Ebru Baybara Demir (center) demonstrates how to shape the dough for içli köfte (stuffed meatballs) with Asya Mahmoud (furthest right) and other women.

Text by Patrick Keddie

A view of Mardin's old city, crowned by an ancient castle.

Text by Patrick Keddie

The sandstone domes, rooftops and minarets of the old city of Mardin. In the distance is the Mesopotamian plain and Syria.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Horses and donkeys are still a common mode of transportation through the narrow streets and steep steps of the old city.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Asya Mahmoud (right) and Ebru Baybara Demir (second from right) observe as olive oil is poyred into a mezze.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Ebru Baybara Demir kneads dough for içli köfte ( stuffed meatballs).

Text by Patrick Keddie

The kitchen of Cercis Murat Konağı' restaurant, Mardin.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Asya Mahmoud has been working in the kitchen at Cercis Murat Konağı for several years.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Asya Mahmoud, at the front door of her house in the Kopek district of Mardin. To the south is the Mesopotamian plain and Syria.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Mardin's many churches, monasteries, mosques and madrasas - and the Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and Syriac commonly heard on its streets - reflects its diverse mix of cultures.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Asya Mahmoud (right) at a soap making workshop.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Shamsa Abdullah - a Syrian lady who works in one of Ebru Baybara Demir's agricultural projects to plant sorgül, a drought-tolerant and almost extinct regional variety of wheat.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Women in the bazaar in Mardin's old city.

Text by Patrick Keddie

A view over the old city of Mardin and the Mesopotamian plain below.

Text by Patrick Keddie

Two young men walk through a shuttered street. While three million tourists visited Mardin in 2018 and the bazaar comes alive in spring. There is still widespread economic deprivation, unemployment and a large number of vacant and shuttered properties in the city.

Text by Patrick Keddie

The minaret of the 12th century Ulu Camii (Great Mosque).

Text by Patrick Keddie

Gallery 2