SAYFO 1915: THE CASE OF MANSURIEH VILLAGE
Ephrem(Aboud) ISHAC
The goal of this paper is not to talk about the case of Sayfo 1915 comprehen¬ sively; rather it attempts is to choose a specific case in the Syafo1; of one certain village which is here Mansurieh2, where my family had to leave in 1915. There are twofold reasons for choosing this topic; firstly, for a personal purpose since I grew up as a third-generation of Sayfo survivals, suffering sometimes from a genocide trauma. Secondly, is to follow a different approach in dealing with the question of Sayfo by focusing on the small case studies rather than the general ones. This might lead us towards an accurate image of the Sayfo genocide. The methodology adopted in this paper is to discuss the inherited oral tradition and to compare it with the written records, then reaching to an integral image of Say¬ fo in Mansurieh with its influence on the present.
1 This paper is my presentation at the international academic conference on Sayfo genocide: “An International Conference on the Genocide of Assyrians/Arameans during the First World War, 24-28 June 2015” organized by Prof. Shabo Talay, at Freie Universität Berlin. A revised version of this paper will be published in the proceedings of Sayfo Conference. 2 I am talking in this paper about the village of Manusireh (today it is called Yalım of Mar¬ din), which is located 3 kilometres north of old Mardin city and about 10 kilometres north east from Deyrulzafaran [Zaʿfaran Monastery] (which was the shelter for the villagers many times when the problems happened in Mansurieh in 1895 and in 1915). Worth mentioning, there are other villages have the same name since it is a common proper place name in Syria, Turkey and Iraq. 194 Ephrem (Aboud) ISHAC
What Happened Really in Mansurieh?
Since the days of my early childhood, I could remember many oral traditions about the brutal catastrophes happened in our village: Mansurieh. When I grew up, it was hard for me to sort out what were true stories from what could be add¬ ed later as oral fables. The main question, which I have been looking for an an¬ swer, is whether these stories were authentic or parts of a legendary genre. Our family tree tells us that the Kurds killed two members of the family ‘Yaʿqub and Malko’ in 1916 [sic.] Moreover, there is a clear statement at the bottom of our family tree saying that ‘the origin of the family is from Ma nsurieh since 1650 until 1916 [sic.], when they had to leave because of the massacres against Chris¬ tians’. Therefore, at least, there is a fact for a forced moving from the village mixed with some murdering actions in 1915s. There was an intended killing against Christians in this village. Therefore, we have at least some facts of orga¬ nized criminality and exile against those Mansurieh Christians. When I grew up inspired by the stories of my big family from both sides (my mother’s family is also from Mansrurieh); they used to tell us similar sad stories.
One of the perplexed feelings, (when the big family used to meet and talk about what they called the: ‘Seferberlik3’ tragedies), was the simplicity of the Man¬ surieh Christians. I remember well when my aunt Ḥusneh, who used to tell us about those days in her village, that when the Muslim tribes (most of them from the same village4) announced‘Jihad’, the Christians in the village gathered in¬ side the Church of Mar Esia5. Afterwards, the Muslims knocked the doors of the church asking Christians to open the doors, telling them that they should not be afraid rather they should trust them. Therefore, they opened the doors and then an Ottoman word possibly derived from Arabic: safar [to :(سفربرلك Seferberlik (or in Arabic 3 travel] and barr [land] with the Ottoman suffix lik. It was used during Sayfo with a context of “forced moving from homelands”. It means also “the preparation to war time”. 4 Later in this paper, we will see that they belonged to the Dashiye tribe. 5 Today it is a mosque called: ‘Muhammet Hakim Mansuri Camii’. Sayfo 1915: The Case of Mansurieh Village 195 the big murdering started inside the Church. My aunt Ḥusneh mentioned some stories like this one (my aunt said it as if she was reporting to us): ‘there was one young gentleman; they promised him to save his life if he would convert to Is¬ lam’. He said: ‘life is beautiful, but there is more beauty to remain faithful to Je¬ sus. I am staying with Jesus and will never betray him! ’ then they threw him from the roof of the church, killing him. They left only the old women of Man¬ surieh alive, who could flee later to Mardin.
The oral tradition of my family talks about the suspicious feelings that some¬ thing wrong might happen just few weeks before the Jihad murdering started. Thus, many of them like my grandfather could move to Mardin, which was only a few kilometres far away but a safe city. Therefore, the family could survive from the tragedy in 1915. However, they lost their houses and properties in Mansurieh.
Another narrative of the Mansurieh case in my family was the story of my fa¬ ther’s uncle (from his mother side) Mr. Mussa Badro, who was a little child and could survive under the dead bodies in the church of Mar Esia. In the night of the massacre, he could run away finding himself later at the Syrian border town (which became later the target town for my family): Derbassieh6. Some good people found the little child (who could not speak a word) and took care of him. Later when my family moved from Mardin to Derbassieh in 1930s, they could know that he was alive.
