Resolution on the Genocide of the Syriacs People
June 15 marks the 106th anniversary of the genocide of the Syriacs*, Armenians and Pontos Greeks perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire in 1915.
Two months before, the "Young Turks", supporters of an Ottoman nationalist party, expelled Armenian intellectuals from Constantinople, now Istanbul. A month later, the "Law on Population Resettlement" went into effect. The then acting Minister of Interior, Talat Pasha, ordered a "mass resettlement" that applied to all Syriacs, Armenians and Pontos Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire. The Syriacs refer to this dark chapter of their past as Sayfo, Aramaic: sword. Turkey continues to deny the crimes committed against the Christian peoples in the Ottoman Empire. However, the recognition of the Sayfo of 1915 is of paramount importance to the Syriacs and the collective memory of this people.
Mass resettlement turned into death marches, hundreds of thousands of Syriacs wandered aimlessly into the Mesopotamian desert and died there. Ottoman soldiers executed Syriacs men by the wayside. Out of desperation, Syriacs women threw their babies into the Tigris River.
Pregnant women who resisted were cut alive from their wombs. Syriacs girls were raped and kept in Turkish or Kurdish harems. Children were torn from their families and abducted. To survive, some converted to Islam.
500,000 Syriacs, 1.5 million Armenians and 300,000 Pontos Greeks fell victim to the genocide, i.e. a total of over 2.3 million people. The historical facts on this subject are still denied in Turkey, the history books remain falsified, and anyone who even mentions the genocide as a journalist, for example, is subject to severe reprisals. On January 19, 2007, the Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who reported on the genocide, was shot dead by a Turkish fascist in Istanbul. Those behind this assassination in the Turkish state apparatus have not yet been brought to justice.
The property and lands of Syriacs and other Christian minorities were confiscated by the Ottoman and Turkish governments. The confiscated property of the non-Muslim minority constituted the economic basis of the Turkish Republic. The appropriation and looting of the Syriacs, Armenian and Greek but also Jewish wealth also functioned as the basis for the creation of a new Turkish bourgeoisie. Numerous individuals and Turkish companies, including the large industrialist families Sabancı and Koç, benefited directly or indirectly from the expulsion and elimination of the Syriacs and the confiscation of their properties.
The execution of oligarch Özdemir Sabanci in Istanbul in 1996 by the Marxist-Leninist DHKP-C (Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front) caused an international sensation. The DHKP-C justified this as retaliation for the peoples oppressed and massacred in Mesopotamia as well as for the working class exploited by the Sabanci family in Turkey.
All the land registries have received the order in 1983 and 2000: Whoever inquires about the property from 1915 will not receive any information and his personal data should be reported to the government. In 2005, the National Security Council of Turkey also decided that all matters concerning the ownership of land by Christians are matters of national security. So today in Turkey the entries in the land registry have become a matter of national security.
During the First World War, Turkey and Germany were allies. At the time of the genocide, many Germans stayed in Turkey and became eyewitnesses or witnesses to testimonies. They also became perpetrators. Here are just a few examples. The deportation plans for the Armenians and Syriacs came from Colmar Feiherr von der Goltz, who had been a military instructor and organizer in the Ottoman Empire since 1883, where he was known only as "Golz-Pasha" as a Turkish field marshal. In 1913, under the command of General Liman, some 800 German officers came to Istanbul to give the future ally a military buildup. Some of the officers took part in planning and carrying out the deportations.
The German General Fritz Bronsart von Schellendorf, who was chief of the general staff of the Ottoman field army in Istanbul, justified his criminal actions against the Armenians even after the war, writing in 1919: "The Armenian, like the Jew, is a parasite outside his homeland, sucking up the health of the other country in which he has settled. Hence the hatred which was discharged in medieval fashion against them as an undesirable people and led to their murder."
In contrast, the great philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels described the situation of Christians in the Ottoman Empire as early as 1853 in the following words: "Turks alone belong to "the privileged religion and nation" and have "the right to bear arms, and the highest-ranking Christian must give way to the lowest-ranking Muslim when he meets him. Muslim when he encounters him."
Communist deputy Karl Liebknecht says in the Reichstag in January 1916: "The Turkish government has caused a terrible slaughter among the Armenians; All the world knows about it - and all the world holds Germany responsible, because in Constantinople German officers command the government. Only in Germany they know nothing because the press is gagged."
Specifically on German imperial interests in Asiatic Turkey, Communist Rosa Luxemburg says it is a matter of holding together this "rotten, decaying heap of ruins" of this Oriental despotism of the Turks as a "small minority" of a "ruling conqueror caste" with its manifold "national questions which split the Turkish state: the Armenian, Kurdish, Syriacs, Arab, Greek."
Now the oppression, persecution and murder against the Syriacs people by the fascist Turkish state continues. From 1987 to 1998, more than 45 Syriacs were kidnapped, tortured and murdered in the city of Midyat. In 2000, the Syriac Orthodox priest Yusuf Akbulut of Diyarbakir was brought to trial for speaking publicly of the Sayfo.
