Sayfo; City of Siverek

Siverek During the Hamidian Massacres (1895) and Sayfo (1915)

In 1895, the city of Siverek had a Christian population estimated at about 5,000 Armenian Christians, Protestant Armenians, Syriac Orthodox, and Syriac Catholics. Under the pretext of disarming Christians, the government conducted numerous searches of homes and shops. Christian Notables were arrested first, followed by others, and they were imprisoned and cruelly tortured, leading to some deaths in prison. Specifically, Armenian and Syriac Orthodox  priests were massacred, some in prison and others after being dragged into the desert. Among the victims was priest Thomas Mergien, who exhorted the faithful to endure for their Christian faith.

A sketchy account of the massacre in Siverek can be found in the memoirs of the Protestant pastor of Siverek. The events in Siverek contributed to the wider massacres that spread across the six eastern Ottoman vilayets, including Diyarbekir province, where Siverek is located.

The city of Siverek continued to be home to Christian groups, including Syriac Orthodox in 1914, with a population of approximately 5,000 Christians. Similar to the 1895 events, the government in Siverek conducted searches under the pretext of disarming Christians, and notables were arrested, imprisoned, and tortured, with some dying in prison. As in the Hamidian massacres, Christian priests and notables were targeted first and many were killed in prison outside of town. The destruction of the Syriac Orthodox population in the region, including Diyarbekir province, was an integral part of the genocide directed against Ottoman Christians.

While specific methods for Siverek beyond direct massacre and torture are not detailed, the general methods used against Assyrians during Sayfo included mass slaughter with hand-held weapons, shooting, burning alive, and indirect annihilation through forced deportations, starvation, thirst, disease, and exposure, due to the destruction of homes and livelihoods.