Sayfo; City of Mardin

Mardin Massacres of 1895 and 1915

The Syriac Orthodox people in Mardin and its surrounding areas experienced significant violence and massacres during both the Hamidian Massacres (1895-1896) and the Sayfo (1915-1918). The region of Mardin, a significant center of Christian life in Northern Mesopotamia, experienced widespread and systematic violence against its Christian populations. Mardin was the capital of a sanjak (district) and a crucial supply center for caravans, hosting various Christian leaders, including the patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, archbishops of the Armenian Catholic and Syriac Catholic Churches, and the bishop of the Chaldean Church, alongside Catholic and Protestant missions.

While Mardin city itself was largely spared the widespread violence of the Hamidian Massacres, unlike regions such as Diyarbekir, due to a long-standing tradition of local Muslim leaders and tribes protecting Christians, Syriac Christians in Mardin and its surroundings faced a "crueler fate." The Mansuriyye Village located approximately 3 kilometers north of old Mardin city and about 10 kilometers northeast of Deyrulzafaran (Za'faran Monastery), was attacked by about 4,000 Kurds who set the village on fire on November 10, 1895. The Dashiye tribe, after firing at the Kurds to make them leave, extorted 20,000 gersh (currency) from the Christians as protection money (jizya). The Dashiye tribe was held responsible for these murders. The village of Benebil ,located 10 kilometers east of Mardin, also experienced a pogrom on November 9, 1895.

What happened during the Hamadian massacres in 1895 was documented by Syriac Orthodox scribes, such as Mattai Bar Paulus in Mosul (May 1896) and Jirjis in Juraselem (January 1899). The documentaries were written in colophones that were parts of the copied Syriac manuscripts. These colophones documented the attacks on Christians (including in Amid/Diyarbakir and Urfa), with Jirjis's account mentioning the burning of ten thousand people in a church in Urfa. These accounts depict the persecution as Muslim oppression of Ottoman Christians of all sects and suggest that the Ottoman government was actively involved in the massacres. A Syriac Orthodox priest named Yūhānon from ‘Ain-Wardo authored a poem that frequently uses the term "Seyfo" to describe the scale of massacres in 1895. 

The period of World War I marked a drastic shift in Mardin, becoming a major site of intense anti-Christian activities and massacres. This systematic annihilation in Mardin primarily targeted Syriac Orthodox and other christians, distinguishing its mode of destruction from the Armenian genocide, which often involved deportations.

On June 3, 1915, Mardin was surrounded by militiamen and waves of arrests began, with 662 adult Syriac Orthodox and other Christian denominations imprisoned on June 4 and 5, accused of aiding France. These prisoners, comprising Mardin's Christian elite and religious leaders, were severely tortured. On  June 10, 1915, over 400 Christian prisoners (including Syriac Orthodox), many visibly injured from torture, were paraded in heavy chains through Mardin's main street and marched towards Diyarbekir. Four notables were killed after two hours. Around 700 Christians, mostly Armenians, including the Armenian bishop, were slaughtered "like sheep" near the city. On June 14, 1915, a second convoy of 266-309 prisoners (all denominations, including 12 priests, was marched out. Over 100 men were killed at the Şeyhan caves. Ottoman cavalry officers arrived, proclaiming a "pardon from the Sultan" for non-Armenian Christians, including Syriacs. These pardoned individuals were sent towards Diyarbekir, while Armenians remained tied and continued deportation. However, this "pardon" did not lead to immediate release, as the group was marched back to Mardin and re-imprisoned and on June 26, 1915, the governor released Syriacs, Chaldeans, and Protestants from Mardin prison; Armenians remained imprisoned.

During that time, there were widespread massacres in the Countryside. The attacks in the Mardin countryside began in the first week of June 1915 and towns and villages such as Hasankeyf, Tel-Arman, Goliye (al-Qusûr/Ksor), and Sawro were targeted throughout June and July. Refugees and deportees were attacked on roads, with 7,000 exiles killed at Dara on July 11, and 12,000 killed on the Diyarbakir-Mardin road on September 10. The Syriac Orthodox were subjected to mass killings in their villages by large assemblies of local Kurdish tribes coordinated by local militia, rather than primarily through deportation columns. Some villages experienced further attacks in 1917, killing many survivors from 1915. 

The Mardin sanjak experienced a "general massacre of Christians," where nearly 48,000 (64%) of the approximately 75,000 Christians in the Mardin sub-province "disappeared" during the massacres. The Syriac Orthodox specifically, 57% disappeared in the Mardin sub-district and estimates for total Syriac Orthodox victims in the broader Diyarbekir province (which includes Mardin) range from 77,963 to 100,000. Severus Aphram Barsoum, the Syriac Archbishop of Syria at that time, reported to the Paris Peace Conference in February 1920 a total of 90,313 Syriac Orthodox killed, including 156 ruined churches and monasteries and 154 clerics (7 bishops). These figures probably didn’t include those who died from starvation and disease. The Syriac Orthodox population were "nearly wiped out" and were only saved by a December 1915 order that called for a temporary reprieve of the aggression. Female Syriac witnesses reported sexual abuse, rape, and other gender-based atrocities and none of the perpetrators were ever tried.

The Syriac Orthodox monastery of Za’faran, located near Mardin, served as a refuge for over a thousand Syriacs who fled from nearby villages, as well as Armenian deportee escapees. It was besieged and subjected to bribery for "protection", leading to many refugees dying from epidemics within the monastery. Some villages, such as Azakh, successfully defended themselves against attacks by regular troops and death squads for months and other villages like ‘Ain-Wardo, also displayed resistance.

In the era of post-World War I, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate, which had been seated in Mardin since 1293, was forced by the Kemalist government to relocate from Turkey to Syria in 1924. The "Deserted" villages in the Mardin and Midyat region were ordered to be settled by families of irregular cavalry members, displacing original inhabitants and following the Sheikh Said Revolt, Syriacs from Midyat and surrounding villages were deported and some executed during state programs of elimination and disarmament in 1926.