The confiscated church properties include church buildings, monasteries, monuments, lands, but also village cemeteries that are still in use and two active monasteries. The expropriation of properties dates back to 2008, when a court expropriated the monastery of Mor Gabriel, founded in 397, as well as many other monasteries, churches and private homes. Moreover, in 2015, two Syriacs bishops Mor Gregorius Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi were also kidnapped and murdered by the Turkish secret service because of their commitment to the Syriacs people. In 2019, the social media channel was banned by the People's Council of Syriacs (Süryani Halk Meclisleri) in Turkey. Likewise, in 2020, the parents of the Syriacs priest Remzi Diril were kidnapped and murdered.
The Syriacs are not recognized in Turkey as an independent people with their own language, history and culture. Thus, the acquisition of property, construction or maintenance of church buildings is fraught with difficulties, and the training of young priests and the official teaching of the Aramaic language are prohibited. The Syriacs are denigrated in Turkish school textbooks as traitors to the country. The fields of the Syriacs are regularly set on fire by the Turkish army under the pretext of fighting the Kurdish guerrillas.
Currently, the Syriac Orthodox priest-monk Sefer Aho Bileçen was sentenced to two years and one month in prison in Mardin for allegedly supporting a terrorist organization. The cleric did not attend the sentencing and was represented by a lawyer. The conviction of the managing priest of the Syriac Orthodox monastery of Mor Yakub (also known as the Church of Saint Jacob of Nisibis), in Nusaybin County, stems from allegations that he gave bread and water to guerrilla fighters in 2018. At the trial, Bileçen, who was initially charged with membership in a terrorist organization, had not denied providing aid. However, he said this had no political background, but was in line with his religious convictions: "I give food to anyone who comes to my door - whoever they are."
With the international law reoccupation of Turkey in northern Syria and the support of fascist jihadist terrorist militias such as the so-called "Syrian National Army" or the "Islamic State", the fascist state of Turkey commits a renewed genocide against the Syriacs people in Syria and Iraq. Massacres and genocides are characterized by the hundred-year military-economic and political cooperation of German imperialism with the fascist state government of Turkey. And because the first genocide was denied and not dealt with, the second genocide came into the world history. Thus, a few days before the German invasion of Poland, the fascist Adolf Hitler asked in a meeting in which he announced, among other things, a crackdown by the SS Totenkopf units against the civilian population, "Who is still talking about the extermination of the Armenians today?"
A remarkable quote, which shows that the Armenian and Syriacs genocide was already widely known at the time, and also served as a model for fanatical nationalists like Hitler. Thus, the chemical weapons for the massacre in Dersim of tens of thousands of Alevis and Zazas were also manufactured in the fascist German Reich and supplied to Turkey. In the destruction of Syriacs and Kurdish villages in the 1990s, the Turkish army mainly used weapons supplied to Turkey by the German government. And currently it is German weapons that are used by Turkey in the occupation of northern Syria, terrorizing Christians as well as Yazidis.
The murderers of 1915 largely got away with it at the trials in Istanbul immediately after the First World War. Germany also distinguished itself in this context by taking in wanted murderers. For example, Talaat Pasa, who was a respected citizen living in Berlin in 1921. Later he was shot by the Armenian revolutionary student Salomon Teilirian, whose family was victims of the genocide. Now the German imperialism continues its interests policy with and for the fascist Turkish state government and criminalizes and persecutes revolutionary Syriacs activists in Germany. Ten activists from the Revolutionary Syriacs People's Movement are to be tried in Germany for their activities for the Syriacs people.
To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Syriacs genocide in Turkey, Syriacs intellectuals from Tur Abdin joined together and founded the Revolutionary Syriacs People's Movement (Aramaic: Suryoye Qauwonye) in Midyat in 2015.
On the occasion of the 106th commemoration day on June 15, 2021, we Syriacs demand Immediately, without condition and with all consequences:
1. the right of the Syriacs people.
-recognition of the genocide of the Syriacs by the Turkish state!
2. ethnic rights
-The recognition of the Syriacs as an indigenous people in Turkey and a constitutional protection for its rights and freedoms!
-Equality before the laws with the other citizens living in Turkey without any discrimination according to their religion, language, ethnicity and geographical region!
3. the linguistic rights
-The lifting of the ban on the Aramaic language and alphabet!
-The opening of schools where Aramaic is taught!
-The right to start television and radio channels in Aramaic!
-The recognition of the publication and dissemination of written materials in Aramaic!
-The broadcasting of programs in the Aramaic language on the state-administered television channels!
4. cultural rights
-The official recognition of cultural-traditional days and festivals!
-The permission to use the names and surnames in the Aramaic language!
-The freedom to organize and participate in cultural activities!
5. religious rights
-The return of official powers and privileges to the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch, who was deported from Deyrulzafaran Monastery (Mardin) in 1931, and to the Patriarch of the Eastern Apostolic Church, who was exiled in 1915, and the lifting of the ban on their return!
