Dibek, Nusaybin


Dibek, also known as Daskan, is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Nusaybin, Mardin Province in Turkey. The village is populated by Syriacs and Yazidi Kurds and had a population of 45 in 2021. It is located atop Mount Izla in the region of Beth Rishe in Tur Abdin.
In the village, there is a Syriac Orthodox church of Yūldaṯ Alohō.

History

Beth Debe is attested in AD 776/777 in an inscription, engraved by Cyril of Aynwardo, at the Mor Gabriel Monastery, in which it is recorded that stone which had been quarried at the village in 768/769 by Zechariah of Aynwardo was transported to the monastery by his shawshbino Isaiah of Fofyath. In the Life of Gabriel of Qartmin, Mor Gabriel of Beth Qustan is credited with having commissioned the stone.
350 people from Beth Debe were killed by Hamza Beg in 1711. Three Syriac Orthodox monks from Beth Debe were recorded in 1870, including one named Gawriyyah residing in the village whilst another called Danḥā was at the nearby Monastery of Morī Ya‘qūb, and the third monk Yūsef was abbot of the Monastery of Mar Awgin. In the Syriac Orthodox patriarchal register of dues of 1870, it was recorded that the village had 34 households, who paid 136 dues, and had two priests. The Syriac Catholic bishop Gabriel Tappouni recorded that 250 Syriacs in 50 families populated Beth Debe in 1913 and were served by one priest. The village was inhabited by 250 or 400 Syriacs in 1914, as per the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation. They adhered to the Syriac Orthodox Church.
Amidst the Sayfo, refugees from neighbouring villages fled to Beth Debe, including 20 families from Sederi, 20 families from Kharabe-Mishka, and some from Mor Bobo, and they built defensive barriers. The villagers received weapons and ammunition from Sarokhano Agha, the temporary leader of the Chelebi faction of the Haverkan confederation, who also warned them the night before of the planned attack on Beth Debe. In early August, the village was attacked by the Hajo, Ali Batte, Doman, Chumaran, Dayre, Surgechi, Bunusra, Omaran, and Alike tribes in addition to Qaddur Bey with the Nisibis militia whilst the villagers were reinforced by one hundred armed men from the Monastery of Mor Malke. The battle lasted for fifteen days and nights until the Kurds retreated prior to the holiday of Saint Mary in mid-August and resulted in the death of 18 Syriacs and 30 Kurds. The Syriacs at Beth Debe then took refuge at the Mor Malke Monastery following the Kurds' withdrawal.
The village had a population of 356 in 1960. There were 410 Turoyo-speaking Christians in 65 families at the village in 1966. It was evacuated in the mid-1990s due to the activities of the PKK. The villagers eventually returned and repaired 35 houses and rebuilt 11 new houses between 2006 and 2010. The Church of the Virgin Mary was repaired and the Monastery of Mor Yakup of Qarno near the village was renovated and reopened for service in 2014.

Demography

The following is a list of the number of Syriac families that have inhabited Beth Debe per year stated. Unless otherwise stated, all figures are from the list provided in The Syrian Orthodox Christians in the Late Ottoman Period and Beyond: Crisis then Revival, as noted in the bibliography below.
  • 1915: 40
  • 1966: 65
  • 1978: 63
  • 1979: 42
  • 1981: 9
  • 1987: 1
  • 1988: 0