Sayfo; Village of Qala’at Marra

Village of Qala’at Marra

Qala’at Marra is a village located between Mardin and Deir al-Za'faran and all its inhabitants are  Syriac Christians and some Syriac Catholics and Protestants. In the village, there was a church named after the martyr St. George, and it has two priests: Father Elia and Father Daoud. On June 11, a group of women went to Mardin and informed the bishop Qorilius Girgis and the notables of the community that the Kurds are threatening this village and threatening its people with death. So they advised them to go to the village and tell all its people to flee with their belongings and take refuge in Deir al-Za'faran. This event reached the Kurds leaders who wanted to reassure the Syriac and other Christians in the village regarding their safety. However, the Christians people of the village refused and insisted that they go to the monastery.

On June 13, a group of men from Qala'at Marra, about forty five men, left the Monastery and headed to their village to transport what remained in the village and were accompanied by two Turkish guards who were assigned to protect the monastery.The Kurds attacked the village men and killed them and the two guards were unable to protect them. Only two of the men survived, who fled to Mardin and one of them, Gergees, went to the Protestant hospital and was healed.

When the residents of Qala'at Marra, who were residing at the monastery, heard about the martyrdom of these men, they were filled with rage and went back to the village. They took the bodies of the victims, put them in sacks, and carried them to the church to pray over them and bury them. The Kurds shot at them with rifles on the way back, but God protected them and they returned safely to the monastery

On June 24, a commander in what's known as the Fifty groups came to the Deir al-Za'faran Monastery. He arrested 450 of the residents, forcibly removed them from the monastery, and transported them to Mardin to be included in the labor force. Among them were five Armenian men who had fled from the village of Firan. He separated them and killed them on the way. He included the rest among the laborers and workers on the main roads. After a few days, these detainees escaped and began returning one by one to the monastery by bribing the officials who were in charge of them. However, when they arrived at the monastery, the same commander heard about these men and he came and ordered that each man pay a monthly bribe to him.

Due to the severe siege and hardship on the monastery and the large number of refugees and residents, the monastery was struck by a great epidemic and many of these people died. Many others fled and were scattered in the wilderness moving from one place to another, until some of them reached Mount Sinjar.