“Red Hill” Population: 196,500
Old name: Dunaysır
The largely Kurdish town of Kızıltepe lies 25km southwest of Mardin in southeast Turkey. The main reason to break a journey there would be to visit the early 13th-century Ulu Cami, also known as the Koçhisar Cami, started by the Artukid ruler, Yavlak Aslan, in 1200 and completed by his brother, Artuk Aslan, in c.1204.
A sturdy low building similar in design to Selçuk mosques, it is unusual mainly for the elaborate designs carved around its door and windows which were presumably influenced by Mardin fashion although they have an exuberance which hints at the originality of Divriği‘s famous Ulu Cami, albeit in much watered-down form.
You will probably find the mosque locked outside prayer times.
Behind it the five surviving arches of the Dunyasır bridge are probably contemporary with the mosque.
The ruins of the 19th-century Armenian Church of Surp Kevork stand beside the Tell Ermen mound.
Sleeping
Kızıltepe is best visited on a day trip from Mardin.
Transport info
Regular buses link Kızıltepe with the modern part of Mardin.
Read more: All’s Quiet on the Kızıltepe Front
