But in many ways, residents say, Mardin is a world apart when it comes to inter-ethnic relations.

"We are very optimistic here, people deal with us Kurds very positively," said Mehmet, a Kurdish businessman, over a cup of tea in this ancient city with spectacular views of the Mesopotamian plain.

"It's fine, we have good relations with everyone," said another Kurd, Necmettin, a bellboy at a high-end hotel.

Turks, Kurds, Muslim Arabs and Assyrian Christians live side by side in Mardin, which has been a crossroads of civilizations for more than 1,000 years.

The city is no classic melting pot: ancient madrassas abut 1,000-year old churches and the streets are a babel of Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic and even Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ.

People are fiercely protective of their identity, but equally proud to belong to one community.

"Our houses, our schools, our places of worship and even our graves are next to each other," said Selahattin Bilirer, a Muslim Arab who owns a transport company.

"We don't look at each other as enemies just because we are of different creeds or have different heritages," he said. "Sure, we have our daily disagreements, but the bottom line is that we are all one community."

Bilirer credits a high level of education and relative economic well-being in Mardin, a top regional tourist destination, for fostering a tolerant mindset.

Outside Mardin, however, it is that sense of belonging to one community that is being tested.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has waged an armed campaign for self-rule in impoverished southeastern Turkey since 1984 at the cost of more than 37,000 lives.

Tensions increased after October 21 when PKK rebels Turkey says came from northern Iraq ambushed a military unit, killing 12 soldiers and capturing eight others. The captives were released Sunday.

In response, Turkey is threatening military action in the virtually autonomous Kurdish-run north of Iraq, from where Ankara says some 3,500 PKK rebels conduct cross-border attacks in Turkey.

Many Kurds fear that a military operation could fan ethnic tensions.

"If there is wider conflict, we may face discrimination here and in other parts of Turkey. I'm afraid that my brother won't be able to go to university," said Azad Urek, a Kurdish businessman in Silopi, near the Iraqi border.

Listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey and the United States, the PKK enjoys at least indirect support from many Kurds in the region.

Ankara has only recently granted the Kurds, who make up nearly one fifth of Turkey's population of 70 million, the right to learn their own language -- but only in private institutions and not in government schools.

This is one example of how the state still views minorities as a threat to Turkish identity, said Gabriel Oktay Cilli, a Christian jeweller in Mardin.

Until recently, he said, Christians here were not allowed to renovate their churches and are still not allowed to teach the Aramaic alphabet.

"When the Turkish state sees us as Kurds or Christians, it's as if it is seeing the enemy," Cilli said. "The mentality must change, there must be more openness and tolerance.

"Inside and outside Turkey, Mardin should be a model for peaceful co-existence," he said.