Day 231: Diyarbakir

Nov 20 - Today is a walking tour of the old city. One thing I notice right away are the armored police carriers. There are a few of them parked on the street. Not many personnel visible, though.

First stop is the Great Mosque. It holds international importance as a holy Muslim site. It was constructed by the Seljuk governor in 1092, and its architectural style closely reflects the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus. The odd minaret, however, is a much more recent edition (18th century).

The eastern entrance to the mosque, which begins with a stairway down to the inner courtyard.

The courtyard.

Some unusual Corinthian columns along the north side of the courtyard.

Inside the mosque. There is always a bookshelf around with religious literature.

This mihrab set into the outer wall of the prayer hall was installed in the 18th century.

The columns are quite fascinating. Many pieces have been cobbled together, and they are all from the original construction. They originate from limestones, ophiolites, and Quaternary basalts.

Head along the main road west through the old city, to the city walls.

The city walls have undergone a massive reconstruction in recent years. The city is trying to become a major tourist venue, and gearing up its historical district. Shown above is the western portal, called Urfa Gate (since it faces toward the old road coming from Urfa).

Huge cabbages. We’ve seen them in this part of Türkiye, and also in Iran.

Odette makes some friends in a playground. They are: Berat (left), Afshin (middle right), and Zeina (far right).

On top of the city walls near the Diyarbakir Citadel.

A view from near the citadel. At the southern portion of the old city, the urban development just stops completely at the walls, and there is farmland.

There are many people out here at the walls today. It is Sunday, so perhaps it is a popular place for locals on the weekend. Gazi Caddesi the street leading north from here back into the core of the old town, is crammed with people.

Just north of the citadel is the Deliler Han, an old caravanserai, built in 1527, that has now been converted into a hotel.

Note the characteristic alternating black and white blocks used for the walls.

Stop in the courtyard, which used to be the open space for the caravanserai.

A couple of things happen here. First, we meet an Iraqi Kurd who works here serving customers in the café. He is a Yazidi. There are many Yazidis still in Iraq, though they can face persecution because some still practice an early form of monotheism (thus heretic in the eyes of Muslims). In his case, he says he fled seven years ago and that his town was destroyed. He now studies English in Diyarbakir and hopes to be a translator for refugees (since he speaks Yazidi, Arabic, Turkish, and English). Like many people we meet who speak English, he would like to move somewhere else (like Europe). Sadly, he sees no hope in going ‘home’. When I ask him if and when he wants to return to his place of birth, he just says “there is no point, everything is gone now, destroyed.”

The other thing is that a few military jets pass overhead. I don’t think a lot about this, since we are in the more volatile southeast part of the country and it isn’t surprising to see more military presence. However, later in the day I see an article in The Guardian (dated November 20):

Turkey launched deadly airstrikes over northern regions of Syria and Iraq, the Turkish defense ministry said on Sunday, targeting Kurdish groups that Ankara holds responsible for last week’s bomb attack on Istanbul.

Warplanes attacked bases belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and the Syrian People’s Protection Units, or YPG, the ministry said in a statement, which was accompanied by images of F-16 jets taking off and footage of a strike from an aerial drone.

and further on….

The airstrikes came after a bomb rocked a bustling avenue in the heart of Istanbul on 13 November, killing six people and wounding more than 80 others. Turkish authorities blamed the attack on the PKK and its Syrian affiliate the YPG. The Kurdish militant groups have, however, denied involvement.

I mentioned the Istanbul bombing on Day 224.

AP reporters were able to verify that the town of Dayrik, near the point where Türkiye, Syria, and Iraq come together, had been bombed. Reports from other locations indicated that both non-hostile civilian targets and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions had been hit.

The SDF is composed of soldiers of Kurdish, Arab, Armenian, Chechen, and other ethnicities, who are aligned against the regular Syrian National Army, Al-Qaeda and ISIL, and the Turkish Armed Forces (among others).

Back in the center of the old town, we head east along a pedestrian street.

The ‘Four-legged’ Minaret, by the Seyit Mosque. Rather unusual to see a minaret supported this way. The mosque dates to the early 16th century.

The interior of the St. Giragos Armenian Church, just down the street from the above. This structure has been recently restored. Interesting that so much money was spent on a relic of the Armenian presence here (which is now gone).

Outside the church in a grassy area there is a Pomeranian with a tail dyed pink. Odette and I have a running joke about this dog breed, so we are pointing and laughing at it. Suddenly a man runs by us and throws some dog treat at it. Then he turns and looks at us, points at the dog and shouts “Beautiful dog! Beautiful dog!” This becomes our go-to humorous scene for the rest of the day.

Türkiye III