Sayfo; Village of Kafarze

Village of Kafarze

This village used to be inhabited by 160 Syriac and 70 Kurdish families. Three priests served there: Father Yohannon, Father Gergo, and Father Gabriel. The civil leaders of the people were Iskendar Maruge from Kha­wadga Family and Danho Cobano. The village also had a mayor that had been appointed by the Ottoman authorities.

When reports of the massacres reached the village, the Syriac community  debated on what to do. They debated on how to protect themselves and thought of disarming the Ottoman soldiers and using their weapons to fight any attackers. However, they believed the Ottoman mayor when he promised that the Syriac community would not be in any danger at all so they didn’t take any precautions to protect themselves. The Kurds and their leaders from the Ismael family agreed with the Kurdish clans to raid Kfarze and kill all the Syriac people that lived there. When the mayor heard this, he passed it on to Iskendar, who, in his turn, passed the message on to the villagers, who subsequently sent someone to ‘Ayn-Wardo to ask for help. The very night when the Kurds wanted to attack, the people of ‘Ayn-Wardo sent armed men to the Kafraze to help in their fight. Before the Kurds were there, the inhabitants left their village and went on their way to ‘Ayn-Wardo. When the Kurds heard this, they attacked the refugees, and there was a big fight but the Syriac people managed to reach ‘Ayn-Wardo safely. There were some that did not manage to flee and those people sought refuge in Kafsang or Dermus villages or just stayed in the village. Those that stayed were killed by the guarding forces stationed in Beth Sbirino who were the same troops that were disarmed by the leader Malke, the son of Hanne Haydo, and were driven from the village. 

In retaliation, the soldiers killed all the Syriac people who stayed behind in Kafarze. They also pulled Father Gabriel up from the well where he was hiding and killed him. The Syriac community sent mediators to Kafsang and Dermus and demanded that the Kurds should free the Syriac prisoners, but the demand was rejected. Then the  Syriac community debated among themselves and decided to raid one of the villages mentioned and to free the prisoners themselves. About 300 Syriac  raided the village of Dermus, freed the prisoners, killed a man, robbed the cattle, and ransacked the village. When the surrounding Kurdish villages heard this, they came running to assist. So the Syriac fighters kept the cattle, and took another four prisoners, three men and a woman, namely the sister of Abd al-Rahman, the Kurdish leader of Kafarze, in order to exchange them for their own people.

After their defeat, the Kurds gathered in Kafarze, and then moved on to Kafsang, taking 86 Syriac prisoners, including women and children, to kill them on the way as they had not heard about the four Kurdish prisoners. Halfway to Kafsang, they stole all the Syriac people's money and they were just about to kill them, when a messenger from Kafarze brought the order of Abd al Rahman not to kill anymore, but to take all the prisoners to Kfarze. Abd al-Rahman told them, the Syriac people had taken four of the Kurds prisoners to ‘Ayn-Wardo and among them was his sister. If they kill the Syriac prisoners then the Syriac at ‘Ayn-Wardo will kill their prisoners including his sister.  Then they agreed to an exchange of prisoners and the messenger was sent back to ‘Ayn-Wardo. Thus, the prisoners were exchanged and the cattle were returned to their owners. The villagers of Kafarze stayed in ‘Ayn-Wardo during the time of the persecution. Afterwards, they lived scattered throughout the villages of Tur Abdin for seven years, until Calabi Agha, leader of the Hafterkhan clan, led them back to their village and ordered the Kurds never to harm them again.