Sayfo; City of Urfa

Urfa's Syriac Community: Displacement, Persecution, and Resilience

The city of Urfa, historically known as Urhoy in Syriac, Edessa in Greek, is a major settlement in southeast Turkey located in northern Mesopotamia near the Syrian border, approximately 150 kilometers southwest of Diyarbakir. It served as a significant location and a western outpost for the Syriac Orthodox Christian communities. Geographically, it was an agricultural surplus region, with many merchants involved in exporting grain and other agricultural products to Aleppo and Lebanon. Ottoman rule was established in the region during the early sixteenth century, and the Syriac community was subsequently represented as part of the Armenian millet system. In the nineteenth century, the population of Urfa was documented in the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Register of Dues of 1870, which recorded approximately 300 Syriac Orthodox families residing in the city. The city also became a focal point for missionary activities, including the establishment of a school for Syrian Christians by the German Orient Mission. Prior to World War I, 7,200 Syriacs lived in the town of Urfa, and an additional 8,800 resided in 10 outlying villages, some of which were very large, such as Roum Kale, Serug, Harran, and Biredjik, with nearly 2,000 Syriac residents each. There were also 200 Chaldean residents with 2 priests and 2 schools.

In 1895, Christians of all faiths in Urfa were victims of the Hamidian massacres and pogroms, which brought significant violence to the region. In December 1895, a massive pogrom resulted in the murder of 8,000 Armenians in just two days. A devastating event occurred on December 29, 1895, when more than 2,000 individuals were burned alive after being trapped inside the Armenian Cathedral, an act described as a holocaust by contemporary missionaries. Total Christian casualties in Urfa during this period reached 5,000, with many victims having their throats cut by their Turkish fellow citizens. While Armenians were the primary targets, hundreds of Syriac families were also victimized, and the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Vicar was forced by authorities to sign a document accusing the Armenians of sedition to justify the state's actions.

The Sayfo, or Syriac Genocide, from 1915 to 1924, also referred to as "the year of the sword" or "Firman" (official decree), marked the genocide against Syriac, Chaldean, and Assyrian Christians in the Ottoman Empire, and represented the most intensive period of extermination in Urfa. In March 1915, convoys of Armenian women and children being deported from the north arrived in the city in a pitiable state. By April 25, Turkish authorities conducted searches of churches, and in June 1915, influential Christian leaders were arrested, including the Armenian Bishop and several priests. A general massacre was ignited on August 19, 1915, after an Armenian army deserter resisted arrest, leading to a mob attack that killed 600 Christians in the streets on the first night alone. Armenians in the city attempted to defend themselves in their quarter beginning on September 23, but the Ottoman regular army under Fakhri Pasha arrived with artillery to suppress the resistance. Artillery fire, reportedly directed by a German officer, destroyed parts of the Armenian quarter and the American Mission building. More than 25,000 Christians were ultimately massacred, including Syriac Catholic priests. Survivors, mostly women and children, were held in ruins and died of disease and starvation, while beautiful girls were sold as slaves to Turkish and Kurdish civilians.

Specific perpetrators identified in the Urfa massacres include the Ottoman regular army and irregular paramilitary units known as Tchettas or çete (bandits). Key instigators were the governor (Vali) Haidar Bey, the former provincial representative Mahmoud Nedim, the head of the local Young Turk committee Barmaksis Zade Sheikh Muslim, and the police commissioner Shakir.

During the Sayfo, Syriac families from Urfa were part of deportation convoys routed towards Ras Al-’Ain, with some fortunate ones then boarded onto a train for Aleppo. Aleppo received a large number of Syriac families from Urfa who were able to integrate there. The Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Syria, Severus Aphram Barsoum, presented figures for the losses of the Syriac Orthodox Church to the peace conference in February 1920, reporting 340 dead in Urfa. These figures were limited to his jurisdiction and areas where the Syriac Orthodox church was active, and probably did not include deaths from starvation or disease. In the aftermath of the genocide, the surviving Syriac Orthodox population of Urfa, known as Urfallis (residents of Urfa), were forced to abandon their properties and leave the city permanently. The last Syriac Orthodox people who survived the Sayfo were forced to migrate to Aleppo in early 1924 in what became known as the Last Caravan from Urfa carrying with them was an old Syriac manuscript for the book of Patriarch Michael Rabo, The Chronicles