To conclude, at least there was a big murdering in Mansurieh against Christians without any reason and without any kind of resistance. They were very innocent and idealists; they preferred to die rather to betray their faith (it seems that they
6 Derbassieh: it is a town located at the Turkish-Syrian border, in the Southwest direction from Mardin. This new town which was built by the Syriac immigrants coming mostly from Mardin and its neighboring villages, such as Mansurieh. Most Mansurieh Christians moved to Derbassieh and built the new Syriac Orthodox Church of Mar Esia to revive the memory of their old Church in Mansurieh. 196 Ephrem (Aboud) ISHAC could have the option to convert). There was also complains about their weak¬ ness by the later generations for not defending themselves. However, we cannot judge them since they had their extreme difficulties.
Oral Sources & Recordings
Trying to collect as much as possible of oral narrative materials from the old aged people of Mansurieh, I could successfully record some stories of two old men they were born in 1914-1915. The first person was born in Mansurieh(Mr. ʿAbdul Massiḥ Nejmeh†2015), who was helping my grandfather while he was a child. The conversation with him was recorded in 2005, when he was 90 years old. While I asked him about his birthday, it was interesting to hear his answer since he had linked the date of his birthday with the Sayfo year. Quoting him: ‘I am not sure if I was born in 1914 or 1915. I always say that it was Seferberlik and who would register me in those [difficult] days? Yes, Seferberlik was an¬ nounced in 1914, then it really happened in 1915. ’ Therefore, the confusion about Mr. Nejmeh’s birthday date was because of the ‘Seferberlik’, since every¬ thing was in mess. He was less than a year old when the tragedies happened in Mansurieh. His family took him to Mardin, where he lived until he decided to move to Syria - Derbassieh in 1940s, after finishing his military service in Tur¬ 7 key. He knew well the story of the Mar Esia Church, and how it was changed to
‘Muḥammad Al- ḥakim’ mosque of Mansurieh8. He was very close to my grand¬ father Muqsi Ishaq(born in 1872, Mansurieh). In the recording, he told me some stories about how my grandfather suffered so much from the sorrow of losing
7 ‘Mor Osio’ in Syriac ܐܝܣܐ ܝܪܡ. I am using in this paper the spelling as: ‘Mar Esia’, to be close to the Arabic pronunciation of the Mansurieh people, who add always the word ḥakim .مار أسيا الحكيم :to this Saint name 8 Some oral traditions mention that the Church was changed to a stable for horses. One day, a horse inside the church killed the Mansurieh Agh’s son. Therefore, they considered that it was the divine punishment for not respecting the house of God. Therefore, they converted it to a mosque. Sayfo 1915: The Case of Mansurieh Village 197 his properties in Mansurieh then ending up in Derbassieh selling vegetables: ‘shout loudly to sell tomato, shout… this is what we have reached at the end of our life’. Mr. Nejmeh, knew well many eyewitnesses and the first generation of the Sayfo 1915 in Mansurieh, so he could memorize their stories.
The second eyewitness person is Deacon Shafiq ʿAbd Al-Nour (†2014) from Mardin but he grew up in the same neighbourhood of the Mansurieh survivals (close to the Syriac Orthodox Church of Forty Martyrs, Mardin). I could prepare many recordings during our private conversations since 2005 until 2010; some¬ times, I repeated my questions to make sure that the answers were similar. My interest was also to record his hymns and the way he was singing in St. Ephrem Cathedral of Aleppo to know the musical tradition of Mardin. For me these re¬ cordings can be good source for us to know about the Mardin tradition of sing¬ ing such hymns. I took the opportunity of his early presence in the church before the beginning of prayers to ask him about his memories of Mansurieh. He saw many survivals from Mansurieh after the ‘Seferberlik’. Many of those survivals worked with him in weaving. It seems that the people from Mansurieh were fa¬ mous with weaving a special fabric known with their village name ‘khameh manusratieh’. He mentioned frequently, that those days (when he was a child) were difficult and he had to rotate his shift of working with many boys from Mansurieh on one weaving loom. One of his interesting stories is about a time when the Kurdish Muslims surrounded Zaʿfaran Monastery during the ‘Sefer¬ berlik’ (1915?). His father Mr. Al-Ḥashu was a real hero who could escape the Kurdish militias who were surrounding the monastery; he brought with him a jar of fat food from the village of Qalʿet Mara (close by the Zaʿfaran Monastery) which was emptied and the Christians took shelter in the monastery. The Mus¬ lims could steel many of the houses of that village. Mr Al- Ḥashu merged him¬ self among the militias who thought that he was one of them. He took the jar of food and brought it successfully to the monastery. The funny side of this story, 198 Ephrem (Aboud) ISHAC
(with the usual Deacon Shafiq’s sense of humour), that one family in Zaʿfaran Monastery said that this jar was from their house. However, the hero Mr Al¬
Ḥashu said, ‘but now it belongs to the monastery!’ Mr Al- Ḥashu found his wife safe with the children(baby Sahfiq was among them)! Deacon Shafiq used to pray every day for the soul of his father and usually murmuring: ‘to the soul of my father, who was killed by Muslim traitors’. In fact, his father was killed, at the back horse on his way to Mardin. Shafiq men¬ tions in one of his stories, that once his father’s servant wanted to kill him dur¬ ing the ‘Seferberlik’, but the brave father could catch him at the right time.
