Village of Habses 

Habses: A Village's Ordeal During the Sayfo

The Syriac Orthodox community in Habses (also spelled Habses, Hapisnas, or Mercimekli), a village located 7 kilometers northwest of Midyat on a ridge, experienced a violent attack and subsequent displacement during the Sayfo. Before the massacres, over 100 Syriac Orthodox families lived in Habses. The village's parish church was the Mar Addai, which has been dated to the first century.

On June 11, 1915, Kurdish tribesmen from the Rama tribe launched a night attack on the village. The battle continued into the next day and Some villagers managed to flee to Midyat and report the situation. The Syriac Orthodox leaders of Midyat, Efrem and Hanne Safar, appealed to the kaymakam (district governor) for help. Soldiers were sent to Habses and successfully chased the Rama tribesmen away, with three Kurds killed in the process. Fifteen soldiers remained to guard the village.

When fighting erupted in Midyat itself, a Yezidi herdsman working for Aziz Agha was sent to Habses with a warning of an impending new attack. The villagers assembled, and most of them took their movable property and left for 'Ayn-Wardo (Gülgöze), a village known for its successful resistance during the Sayfo. The Syriac Christians of Mizizah, who were preparing to flee themselves, eventually reached 'Ayn-Wardo after being allowed safe passage by the Kurds. The guards and members of the Rama tribe then murdered the nearly 200 persons who had remained in Habses.

The story of Yade Sade, a Syriac woman from Habses village, who was abducted, forced to convert to Islam, and marry a Kurdish man, further illustrates the fate of some Habses residents. After several failed attempts, she managed to escape slavery and returned to her village, eventually marrying a Syriac man. Decades later, she refused to meet her son from her Kurdish Muslim husband/captor and deliberately avoided remembering her past.