Sayfo; Village of Beth Qustan

Village of Beth Qustan

The village also known as Baqesyan (or Beth Qusyan) is located in the Midyat region about 2 kilometers north of Hah. It was an important Syriac agricultural center and functioned as part of a religious Syriac center alongside neighboring villages. Baqesyan was situated within the administrative and ecclesiastical context of Tur Abdin, which was frequently subjected to the rule of Bakhti Kurdish dynasties and various Turkish governors. Historical accounts from the priest Addai of Basibrina indicate that the broader Tur Abdin region, including the district of Haytham where some Baqesyan-related lands were located, experienced recurring conflicts such as the late fourteenth-century invasion by Tamerlane, which devastated nearby monasteries and villages. In 1583, many neighboring villages to the south were converted to Islam to escape the persecution of tyrannical Turkish rulers, though Baqesyan remained a stronghold of Syriac Orthodox Christianity. By the eighteenth century, the village was part of the Syriac heartland that had survived the Mongol and Turkoman wars, maintaining its religious identity despite demographic shifts in the surrounding plains.

In 1839 and 1842, Badr Khan and his allies attacked Midyat and surrounding villages, destroying walls and taking notables captive, which significantly impacted the security of the Baqesyan area. At the end of the nineteenth century, the village had no Muslim residents and consisted entirely of Syriac Orthodox families who maintained extensive lands and vineyards. The Church of Mor Eliyo was the primary place of prayer for the inhabitants. In addition to the Church of Mor Barsawmo, which was already in ruins by the late nineteenth century and located in the nearby village of Brahmiyyeh, the village exercised authority over a large unnamed monastery in the village of Harabeqasr, which was occupied by Muslims by the late 1800s.

During the Hamidian massacres of 1895 to 1897, Baqesyan existed in a state of permanent insecurity common to Syriac settlements in the Mardin and Midyat districts. While specific accounts of a wholesale massacre in Baqesyan during the November 1895 pogroms are less documented than those of neighboring villages like Benebil or Mansuriye, the village was part of the broader administrative target for Kurdish tribal raids and Ottoman military disarmament campaigns. During these years, many Christians from the Tur Abdin villages sought refuge in fortified monasteries such as Mor Gabriel or the Zafaran Monastery to escape the violence orchestrated by Kurdish bands with the backing of local authorities.

In the era of the Sayfo genocide between 1915 and 1924, Baqesyan housed approximately 120 Syriac families and no Muslim inhabitants. In early 1915, the Ottoman government's general mobilization and subsequent anti-Christian decrees led to systemic persecution across Tur Abdin. Unlike many other villages that were immediately annihilated, the inhabitants of Baqesyan were escorted to the larger settlement of Hah for protection by a friendly Kurdish chief named Hajo, who led the Kurtak clan. The survivors remained in Hah for the duration of the war, though they were unable to return to their homes for seven years. The eventual return of the survivors was facilitated by Chelebi Agha of the Haverkan confederation after his release from prison. Despite the relative survival of the population through displacement, the village property and religious sites suffered damage, and the community was effectively uprooted from its historical economic base until the postwar period. The village was served by several members of the clergy, including Priest Danho, who is recorded as having served the community before the 1915 atrocities. During the genocide, religious books and manuscripts in the village were often targeted for destruction and looting.