Assyrians have this weekend commemorated the Sayfo or Assyrian genocide, the mass killing of Assyrian/Syriac Christians by Ottoman forces in 1915, and called for recognition and historical reconciliation.
The Sayfo (Syriac, lit.: [massacre by the] sword), also known as the Seyfo or Assyrian genocide, refers to the mass slaughter and deportation of Assyrian/Syriac Christians by Ottoman forces collaborating with the Hamidiye regiments during World War I. Every year on 15 June, Assyrians (Assyrian Arameans and Chaldeans) remember and commemorate the 1915 genocide, which claimed the lives of approximately 300,000 Assyrians.
While the 1915 genocide is most commonly associated with the Ottoman Armenian population, the Syriac and Assyrian communities also suffered significantly from the Sayfo. The genocide targeted the Assyrian and Syriac Christian populations and involved mass killings, forced deportations and systemic violence, resulting in significant loss of life and cultural devastation among these communities.
The co-spokespersons of the Peoples’ Equality and Democracy (DEM) Party’s Peoples and Faiths Commission, Yüksel Mutlu and Mahfuz Güleryüz, affirmed their support for the demand of the Syriac people for Turkey to confront the Sayfo.
In their statement, they commemorated the victims and recognised the serious consequences of the Sayfo, including the destruction of churches and the eradication of culture.
“In 1915, over 500,000 Syriacs lived in these areas, but due to massacres and forced migrations between 1915 and 1924, two-thirds of the population was lost. Continued pressure and assimilation policies led to the near extinction of the Syriac language, identity and culture. Today, the Syriac population in Turkey has dwindled to around 20,000,” they said.
The statement continued: “We know from examples around the world that condemning crimes against humanity and facing the truth are crucial steps in fostering social peace and cultivating a sense of conscience and justice. The Syriac people’s demand and hope is for a genuine reckoning with the past”.
Last year, Elber Shleymun Rhawi of the European Syriac Union (ESU) highlighted the gravity of the massacre: “More than half a million Syriacs, Assyrians and Chaldeans were killed in the Sayfo, and efforts to have the massacre recognised as a genocide continue.” He continued, “Christian communities lost their properties, places of worship and cultural heritage as a result of the massacres and genocide. Survivors have been left with severe trauma and fear.”
The ESU calls on Turkey to recognise the Sayfo as genocide and to confront its history openly. Sweden, Armenia, Germany and the Netherlands already recognise the Sayfo genocide.
After the Sayfo genocide, Assyrians from Diyarbakır and various cities in eastern Anatolia moved to Syria, part of the Assyrian homeland. Before the outbreak of the Syrian crisis, the Assyrian Policy Institute estimated the Assyrian population in Syria to be around 300,000. However, Christians in northeastern Syria, including Assyrians, who made up about one-third of the country’s Christian population, were displaced in the midst of the civil war. Currently, unofficial local estimates suggest that only a fraction of the Assyrians, numbering no more than a thousand, remain in the area.
Syriac and Assyrian Christians are among the minorities whose rights are protected by law and who are guaranteed representation in all political processes in the region, which is now administered by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). The Kurdish movement currently supports the Assyrian Syriac communities in Syria, offering solidarity in the midst of their ongoing challenges.
