Sayfo; The village of Gershiran

The village of Gershiran

Gershiran was located near the city of Nisibin on the slopes of Mount Izlo and is considered part of the eastern plains of Nisibis. Following modern geopolitical shifts, it is currently located within the Al-Hasakah province of Syria. The available ecclesiastical records for the nineteenth century do not list a specific church building or resident clergy for Gershiran in the registers of dues or survey reports of the Tur Abdin region. 

During the Sayfo genocide from 1915 to 1924, Gershiran is documented as having a Syriac Christian population of 400 people. In contrast to many neighboring villages that were decimated by the Ottoman Army or the Al-Khamsin death squads, the Christian inhabitants of Gershiran were spared from massacre. The primary perpetrator of violence in the surrounding Nisibin region was identified as the Muhallemi leader Qaddur Bey, who headed the local militia and oversaw the extermination of numerous Syriac communities. However, the specific fate of Gershiran was determined by its Kurdish owner, Suleyman Abbas, who acted as a protector and successfully saved the Christian population of the village from the general slaughter. This act of tribal protection was consistent with a limited number of other instances in the Nisibin colonization zone where certain aghas shielded their tenants from external paramilitary units.

The village's status as a colonized farm settlement under a Kurdish agha suggests that its inhabitants may have been served by clergy from larger neighboring centers or monasteries on Mount Izlo, such as the Monastery of Mar Awgin. There is no documentation in the sources regarding the fate of any specific manuscripts or ecclesiastical property for this settlement after the genocide period. Following the atrocities, many survivors from the Nisibin plains eventually relocated or were absorbed into the Syriac populations of the modern Syrian state.