Turkey -- A remarkable discovery in the Gerger district, located between Adıyaman and Omid, attests to the centuries-old presence of Syriacs there. In the village of Oymaklı, a stone bearing a Syriac inscription sheds new light on the region's layered history and its centuries-old Syriac presence.

The inscription, carved on a rectangular stone, reads: "This house, this structure, was built in 1186."

The stone had been repurposed as a doorstep in a home built some 30 to 40 years ago in Bayık hamlet, Oymaklı village, before it was brought to wider attention.

Adiyaman Museum Director Mehmet Alkan inspected the house, the engraved stone and the location. The text mentions that buildings and wells were built here. According to Alkan, previous studies show that there were a significant number of water wells and vineyards in the area, some of which go back to the fourth century AD. The found inscription probably dates back 1,000-1,600 years and provides information about the structures and architecture of the area.

According to Syriac researcher and writer Muzaffer İris the inscription reads, "This house, this structure, was built in 1186."

In his book Vank Village: History, Nature, Life (2022) on the nearby village of Vank, Muzaffer İris describes how the districts and cities of Gerger, Adiyaman, and Malatya had a significant Syriac and Armenian population in the twelfth century. In those days, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate was based in the Mor Barsauma Monastery near Malatya, which itself was a big archdiocese. Gerger hosted other religious sites like the monasteries of Mor Abbay, Mor Zakkay, and Mor Ephrem.

In the 1900s, there were still Armenians and Syriacs living in villages in the Gerger district. However, after the 1970s they all migrated with only a few families remaining.