MARDIN, Turkey, Oct 26 (AFP) - Britain's Prince Charles on Tuesday toured religious and historic sites in this ancient southeastern city on the last leg of a two-day, three-stop visit to Turkey.
Under strict security measures, Charles visited the 535-year-old Kasimiye madrasah (Muslim religious academy),the fifth century Syrian Orthodox Kirklar church and the 690-year-old Latifiye mosque, an AFP photographer said.
The Prince of Wales also visited the spectacular Deyrulzafaran monastery, which dates back to the fifth century and for hundreds of years housed the patriarchate of the Syrian Orthodox Church, one of the world's oldest Christian denominations.
Mardin, an ethnically diverse, 7,000-year-old city of imposing stone architecture, perched on a craggy hill overlooking the Mesopotamian plain, has so far failed in its long-standing effort to get on UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites.
Prince Charles arrived in Turkey as part of a nine-day, three-country swing that has already taken him to Italy.
On Monday, he reopened the British consulate in Istanbul that was partly destroyed in November 2003 by a car bomb attack blamed on a local cell linked to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
He later held talks with Turkish leaders in Ankara before coming to Mardin on Tuesday afternoon. He is scheduled to leave Turkey for Jordan, the last stop on his tour, later in the day.
10/26/2004 13:53 GMT - AFP