Gunde Omerya is situated in Northern Kurdistan, there are 56 villages in total.
In a typical village, hand made houses, all with a courtyard, are built around the main square.
A mosque, a school, some shops and the indispensable "kahve"(café) can be found (the cafe is not found in all villages). Men spend most of their time (when not working) in the mosque or at the cafe, sipping chai (tea) in traditional small glasses, discussing village gossip, reading newspapers, watching television, playing cards or "tavla" (backgammon) which is the national game.
Most of the villages in the Omerya mountains are self sufficient; the villagers mostly live off their own production, they prepare food for the whole year around, for the winter they prepare dried food with crops they have grown during the summer and autumn.
Villages are the root of our culture, our language, our nation. Village life represents the core values in which our forefathers enriched us with, our language and our traditions. In the Omerya villages there are roots, history, norms, purity and culture which dates back more than 500 years. These villages were destroyed and bought to life again, the names and stories of these villages shall never perish.
The Omerya villages are close to two major Northern Kurdistan (Eastern Turkey) cities called Mardin (Mérdin) and Nusaybin (Nisêbin). Mardin has a population of 82,134, it is a city where an Arab, Kurd and Turk live side by side with their different religions, culture and language. Nusaybin has a population of approximately 88,296, this city is 60km southeast of Mardin.
