Sayfo; Village of Esfes

Village OF Esfes

The village of Esfes, also known as Hespest in Syriac and Yarbaşi in Turkish, is located in the region of Tur Abdin approximately nine kilometers north of the town of Azakh (Idil). It is an ancient Christian settlement situated on a cliffside near the ruins of a fourth-century Roman frontier fortress.

In 1829, Esfes was targeted by a military alliance between Muhammad Pasha, the Emir of Rawanduz, and Emir Sayf ad-Din of the Bakhtiyye tribe. These leaders combined their forces to assault Esfes and the neighboring settlement of Azakh, resulting in a massacre that caused the deaths of approximately 300 victims, including both Syriac Christians and Yezidis. In 1840, the village was plundered when Badir-Khan Beg and Mire Kor Ahmad arrived in the district of Jezire. During this attack, perpetrators executed approximately forty men of Esfes, and the surviving women and children were taken as captives by Kurdish forces moving toward the monastery of Mar Gabriel. In 1847, the forces of Badr Khan Beg targeted Azakh and Esfes again, advancing east into the Tur Abdin plateau and causing deaths and property destruction. These attacks utilized Kurdish irregular forces supported by governmental officials for wealth and land acquisition. Esfes remained part of a broader Tur Abdin landscape where Kurdish tribes and Christian inhabitants engaged in continuous internal warfare and raids. In 1855, Esfes suffered further atrocities committed by Izz ad-Din Scher and Massur Beg during their regional campaign.

The period of the Sayfo genocide from 1915 to 1924 resulted in the total destruction of the community. Prior to the 1915 genocide, Esfes was inhabited by three hundred Syriac Orthodox families and was served by five priests. On June 6, 1915, the village was besieged by the Kurdish tribes of Omerkan, Alikan, and Dorekan. While the villagers initially defended against these tribes, an Al-Khamsin detachment of the Teshkilat-i Mahsusa militia arrived under the pretense of providing protection, but instead opened fire on the villagers. After three days of violence, the priest Abdallahad Jebbo bribed the militia commander with gold coins and a pocket watch to allow the remaining population to flee to Azakh. As the survivors departed, the attackers plundered and burned the village. Notables from the village who were unable to escape were captured, taken an hour's distance, and killed at a site called Chamme-Suss. Turkish soldiers subsequently looted the homes, seized the women, and sold them into slavery. The survivors of Esfes who reached Azakh participated in the defense of that town against an Ottoman siege. The village of Esfes was left ruined and deserted in the aftermath of the genocide, and it remains largely depopulated.