Sayfo

The Assyrian genocide was a genocide against the Assyrian population of the Ottoman Empire towards the end of the First World War. The Syriac name ܩܛܠܐ ܕܥܡܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ Qeṭlā ḏ-‘Amā Āṯûrāyā, which literally means 'killing of the Assyrian people', is used by some groups to describe these events. Other groups, especially those who do not wish to use the ethnic identifier Assyrian, refer to the genocide as ܣܝܦܐ Saypā, pronounced Sayfo in the West Syriac dialect, meaning 'sword'.

The Assyrian population of North Mesopotamia (specifically the Hakkari region in modern-day southeastern Turkey and the Urmia region in northwestern Iran) were forcibly relocated and massacred by Turkish and Kurdish forces during the years 1915–1918 under the regime of the Young Turks.

Reasons for the genocide vary. Since Armenians and Greeks also claim they were the subject of forced relocations and barbaric executions, some cite religious persecution against the Christian community of Anatolia as the cause. Others, including the Turkish government, claim that the Assyrians and Armenians sought autonomy from the Ottoman Empire and joined the invading Russian army in the east. The Assyrian and Armenian communities, as Turkey claims, were seen as a threat and as a result were relocated to the Syrian Desert. Many deaths occurred on the "Death Marches" from starvation and dehydration, which Turkey claims was an accident.

The total death toll is unknown, the Assyro-Chaldean National Council stated in a December 4, 1922 memorandum that about 275,000 "Assyro-Chaldeans" died in 1914-1918.

The genocide of Assyrians has yet to be officially recognized by any country, but the genocide of Armenians has been recognized by many countries and international organizations. Assyrian historians point out that Assyrians did not having any real political power throughout the 20th century is what primerly lead to the unrecognition of the genocide. And also, the massacre of all Christians of Asia Minor is usually binded with the Armenian Genocide.

Before WWI

Before the war, about half of the Assyrian population was dinsed in what is today Southern Turkey. Young Turks took control of the Ottoman Empire only five years before the beginning of WWI. The Turks had decided that they would be on the Germans side. In 1914, feeling that they were heading into the war, the Ottoman government passed a new law to support the war effort by conscripting all young males in the Ottoman army.

Assyrians of what is now Turkey, primary lived in the provinces of Hakkari, Şırnak, and Mardin. These areas had also a sizeble Kurdish population as well. The Ottoman Empire entered into World War I on October 29, 1914.

The following is not all of the accounts of the massacre, but as many that were documented.

Modern Day Turkey

On April 1915, Ottoman Troops easily invaded the Gawar and massacred the population entirly. Prior to this, on October of 1914, 71 Assyrian men of Gawar were arrested and taken local government centre in Bashkalla and massacerd. Also in April, mainly Kurdish troops surrounded the village of Tel Mozilt and imprisoned 475 men (among them, Reverend Gabrial, the famous red-bearded priest. The following morning, the prisoners were taken out in rows of four and shot. Arguments rose between the Kurds and the Turkish officials on what to do with the women and orphans left behind. In the end, the army decided to slay them as well.

Massacres at Van

In late 1915, Djeudet Bey, Military Governor of Van Province, upon entering Sairt with 8,000 soldiers whom he himself called the "The Butchers' Battalion" (Kassab Tabouri), gave orders for the massacre of almost 20,000 Assyrian civilians in at least 30 villages. The following is a list of documented villages that were attacked by Djeudent soldiers and an estimated amount of Assyrian deaths:

Sairt - 2,000	Sadagh - 2,000	Mar-Gourya - 1,000	Guedianes - 500	Hadide - 1,000	Harevena - 200
Redwan - 500	Dehok - 500	Ketmes - 1,000	Der-Chemch - 200	Piros - 1,000	Der-Mar-Yacoub- 500
Tentas - 500	Tellimchar - 1,500	Ketmes - 1,000	Telnevor - 500	Benkof - 200	Bekend - 500
Altaktanie - 500	Goredj - 500	Galwaye - 500	Der-Mazen - 300	Der-Rabban - 300	Charnakh - 200
Artoun - 1,000	Ain-Dare - 200	Berke - 500	Archkanes - 500

The village of Sairt, was populated by Assyrian and also Armenians.

On March 3, 1918, Ottoman army, led by Kurdish soldiers, assisanated one of the biggest Assyrian leaders at the time: Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin.This led to the only retalation of the Assyrians during all of WWI. Malik Khoshaba led an attack against the Turks. During the attack, some 30 soldiers were killed or wounded.

Modern Day Iran

The Ottomans had were noted about the withdrawl of the Russian forces of Persia in late 1914. The 36th and 37th divisions of the Ottoman were send westerward in the Northwest part of Persia. Before the end of 1914, Turkish and Kurdish troops had succefully invaded the in-around villages of Urmaya. On February 21, 1915 Turkish army in Urmia took 61 leading Assyrians in hostage from the French missions, demanding large amount of ransum. The Mission had enough money to convince the Ottomans to let go only 20 of the men. On February 22, the remaining 41 were executed, having their heads cut off at the stairs of the Charbachsh Gate. Among them was bishop Mar Denkha.

These villages unlike the Assyrian villages of present-day Turkey, were completly unarmed. The only kind of protection they had was when the Russian army finally took control of the area, only years after the presence of the Ottoman army. On February 25, 1915, Ottoman troops stormed their way into the villages of Gulpashan and Salamas. Almost all of the men of the village of Gulpashan were shot execution style. In Salamas about 750 Armenians and Assyrians refugees were being protected by Turkish civilians of the village. The commander of the Ottoman's division stormed the houses anyways, despite having also Turkish people, and roped all the men together in big groups and forced them to marched in the fields between Khusrawa and Haftevan. The men were shot or hacked to death. The protection of Christians by Turkish civilians is also confirmed in the 1915 British report:

"Many of the Moslems tried to save their Christian neighbours, and offered them shelter in their houses, but the Turkish authorities were implacable."

