City of Nisibin

Nisibin: A City's Sayfo Ordeal

The events that transpired in Nisibin (also spelled Nusaybin or Nsibis) during the Sayfo were characterized by systematic persecution, massacres, and the forced displacement of its Christian population. Nisibin was an ancient and historically significant town, once a prominent center for learning and missions in Mesopotamia. By the early 20th century, it was a smaller, strategically important location due to its role as a station on the Baghdad railway, which was under construction in 1916. Before the Sayfo, Nisibin was home to approximately 100 Syriac Orthodox families, and Christians constituted about one-third of its 8,000 inhabitants, primarily Armenian Catholics and Syriac Orthodox. A Syriac Orthodox bishop resided in the town, and there was also a notable Jewish community. The town had previously experienced a pogrom on November 10, 1895, during which the Tayy Bedouin tribe provided protection to Christians, a role they reportedly continued into World War I. 

Organized Persecution: A committee was formed specifically to orchestrate atrocities in the Nisibin region, led by Refik Nizamettin Qaddur Bey, a lieutenant commanding the local Al-Khamsin militia units, and Süleyman Majar. This committee reportedly sent orders to rural Kurdish chiefs instructing them to eliminate their Christian tenants. The "el Khamsin" (Fifties) gangs of the Teşkilat-ı Mahsusa, which were formed by Diyarbekir governor Reşid Bey and Ibrahim Bedreddin in Mardin, were also responsible for sudden and violent raids in Nisibin and the surrounding areas. These irregular groups comprised convicted criminals, Kurds, and Mahallamis. 

On June 4, 1915, Gorgi (Gewargi) Abrat, a local notable, was arrested and sent to Mardin, where he was subsequently executed on June 10. On June 13, all Armenian and Syriac adult men, including those from nearby villages, were arrested and jailed under accusations of belonging to secret Armenian revolutionary societies. However, on the morning of June 14, all imprisoned Syriac Orthodox men were unexpectedly released and told to return home. The same afternoon, other Christian prisoners were also freed, leading some to flee to Sinjar Mountain. This short-lived reprieve was a deception. On June 15, the recently released Armenian, Syriac Protestant, and Chaldean men were re-imprisoned and executed that same night at a stone quarry. Concurrently, the Syriac Orthodox priest Istayfanos was summoned to the town hall. He was then sent out of town by an official under the guise of delivering a message of safety to hiding Syriacs. However, soldiers accompanying him tortured and murdered him outside the town.

The day after Istayfanos' murder (around June 16), all Syriacs, men, women, and children, found by the militia were assembled at the town hall. They were told they would be marched to Mardin. At a location called Nirbo d’frasto, they were surrounded, slaughtered, and their bodies were thrown into a well. According to testimonies collected by Sleman Hinno, they were killed "like lambs" on the rim of a well, and when offered conversion to Islam, "Not a single one complied." This resulted in Nisibin becoming "completely depopulated of Christians" and on June 28, any remaining Armenian women in Nisibin were arrested, taken to the stone quarry, and slaughtered.

The Nisibin militia, led by Qaddur Bey, extended its operations to nearby villages like Tel-Khatun. Qaddur Bey, who owned half of Tel-Khatun, assembled the Christians and attempted to deceive them, claiming there was no government order for massacre but that they should document their property and go to Nisibin under his protection for safety. He warned them that if they stayed, Muslims would kill them. Villages to the east of Nisibin, such as Birguriya, Laylan, Tel-Hasan, and Tel-Jihan, also suffered massacres or saw their inhabitants flee. In Tel-Hasan, the village owner, Ömer Osman, personally killed Christians, including seven Christian widows whose blood he reportedly collected. All Syriac villages located south and east of Nisibin were destroyed. Additionally, many Christian villages between Nisibin and Jezireh were completely razed.

Multiple accounts confirm the simultaneous nature of the attacks across the region, with the massacres in Nisibin commencing on June 14, 1915, indicating a coordinated plan rather than isolated incidents.

A few survivors found employment on the German Berlin-to-Baghdad railway construction in Nisibin in 1916, providing a means of survival amidst severe hardship. The Sayfo in Nisibin, like in other areas, left an indelible mark on the Syriac collective memory. The term "Sayfo" (sword) is widely used, with the phrase "Sayfo d-Mhammad" (the sword of Muhammad) linking the massacres to religious motives and serving as a reminder of past and potential future calamities.