Sayfo; Village of Dir Eliya

Village of Dir Eliya

The village of Der-Eliya (Ciftlik in Turkish) is located approximately three kilometers south of the city of Mardin. Its proximity to Mardin and the patriarchal see at the Za’faran Monastery placed it at a strategic and religious crossroads within the Syriac Orthodox heartland. The ruins of the Monastery of Mor Elyo are located in this village.

Der-Eliya was a significant center for the production of high-ranking Syriac Orthodox clergy. Archival records identify Maphryono Timothy Ilya I, who presided over the office from 1533 to 1554, as a native of the village and the son of a local priest. Later in the sixteenth century, the village was associated with Metropolitan Jacob Dairali, who served from 1591 to 1595. While the settlement maintained its Christian identity and clerical influence throughout this period, the broader region faced recurring instability due to Ottoman-Persian warfare and local tribal raids that frequently targeted monastic properties and Christian agrarian communities.

In the Hamidian massacres of the 1890s, the Syriac population in the Mardin environs faced widespread looting and destruction of property. Specifically, in 1895, the neighboring city of Mardin and its surrounding villages were targeted by an urban elite group and Kurdish tribesmen who orchestrated anti-Christian pogroms. While specific casualty counts for Der-Eliya during the Hamidian period are not listed in the provided sources, the village was part of the targeted Syriac Orthodox parishes that experienced systemic dispossession.

The Sayfo genocide from 1915 to 1924 represents the terminal era for the Syriac Christian presence in Der-Eliya. Prior to the onset of the massacres, the village population was recorded at approximately 200 Syriac Orthodox individuals, while others estimated the population at 30 Christian families. The village housed a Syriac Orthodox parish church dedicated to Saint Theodore. In June 1915, the Ottoman government and local paramilitary forces initiated a campaign of systematic extermination against the Christian population of the Mardin administrative district. Perpetrators included the Al-Khamsin militia and local Kurdish tribes operating under the regional direction of Ottoman officials such as Vali Reshid Bey and his subordinates. Records indicate that during this month, all Christian villages in the immediate vicinity of Der-Eliya were wiped out. Survivors from neighboring villages, such as Qala’at Marah and Benebil, attempted to seek asylum at the fortified Za’faran Monastery, which was subsequently besieged by Kurdish and Turkish forces. The inhabitants of Der-Eliya were either killed during these June 1915 operations or forced into the broader caravans of death that moved toward the Syrian desert.

The status of churches, monasteries, and ecclesiastical property in Der-Eliya reflects the broader religious destruction in the Mardin region. Following the 1915 attacks, Christian religious sites in the Mardin countryside were systematically plundered, and buildings were either demolished or repurposed for military use. The clergy associated with the Mardin parishes were specifically targeted for arrest and execution; for instance, the nearby Syriac Catholic and Orthodox bishops and their priests were martyred in caravans that departed Mardin in June 1915. After the atrocities ceased, the remnant population of the region was significantly reduced, with most survivors relocating to Syria or becoming part of the global Syriac diaspora.