During the Winter of 1915, 4,000 Assyrians died from disease, hunger, and exposure, and about 1000 were killed in villages of Urmia.

1918 The Massacre of Khoi, Persia

In early 1918, as many Assyrians started to fled present-day Turkey, Mar Shimon Benyamin had arranged for some 3,500 Assyrians, to reside in the district of Khoi. Not long after settling in, Kurdish troops of the Ottoman Army massacred almost entirly the population. One of the few that survived, was Reverian John Esho. After escaping, he stated:

"You have undoubtedly heard of the Assyrian massacre of Khoi, but I am certain you do not know the details. These Assyrians were assembled into one caravansary, and all shot to death by guns and revolvers. Blood literally flowed in little streams, and the entire open space within the caravansary became a pool of crimson liquid~ The place was too small to hold all the living victims for the work of execution. They were brought in groups, and each new group compelled to stand up over the heap of the still bleeding bodies, and was shot to death in the same manner The fearful place became literally a human slaughter house, receiving its speechless victims, in groups of ten and twenty at a time, for execution. At the same time, the Assyrians, who were residing in the suburb of the city, were brought together and driven into the spacious courtyard of a house. . .The Assyrian refugees were kept under guard for eight days, without anything to eat. At last they were removed from their place of confinement and taken to a spot prepared for their brutal killing. These helpless Assyrians marched like lambs to their slaughter, and they opened not their mouth, save by sayings "Lord, into thy hands we commit our spirits."

John Esho goes on:

"the executioners began by cutting first the fingers of their victims, join by joint, till the two hands were entirely amputated. Then they were stretched on the ground, after the manner of the animals that are slain in the Fast, but these with their faces turned upward, and their heads resting upon the stones or blocks of wood Then their throats were half cut, so as to prolong their torture of dying, and while struggling in the agony of death, the victims were kicked and clubbed by heavy poles the murderers carried Many of them, while still laboring under the pain of death, were thrown into ditches and buried before their souls had expired- The young men and the able-bodied men were separated from among the very young and the old. They were taken some distance from the city and used as targets by the shooters. They all fell: a few not mortally wounded One of the leaders went close to the heaps of the fallen and shouted aloud, swearing by the names of Islam's prophets that those who had not received mortal wounds should rise and depart, as they would not be harmed any more. A few.- thus deceived. stood up, but only to tall this time dead by another volley from the guns of the murderers. Some of the younger and goodly looking women, together with a few little girls of attractive appearance, who pleaded to be killed. Against their will were forced into lslam's harems. Others were subjected to such fiendish insults that I cannot possibly describe. Death. however, came to their rescue. and saved them from the vile passions of the demons.' The death toll of Assyrians totaled 2,770 men, women and children,"

By mid-1918, the British army had convinced the Ottomans to have access to about 30,000 Assyrians from various parts of Persia. The British decided to deport all 30,000 from Persia to Baquba, Iraq. The transfering took just 25 days, but at least 7,000 of them had died after arriving in the British camp.

American Presbyterian Missionaries at Urmia During the Great War 16 memorandum to British Minister Sir Percy Cox

"Capt. Gracey doubtless talked rather big in the hopes of putting heart into the Syrians and holding up this front against the Turks. [Consequently,] We have met all the orders issued by the late Dr. Shedd which have been presented to us and a very large number of Assyrian refugees are being maintained at Baquba, chiefly at H.M.G.'s expense."

In 1920, the British decided to close down the Baquba camps. The majority of Assyrians of the camp decided to go back in the Hakkari mountains, while the rest were dispersed throughout Iraq.

Eyewitness Accounts and Quotes

Statement of German Missionaries on Urmaya

• "There was absolutely no human power to protect these unhappy people from the savage onslaught of the invading hostile forces. It was an awful situation. At midnight the terrible exodus began; a concourse of 25,000 men, women, and children, Assyrians and Armenians, leaving cattle in the stables, all their household hoods and all the supply of food for winter, hurried, panic-stricken, on a long and painful journey to the Russian border, enduring the intense privations of a foot journey in the snow and mud, without any kind of preparation...It was a dreadful sight,...many of the old people and children died along the way." (The Death of a Nation, pp. 119-120)
• "The latest news is that four thousand Assyrians and one hundred Armenians have died of disease alone, at the mission, within the last five months. All villages in the surrounding district with two or three exceptions have been plundered and burnt; twenty thousand Christians have been slaughtered in Armenia and its environs. In Haftewan, a village of Salmas, 750 corpses without heads have been recovered from the wells and cisterns alone. Why? Because the commanding officer had put a price on every Christina head.... In Dilman crowds of Christians were thrown into prison and driven to accept Islam." (The Death of a Nation, pp. 126-127)

See also

• Armenian Genocide
• List of Assyrian settlements

References

• de Courtois, Sebastien. The Forgotten Genocide. Eastern Christians, The Last Arameans.
• The New York Times - October 11, 1915: Turkish Horrors in Persia

External links

• http://www.bethsuryoyo.com/images/Articles/AframBarsom/AfBarsom7.html
• http://www.aina.org/news/20060131141429.htm
• http://lalettre.hayway.org/protected/en/communique000100b8.html