Sayfo

Sayfo was the mass killing and forced displacement of Assyrian Christians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I, especially in 1915.

Assyrians: An Indigenous people of the Middle East, many of whom belong to Syriac Christian churches. Sayfo targeted Assyrian communities across Ottoman territories.
Hakkari: A mountainous region in southeastern Turkey, historically home to Assyrian communities. Assyrians in Hakkari faced attacks and mass displacement during the war.
Assyrian diaspora: Assyrian communities living outside their ancestral homelands, formed through migration and displacement. Sayfo contributed to the dispersal of Assyrians across the Middle East and beyond.
Sayfo (term): A Syriac term meaning “sword,” used for the mass violence against Assyrians during World War I. The name expresses how Assyrian communities remember the violence.
Ottoman Empire: A transcontinental empire ruled by a dynasty based in Anatolia from the late thirteenth century until 1922. The killings and expulsions occurred within its wartime provinces.
Tur Abdin: A plateau in southeastern Turkey with a long history of Syriac Christian settlement. Its villages and monasteries became sites of violence and survival.
Genocide recognition: The political and legal acknowledgment that a historical mass atrocity constitutes genocide. Recognition of Sayfo remains contested in public and official settings.
Syriac Christianity: A family of Christian traditions shaped by Syriac language, liturgy, and history. Sayfo struck communities whose churches and identities are rooted in Syriac Christianity.
World War I: A global war fought from 1914 to 1918, centered on the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. Ottoman entry into the war intensified insecurity and state violence.
Diyarbakır: A city in southeastern Turkey, historically known as Amida and a center of regional administration. The province's Assyrian population suffered persecution and killings.

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History of the AssyriansRelated: Sayfo profoundly altered Assyrian populations and intensified migration.