Sayfo; Village of Bkhaire

Village of Bkhaire

The village of Bkhaire is located about 5 miles south of the city of Mardin. Throughout its modern history, the village was a property of the nearby Za’faran monastery, serving as an ecclesiastical endowment. During the late nineteenth century, the village was inhabited by a population of Syriac Orthodox and Chaldean Christians. The ecclesiastical property in the village included a church named after the Virgin Mary and Mar Demit.

During the Sayfo genocide between 1915 and 1924, Bkhaire was targeted for systematic destruction. Before the onset of the massacres, the population consisted of approximately 200 Syriac and Chaldean individuals. The primary perpetrator identified for the crimes in this location was Khalil Ghazale, the chief of the Omeran Kurdish tribe. Initially, the abbot of the Za'faran monastery reached an agreement with Ghazale to provide protection for the village. However, archival evidence indicates that Ghazale was subsequently coerced or influenced by the mayor of Mardin to participate in the anti-Christian operations of the provincial government.

The atrocities in Bkhaire took place in June 1915. Khalil Ghazale invited the village men to a meal and later informed them they would be escorted to the safety of the monastery, but upon reaching a deep well known as Bir Mammo, the Kurdish forces killed 15 of the men and threw their bodies into the well. Other contemporary reports state that a total of 100 Christians from the village were slaughtered on June 2, 1915. Following the murder of the men, the women were taken as captives by the Kurdish tribesmen.

The survivors eventually managed to escape and sought refuge at the Za'faran monastery. After the atrocities ceased, the village remained largely desolate, with its lands and buildings subject to confiscation or ongoing occupation by local tribes.