Sayfo; Diyarbakir Vilayet

The Vilayet of Diyarbakir was one of the larget vilayets of its kind in the late Ottoman Empire and it had a large number of Christians from different denomenations residing in the district. It had the biggest concentration of Syriac/Aramaen popultion in the Ottoman Empire. It's name was the name of it's biggest city, Diyarbakir, which is a very old city on the Tigris River. Diyarbakir was divided into three small sub-districts (Sanjak). 

At the time of Sayfo and all the atrocities and massacres, this Syriac communities suffered the most due to their large concentration in rural areas that was open to attacks from the Ottoman army and Kurdish chieftains

• Diyarbakir sub-District (Sanjak):

There were six small districts (kaza): Beshiriyeh, Diyarbakir, Lice, Silvan, and Siverek. Derek had only one Syriac settlement called Derek

• Ergani-Maden sub-District (Sanjak):

There were three small districts (kaza): Maden, had only one Syriac settlement called Maden or Ma'dan, Palu had only one Syriac settlement called Palu, and Cermik didn't have any Syriac settlements

• Mardin sub-District (Sanjak):

There five were small districts (kaza): Avine, Cizre, Mardin, Midyat, and Nisibin