Silvan, Diyarbakır

Silvan (; , ) is a municipality and district of Diyarbakır Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,252 km2, and its population is 86,161 (2022). It is populated by Kurds.

History 
Silvan has been identified by several scholars as one of two possible locations (the other being Arzan) of Tigranakert (Tigranocerta), the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Armenia, which was built by King Tigran the Great (ruling 95–55 BC) and named in his honor.

Roman era 
In 69 BC, the army of Republican Rome defeated Tigran's troops in the battle of Tigranocerta. The city lost its importance as a thriving center for trade and Hellenistic culture in the following decades. In 387 AD, with the Peace of Acilisene, Tigranakert was made part of the Byzantine Empire.

Around 400 AD, the city's bishop, Marutha  (later, saint Maruthas), brought a large number of relics of Christian martyrs persecuted under Sassanid rule back from Sassanid Persia. For this reason Tigranakert was renamed Martyropolis (Μαρτυρούπολις), "city of the martyrs." Following the reforms of Justinian I (rule 527–565), the city was made the capital of the province of Fourth Armenia. The city was inconclusively besieged by the Persians in the last phase of the Iberian War.

The city suffered heavily in the Battle of Martyropolis in 588 AD, but soon prospered again.

Islamic era 
It was known by the name of Meiafarakin after the Arabs took over this region in the 7th century. It came under the control of the Hamdanids in 935, then the Buyids in 978, then it came under the Kurdish Marwanids and became the capital of their dynasty until the end of the 11th century. The city and the entire province of Diyarbakir were taken in 1085 by the Seljuk Malik-Shah I. 

During the following years, the city changed hands several times due to rivalries between Seljuk clans and local rulers. In 1118, the Artukids took the city. They resisted the attacks of Zengi for many years. The Artukid Husam al-Din Timurtash built the Malabadi Bridge near Meiafarakin, one of the wonders of the time by its dimensions. The dynasty remained in place but preferred to reside in Mardin, leaving a governor to preside over Meiafarakin.

In early 1260, the city was besieged and captured and its population then massacred by the Mongol army led by Hulagu Khan, with the help of his Georgian and Armenian allies. The Artukids eventually disappeared in 1408 under the attacks of the Qara Qoyunlu.

Ottoman Empire 
In 1896, reports by the British Vice Consul Hallward indicate that many villages were destroyed during the Armenian massacres in 1895. Hallward was engaged in the rebuilding of about 35 villages.

21st century 
Silvan was the site of serious clashes between Turkish government forces and Kurdish Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) separatists in August 2015 during the wider Operation Martyr Yalçın.

Naşide Toprak from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was elected Mayor of Silvan in the local elections in March 2019. She was dismissed in March 2020, and Mehmet Uslu has been appointed as a trustee instead of her.

Archaeology 
Archaeologists headed by professor Ahmet Tanyıldız, the vice-rector of Dicle University, announced in 2021 that they had discovered the grave of the Seljuk Sultan of Rum Kilij Arslan I, who fought against the Crusader forces. They also discovered his daughter Saide Hatun's burial site during nine days of work. Researchers dug two meters deep across a 35-square-meter area and focused their works on two gravesites in Orta Çeşme Park.

Demographics 
The Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople reported 13,824 Armenians living in the kaza of Silvan on the eve of World War I, all Kurdish-speaking. They had 28 churches, two monasteries, and 35 schools. The town itself had 2,500 Armenian Apostolic Christians and 1,500 other Christians: Chaldeans (500 according to Priest Joseph Tfinkdji), Syriac Catholics, Syriac Orthodox, and Melchites. Assyrians call the city ܣܝܠܘܐܢ.

Today, the municipality and district are Kurdish.

Ecclesiastical history

Composition
There are 94 neighbourhoods in Silvan District:

 Akçayır
 Akçeltik
 Akdere
 Akyol
 Alibey
 Altınkum
 Arıköy
 Aşağıkaya
 Aşağıveysi
 Babakaya
 Bağdere
 Bağlar
 Bahçe
 Bahçelievler
 Başdeğirmen
 Başıbüyük
 Bayrambaşı
 Bellibahçe
 Bereketli
 Beypınar
 Boyunlu
 Çakıltaşı
 Çaldere
 Cami
 Çardak
 Çevriksu
 Çiftliçevre
 Çiğdemli
 Çiğil
 Çobantepe
 Dağcılar
 Darköprü
 Demirkuyu
 Dolapdere
 Doluçanak
 Duru
 Düzalan
 Erikyazı
 Eskiköy
 Eskiocak
 Eşme
 Feridun
 Gökçetevek
 Görentepe
 Görmez
 Güçlü
 Gündüz
 Gürpınar
 Güzderesi
 Heybelikonak
 İncesu
 Kale
 Karacalar
 Karahacı
 Karamus
 Kasımlı
 Kayadere
 Kazandağı
 Keklikdere
 Kıraçtepe
 Kızlal
 Konak
 Kumgölü
 Kumluk
 Kutlualan
 Malabadi
 Mescit
 Nohuttepe
 Onbaşılar
 Ormandışı
 Otluk
 Sağlık
 Şanlı
 Sarıbuğday
 Selahattin
 Sulak
 Sulubağ
 Susuz
 Taşpınar
 Tekel
 Tokluca
 Üçbasamak
 Umurköy
 Yenidoğan
 Yeniköy
 Yenişehir
 Yeşerdi
 Yeşilbahçe
 Yeşilköy
 Yolaç
 Yolarası
 Yukarıveysi
 Yüksek
 Yuva

Notable people
 Ibn Nubata (d. 984), preacher 
 Ibn al-Azraq al-Fariqi (1116–1176), chronicler 
 Mehdi Zana (b. 1940), Former Kurdish politician
Yekta Uzunoglu (b. 1953), doctor, writer, human rights fighter, translator and entrepreneur.
Mahsum Korkmaz (1956–1986), first commander of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)'s military forces.
Leyla Zana (b. 1961), Kurdish politician
Hakki Akdeniz (b. 1980), Kurdish philanthropist and restaurateur from New York City.

Notable sites
 Malabadi Bridge

See also
Arrajan

References

Further reading 
Amedroz, H. F. "The Marwanid Dynasty at Mayyafariqin in the Tenth and Eleventh centuries AD," JRAS, 1903, pp. 123–154.
Minorsky, Vladimir. "Caucasica in the History of Mayyafariqin." BSOAS, Vol. 13, No. 1 (1949), pp. 27–35.

 
Kurdish settlements in Diyarbakır Province
Populated places in Diyarbakır Province
Districts of Diyarbakır Province
Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey
Capitals of former nations
Former Armenian communities in Diyarbakır Province
Assyrian communities in Turkey