Üçköy (Kurdish: Xarābê Alê; Syriac: ܐܪܟܚ, romanized: Arkaḥ; or Xarābāle) is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Nusaybin, Mardin Province in Turkey. The village is populated by Syriacs and had a population of 432 in 2021. It is located in the historical region of Tur Abdin.
There is a Syriac Orthodox church of Mor Ephraim and Mor Theodorus.
History
Arkaḥ (today called Üçköy) is mentioned in the Life of Malke, likely written in the ninth or tenth century, in which it is noted that Mor Malke resided near the village, where he performed several miracles and gained Šlémūn bar Wahbūn as a disciple. The Mor Malke Monastery was founded near the village about the sixth century. Arkaḥ was inhabited by adherents of the Church of the East until it was abandoned and eventually resettled by Syriac Orthodox Christians in the 1830s and the Church of Mor Ephraim and Mor Theodorus was rebuilt, however it was still in ruins when the village was visited by Gertrude Bell in 1909.
The Syriac Catholic bishop Gabriel Tappouni recorded that the village was populated by 400 Syriac Orthodox Christians in 80 families and were served by one priest in 1913. In 1914, Arkaḥ was inhabited by 300 or 400 Syriacs, according to the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation. Amidst the Sayfo, the village's population took refuge at the Mor Malke Monastery. The population of the village was 743 in 1960. There were 950 Turoyo-speaking Christians in 120 families in 1966. In the late 20th century, a number of villagers emigrated to Germany.
Demography
The following is a list of the number of Syriac families that have inhabited Arkaḥ per year stated. Unless otherwise stated, all figures are from the list provided in Eastern Christianity, Theological Reflection on Religion, Culture, and Politics in the Holy Land and Christian Encounter with Islam and the Muslim World, as noted in the bibliography below.
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