When viewed through a sociological approach, there are many benefits to visiting one's homeland from abroad.

First of all, visits to one's home country are essentially cultural activities. They are among the activities that nurture people's humanity and purify their spirits. They are one of the important factors of reinforcing friendship and affinity, as well as interaction, development, transformation, and economic growth.

Just as seeds require fertile soil in order to grow, cultural development really needs warm, soft hearts and cultural transactions. Because when the spirit's (or heart's) purity is neglected, the heart becomes cold and callous. Founding development on top of a callous heart is akin to planting a seed in a rock.

Yezidi chief Pir Amer, who lives in Germany, is one of the outstanding opinion leaders of our geography. He is one of the leading representatives of our Yezidi brothers and sisters. 

On 7 September 2021, a Tuesday, we ran into each other by chance in Midyat. We had a chat. It was a pleasant time, reminiscing about old memories. We cheered each other up. We briefed each other. We talked about the importance of the maxim of "bridges not walls" for a promising future and about the need for coming closer in order to be understood in social endeavors. With the experience of our present companionship, we talked about the abiding fruits of acting with sincere awareness.

Though much time had passed, it was spiritually exhilarating to feel the friendship/intimacy between Yezidi chief Pir Amer and my late father Abuna Tuma Beğtaş. In the spiritual outlook, there is no "you and I." There is "we." As he shared the memories/wisdom of my late father, I saw that he was happy and smiling. I was both happy and thoughtful after closely feeling such a meaningful, sincere friendship.

Yes, it is true. Life would be unbearable without friendship. I felt greatly honored by the privilege of bonding with an old friend of my late father's and conversing with his appreciative personality. To him and the community he represents, I pay my respects and wish them health and success.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind of the following verses by Mevlana. 

He says;

Leave blindness to the eyes,

Deafness to the ears,

Leave exhaustion to the knees,

Silence to the lips.

But the heart must not grow deaf,

Or blind, or exhausted,

So that it may see you,

Hear you,

Run to you, bursting.

If the heart does not experience it,

What use is sight to the eye?

If the soul does not feel it,

What use is sound to the ear?

If the heart does not love,

What use is touch to the hand?

Malfono Yusuf Beğtaş

President of the Syriac Association of Language, Culture and Literature

Süryani Dili-Kültürü ve Edebiyatı Derneği Başkanı / Mardin