The Assyrian/Syriac village of Altıntaş (: Keferze) is located 15 kilometers northeast from Midyat

Midyat

Midyat is an originally Assyrian/Syriac town in Mardin Province of Turkey. The ancient city is the epicenter of a centuries-old Assyrian/Syriac enclave in Southeast-Turkey, widely familiar under its Syriac name Tur Abdin. A cognate of the name Midyat is first encountered in an inscription of the...

, in the Mardin Province

Mardin Province

Mardin Province is a province of Turkey with a population of 744,606. The population was 835,173 in 2000. The capital of the Mardin Province is Mardin...

 of Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.
It has a population of 1,622 inhabitants, and in the village, is Syriac

Syriac language

Syriac is a dialect of Middle Aramaic that was once spoken across much of the Fertile Crescent. Having first appeared as a script in the 1st century AD after being spoken as an unwritten language for five centuries, Classical Syriac became a major literary language throughout the Middle East from...

, an Aramaic

Aramaic language

Aramaic is a group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic language phylum. The name of the language is based on the name of Aram, an ancient region in central Syria. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic family, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic subfamily,...

 dialect spoken.
The church Mor Izozoel was established in 934 AD and is considered to be an example of ancient Syriac architecture.

Tension among the Christian Syriacs and Kurdish Muslims have had a long history in this area. In 1855, Bishop Semun wrote "The prince Asdin Shin Buqtoyo destroyed the Tur Abdin

Tur Abdin

Tur Abdin is a hilly region of south east Turkey incorporating the eastern half of Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the border with Syria. The name 'Tur Abdin' is from the Syriac language meaning 'mountain of the servants '. Tur Abdin is of great importance to Syriac...

, along with our churches. They killed four ministers, monks and many Christians."
Before the Sayfo

Christian genocide

Christian genocide may refer to:*Armenian Genocide*Assyrian Genocide*Greek Genocide...

of 1914-1919, Keferze had about 600 Syriac families and 300 Kurdish families. That was the last time Syriac Christians had a majority in the village.