City of Diyarbekir

Diyarbekir: Christian Fate, 1895-1925

The events in Diyarbekir between 1895 and 1925 represent a profound and tragic period of systematic violence and demographic transformation for its Christian populations, particularly during World War I. Prior to the full onset of the massacres in 1915, Diyarbekir was a significant administrative, economic, and cultural center in the Ottoman Empire, known historically by its Syriac name, as 'Amida'. Diyarbekir was the capital of a large province (vilayet) that, by the late 19th century, encompassed parts of modern Turkish provinces like Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Elazığ, Batman, Siirt, and Şırnak, and extended into Northern Syria and Iraq It was an important administrative hub where the Ottoman governor-general (vali) reside

Diyarbekir was a truly cosmopolitan city with a diverse population of Muslims, Christians, and Jews. Christian communities included Gregorian Armenians, Armenian Catholics, Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholics, Nestorians, Chaldeans, and Protestants. Most Muslim city dwellers spoke Turkish, Kurdish, or Arabic. Syriac Christians were among the oldest communities, likely arriving during Early Christianity. The Syriac Orthodox were the largest Syriac community in Diyarbekir, with Syriac Catholics, Church of the East, and Chaldeans also present. The city's non-Muslim population, particularly Armenians and Syriacs, were active in trade and intellectual life, publishing periodicals.

Diyarbekir was significantly affected by the Hamidian Massacres (1895-1896) which began on November 1, 1895, and lasted three days, resulting in hundreds of deaths among Armenians, Syriacs, and other Christians and fire was set in the bazaars of the city.Mobs primarily targeted the large Armenian community, but also killed 167 Syriacs and other Christians, plundered their homes, and looted/burned their shops. Violence spread to surrounding areas like Lice, Silvan, Palu, Ergani, and Çermik, with Kurdish tribesmen playing a paramount role in attacking and plundering villages

The new Governor-General, Mehmed Enis Paşa, appointed on October 4, 1895, had a poor reputation among Christians and was accused of causing a fire in Mardin the previous year. British and French consuls believed he played a role in maintaining unrest.

The relatively high number of Muslim casualties in Diyarbekir (70 to 200) compared to other towns suggests that Armenians and Syriacs were not defenseless and fought fiercely. Some Muslim notables, described as "Young Turks" and in opposition to the Sultan, protested the reforms and later formed a committee and some local Muslims and soldiers helped defend the French Consulate. The Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Abdul-Masîh intervened, sending a telegram to Sultan Abdul Hamid and obtaining an order for Syriacs' protection. After that, large parts of Diyarbekir were left in ruins, with hundreds of houses plundered and over 900 shops burned. The city remained unstable for months, with rumors of further attacks and armed Kurds entering the city

The Sayfo, meaning "sword" in Aramaic, refers to the massacres of Syriacs, Assyrian, and Chaldean Christians during World War I. It was seen by Syriac Christians as a religiously motivated war of extermination.

Mehmed Reshid Bey was reinstated as vali of Diyarbekir on March 25, 1915, and Mehmed Memduh returned as provincial chief of police. Reshid was described as a fanatic who "raged like a crazed bloodhound against the Christians of his vilayet." He brought 30 Special Organization operatives with him, including Çerkez Harun, Çerkez Şakir, and Çerkez Aziz, giving him more effective power than an average governor. The anti-Christian activities intensified significantly under Reshid, reaching a high point in the summer of 1915. The provincial government, through figures like Aziz Feyzi Bey (son of the organizer of the 1895 pogroms) and Zulfi Bey, became strong agitators for the anti-Christian campaign, aiming to "Not leave a single Christian!" They worked to undermine traditional Muslim protectors of Christians. Talaat Pasha, the Interior minister, was in direct communication with Reshid.

In late 1914, news of Enver Pasha's, the War minister, losses caused distress and suspicion between communities in Diyarbekir. Christian shops were confiscated, and violence against Christians occurred in August/September, 1914. The use of non-Turkish languages was prohibited in institutions. Arms searches in Christian homes began in February 1915, accompanied by accusations of treason. In June 1915, waves of arrests targeted Diyarbekir's Christian elite and religious leaders, including Armenian, Syriac, and Chaldean notables, accusing them of hiding weapons and they were subjected to severe torture. An Ottoman bureaucrat, Fa’iz Al-Ghusayn, witnessed these tortures in Diyarbakir prison.

About one thousand notables were transported 18 hours away from Diyarbekir on the Tigris on rafts and were all shot dead. In July 1915, The German consul Holstein reported the arrival in Mosul of about 600 women and children, "Armenian, Chaldean, Syriac," whose male relations had been massacred in Sa’irt, Mardin, and Pesh-Khabur. Over 12,000 deportees were killed on the Diyarbekir-Mardin road on September 10, 1915. Many massacres occurred in the Diyarbekir countryside, including attacks on villages like Charukhiye, Zurafe, Chemchem, and others, often involving burning, plunder, and murder of men, with women and children taken captive or forced to convert. The bazaars of Diyarbekir burned for three days and nights starting August 19, 1914, The chief of police, Mehmed Memduh, hindered efforts to extinguish the fire, and the new vali, Mehmed Reshid Bey, was assumed to have masterminded it.

The Diyarbekir province experienced a "general massacre of Christians.". Approximately 77,963 Syriac Orthodox Christians were killed in the Diyarbekir vilayet. Armenian losses were also immense, with the community in Diyarbekir reduced to only 1,200 individuals who converted to Islam, and a small community of 40 Catholic Armenians after the "deportations." Christian losses in the Diyarbekir region caused an irreversible demographic fall. The number of victims in the entire Diyarbekir vilayet from April to December 1915 is estimated to be over 77,000 Syriacs, Chaldeans, and Armenians.

The Sayfo aimed to make Turkey a homogeneous country in terms of religion, nation, and language, leading to the physical extermination of other languages users and the suppression of their culture and identity. Aramaic dialects, including Turoyo, underwent mixing and koineicization due to massive displacements.

The aftermath of World War I brought continued instability and further challenges for the remaining Christian communities in the Diyarbekir region. Killing continued throughout the war and even into the era of the Turkish Republic. Survivors, even after a supposed peace, were often attacked on roads. There were orders to settle "deserted" Christian villages in the Mardin and Midyat region with families of irregular cavalry members. The region continued to face conflict, notably with the Sheikh Said Revolt of 1925, which had its center in Diyarbekir. Following this revolt, a state program of elimination and disarmament led to arrests and trials, with Assyrians from Midyat and surrounding villages being deported and some executed.

In Turkey, the Sayfo is generally not recognized, and discussion about it is limited. Official Turkish narratives, such as a 1938 brochure from the CHP Mardin Halkevi, described the 1915 events as Mardin's "greatest, most happy and dignified joy". However, descendants of survivors, particularly in the diaspora, continue to remember and seek recognition for the Sayfo, which is seen as integral to their identity and a source of collective trauma. Syriacs/Arameans, who were often collectively referred to as "Armenians" in Ottoman documents, have worked to ensure their distinct experiences are recognized

City of Diyarbekir

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