Hrant Dink Foundation, with the support of Medical Association of Mardin, Mardin Bar Association, KAMER Mardin, Mardin Cinema Society and Turabdin Assyrian Culture and Solidarity Association, organized an international scientific meeting in Mardin on November 2-3, , called ''Social and Economic History of Mardin and Region''. The meeting which is expected to fill a gap in the field of social history, was held in five sessions, which lasted two days.

1st DAY

Opening Remarks - Rakel Dink

Opening Speeches - Evgil Türker, Cengiz Aktar

Keynote Speech - David Gaunt "The View from the roofs - What everyone in Mardin could see 1915"

Panel I: “General Panorama of Mardin and its Surroundings”
Chaır Suavi Aydın

Cafer Sarıkaya “Looking at the Social and Economic History of Mardin and its Periphery from 1873 Vienna Universal Exposition”

Füsun Alioğlu “Traditional Houses of Mardin”

Osman Köker “Population, Economy and Cultural Diversity in the Sandjak of Mardin at the beginning of the 20th Century”

Panel II: “Ethnic Variety of the Region”
Chaır Rober Koptaş

Ramazan Turgut ”Dom - The Lost Tribe”

Mehmet Ali Aslan “The Mıhallemies : Mystery of Turabdin History”

Ara Sarafian “Mapping Communities: Arisdages Devgants and his Report on Siirt, 1878”

Abdürrahim Özmen “Memory and Life: Cases from Oral History of Turabdin Syriacs”

2nd DAY

Panel III: “Interferences and Emerging Nationalisms I”
Chaır Ayşe Gül Altınay

Eden Naby “Women Missionaries, Syriacs and Armenians in Mardin”

Michael Abdalla “Mardin and its People between mid-19th Century and end of WWI: Relations of Missionaries and Inhabitants”

Elçin Macar “The American Protestant Missionaries and their Institutions in Mardin”

Panel IV: “Interferences and Emerging Nationalisms II”
Chaır Elçin Macar

Andrew Palmer "The Transformation of the Suryani Village of Maare into the Kurdish village of Marin, circa 1840-1915"

Suavi Aydın "Local Power Struggles during the Reign of Abdulhamid II and the Constitutional Era in Turabdin: Tribes and Communities"

Nineb Lamassu "The Ethnic Identity and National Renaissance of the Eski Süryanis"

Martin Tamcke "On the way to the Bagdad-Railway: Germans in and on Mardin"

Panel V: “Violence, Pogrom and Genocide in Mardin”
Chaır Ali Bayramoğlu

Suphi Aksoy "The Massacres against Nestorians Committed by Bedirhan, the Bey of Cizre, Nurullah, Bey of Hakkari, and the Other Kurdish Beys between 1843-1846"

Hilmar Kaiser "Yezidi Sharkian Tribe and Urban Elites: The CUP’s First Massacre"

Naures Atto "Syriac Orthodox Church Leadership during the Transition Period (1918-1926) and the Removal of the Patriarchate from Turkey"

Raymond Kévorkian "Syriac and Armenian: A common fate in 1915"

Tuma Çelik "Deportation of Nestorians from Hakkari in 1924"


Panel VI: “Post-traumatic survival ”
Chaır Ayhan Aktar

Ishkhan Chiftjian "Some testimonies of Armenian and Syriac Genocide Survivors"

Ayşe Gül Altınay "Grandchildren in Mardin: Silencing and Remembering Islamized Armenians"

Ramazan Aras "Haunting Memories of Armenian Roots: Construction of Muslim Armenian Identity in the post-1915 Era"

Lokman Sazan "Oral History in Derik"



General Evaluation and Discussions

Chaır Cengiz Aktar

Recapitulation David Gaunt