Sayfo; Village of Yardo

Village of Yardo

The village is situated at the foot of a mountain range which is called Turo Eloyo (high mountain)and it is about 6 miles north of Kafro Elayto. Its name means "Water Spring" and there is a well of that name in the village. In Yardo lived about 70 Syriac families and their leader was Malke Khatun. There was a church in that village and the priest of Kafro Elayto cared for Yardo parishioners. The Syriac people in Yardo were known for their fearlessness and they were well armed.

There were also about thirty Kurdish families in Yardo but they knew that  they could not subdue the Syriac people in Yardo, they had to plot with the Kurds leaders in the village of Tammar.  After a meeting between the Kurds in both villages, they decided to tell Syriac community they were not in danger whatsoever. The Syriac community believed what the Kurds said, but the Kurds surrounded the village and went up the mountains without being noticed by the Syriac people then they asked for help from the Syriac people claiming that they were attacked. When the Syriac people rushed to help them in the mountains, the Kurds rushed to the village and occupied it and when the Syriac people saw what happened, they went down from the mountain to a place known as "Fortress Yardo." Once they had occupied it, they sent a messenger to the Kurds, offering to release their prisoners, who should come to the fortress also. Then, the Syriac people decided to go to ‘Ayn-Wardo. When they left the stronghold, the Kurds knew that they were going in the direction of ‘Ayn-Wardo and laid an ambush for the Syriac people in a spot on the way there. When the Syriac people reached the spot, the Kurds opened fire and the bullets rang out like hail. The Syriacs resisted as well as they could, but without success due to the large number of the attackers, who came from many Kurdish villages. All the Syriac people of Yardo were killed except for fifteen men, managed to escape the massacre and flee to a Kurdish village where they were stabbed to death. The Kurds left some forty children and some women alive who they served them as slaves and servants but no one converted to Islam.