Cizre: Noah’s Town on the Tigris

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1. What is Cizre?
2. How do you get to Cizre?
3. When is the best time to visit Cizre?
4. What is the history of Cizre?
5. What is Cizre famous for?
6. What can you see in Cizre?
7. Frequently asked questions about Cizre
8. What do the official records say about Cizre?

What is Cizre?

Cizre is the largest town in Şırnak province and its historic heart. It stands on the Tigris where the river turns south to form the border with Syria, close to the Iraqi border. For centuries it was one of the great towns of Upper Mesopotamia: a river crossing on the trade routes, a centre of learning, and the capital of the Kurdish emirs of Bohtan.

Most visitors come for its religious sites. Cizre has a mosque with a tomb attributed to the Prophet Noah, the 12th-century Great Mosque, the Red Madrasa with the tomb of the poet Melayê Cizîrî, and the tomb of Mem and Zin, the lovers of the region’s best-known epic. Mount Cudi, linked with Noah’s Ark, rises to the northeast.

How do you get to Cizre?

Şırnak Şerafettin Elçi Airport, opened in 2013, is near Cizre. Turkish Airlines flies from Istanbul, and AJet from Ankara and Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen. By road, Cizre is on the main route from Mardin and Midyat to Silopi and the Habur border gate with Iraq, with buses from the main cities of the southeast.

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises against all travel within 10 km of the Turkey–Syria border, an area that includes Cizre. Check your own government’s advice and your insurance before you go, carry your passport, and expect checkpoints on the approach roads.

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When is the best time to visit Cizre?

Spring (April–May) and autumn (October–November). Cizre lies low on the Tigris plain and is among the hottest towns in Türkiye in July and August, when sightseeing is only comfortable early in the morning. Winters are mild.

What is the history of Cizre?

Cizre’s own tradition places its foundation right after the Flood: the provincial culture and tourism directorate records the belief that Noah and his sons founded the town after the Ark came to rest on Mount Cudi, while noting that there are no records before the Gutian period. It lists Gutian, Babylonian, Median, Persian, Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian rule before the town surrendered to the Arab armies in 639.

The town known to medieval writers was founded in the early 9th century by al-Hasan ibn Umar al-Taghlibi, emir of Mosul, on a bend of the Tigris enclosed by a canal, and named Jazirat ibn Umar, “the island of Ibn Umar”. Its Syriac name was Gazarta. It became a trading and river-crossing centre and later a centre of learning, with Muslim, Christian and Jewish communities. The Zengids took it in 1127, Salahaddin Ayyubi in 1185 and Hulagu in 1258.

From the late Middle Ages the Kurdish emirs of Bohtan, also called the Azizan, ruled from Cizre. They built the Red Madrasa, the Mir Abdal Mosque and the Belek Tower, and kept their autonomy under the Ottomans until the emirate was ended in the 1840s. In 2015–2016 curfews and armed clashes caused heavy damage in the town, and large parts have since been rebuilt.

What is Cizre famous for?

Noah. The inventory states that, according to tradition, Noah’s ship came to rest on Mount Cudi after the Flood, that Noah founded Cizre and died there, and that his tomb and its surroundings were arranged by the Şırnak Governorship.

Faith tourism. The inventory calls Cizre the richest district in the province for faith tourism, and notes that the Silk Road passed through the town and that the Tigris, the province’s largest river, runs through it before leaving the country.

Al-Jazari. The engineer Ismail al-Jazari, author of the Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (1206), is commemorated in Cizre by a museum displaying examples of his machines.

Mem and Zin. According to the directorate, the events of the story took place in 854 AH (about 1450) under Emir Zeynuddin, son of Emir Abdal. Ahmed-i Hani set it in verse in the late 17th century, and it has been translated into Turkish, Persian, Arabic, French and Russian.

What can you see in Cizre?

Prophet Noah Mosque and tomb. The tomb attributed to Noah lies inside the mosque that bears his name, in the town centre. The inventory also records the belief that al-Jazari is buried in its courtyard.

Great Mosque. According to the inventory, it was converted from a church into a mosque in 639, damaged and repaired under the Abbasids, and rebuilt in 1160 by Sencer, son of the Cizre ruler. Its square minaret, which the inventory dates to 1156, was repaired in 1945–1946 and in 1971. One of the famous dragon door-knockers from its gates is now in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul.

Red Madrasa. The 15th-century madrasa with the tomb of Melayê Cizîrî. See our Red Madrasa guide.

Mir Abdal Mosque and the tomb of Mem and Zin. The inventory dates the mosque, which also served as a madrasa, to 1437 and attributes it to the Azizan bey Emir Abdullah (Abdal). Part of the prayer hall and administrative rooms still stand, and the tombs of Mem, Zin and Bekir are in the basement on the south side.

Castle, Belek Tower and the al-Jazari museum. The inventory describes Cizre Castle, built on the bed of the Tigris at the north of the town, as three storeys high with 360 rooms, and notes that the “Mem u Zin dungeons” inside it were well preserved, with wild goat and deer figures on the inner gate. The Belek Tower, distinguished from the other towers by its alternating rows of black and white stone, was built in 1596 by the Azizan bey Şeref bin Muhammad in the name of his great-grandfather Emir Belek bin Behram. The Ismail Ebul-iz el-Cezeri Museum is in the former headquarters building at Bırca Belek.

Walls and the Lion Gate. The inventory describes walls of black basalt with mostly round towers. Of their gates, the Tor and Deşt gates are gone, but the Lion Gate inside Sarayburnu survives: three large stones with an arch added above, lion figures and an inscription.

Kasrik. About 6 km from Cizre on the Şırnak road, ruins with water dams, rock frescoes and natural rock formations.

Frequently asked questions about Cizre

What do the official records say about Cizre?

In terms of faith tourism, the richest district is Cizre. The passage of the Silk Road through the district centre allowed its trade to grow. The Tigris, the largest river of the province, passes through the district and leaves across the border. The presence of the Tomb of Noah and the Tomb of Mem u Zin in the district centre has further increased the district’s importance.

The Belek Tower, which differs from the other walls in being built of one row of black and one row of white stone, was built in 1596 by the Cizre Azizan bey Şeref bin Muhammad bin Hanabdal in the name of his great-grandfather Emir Belek bin Behram. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Şırnak Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)

Main photo: Rehman Abubakr, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.