Sources from Proverbs
Another attempt to collect some other references about the murdering of Man¬ surieh villagers can be concluded while collecting some of the inherited prov¬ erbs that our families used to tell the second and third generations. In fact, the phenomenon of spreading such sayings, idioms and proverbs was not only in
Mansurieh since it was a systematic tool used to create a stereotype of otherness and to legitimize discrimination: “The Ottoman words, idioms, sayings and proverbs about non-Muslims and Armenians constitute just such an effect of power. 9” I can bring here three proverbs as samples from a common oral genre of offensive proverbs. They are derogatory from one side and alluding to a sec¬ tarian image in Mansurieh. These proverbs might be also very popular in the surrounding villages or regions, but at least these proverbs were used in Man¬ surieh. The first proverb says: ‘Onions are onions regardless whether they are red or white’. This saying represents Christians of the village as onions and kill¬ ing them is like cutting onions. Strikingly, the allusion here is to tell that there is no difference between the Armenians (who were represented as traitors to the
9 Stephan H. Astourian, Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the Armenian Genocide, ed. Richard G. Hovannisian, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1999, .24 Sayfo 1915: The Case of Mansurieh Village 199 government) and the other Christians. This proverb suggests as well that alt¬ hough for a certain time of persecuting Armenians, there was a common under¬ standing that the Armenian conflict was only because of the Armenian national demands; however, here we notice that there is a conceptual shift to allude that the Syriac Christians are not less traitors than Armenians since they share the same religion. Moreover, we can interpret such a proverb to conclude that the distinction was not clear enough in the eyes of Ottoman Muslims between Ar¬ menians and Syriac Christians communities. Someone can notice as well ‘the onion’ metaphor, which suggests that those Christians were just objects and kill¬ ing them was justified. The second example is like a short story, but it was used in the later decades as an example of how the Muslims in Mansurieh mistreated Christians: ‘A Muslim blacksmith threw a piece of hot iron out of fire, then he asked his Christian neighbour to get it. The Christian took it and his hand was burnt, then the Mus¬ lim added sarcastically: you Nusrani, if you cannot endure this hot iron, how can you then live in the fire of hell?’ This proverb sheds some light that in Man¬ surieh, the offer to convert to Islam was always open. Although it might be pos¬ sible that such a sarcastic story was an indirect pressure to convert to Islam; however, it makes no difference here whether this Christian will be saved “from hell” by announcing his Islam. It is just to humiliate Christians and discriminate them from their society by portraying them as an outsider ethnoreligious cluster. The last proverb reveals an example of Mansurieh social communication: ‘A Muslim shouted loudly during the Seferberlik days against his Christian neigh¬ bour: ‘ya kafer’. The Christian answered: ‘you better go and wipe your mous¬ tache from the food you have eaten with me yesterday then come and call me kafer!’ It is astonishing how such a story reflects an image of the daily life in Mansurieh, which suggests that life was normal in that society before the Geno¬ cide days, even to the degree of inviting Muslim villagers for food occasions. 200 Ephrem (Aboud) ISHAC
This means that the destruction of the friendly relationships among Mansurieh villagers was striking and shocking. It might explain also the reason of trusting the Muslims’ words to open the Church doors in the bloody days of Genocide, as mentioned earlier by some elders and as we will see later10. Overall, the im¬ ages of destroyed coexistence and hostility in Mansurieh can be captured by the previous idiomatic proverbs. These sayings reveal a real feeling of prejudice against Syriac Christians by insulting them in such a propaganda.
Baptismal Records as Sources for Sayfo 1915
It was very surprising for me to discover that the husband of Sano in the famous novel (concerning the Sayfo) of Thea Halo’s Not Even My Name11 was from Mansurieh! This discovery happened when I was checking some of the baptis¬ 12 عمد قس الياس بهية ‘ :mal records in the Syriac Orthodox Church of Mardin . It says
:translation ;’ابنة عموس هلو منصوراطي حاملتهَ ابنة يعقوب منصوراطي في 16 نيسان 1911 [Priest Elias baptized BAHYA, daughter of Amos Halo Mansurati
10 We will read it later in this paper while talking about the written records of Fr. Armalet. 11 Thea Halo, Not Even My Name, New York: Picador USA, 2000. 12 Baptismal record at Church of the Forty Martyrs, Mardin (this record starts from March 1908-November 1915). Sayfo 1915: The Case of Mansurieh Village 201 proposed it clearly that it was Seferberlik and no one had the suitable time or opportunity to register their children properly.
Mansurieh in History: An Image of Christians-Muslims Relation?
While searching back in the history of Mansurieh, we may have some remarks of religious tensions in the region of Mardin. We have colophons in some Syriac manuscripts telling us that there was a good school in this village, especially during the 16th century, which can be considered the golden age of Mansurieh.
