Gelinkaya, Midyat


Gelinkaya is a village in the municipality and district of Midyat, Mardin Province, Turkey. Its population is 1,542. Before the 2013 reorganisation, it was a town. The village is populated by Kurds and Mhallami. It is located in the historic region of Bēth Muḥallam in Tur Abdin.

History

Keferhavro was historically inhabited by Syriacs. The Eastern Roman Emperor Anastasius I Dicorus is said to have donated the village to the Mor Gabriel Monastery. The village's population converted to Islam to escape persecution in 1583. It became the administrative centre for the Mhallami in the 1850s when a beg from nearby Dêrizbin settled at Keferhavro after a conflict with his relatives and seized the village's church to use as his residence. Kurds from the nearby villages of Deywan and Helex and the Sinjar region later also settled at the village.

Notable people