An 80-year-old nun died after falling down the stairs at the Mor Gabriel Monastery in the southeastern Turkish province of Mardin, the private DHA news agency reported.
Hazme Can reportedly lost her balance and fell down the stairs in the late hours of Monday, hitting her head on the ground after the fall. She was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.
Can’s body was taken to the Mardin Teaching and Research Hospital for an autopsy.
An investigation has been launched into the incident.
Mor Gabriel is the oldest surviving Syriac Orthodox monastery in the world.
Once a sizeable ethnic minority during the Ottoman era, the Assyrians suffered a mass slaughter in 1915 that some refer to as a genocide. Subsequently, they faced pogroms in the early days of the Republic of Turkey, after which some fled to neighboring Syria.
Despite being a predominantly Christian minority, the Assyrians were not granted minority status under the Treaty of Lausanne, a provision from which other non-Muslim groups benefit, namely Armenians, Jews and Greeks.
Their number in Turkey is currently estimated at 25,000. Most of them live in İstanbul, having fled their hometowns in the southeast of the country due to the Kurdish conflict.