Interestingly, the only female scribe in Syriac manuscripts is from Mansurieh, as can be found in the library of Mor Gabriel Monastery (MGMT 118); this colo¬
¬the trans ,”بالاسم راهبة ومن الفعل بعيده ربانه مريم من قريت المنصوريه“ :phon is written by lation is: “rabbanah [a nun teacher?] Maryam from Mansurieh village” in 1534 AD13. Moreover, during the 16th century we have two brothers, who are the sons of a well-learned priest Stephen from Mansurieh. These two brothers became Maphrians, the first one is ʿAbd al-Ghani al-Mansuri, Maphrian of the East (+1575), and the second was Mor Ignatius Pilate who was enthroned as the Pa¬ triarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church (+1597). Clearly, the most important work of literature survived by these two brothers, is a Syriac Anaphora written by Maphrian ʿAbd al-Ghani 14; a lengthy text and composed according to the
13 I am indebted to Dr. Adam McCollum in one of his presentation, who kindly shared it with me “The only Syriac female scribe: MGMT [Mor Gabriel Monastery] 118, 160v. Dated Friday, September 27, 1845 AG (= 1534 AD), copied by an abbess (rabbānah) named Maryam from the village of Al- Manṣūriyyah. 14 In the manuscript 107 of Zaʿfaran Monastery, we read that Maphrian ʿAbd al-Ghani was consecrated also as a Patriarch, and he was buried next to his brother in Aleppo (ZFRN 107), .32 According to Armalet, Maphrian ʿAbd Al-Ghani was consecrated as a Patriarch by his brother the former Patriarch Pilate, but the Church refused him later. However, these pieces of information might not be accurate since the date of ʿAbd al-Ghani’s death according to Barsoum is +1575: Ignatius Aphram Baroum, The Scattered Pearls , tr. Matti Moosa, Gorgias Press 2003, .512, Cf. Ishaq Armalet, gathaliqat al-machriq w mafarinat al- Suryan, Al¬ Machriq Journal, Beirut 1924, .48 202 Ephrem (Aboud) ISHAC high quality of a peculiar poetic language 15. However, by studying some colo¬ phons we notice in some indications that the time of these two brothers was full of problems inside the Syriac Church. For example, we read some news of a reconciliation between Patriarch Pilate and Patriarch Hidayat Allah in 1593 16. Indeed, there were many challenges inside the Syriac Church during those years, as we can notice form the biographies of Patriarchs 17. Extraordinary worry was concerning the Catholics’ threatening towards the Syriac-Indian Church, be¬ cause Rome sent for the latter some missionaries to convert them to Catholi¬ cism 18. This reflects from one side a conflict inside the Syriac Church regarding the Catholics’ ambitions, who wanted to make fundamental ecclesiastical changes inside the Syriac Churches. However, from another side, we have to consider one of the worst problems in the 16th century (preceding the ordina¬ tions of these two brothers from Mansurieh to Maphrianate), is Patriarch Naʿmatallah’s critical conflict, who was forced to make a Muslim profession of faith. Naʿmatallah(Taybutheh dAloho) had to renounce his Patriarchate in favor of his brother Patriarch David II Shah19. Naʿmatallah had to move later to Rome
15 I am preparing a critical edition with English translation in the framework of my postdoc research with Prof. Erich Renhart on Syriac Anaphoras, at VESTIGIA Research Center, Uni¬ versity of Graz. 16 St. Mark Manuscripts library, Jerusalem (SMMJ 169), .134 17 Manuscript 107 of Zaʿfaran Monastery. 18 Zaʿfaran Monastery manuscript (ZFRN 107) .32: this manuscript talks about the biog¬ raphies of Syriac Patriarchs. The author is interested remarkably with the issues of the Syriac Indian Church. When the scribe talks about Patriarch Pilate from Mansurieh (+1597), he talks about this Patriarch’s achievement to protect the Church in India from the Catholic missionaries. While studying these biographies in this manuscript, we can see that the scribe and the author, who lived in the time of the Genocide of 1895, is Patriarch ʿAbdul Massiḥ II (+1915). It is a very important record for the events of 1895 in Amid. It seems that the main worries for Patriarch ʿAbdul Massiḥ II was the problems in the Indian Church; this might help us to understand many question marks about his later years. In this manuscript of ZFRN 107, we can read that until the year 1904 -at least- he was obedient to the Ottoman Sultan and faithful to the political decisions of Istanbul. He was so proud that he could get his faraman personally. 19 Patriarch Naʿmatallah was forced to convert to Islam by the Governor of Amid, because this Governor took his hat and put it on the head of the Patriarch. The Governor told the Sayfo 1915: The Case of Mansurieh Village 203 in a broken- heart with two companions; one of them is deacon ʿAbdannur, who is the nephew of the two Maphrians-brothers from Mansurieh20. This conflict (the case of Patriarch Naʿmatallah) shows clearly a serious tension with the
21 Muslims in that region . Therefore, it was surely a very critical time for the Syr¬ iac Christians in South East of Turkey. We can have a deeper look at this period while comparing different colophons in the Syriac manuscripts; we find that it was a difficult time even in Tur ʿAbdin region: “many Christian villages in the western part of Tur ʿAbdin converted to Islam” 22. Therefore, we can argue that a kind of a religious persecution had already some roots since the 16th century, in the regions of Mardin and around it.
