Tur Abdin · Batman Province
Erdo
“running spring”
A village in south-eastern Turkey became a community now spread across half of Europe. This site holds together what the departure scattered: the history of the village, the photographs and the family tree of the Erdoye.
Erdo in numbers
Origins
A village between the Tigris and Karakas Dagi
Erdo lies in the north of Tur Abdin, one kilometre from the ruins of Babesh. The village was known for its springs and its green gardens with figs, grapes and melons – in a landscape that is otherwise dry. People lived from livestock and farming.
Erdo had a Christian population that lived side by side with the Kurdish-Muslim one for a long time. Especially during the 1980s many Christian villagers emigrated to Europe. Of around thirty Christian families a single one remains today – Musa and Tarzo Cetraz.
Where the Erdoye went
Today the village lives in Europe
These are the places we know of from our regional representatives. Erdoye live elsewhere too – if your town is missing, please get in touch.
Germany
- Gütersloh · Verl
- Ahlen · Hamm
- Bielefeld · Harsewinkel
- Gronau
- Hamburg
- Heilbronn
- Aschaffenburg · Großostheim
- Augsburg · Neuburg a. d. Donau
- Memmingen · Bebra
Sweden
- Stockholm
- Södertälje
- Örebro
Belgium
- Brussels
- Jette
- Opweek
Switzerland
- Individual families
Photographs
The village as the Erdoye know it
For members
The family tree of the Erdoye
Across eleven generations, 1,872 people are recorded – with parents, siblings, children and, where available, a photograph. Almost all families of the village are related to one another; the family tree shows how.
Out of respect for the people it contains, the family tree is not public. Members register with their email address. The association checks the details and then grants access.