Sayfo; Village of Helwa

Village of Helwa

About 40 Syriac families from Tur-Abdin lived in Helwa, most of whom came from Hbob (Ehwo), Hah and Ayn Wardo. In addition, there were ten Kurdish families. The leader of the village was Ali Issa. The villagers did not flee into the mountain because they trusted the assurance that no harm would be done. After the massacre of Sayfo in Nisibin, the villain Qedur Bey marched into the village together with his innumerable Kurdish tribes. First, they surrounded it so that no one could escape. Then they captured all the men of the village, handcuffed them and brought them to the river, to the place that is called "Qiro". There, they killed everyone and threw them into the river. Next, they put all women into a house, killed them and burned their bodies. The children were not killed, but they were forced to become Muslims.  Mor Athanasius Yeshue Samuel, the late Metropolitan of the USA and Canada, was born in Helwa in 1907.