Şevket Demirtaş

I have guided in Mardin for seven years, mostly through the Old City's stepped lanes where the stone houses stack up above the plain. On camera I like pausing at a corner where the view opens toward the Mesopotamian plain below, since photographs rarely capture the actual scale of it. I also guide sessions out to Deyrulzafaran Monastery, a Syriac Orthodox site a short drive from the city, where the courtyard alone explains centuries of continuous use. In the evenings I run a rooftop session, since Mardin's rooftops are where most of the city gathers after dark. I keep my sessions formal and carefully paced.