ASSYRIAN VILLAGE RECLAIMS ANCIENT ARAMAIC NAME AFTER CENTURY OF FORCED ISLAMISATION
The Assyrian Syriac village of Arbo in southeastern Turkey officially regained its original Aramaic name in October 2025 after nearly a century of being known by the Turkish imposed name Taşköy. The municipality of Nusaybin approved the villagers' request, which was subsequently endorsed by the district governor, making Arbo the second Aramaic village in Turkey to recover its original name.
Beginning in 1921, successive Turkish governments pursued a state policy to rename over 30,000 locations, including more than 12,000 villages, in an effort to erase the presence of non Turkic peoples and impose a uniform national identity.
The policy also extended to the forced adoption of Turkish family names.
Arbo is located on Mount Izlo in the Tur Abdin region of southeastern Turkey. The village was a prosperous settlement before the ethnic cleansing of Assyrians in 1915, known as the Sayfo or Assyrian Genocide. Since 2006, families returning from Europe have rebuilt their homes, bringing today's population to around 80 inhabitants.
A "Welcome to Arbo" sign has been inaugurated in five languages: Aramaic, Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, and English. Arbo is one of just 15 villages that have remained purely Assyrian in the Tur Abdin region.
George Aryo, an Assyrian member of the Turkish parliament who hails from Arbo, announced the change on his Facebook page. Assyrian Dutch politician Attiya Gamri, whose family comes from the village, expressed joy on social media, stating
"A village that has been around for more than 3,000 years was renamed so that its history would disappear. A new village emerged, without ties to ancient Assyria or the ancestors who once lived there. But today, it was decided to officially restore the name Arbo. The Turkish government respected the will of the people, and this gives hope."
In 2015, the village of Beth Kustan, renamed Alagöz in the 1930s, became the first village to successfully restore its original Aramaic name through a process initiated by the Akad Association, led by local Assyrian Adem Coşkun.
The name Beth Kustan dates back to early Christian times and is believed to mean "Constantine's Place."
Ilhan Aydin, a Sweden based lawyer involved in efforts to revive Assyrian life in Tur Abdin, revealed that an Assyrian delegation to Ankara formally requested the abolition of all Turkish imposed names on Assyrian towns and villages.
With growing openness from Turkish authorities and renewed local engagement, observers believe more Assyrian place names in Tur Abdin will be restored.
Before the mass exodus in the 1970s and 1980s of Assyrians from Tur Abdin and the final evacuation by Turkish authorities in the 1990s, Arbo was one of the larger villages in the region. There are many ruined religious sites, shrines, and churches in the village. The main church in use is the Mor Dimet Church.
THE CRUSADER'S OPINION
Turkey tried to erase Assyrian Christians from history by erasing their names.
For a century, Arbo didn't exist. The village with 3,000 years of Christian history was called Taşköy. Turkish name. Turkish identity. No trace of the Assyrians who built churches there before Islam existed.
This wasn't bureaucracy. This was genocide by another name.
Turkey renamed 30,000 locations. Twelve thousand villages lost their identities. Assyrian Christians, Armenian Christians, Greek Christians, all erased from maps and memory.
The 1915 Assyrian Genocide, the Sayfo, murdered hundreds of thousands. Those who survived faced systematic cultural extermination. Forced names. Forced language. Forced forgetting.
Now two villages have their names back. Two out of thousands.
This is what survival looks like for ancient Christian communities: celebrating the return of a name that should never have been stolen.
Western Christians obsess over pronouns while Assyrian Christians fight for the right to call their own village by its real name.
TAKE ACTION
1. Assyrian Aid Society: Support efforts to preserve Assyrian Christian heritage and assist returning families at www.assyrianaid.org or call +1 (847) 945 1054.
2. Assyrian International News Agency: Stay informed about Assyrian Christian persecution and advocacy at www.aina.org.
3. Demand recognition: Contact the Turkish Embassy demanding full restoration of all Assyrian, Armenian, and Greek Christian place names. US Embassy: +1 (202) 612 6700.
4. Remember the Sayfo: Educate your community about the 1915 Assyrian Genocide that Turkey still refuses to acknowledge. Share Assyrian Christian history to counter erasure.
5. Support return efforts: Donate to organizations helping Assyrian Christians rebuild in Tur Abdin and reclaim their ancestral homeland.
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