The records of Fr. Aramelt & the Syriac Catholic Church
In a colophon of a Syriac manuscript kept at the Montserrat library in Spain, the Syriac Catholic scribe Fr. Ishaq Armalet, clearly gives an eyewitness testimony on the Armenian genocide and the Sayfo of Beth Nahren, because he wrote the 23 manuscript in 1915 . He says: ‘ ܐܪܡܘܥܒ ܢܝܕܗܒܬܟ.ܐܝܝܪܘܣ ܐܬܠܡܪܐ ܪܒ ܩܚܣܝܐ ܐܫܝܫܩ
ܐܠܛܩ:ܐܡܚܪ̈ ܐܠܕܘܐܢܘܪ̈ܛܐܝܟܪ̈ܘܬܘܕܒܥ ܐܬܢܫܒ ܗ̇ܒܘ. ܢܪܡܕ ܗ̈ܝܨܐܬܢܫ ܢܝܕܪܡܒܕܡܝܪܦܐ ܝܪܡܕ
.ܢܝܪ̈ܗܢܬܝܒܒܘ ܐܝܢܡܪܐܒܕܐܢܝܛܣܪ̈ܟܕܐܡܝܣܚ ܐܡܥ ܠܥ ܐܝܡܘܠܛܘ ܐܝܦܘܕܪ̈ܘ’. It seems that Arma¬
Muslims: ‘This Patriarch has converted to Islam’; so he had to resign his Patriarchate then to flee secretly to Europe. 20 Ishaq Armalet, gathaliqat al-machriq w mafarinat al- Suryan, Al-Machriq Journal, Beirut 1924, .48 21 For further details see: Iskandar Bacheiry, “A List of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchs between 16th and 18th Century”, Parole de ’Orient Kaslik 2004, .220 22 Iskandar Bacheiry, A List of Syriac Orthodox Ecclesiastic Ordinations from the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century; The Syriac Manuscript of Hunt 444 (Syr 68 in Bodleian, Oxford , Gorgias Press, USA 2010, .9 23 The full colophon is:’ ܣܢܒܙܐܕܪܐܥܘܡܐܩܐܘܡ̈ܬܥܫܠܒܢ̣ܘܫܫܦܒܢܘܝܐܕܚܗ̇ܐܬܝܗܒܫܪ̈ܘܒܡܓܬ.ܐܐܥܟܒܡܪܘܥܥܫܐܝܡܝܝܪܕܢܢܘܪܩܣܢܡܘܝܗܪܕܐܦܠܬܐܘܟܫ̈ܢܩܫܪܬܡܚܘܕܝܣܣܒ̣ܗܝܟܐܐܢܪܛܪܐܕܝܕܫܪܘܝܡܥܟܫܘܘܝܩܐܗܥܝܘܣܒ ܐܪܐܬܝ̈ ܝܢܐܐܝܐ̈ܝܘܕܬ: ܫܝ ܐܝܠܩܣܕܝܕܕ ܝܡܥܠܬܘܝ̈ܬܠܚܐ̇ܒܐܡܪܗܝܠ̈̈ܨܩܣܐܢܗܫܪܕ ܠܝܢܕܡܐܬܗܩܪܘܐܠܟ̈ܐܐܪܚܠܘܒܝܡܠ̈ܐܒܘܚܬܕ ܛܡܘܗܐܝܕܝܕ̈ܦܘܪܒܕ̈ܘ.ܕ ܛܪܐܐܡܚܡ̈ܪ̈ܢܐܡܕܠܘܡܐܐܢܒܐܢܒ̈ܢܗܕܘܬܪܡ̈ܐܛܟܒܝܪܡܬܐܦܝܕܟܟܐܪܢ̈ܘܝܝ̈ܟܬܢܪܙܝܡܬܘܢܕܕܝ̈ܐܝܫܩܒܪܩ ܢܝܪ̈ܗܢܬܝܒܒܘܐܝܢܡܪܐܒܕܐܢܝܛܣܪ̈ܟܕܐܡܝܣܚܐܡܥ ܠܥ. ’ Montserrat library (Ms. Or. 31, .368=186r) 204 Ephrem (Aboud) ISHAC let was very shocked of the terrible attacks in Sayfo. Thanks to his book: The Utmost of Christian Calamities24, which could present to us an excellent record from an eyewitness author on the Sayfo 1915. In fact, Armalet(1879 –1954) was arrested during the First World War by the Ottomans then was released later. During the War, he stayed in Mardin and watched the terrible period of Sayfo, which he describes in his book. Concerning the Mansurieh Sayfo, Armalet makesa clear reference about the ex¬ act dates and the names of the criminals in the massacre of 1895 and in the Say¬ fo 1915. In November of 1895 the Kurds and the Dashiye tribe prepared their conspiracy against the Christians of Mansurieh. Exactly on Sunday at the 10th of November, about 4000 Kurds set fire and waiting the right time to invade Man¬ surieh. The Christians asked the help of their Dashiye neighbours. They fired the Kurds with canons, so they had to leave the village. However, the Dashiye could get 20000 gersh (currency) from the Christians; this big amount of money was a jeziah to be paid for protection 25. 26 th After thirty years , exactly at the evening of Wednesday the 16 of June 1915, the Dashiye people invaded the Christians’ vineyards. Afterwards the Dashiyes moved to the house of their elder Dalli ben Khalilo shouting loudly against
Christians. Many Christians fled to the Church and the others remained at homes scared. One of the Dashiye neighbours climbed over the roof of the Church and made himself as if he was preventing his fellow Dashiyes to enter the Church. The Christians trusted ben Khalilo, so they opened for him the Church door.