-The return of the real estate, lands, historical manuscripts, documents and ornaments belonging to the churches and monasteries. Also, the protection of immovable property by the state!
-The permission of the teaching in the religious seminaries!
-The official recognition of the Syriacs religious representatives by the state!
-The return of dozens of Syriac churches that were converted into mosques to their original owners:
1. The bell tower and some parts of the Mor Sobo Church in Hah (Anıtlı) village 2. Mor Shimon Church of Ahlah (Narlı) village 3. Mor Behnam Church of Cizre 4. The Monastery of Mort Fabruniya of Nusaybin, converted into a mosque called the Mazelabdin mosque 5. The Saint Mary Church in Kanak village 6. Mor Stefanus Church of Kartmin (Yayvantepe) 7. Mor Osyo Church in Mansuriye village of Mardin 8. Mor Tuma Church of Diyarbakır now called Ulu Cami (the Great Mosque) 9. Mor Karpus Sohdo Church of Savur 10. Mor Marutha of Mayfarkin in Silvan 11. Mor Aday Church of Hasankeyf 12. Mor Yuhanun Church in Urfa 13. Mor Zbino Church of Deyrzbin and tens of other churches in the Muhalmi villages 14. Mor Kuryakos Church in Bsheriye (Besiri) 15. Mor Tuma Church in Mardin, now called Ulu Cami (the Great Mosque) 16. The Forty Martyrs Church of Mardin, now called Shehidiye Mosque 17. Mor Shimon Church of Midyat, converted into a hotel 18. The Syriac Archbishopate of Urfa, converted into a theater building!
6. the right of return
-The Syriacs who have left their ancestral lands since the beginning of the 20th century must be provided with the necessary means to return to these areas located within the borders of the Turkish Republic!
-The people who have left their ancestral lands since the beginning of the 20th century must be provided with the necessary means to return to these lands, which are within the borders of the Turkish Republic!
-The right to use the original geographical names of the Syriacs settlements!
-The elimination of the obstacles that stand in the way of the Syriacs who have lost their Turkish citizenship to return to their villages!
-The issuance of title deeds during the cadastral works for the emigrated Syriacs who have left their lands and properties for a long time!
-The creation of adequate infrastructure and social facilities in the Syriacs settlements!
-The increase of financial and other resources for the development of the areas inhabited by the Syriacs!
7. human rights
-The search for the perpetrators of the 45 murdered Syriacs people between 1987 and 1998:
1987 Habib Ün (Midyat) Aho Erdinç (Arbo) Tumas Behnam (Derik) Bahho Hure (Derik) 1988 Fehmi Yarar (Midyat) 1990 Yakup Görgün (Midyat) Gevriye Bulut (Anhel) Sami Bulut (Anhel). Yusuf Aykıl (Arnas) Edibe Aykıl (Arnas) Melke Kahraman (Midyat) Şemun Ünal (Bnebil) Bahhe Akgül (Bnebil) Yusuf Sürer (Bnebil) Celil Büyükbaş (Bnebil) 1991 Ishak Tahan (Midyat) Ferit Adil (Anhel) Işmuni Adil (Anhel) Mihayel Bayro (Idil) 1992 Simon Konutgan (İdil) Fikri Akbulut (Midyat) Yakup Yonatan (Kızıltepe) Cırcıs Yüksel (Keleth) 1993 Aydın Aydın (Anhel) Isa Koç (Anhel) Aziz Kalaycı (Anhel) Yusuf Özbakır (Anhel) Gevriye Durmaz (Anhel) Gorgis Savcı (Hah) Georgis Baydar (Idil) Hamdi Şimşek (Şırnak- Bespin (Görümlü)) Hikmet Şimşek (Şırnak-Bespin (Görümlü)) Hanna Aydın (Hah) 1994 Yakup Mete (Midyat) Şükrü Tutuş (İdil) Aziz Çiftçi (Mardin) Eduard Tanrıverdi (Midyat) 1996 Yusuf Dildar (Hakkari) Garip Marbel Taner (Hakkari) Milad Ishak Yalda (Hakkari) Viya Şoreş Iman (Hakkari) Imal Gevergis Hanna (Hakkari) 1997 Iskender Aras (Doğançay) Rehane Aras (Doğançay) 1998 Hanna Adikti (Bespin)!
-The necessary help for the Syriacs who were deprived of Turkish citizenship to return to Turkish citizenship!
-Solving the problems with conscription for the Syriacs who have been living abroad for a long time and removing this obstacle before they visit the country and return to resettle!
*Today's Syriacs are of Semitic origin and their roots can be traced back to the ancient oriental peoples and advanced civilizations of Mesopotamia, the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Arameans and Chaldeans. They are also known by names such as Aramaeans, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syrians and other regional or denominational terms such as Syriac Orthodox, Maronites, Melkites, Chaldean Church and Assyrian Church. The ethnic generic term is "Suryoye". The home of the Syriacs is the Middle East and is concentrated in the Mesopotamian area (Beth Nahrin), which is known as the cradle of civilization.
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