THE GENOCIDE OF 1915 AND THE REALITIES

In the last week of April, some circles who are claimed to be Assyrian-Syriac staged demonstrations and hunger strikes in order to protest the genocide of 1915 (Sayfo) in various European countries with the support of some Kurdish organizations and this has caused some suspicions about these circles.

To make a protest speech in solidarity with the PKK, PSK and the other chauvinist Kurdish organizations by ignoring the role of the Kurds in the genocide means nothing but disrespect for the Assyrian-Syriac peoples and thousands of their martyrs.

Those who committed the genocide should definitely be protested and the murderers should be brought to book. But who are the real murderers? First, it should be found out. Unfortunately, these circles who claim that they are "Assyrian-Syriac" seem to be very friendly with the Kurds who are their real murderers. Isn't this a contradiction? Is it possible to forget the historical realities?

It is an undeniable fact that in the period between 1820 and 1920 the Assyrians and Syriacs were subject to the genocide mostly by the Kurds, that hundreds of thousands of Christians lost their lives in this genocide, and that hundreds of churches were plundered, destroyed and burnt down. The fact that in 1840's Bedir Khan, the Kurdish Emir of Cizre massacred more than 10.000 Assyrians/Nestorians and Syriac Christians was proven with the documents and this is only one example (See Yakup Hidirsah "Massacre of Christians -Syriac, Nestorian, Chaldean, Armenian- in Mesopotamia and Kurds", Hannover 1997).

In fact, even the Armenian writer Garo Sasuni confessed that all the genocides in Armenian provinces were carried out by the Kurds and during the genocides 300.000 Armenians were killed (See Garo Sasuni, Kurdish National Movements and Armenian-Kurdish Relations since the 15th Century, Stockholm 1986, p.124).

In his book called "the 1914-1915 Massacre of the Syriacs from Farman Tur-Abdin" which was published in Athens, the capital of Greece in 1993, the priest of Syriac Church in Kuburelbith town of Syria, Hori Süleyman Hinno of the Harabale village of Midyat district of Mardin province describes in detail how the Kurds massacred the Syriacs living in almost 100 settlement places within the province of Mardin.

It is known that the Syriacs who fled from the brutalities and pressures of the Kurds during the years of World War I (1914-1918) took refuge in Iran/ Urumiye this time became the target of the Kurds in Iran and were massacred (See William Eagleton, Mehabad Kurdish Republic 1946, translated by M.Emin Bozarslan, Istanbul 1976, p.37-39; B.Nikitine, "Nestorians" Islamic Encyclopedia , Volume:8, p.210).

That is why the Kurds, the real murderers of Syriacs, should be those to be brought to book instead of doing this, attempting to look for others to put the responsibility means concealing the realities.

It is significant that the Syriac Patriarch Ignatios Ilyas III was among the people who welcomed Atatürk in Ankara on December 27, 1919 and that he participated in the opening ceremony of Turkish Grand National Assembly on April 23, 1920.

The remarks made by the two Syriac clerics concerning Atatürk are significant in that they show their point of view towards the Republic of Turkey:

In his book called "The History of the Turkish Syriacs" (Diyarbakir 1970) the priest of generations-old Diyarbakyr Syriac Community-Mother Mary Church, Aziz Günel states that "Enjoying the equal rights granted by the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey in the new epoch marked by Atatürk, members of the generations-old Syriac Community having a population of about 35-40 thousand can teach their own language in their own churches with pleasure, welfare and peace. Oh Atatürk, rest in peace.."(p.57-58).

In his book called "the 1914-1915 Massacre of the Syriacs from Farman Tur-Abdin" which he described the brutalities and oppressions conducted against the Syriacs by the Kurds, Hori Süleyman Hinno, the priest of Syriac Church in Syria/Kuburelbith states that " to tell the truth, in the era of Mustafa Kemal Pascha, who was called Atatürk-the ancestor of Turks-, everybody started to lead a comfortable life." (p.172)

As is seen, Syriacs do not have any problems with the Republic of Turkey. Some plots devised by some political interest groups in Europe who use the name of Syriacs will not do any good to Syriac people.

Preserving their religion, language and culture in the environment of peace and tolerance in Turkey, Syriacs live in peace.

The Syriac Representative also participated in the symposium held in honour of Prophet Abraham of Syriac origin on April 13, 2000 in Urfa/Harran, one of the ancient cities of Syriacs. The symposium was organized with the contributions of the official institutions of the Republic of Turkey and with the participation of the representatives of the three religions with one God from 15 countries.

The Tourism Ministry of the Republic of Turkey, taking into consideration the importance of the Syriac culture and churches, opened this year's Tourism Week in Mardin, the sacred city of Syriacs on April 15, 2000.

As well as some 150 scholars and clerics, Yusuf Sag, Turkey's Deputy Patriarch of Syriac Catholics was also invited to the International European Union Board Meeting organized in Istanbul on May 03, 2000 by the Turkish Directorship of the Religious Affairs.

All these recent developments were received with pleasure by the Syriac community.

Therefore, we, the Syriac patriots reject some political foci in Europe holding the Republic of Turkey responsible for the genocide of 1915. We believe that these attitudes damage the interests of the Syriacs in Turkey and we protest against them with all our might.


Mesopotamia Democratic Forum