Suruç

History

Pirsûs (Suruç) is situated in a fertile district that is well-suited to growing fruits and grapevines. It is centrally located between the Euphrates on the west and Urfa and Harran on the east; it is about a day's journey from both cities (using pre-industrial transportation). The city was a centre of silk-making. They were succeeded by a number of other Mesopotamian civilisations. In the Middle and Late Bronze Ages, this region was under the Hurrians, Mitanni, Hittites and Assyrians. ===Roman period=== Constantine the Great, Roman emperor who reigned from 306 to 337, brought the town under the control of the city of Edessa. The name Batnan (Syriac: Batnāē) was the common designation in the Roman and Byzantine periods (known as Batnae). In 363, Tell-Batnan was visited by Emperor Julian on his march from Antioch to the Euphrates. The Arabic name Saruj (the root of the modern Turkish Suruç) became prominent after the Islamic conquests in the 7th century CE. One of the most famous residents of the district is its 6th-century Syriac bishop and poet-theologian Jacob of Serugh. The Catholic Church hold the bishopric as a titular see of that church, though they had little presence in the area, while the Syriac church holds a separate Bishopric in the town. The typonym is often associated with the biblical name Serug. The town surrendered in 639 to Iyad ibn Ghanm during the Muslim conquest of the Levant. This only lasted briefly, though — in 1101, the crusader Baldwin I of Jerusalem captured Suruç. For almost half a century, Suruç then formed part of the crusader County of Edessa. Ahead of the June anticipated 2018 Turkish elections, four people were killed in Suruç while an AKP candidate toured the city's market. According to pro-Kurdish sources, AKP representative…