The Syrian Orthodox Kfarburan Population: 15,000
At the far north-easterly end of the road heading out of Midyat, Dargeçit (Narrow Pass) is a small, seemingly dreary town which has become much better known now that the Ilısu Dam has opened on its doorstep. In the early 2010s, the atmosphere was a little heavy; graffiti on the walls made plain the political sympathies of many of the inhabitants.
The modern suburbs of Tepebaşı and Bahçebaşı offer little of interest to a visitor but the Saray neighbourhood, on the slope leading downhill to what was once a stream, plays host to three churches, one of them Syrian Orthodox, one of them Syrian Catholic, the third of them Protestant. Only the Syrian Orthodox church of Mor Kyriakos is in good repair but it will be hard to gain admission on a casual visit.
More interesting is the once largely Christian Safa neighbourhood on the far side of the dry stream. Cross at the bridge and turn left along Demokrasi Sokak through what was once the bazaar and is still lined with small stone shops, almost all of them now boarded-up.
Although most of its inhabitants have long since fled Safa, if you wander around you will still see signs of the villagey life once lived here, with drystone walls topped off with twigs, deep communal ovens for baking bread, and chickens, turkeys and donkeys dotted about.
Transport info
I did not track down any public transport to Dargeçit and instead took a taxi from Midyat. Common sense suggests that there must be buses or dolmuşes though.
Read about my visit to Dargeçit:http://turkeyfromtheinside.com/blogbloggingaboutturkey/entry/43-the-road-to-dargecit.html