Ishaq Armalet, al-qusara fi] ,اسحق أرملة، القصارى في نكبات النصارى بقلم شاهد عيان، 1919. 24 nakabat al- nusara biqalam shahed ʿayan, 1919] (The Utmost of Christian Calamities: The Oppression, Aggression, Abduction, Banishment, Slaughter, Captivity, and other Atrocities and Contempts of Christians in Mesopotamia and Mardin in Particular, in 1895 and 1914¬ 1919, reproduced by Gorgias Press, NJ). Although there is neither a clear name of author nor a place of publication, but it is well known that Fr. Armalet is the author. Probably he wanted to hide his identity to protect himself for security reasons. 25 Ibid., .58 26 Ibid., pp.429-432 Sayfo 1915: The Case of Mansurieh Village 205
Then the Dashiyes entered the Church and killed over 40 people. Then two Christians threw themselves from the roof of the Church after they saw their mother was killed. Armalet keeps describing in details with names, how the tragedy happened in Mansurieh. Remarkably, some of his stories are very close to the oral traditionI used to hear from my family, as we read earlier. So, we get from this Armalet’s record, many important information about the sheikhs of Dashiye who committed the crime. Although orally we cannot find a distinction of who were exactly the murderers: the Turkish soldiers, the Kurds or the Mus¬ lims of Mansurieh; however, we can find important materials in this written source of Armalet. Worth to mention also, that Armalet frankly accuses the Germans and the Aus¬ trians, because ‘they saw everything but did not interfere to protect the Chris¬ tians’. He is sad especially from the Austrian Catholics’ attitude 27, since he is expectinga sympathy and solidarity among Catholics.
Another interesting point to notice in this book is the author’s claim that the Syr¬ iac Orthodox people cooperated with the Government to sue the Syriac Catho¬ lics and send them to the military service so they would die. Personally, he wrote in this book of Al-qusara about a priest from Mansurieh ‘Fr. Yousef Rezqo’, who is my father’s cousin. Armalet states that this priest suffered a lot from the Syriac Orthodox fellows sued him to the Ottoman authorities, but he could flee and ask a refugee at some Maronite monasteries until the end of the war28. However, we already know that Armalet’s usual style of writing against the Syriac Orthodox Church is full of prejudice, as we can read it very often in his writings 29.
27 Ibid., pp.73-76 28 Ibid. , pp.429-430 29 For example, we can notice his conclusion while writing about the Syriac Maphrians, that: the Syriac Orthodox leaders have shameful ecclesiastical history full of Simony, because they اسحق أرملة:أنباء الزمان في جثالقة المشرق ومفارنة السريان، :left the Roman Catholics [sic. ]. See 206 Ephrem (Aboud) ISHAC
Before closing this discussion on Armalet, I would like to pay attention to a rec¬ ord of the ‘Entrance Registrations’ at the Charfet Seminary, where Fr. Armalet used to live after his departure from Mardin. It is clear in this record of the Charfet Seminarians, that no students entered the school during the years 1914¬ 1919. This might prove also and shed light on the chaotic period of the Syriac Catholics and their Patriarchate in Mardin during Sayfo time. Although Armalet accused the Syriac Orthodox community of causing some problems and sufferings to Catholics during the Sayfo; however, we find the op¬ posite face of truth in one of Bishop Youhanna Dolabani’s sermons 30, when he talked about the difficult times followed the Sayfo 31. Dolabani tells us that Pa¬ triarch Ignatius Elias III32 did his best efforts until :00 Am at the Easter night of 1919, to release his brother the Catholic bishop Tappouni(later the Syriac Cath¬ olic Patriarch), who was imprisoned by the Ottomans. Even though many dip¬ lomats attempted to negotiate for Tappouni's release, including Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, but they all failed 33. Thus, Armalet’s accusations against the Syriac Orthodox community in the Sayfo case are surly false.
