Mardin: The City of Civilizations

IZMIR, Turkey -- I was in Mardin, the city of civilizations. It is a magical city. Its culture, its history and its geography are fascinating. I was on the other side of Turkey. It was a big adventure for me. I explored a new culture, a different city and met lots of wonderful people.

One day, as I was looking for a teacher, my school director appeared from his room and asked me if I would like to go Mardin. I said “yes” without a doubt. Only two students were chosen from my school. I was really lucky to be one of them.
 
I had never been to the eastern part of Turkey before and I had heard many beautiful things about Mardin. So I couldn’t miss this chance.
 
But then I began to think about terrorism in the east. What if something bad happened there? I asked elders and my teachers if there was terrorism in Mardin. They all said, “No. Not in city center. Don’t worry. You will visit the cultural, touristic and historical places there.”

But I couldn’t relax. When I watched the news, they showed reports armed conflict and terrorists in the east all the time. Then I told myself that this is a project of Ministry of Education and that I shouldn’t worry.
 
The Bridge of Hearts is a responsibility project launched by the Ministry of Education in Turkey. It enables over 100,000 high school students from all over Turkey to explore different provinces and regions within the country that they have not been able to visit before.
 
Started in 2008, the Bridge of Hearts (Gönül Köprüsü in Turkish) project has enabled students to travel to distant regions and cities to become better acquainted with other parts of the country. The primary goal of this project is to build long-lasting friendships among students from different parts of Turkey and to allow children to discover the natural and cultural richness of their own country.
 
The project also aims to help break regional prejudices, for instance between the impoverished east and the relatively developed west. Students are able to interact with people in the regions by spending one day with a host family that has a child in their age group. The host children facilitate this cultural exchange by helping students understand their province better.
 
A group of 74 students left from Izmir to go to Mardin on April 20. I joined my school friend Fatih at the airport – and finally we were on the plane. I felt that it would be a great experience for me and got ready to explore a different culture, to see new places and, most importantly, to make new friends.
 
After a two-hour flight, we arrived at Mardin airport. I was used to leaving the plane through a tunnel that takes you inside the airport. But this time we walked down the stairs. When the wind blew through my hair, I felt like a Hollywood star who was waving to her fans.

We took photos with our teachers from Izmir and the teachers from Mardin who had come to welcome us at the airport. We got on buses and went to a a primary school for an enthusiastic welcome. Young  students performed their folklore dance accompanied by drums and horns. After watching their brilliant dance, they welcomed us to a conference room to make a presentation about Mardin. I learned lots of people from different ethnic groups lived in Mardin, especially Assyrians and Arabs. After that, we went to a student hostel to rest for a while. That night we went on a short tour of the city to see Mesopotamia and the Castle of Mardin.

On the following day, we went to tour the interior parts of the city, including Kasımiye Madras, Sheikh Cabuk Mosque, Kırklar Church, Mardin Museum, Latifiye (Abdulatif) Mosque, Gazipasa Primary School, Girls’ Vocational School and and Zinciriye (Sultan Isa) Madras. After lunch and a little rest, we continued our trip to Sakıp Sabancı Mardin City Museum and Sıttı Radviyye (Hatuniye) Madras. When I saw the primary school and the girls’ vocational school, I was shocked to see the buildings’ historical architecture. And I knew a famous and successful fashion designer, Cemil İpekçi, had held a fashion show in Kasımiye Madras.

At the end of this historical trip, we had dinner accompanied by live music. We were planning to chat until late hours that night. But when we arrived at the hostel, we were exhausted and directly went to bed.

After a tasty breakfast the next morning, we left the hostel to meet our host families. I made a new friend there: Ece. She took me to Kayseriyye, the covered bazar. Filigree (“telkari” in Turkish) is a famous handicraft of Mardin. I bought a a necklace and earrings as gifts for my mother.

When we left the silversmith, everything was suddenly covered by a large, red dust cloud. I had never seen anything like that. I couldn’t even see five meters ahead. Despite this, we went to the Old Post Office Building and Zinciriye Boutique hotel. The hotel has a great view of Mesopotamia, but we couldn’t see it because of the dust. Then we went to Ece’s home in Sahkulubey Residence. When I saw her home, I gazed in admiration. It was palatial. I met her mother, father and grandmother. When it was time to leave, we exchanged numbers. (We still communicate and I know I have a friend in Mardin.)

We left our host families that evening. The next day was the International Children’s Festival. We went to the stadium to participate in a parade and celebrate the day with our friends from Mardin. We then set off to visit Deyrulzafaran Monastery and Dara Antique City. We climbed down 54 meters to see dark cells in the water cisterns. After dinner, we played volleyball with our friends at the gym and then went to our rooms.

My favourite day of the trip was April 24. We went to the monastery of Mor Gabriel. I had seen some churches before, but monasteries are so different. I learned that students still studied at the monastry. I felt so glad to live in a country with different cultures where we can live together with tolerance.

The monastery was out of the city and was surrounded by mountains and the sky. I took a big breath there. We visited the church inside monastery and saw the graves of metropolitans. We left the monastery and hurried to go to Midyat, a beautiful township of Mardin. We went to the Midyat Culture House, which was a residence. Many Turkish television shows are shot here. We went to a restaurant and suddenly heard the music of halay (a folk dance). Some men started to dance and they invited us to join them. We all started to dance together. I threw my bag and jacket somewhere and savoured this entertaining cultural meeting.

After this enjoyable event, we went to Ester Inn, a museum. We saw furniture, kitchen gadgets and other things used by people from Mardin. We went to Midyat Bazaar and bought presents for our families. I bought beautiful telkari silver earrings for myself. After a delicious dinner with our friends, we went back to our hostel. We were extremely sad because the next day was our departure day.

Five days had gone so fast. I was used to my friends, teachers and our daily trips. No school, no exams, no stress. It was just like a dream.

On the last day, before going to airport, we sang some songs from Mardin and to the eastern region with our friends and teachers. We also sang an Arabic song called “Meryem Meryem”. We didn’t know Arabic, but we memorized it. After sentimental goodbyes, we wished our friends and teachers the best and promised to meet in Izmir next summer.

When I first stepped into Mardin, I hadn’t expected to love the city so much.  I had some prejudices about it before going there. But having lived there for five days, I hold a different opinion now. There isn’t terrorism everywhere. We never faced an an occasion like that.

I understand that we mustn’t judge all people based on only some of them. It doesn’t matter what language you speak, what religion you believe in, what colour you are. It is all about your heart. I believe with projects like the Bridge of Hearts, the world will become a more peaceful place to live in. I will never forget my Mardin adventure. I will always keep those beautiful memories in my heart.