Beth Kustan, Mardin


Beth Kustan is a village in Mardin Province in southeastern Turkey. It is located in the district of Midyat and the historical region of Tur Abdin.
In the village, there is a church of Mor Eliyo.

Etymology

The Syriac name of the village is derived from "beth" and "Kustan", thus Beth Kustan translates to "house of Constantine".

History

The Church of Mor Eliyo was constructed in 343 AD. It is suggested that the village was founded by a member of the Roman limitanei named Constans in the 4th century AD.
In 1900, Beth Kustan was inhabited by an estimated 200 Assyrian families. At the onset of the Assyrian genocide, in 1915, Haco, agha of the Kurtak clan, warned the villagers of an impending attack by Turkish and Kurdish soldiers. Despite initial hesitation, upon receiving news of the massacre of Assyrians at Zaz, all but two villagers fled to Hah. Beth Kustan was subsequently ransacked by Kurdish soldiers, and the two remaining villagers were killed. The villagers resisted Kurdish and Turkish attacks at Hah until a truce was negotiated by Haco, but were not able to leave until Çelebi, agha of the Heverkan clan, helped them to return to Beth Kustan in 1922.
The village was officially named Alagöz in the 1930s as a result of the state's turkification policy. In the 1960s, most of the village's population emigrated abroad to the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1993, it was alleged that seven villagers were detained and tortured by Turkish paramilitaries. As of 2013, 15-23 Assyrian families inhabit Beth Kustan. On 12 February 2015, Beth Kustan was restored as the official name of the village. The inhabitants speak Turoyo, a dialect of Neo-Aramaic.

Notable people