Sayfo; Village of Ma’sarte

 Village of Ma’sarte

The village of Ma’sarte is located about 20 km northeast of Mardin and was historically a center for the cultivation of grapes and the weaving of wool. Ma’sarte was one of the essential towns and villages of the Tur Abdin mountain range that were frequently subjected to the rule of predatory local powers. While specific massacre records for the village itself are not provided, the broader population of Tur Abdin suffered significantly under the rule of the Bakhti Kurds, who were noted for their persecution of Syriac communities and the pillaging of their religious sites. Ma’sarte remained a distinct Syriac Orthodox community within the Mardin sanjak. The village was part of the diocese of Tur Abdin, which had been in schism from the Apostolic See of Antioch from 1364 until a reconciliation was achieved in 1839. The settlement is categorized among the heartland locations where the Syriac Orthodox Church maintained its cultural and linguistic heritage against centuries of external pressure.

In 1714, the region was attacked by an emir named Bidayn, who destroyed nearby churches and set fire to villages in the entire region extending from Medon to Aine, impacting the safety of the local population.

During his campaigns in 1842, Bedir Khan and his Kurdish forces attacked the central towns of the region, destroying defensive walls and taking notables captive. The broader campaign resulted in the deaths of approximately 10,000 Christians in the general territory, and while isolated statistics for this specific town are not provided for these years, the entire region is described as being in a state of extreme affliction where the Christians were treated as prey for the Kurdish tribes. After these attacks settled, Ma'sarte continued to function as an agricultural and ecclesiastical center. The neighboring Muhallemi and Omerli tribes, permanently settled in the Mardin sanjak, were recognized as having originally been Christians who converted to Islam, yet they often maintained complex social ties with their Christian neighbors during this relatively stable era. However, by the early 1890s, the general security situation for Christians in the eastern provinces began to deteriorate as the central government shifted its policies regarding the Kurdish tribes.

When the Hamidian massacres from 1895 to 1897 started, Ma'sarte was located within a district that faced significant turmoil. On November 9, 1895, a pogrom occurred in the nearby village of Benebil, only 10 kilometers east of Mardin, forcing many Syriac families to flee. While the city of Mardin itself was largely spared the extreme carnage seen in Diyarbakir, the surrounding rural villages were devastated by Kurdish plundering and violence. During these events, the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius AbdulMasih II arrived in Diyarbakir and was forced to appeal directly to the Sultan for protection for the Christians of the Mardin province.

In the era of the Sayfo genocide from 1915 to 1924, the village experienced total devastation. Before the onset of the massacres, the town was inhabited by approximately 300 Syriac Orthodox Christians. The primary ecclesiastical structure was the parish church of Mar Gewergis. On June 12, 1915, Huseyin Bakkero, the owner of the village, traveled to Mardin to coordinate with Kurdish tribal leaders, including Faris Chelebi, Mohammed Ali Chelebi, and the Dashit chief Ahakat, to organize the liquidation of the Christian population. Huseyin Bakkero returned and gave the villagers a solemn promise of protection to ensure they remained in the village, but shortly thereafter, he allowed Kurdish tribes and local Muslims to attack and massacre the inhabitants. The males of the village were the first to be gathered and murdered. In the middle of June 1915, several individuals managed to escape the slaughter and fled to the nearby village of Benebil, bringing word of the atrocities committed in Ma'sarte. Most survivors who escaped the immediate area eventually sought refuge in the city of Mardin or in larger fortified villages like ‘Ayn-Wardo.

The cumulative effect of the massacres of 1842, 1895, and 1915 led to a dramatic decline in the Christian population, with many families relocating to Syria or Iraq after the establishment of the Turkish Republic.