ElbeÄŸendi
Template: Infobox city in Turkey / Maintenance / county without inhabitants or surface
Elbeğendi ( Syro -Aramaic ܟ ܦ ܪ ܐ ܬ ܚ ܬ ܝ ܬ ܐ, Kafro Tahtayto, even Kafro called ) is a village in the district of Midyat in Mardin province in southeastern Turkey in the mountain Tur Abdin. The village has 50 inhabitants and is inhabited exclusively by Arameans. The former name was Harabkefr. The name Kafro Tahtayto is Aramaic origin and means "Lower Village".
Geography
Location
The village Elbeğendi located 15 km south-east of Midyat. It is located on a slight hill and is about 900 m above the sea level. The Syrian border is 20 km from Elbeğendi away.
The red soil is very fertile. It is rich in volcanic lava. There is a high incidence of white limestone.
Climate
The seasons are very pronounced with high precipitation in spring and autumn, hot and dry summers and cold and snowy winters. Temperatures range from -10 ° C in winter and 52 ° C in summer.
Population
According to oral tradition, the village Kafro Tahtayto has its origins before the birth of Christ. In the genocide of 1915, the Arameans entire population of the village fled into Mor Malke Monastery or Mor Elias Monastery in Ehwo, so it was temporarily empty. Slowly at first, then set up a re-colonization. In the 1980s, when fighting between the Kurds and the Turkish military is widened in the southeast of Turkey, many residents migrated again to Western Europe, so the place is almost uninhabited today.
In 2004, there were about 180 families from the original village Kafro Tahtayto in Europe, mostly in Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. In summer 2006, returned after many years of planning, the first families to Kafro back. Today, about 15 families live in a newly built housing estate in Kafro.
Place name
Kafro is the Aramaic word for village. To distinguish it from a nearby village of the same name, the two places with Tahtayto ( sub) and Helayto ( Upper) were designated.
Economy and infrastructure
The inhabitants lived and live almost exclusively by agriculture, which they operated mainly for own consumption. It figs, pomegranates, melons and watermelons were cultivated as well as wheat, barley, cucumber, almonds and apples isolated. On the surrounding hills wine was grown, the grapes were largely processed into raisins. Even livestock was present.
Elbeğendi consists of 46 houses, which are typically two stories, where the family lived on the upper floor, while the ground floor was used as a stable. This included every house a delimited by a wall atrium. There is a 1964 -built schoolhouse. The water supply serving approximately 80 self- built deep wells, a sewer does not exist. Since 1980 Elbeğendi is connected to the mains. The village is situated on the road from Midyat after Arkah.
As the village was at times completely deserted and uninhabited for years, several houses have collapsed in the old part of the village, or at least in very poor condition. The churches are partly in ruins, the interiors are destroyed. In contrast, the new part of the village was equipped with the big houses with European standards. Roads were paved, out power and water lines in the new part of the village and planted trees.
Religion (Christianity)
The area around Kafro Tahtayto was like the whole Tur Abdin Christianized in the first centuries after Christ. The villagers were members of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. There were in place following worship
- Church Mor Yahkup built in the 5th century
- Church Mor Barsaumo built in the 5th century
- Memorial House of God Mother Mary
- Church Mor Bosuss
- Memorial House Kadisto