Mardin

Mardin is a city in southeastern Turkey, seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province and a metropolitan municipality, occupying a rocky hill near the Tigris River close to the Syrian border. It served as the capital of one of the two main branches of the Artuqid dynasty beginning in 1103 and is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city. During medieval times Mardin became a center for the episcopal sees of several Christian denominations and housed the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate from the 13th century until 1932. Its population was 129,864 in 2021, made up of a mix of Kurds, Arabs, Mhallami and Assyrians, and in February 2000 Turkey's Ministry of Culture placed Mardin and its surrounding cultural landscape on the country's UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.