Midyat

Through a basement door in southeastern Türkiye lies a sprawling underground city — perhaps the country's largest — which one historian believes dates back to the ninth century B.C.

Archaeologists stumbled upon the city-under-a-city "almost by chance" after an excavation of house cellars in Midyat, near the Syrian border, led to the discovery of a vast labyrinth of caves in 2020.

The southern province of Mardin, renowned for its rich cultural allure and historical sites, saw a surge in both local and foreign tourists during the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

With over 60 hotels boasting 22,000 beds reaching a 90 percent occupancy rate, and Midyat district welcoming 10,000 daily visitors, the region hosted a bustling atmosphere.

Returning to her hometown after 36 years abroad, a Syriac nun, who speaks 14 languages and has written 22 books, started farming in the southeastern province of Mardin.

Hatune Doğan, who emigrated from Mardin's Midyat district with her family in 1985 and settled in Germany, is now engaged in agriculture in her hometown.

Thousands of Christians have started celebrating Easter across Turkey, Doğan News Agency has reported.

Religious ceremonies were conducted mostly in the southern provinces of Hatay and Mersin, the Marmara province of Edirne and the southeastern province of Mardin.