Bishop Dolabani’s Article on Mansurieh & Colophons
The second written reference about Sayfo in Mansurieh is an important article
الحقائق النوريّة في كنيسة القدّيس مار أسيا وقرية ‘ written by Dolabani in 1964, under the title
¬Ishaq Armalet, anba al-zaman fi gathaliqat al]مطبعة الآباء اليسوعيين، بيروت 1924، ص. 58. machriq w mafarinat al-Suryan , The Jesuit Press, Beirut 1924, .58] 30 Mor Philexinos Youhanna Dolabani was born in 1885 and died in †1969. He was ordained as the Metropolitan of Mardin in 1947. There are indications in his writings about Sayfo, as I could come across his sermons, which are still unpublished but preserved at the Syriac manu¬ script libraries of Mardin and Zaʿfaran Monastery. 31 This sermon with other Dolabani’s sermons are kept in Zaʿfaran manuscript, number 34 (ZFRN00034). 32 Patriarch Ignatius Elias III, was the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch from 1917 and died in India †1932. The Syriac Orthodox Indian Church commemorates him as a new Saint for the Church. 33 See, manuscript of Zaʿfaran Monastery (ZFRN00034), .266 Sayfo 1915: The Case of Mansurieh Village 207
.[tr.: [The Facts of Mar Esia Church and the Village of Mansurieh ,34’المنصوريّة As we have found in the previous paragraph, Dolabani had some indications about the Sayfo terrible period, as we can read in some manuscripts 35. There¬ fore, we should not wonder to find that Dolabani, the Syriac scholar, has devot¬ ed a special article to talk about Mansurieh, since the woman who took care of him during his early childhood was from this village. He was thirty years old when the Sayfo happened in Mansurieh. For sure, he helped the refugees who came to Mardin asking for a shelter, as we can notice from his charitable achievements.
Although Dolabani in this article does not mention the accidents of 1895; how¬ ever, he talks obviously about Sayfo 1915 in Mansurieh. As if, the main goal of Dolabani is to focus only on the 1915 Sayfo and to make it clear that the
Dashiye tribe is responsible of the Sayfo murdering. His argument is to insist on a fact that they were not the native people of Mansurieh. He describes in details how they have moved to this village. It was because of two theories: 1) either they were from the Arab tribes of Jazierh ben Omar who immigrated to Mardin th قبائل قسكية ‘ region around early 18 century. They belonged to other big tribes tr. [tribes of qeskiyeh, haruniyeh and ʿailakiye] and they came to ’وهارونية وعيلكية
34 يوحنا دولباني، الحقائق النورية في كنيسة مار أسيا وقرية المنصورية، المجلة البطريركية )للسريان ¬Youhanna Dolabani, al-haqaeq al]الأرثوذكس(السنة الخامسة، أيلول 1966، دمشق ص. 23-19. nuriah fi kaniset mar esia w qariet al-mansurieh , Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate Journal, Sep¬ tember 1966, pp19-23]. The manuscript of this article is preserved at the private library of Mor Gregorios Youhanna Ibrahim, Aleppo. Worth to mention that Dolabani’s published arti¬ cle in the Patriarchate Journal does not talk a lot about 1915 Sayfo as he describes it in the manuscript version of his article. 35 F r example, we can read in ZFRN00034, p.162, one of Dolabani’s dications in a ser¬ mon: ‘o ܐܦܢܕܠܬܩܩ ܪܔܐܘܛܢܐܠܡܐܐܡܣܥܩܐܐܢܘܢܪܐܚܩܗܡ ܢܦܪܝܣܨܬ̇ܐܩܢܣܢܢܘܠ̈ܡܪܐܗ̈ܣܢܣ ܐܪ ܢܠܡܐܬܡܐܕܐ ܗܚܒܨ̇ܠܐܘܒܝܗܕܝܢܬܬܟ̣ܘܘܐܠ.ܘܢܐܒܢܝܢܥܐܝܒܪܡܠ .ܟܡ̣ ܐܝ̈ܠܗܗ̈ܠܐܐܐ ܚ. ܪܥܕܐܕܠܔܡܐܐܗܠܓ̣ܨܘ. ܝܐܠܢܟܘܗܚ̈ܪܒܝܕܐܐܗ̈ܠ ܔ .̈ܕܐܝܠܐ ܢ ܪܒܦܐܪܡܟ̣ܐܝܕܘܗܡ ܐܢܘܡܐܕ.ܗ.ܠܠ ܕܐܗܠܚܝܝܔܠ ܘܟ̣ܬܐ ܠܬܒܜܐܠܐܠܘ’,intr.: [If we meditate in the last year, we find that we have lost many of our villages… from the region of Tur ʿAbdin, in addition to many monasteries and churches. The current reality of our schools is almost nothing. Number of our fathers and brothers have gone due to the abusement and tyr¬ anny. In addition to the case of our immigrant brothers who have been scattered in the world.] 208 Ephrem (Aboud) ISHAC
Mardin because of their poverty. They worked as security militias to the Walis of Mardin and were employed in mercenary. 2) or they came from Bana village in the region of Fendeq. They were called Dashiye because it means ‘millstone’ in Kurdish, which was the distinction of that village. The motive of leaving their original homelands was because of some crimes they had committed with their people. Dolabani states that the Government used very often a technique of cre¬ ating problems and envy among the various tribes of Dashiye, to control them. At a certain time, they caused troubles to the authorities so they had to leave the city of Mardin moving to Mansurieh. In 1819, when ʿAbd Allah Agha ruled Mardin, the Dashiyes rebelled openly against him. The Dashiyes left Mansurieh in night, but the Ottoman soldiers invaded the village and stole the Christians. Thus, the village nearby Mardin used to expect problems by Aghas or Dashiyes from time to another. In the fifth chapter of Dolabani’s article, he describes chronologically the vari¬ ous historical remarks about Mansurieh in manuscripts. He could find some in¬ dications starting from the year 1265, whena priest from Mansurieh visited Mor
