It seems impossible that we would forget genocides of entire people, but events like the Assyrian genocide show us how fickle human memory can be. Also called the Sayfo, meaning ‘the sword’, the Assyrian genocide was one of three mass campaigns of extermination waged by the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. Alongside the more famous Armenian genocide and that of the Greeks, hundreds of thousands of Assyrians lost their lives in racially and religiously motivated atrocities at the command of the Ottoman government between 1914 and 1918.
The struggle of the Assyrians is easily overlooked, but it contains tales of incredible brutality and of admirable resistance. Today on A Day In History, we look at how the atrocities of the Sayfo unfolded, the deplorable ways that the Ottomans deceived their victims, and the stories of the men who took up arms to defend themselves from those who would exterminate them.
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Prelude
The Assyrians are an ethnic group united by their shared languages which derive from ancient Aramaeic. Christianity They are also thorouglhy Christian although split between several denominations, of which the largest are the Orthodox Assyrian Church of the East and Syrian Orthodox Church, and the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Unlike the Armenians, the Assyrians have never been politically unified – there is no real link between the ancient Assyrian empire and the modern Assyrian people – and they were treated as a loose ethnic group with no fixed territory. Like other Christian minorities in the Ottoman Empire, they faced sporadic violence and persecution for decades before the genocide. In 1895, Assyrians were among the victims of the waves of violence that killed thousands of Christians across the Empire and they faced regular discrimination in law and public life. Violence from Turkish authorities and Kurdish raiders continued throughout the early 20th century with land seizures, forced conversion, and mob violence becoming regular features of life.
Things changed with the rise of Turkish ethnonationalism and the First World War. The Empire’s new ruler Talaat Pasha envisioned an ethnically Turkish empire where minorities were excluded, or eliminated. The Ottomans also saw the Assyrians as a security risk, fearing that they would side with Russia once the fighting began.
#assyrian #history #armeniangenocide #sayfo
Scriptwriter: Nathan Hewitt
Voice-over Artist: Lain Heringman
Music: Epidemic Music
Sources:
David Gaunt, Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I, (2006)
David Gaunt, ‘The Ottoman Treatment of the Assyrians’, in Ronald Grigor Suny et al (ed.), A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire, (2011), p244-59
David Gaunt and Naures Atto (ed.), Let Them Not Return: Sayfo – The Genocide Against the Assyrian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire, (2019)
Maryam Ishaya, ‘France recognizes Seyfo Genocide of 1915’, 27th February 2023, The Morningside Post, https://morningsidepost.com/articles/france-recognizes-assyrian-genocide
Florence Hellot-Bellier, ‘The Increasing Violence and the Resistance of Assyrians in Urmia and Hakkari (1900–1915)’, in Talay Shabo and Soner O Barthoma (eds.), Sayfo 1915: An Anthology of Essays on the Genocide of Assyrians/Arameans during the First World War, (2018)
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Lets again hear Erdogan call Hamas "freedom fighters" while denying these genocides and bombing Kurds.
The blame cannot be put on generations future, never apologise for something you had no part in, they are meaningless.
My takeaway? Islam is NOT your friend. Followers of the Moon god will NEVER treat you as human unless you're one of them.
turks disgust me
but turks are the victims remember, welcome refugees they dont do anything bad to our women and children turks arent entitled people
As a Chinese I remember having a chat with a Turk who was very angry over the issue of Uyghur Turks, so I asked him about the actual genocides of Armenia and Assyrians, the guy immediately denied everything. How typical of Turks 😄
Where are all the butthurt Turks? It's boring without their denialism lol
Turks were and are Muslims. This is the modus operandi for islam
As usual, if not arabs, then muslims. It doesn't matter their nationality, their country, their ethnicity, it's always the muslims. It's time to speak up. Assyrians, Armenians, Chaldeans, Yazidis, Zoroastrians, Jews, Baha'is, Apostates, Atheists, and all others should unite and speak up. Get rid of Guterres from the UN and make the case, islam is a violent and murderous sect, a society based on racism and apartheid. Their ultimate goal is the Umma Wahida, the "unified nation". The whole world under one law, shari'a. Only for muslims. Those who refuse to convert will be killed, unless they are "people of the Book". In that case, they'd graciously spare your lives with the condition of becoming a Dhimmi, slaves allowed to live as no-citizens. That, genocide and slavery, apartheid are the real islam that we all know, but don't dare to speak up against.
Great video
My parents are Assyrian who migrated from Iraq. This was heartbreaking to watch. It reminded me of the last genocide during Obamas administration. I remember thinking the end has to be near. As long as Quran exist Christian’s and Jews will never have peace.
this is Turkey , a shame ..without any words …
The reason why the Assyrian genocide is not widely talked about in media and school is because the people who are in control of the media and academia have for the past 50+ years been of the far left. Why does this matter? It's almost cliche at this point for the far left to blatantly and nakedly hate Christianity. Meanwhile, in the leftist hierarchy of religiosity, Muslims are sacred, above even Satanists, Pagans, and Atheists. Muslims are so important in the hierarchies of the far left that leftists will go so far as to excuse Hamas terrorists for crimes against humanity in Israel, because that's an instance of Muslims killing Jews, which to a leftist is completely fine. So, of course, Muslim genocide of Christians is something that the left would celebrate if it happened today, and would brush under the rug if it happened a century ago.
You ever hear a Christian use this genocide as a defense as to why you can't critize Christian people? Me either.
Sounds eerily similar to what the US government did to the native Americans
"Land Seizure" …."Mob Violence"….
We are seeing that in Gaza in 2023
shara d mart shmouni and her 7 sons defended Azukh with a cannon gifted from God in the church. A German Commander went inside the church to see where the cannons were coming from but couldn't find it, so he converted to Christianity and became a believer.