nun, was born in Izbırak in 1970. The 270 Christian families who still lived in the village then fled. This included Sister Hatune, who left her home in the 1980s with her parents and nine siblings. Southeast Turkey has been the scene of a military conflict between the Turkish army and Kurdish PKK militias, with Christians caught between the two camps. The Syriac Orthodox Christians of Turkey are believed to have been one of the first Christian communities. Over the centuries, this group – with its own customs and language – has suffered repeated attacks in a predominantly Muslim region. Most decided to flee. Around 300,000 Syriac Orthodox Christians now live outside Turkey, mainly in Europe and the United States. Almost half of the diaspora has found a new home in Germany, like the Dogan family. Several years ago, Sister Hatune decided to return to her native village of Izbırak to fulfill a promise to her dying father and renovate the old family home. She is determined to breathe new life into the village. Simon Üzel was 17 when he and his family fled the Turkish village of Öğündük for southwest Germany in 1990. Today, he is among those considering returning home. Whenever he feels safe, he travels to his old village, a place that is never really far from his mind.