Sayfo; Village of Medon

Village of Medon

The village of Medon (also known as Midin, Midun, and Meddu) is located in the mountainous Tur Abdin region, situated approximately 30 kilometers east of Midyat and 15 kilometers west of Azakh, or about 7 miles east of Beth Sbirino. It is one of the larger villages of Tur Abdin. The ecclesiastical properties in the village contained ten churches, including the Church of Mor Ya‘qub Malphono (the Teacher) and the Monastery of Mor Ya’qub.

In 1457, Medon, along with the villages of Beth Ishaq and Arban, was devastated by attacks from Kurdish Bakhti tribes, who killed many residents, including two priests in Medon named Behnam and Malke.

During the year 1714, the rulers of the city of Jazira attacked the village through an emir identified as Bidayn, who led a force that devastated the entire Tur Abdin region extending from Medon to Aine, annihilating men, women, and children and destroying local churches.

The Bedir Khan massacres (1842–1846) reached the settlement during the mid-nineteenth-century Kurdish uprising. The settlement suffered extensive destruction and violence at the hands of Kurdish tribal forces allied with Bedir Khan.

In 1855, the atrocities and attacks against Syriac Christians continued and were highlighted by an invasion wherein Musawwar Beg and Izz al-Din Scher led their men in an attack against the villages of Medon, Azakh, and Basibrina. The perpetrators shouted religious slogans while they looted and killed the inhabitants of these three villages, even digging up houses in a search for gold and hidden money.

The Hamidian massacres (1895–1897) are reflected in regional Syriac and Armenian poems which describe the tragic fate of many Christian centers in Tur Abdin. These accounts identify Medon as one of the settlements subjected to the general campaign of violence and persecution that erupted during this period.

The Sayfo genocide (1915–1924) resulted in the near-total destruction of the Syriac community in Medon. Before the 1915 attacks, the settlement consisted of 500 Syriac families, and their leaders were Hanno Callo and Mussa Addai. In early 1915, thirty Turkish soldiers were stationed in the village citadel, and the Syriac inhabitants, fearing the impending massacres they had heard about in Midyat, disarmed these soldiers but later released them. These soldiers subsequently joined Kurdish tribes from the surrounding area to launch a week-long siege against Medon. The Kurdish clans that lived around Medon came together and attacked the Syriac community in the village, but the fight lasted one week without the Kurds succeeding in their objectives, forcing them to withdraw. However, because the village was situated on a plain and lacked natural defenses, the inhabitants feared the attackers would return. The people of Medon decided to flee to the village of Basibrina (Beth Sbirino) and requested armed men from there for protection.

The leaders of Beth Sbirino sent about 150 armed men to Medon to accompany the Syriac people under the escort of warriors like Malke. The inhabitants of Medon took everything they could carry and set out. When the Kurds heard of this, they prepared an ambush along the way, opened fire, and intercepted the fleeing families. A fight ensued and some Syriac people were killed, but the rest were saved and reached Beth Sbirino, though most of the broader inhabitants were reportedly killed during this period. Following the departure of the Syriac population, members of the Dumanan (or Doman) Kurdish tribe occupied and settled in the houses and property of the murdered Syriacs. The original inhabitants remained scattered throughout Tur Abdin during the period of persecutions. Some survivors eventually sought refuge in ‘Ayn-Wardo for seven years, remaining away from their village for four to seven years before attempting to return to the ruins of their former homes.

In 1924, hundreds of remaining Syriac Christians were forcibly deported from Medon. In 1925 and 1926, the Turkish government arrested hundreds of Syriac leaders from the settlement of Medon, and several of these leaders were executed based on fabricated accusations of treason.