Conversion narratives in Mardin: Identity and belonging

While religious conversion is an experience that affects everyone around the individual, even his/her next generation, it is too complicated to fit into stereotypes. When the subjects of conversion, which is an action that affects many phenomena such as belonging, ethnicity, and identity, are Assyrians who became Muslims during and after Seyfo (1915), the debates around these concepts deepen even more. This thesis is based on an ethnographic field research, and focuses on the stories of Assyrians who converted to Islam during and after Seyfo. Based on their narratives, it examines the everyday life practices of the last generation with a particular focus on belonging and identity. It aims to understand the effects of family history narratives on the last generation. It draws attention to a variety of situations, ranging from how stories are attempted to be hidden by internal and external pressures to today's identity demands. The study indicates that Assyrians and their descendants, who are perceived as passive subjects as "Islamized or Islamicized", are actually active subjects. It examines how the last generation experienced the otherness constructed within the two sides despite their ties to both Christianity and Islam and the Kurdish and Syriac ethnicities as well. The subjects of this study are converted people who have a Christian Syriac family background.