Gabriel Monastery and how in 1392 there was an ordination of two priests to the churches of Virgin Mary and Mar Esia in Mansurieh. Dolabani keeps describing Mansurieh chronologically until he reaches the year 1915, which he clearly
هاج داشية المنصورية على نصاراها وقتلوا منهم أربعين شخصاً والبقية ‘ :mentions the Sayfo tr. : [The Dashiyes of Mansurieh outraged against their ,’هربوا إلى البلدة ونهبت أموالهم Christians and killed forty people of them; the others fled to the town while their properties were stolen]. He then jumps thirty-three years later to talk about Man¬ surieh in 1948, when the Turkish government established a new school for the Mansurieh children; the Syriac people donated good money with a hope to pro¬ tect the room of the old Syriac school; however, it was destroyed. Dolabani does not deny the fact that some of the Syriac Church properties remained legally to their owners; however, in 1950, the Church of Mar Esia was officially taken Sayfo 1915: The Case of Mansurieh Village 209 from the Syrians. Then it was converted finally to a mosque because the Mus¬ lims claimed that it was a public shrine. Mar Esia Church was changed to a mosque called: The Mosque of Muḥammad Al-ḥakim, by translating the word Esia literally from Syriac to Arabic as ‘the doctor: Al- ḥakim’. Consequently, Dolabani in this article is repeating frequently the fact that the
Dashiyes committed the Sayfo in Mansurieh. He links it with the original reason of their existence in the village; in other words, because they were always mer¬ cenaries. However, Dolabani adds that the Muslims in Mansurieh during Sayfo were not only Dashiyes but also other Arab groups from the tribes of qeskiyeh and ʿailakiye, who originally came from Jazierh, ḥasakeh, but they were all called ‘Dashiyes’ since they were the majority.
ISIL & Opening the Old Wounds
Since the beginning of the Syrian war especially in late 2011, the Christians in Syria were targeted by different Jiahdist groups, although Syrian Christians in general they tried to be neutral as much as possible 36. Strikingly, the name of the most brutal Islamist group known as ISIL (Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has an Arabic acronym called “Daʿesh”, which sounds very close to the tribe of “Dashiye” who committed the crimes of Mansurieh in 1915. Personally, I could hear that many Syriac people in general and especially from Mansurieh were afraid of a second Sayfo like the one happened to their grandparents, as they used to hear from the oral traditions continuously. Therefore, many of these Syr¬ iac Christians preferred to immigrate to the West, just due to this anxiety and because of opening the old wounds of Sayfo, especially after the accident of kidnapping the Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, Mor Gregorios
36 I am not going to argue here politically about who is right in the Syrian war, but I am talk¬ ing about a fact that the Syrian Christians are targeted until the time of writing this article, regardless to who is responsible. 210 Ephrem (Aboud) ISHAC
Youhanna Ibrahim37. The argument, which I am presenting in this paper, is how a trauma of a third generation of Sayfo survivals can affect even after 100 years. We heard in this Sayfo conference38 about the importance of employing Psy¬ chology in the Sayfo academic studies. I believe that remembering and studying the conflict of Sayfo accurately, as I could experience personally while prepar¬ ing this case study, help to heal some wounds of the Sayfo influences.
The official commemoration of Sayfo, by recognizing the Sayfo genocide inter¬ nationally, would help to heal the wounds of the survivals’ generations from one side, but also from another side: the criminals’ generations who would not have rest withouta real reconciliation with their past and present.
37 Mor Gregorios Youhanna Ibrahim, the Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo, was kid¬ napped by an unknown militia with Mar Bulos Yazji, the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Aleppo and the driver Mr. Fattuḥ Kabbud who was shot dead, on the 22nd of April 2013, on their way back to Aleppo from Turkey. Many confusing news have been spread concerning their destiny but no clear news about them until the time of writing this paper. 38 I am indebted to Prof. Shabo Talay for his initiative to organize this excellent international conference about Sayfo at the Freie Universität Berlin, 24-28 June 2015.