The mass killing of Ottoman Armenians is today widely recognized, both within and outside scholarly circles, as an act of genocide. What is less well known, however, is that it took place within a broader context of Ottoman violence against minority groups during and after the First World War. Among those populations decimated were the indigenous Christian Assyrians (also known as Syriacs or Chaldeans) who lived in the borderlands of present-day Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. This volume is the first scholarly edited collection focused on the Assyrian genocide, or “Sayfo” (literally, “sword” in Aramaic), presenting historical, psychological, anthropological, and political perspectives that shed much-needed light on a neglected historical atrocity.

This anthology offers readers a collection of essays written from a multi-disciplinary perspective about the genocide of Assyrians/Aramaeans during the First World War, which is also known as 'Sayfo' (sword). The issues concerning the historicity of the genocide of the First World War, commonly known and referred to as the Armenian genocide have been widely discussed by scholars across different academic disciplines for a long time. However, very few know of the genocide of the Assyrians/Aramaeans, which took place in the same geography and at the same time. Drawing on the expertise of scholars from a variety of backgrounds, this anthology specifically seeks to shed light on this genocide from a multidisciplinary perspective and serve as a step for developing the future scholarship about the Sayfo. The essays are selection of papers presented at the SAYFO 1915: An International Conference on the Genocide of Assyrians/Aramaeans during the First World War (Freie Universität Berlin, 24-28 June 2015).

This book that has been authored by members of the Syriac(n) Orthodox Community strives to provide an insight and brief historical background on the Syriac(n) Orthodox Church, its dogma, and language. This was done through the provision of one of the major stories derived from an old Syriac manuscript that has not been translated into English before. The authors examine what is being called The Forgotten Genocide. This specific genocide affected the original inhabitants of the land of Mesopotamia (Syriacs/Arameans). These Syriacs/Arameans were faced and continue to face diverse types of persecutions. In this book, the authors shall first explore the events that took place leading to the main Genocide of 1915, which is also known as the Syriac Genocide (SAYFO/SEPA/SWORD, or what has been dubbed as The Forgotten Genocide). This book will endeavour to bring to light a historical account of the ancient people of Mesopotamia, leading to the events that resulted in the several persecutions of these people, specifically during the Genocide of 1915. The authors derived from diverse sources, including some ancient rare manuscripts that have not been translated into English from Syriac/Aramaic; these will be supported by evidence derived from some of what has been translated into English, including personal accounts. The significance of this lies in the fact that the empirical evidence, including the population at the time the number of those who were forced to convert and the number of those who were killed at the time, will allow the recognition of this Syriac/Aramaic Genocide. This book commences with a brief historical background on the origin of Christianity in this region and the historical background of the Syriac(n) Orthodox Church, leading to an explanation of the atrocities at the hands of the Ottoman Empire, providing a backdrop for the understanding of the context at the time, and concluding with some insights of the latest atrocities against the same people in parts of the Middle East. These are actions taken by patriarchs and people to face such ongoing atrocities.

This text is one of the few surviving eyewitness sources on the Assyrian genocide during the First World War, written by a seminarian living in greater Tur Abdin (the southeast of today's Turkish state). It is translated and annotated by a master of Syriac with an in-depth knowledge of modern Assyrian history.

The Armenian genocide of 1915 has been well documented. Much less known is the Turkish genocide of the Assyrian, Chaldean and Syriac peoples, which occurred simultaneously in their ancient homelands in and around ancient Mesopotamia - now Turkey, Iran and Iraq. The advent of the First World War gave the Young Turks and the Ottoman government the opportunity to exterminate the Assyrians in a series of massacres and atrocities inflicted on a people whose culture dates back millennia and whose language, Aramaic, was spoken by Jesus. Systematic killings, looting, rape, kidnapping and deportations destroyed countless communities and created a vast refugee diaspora. As many as 300,000 Assyro-Chaldean- Syriac people were murdered and a larger number forced into exile. The "Year of the Sword" (Seyfo) in 1915 was preceded over millennia by other attacks on the Assyrians and has been mirrored by recent events, not least the abuses committed by Islamic State. Joseph Yacoub, whose family was murdered and dispersed, has gathered together a compelling range of eye-witness accounts and reports which cast light on this 'hidden genocide.' Passionate and yet authoritative in its research, his book reveals a little-known human and cultural tragedy. A century after the Assyrian genocide, the fate of this Christian minority hangs in the balance.

Pertinent to contemporary demands for reparations from Turkey is the relationship between law and property in connection with the Armenian Genocide. This book examines the confiscation of Armenian properties during the genocide and subsequent attempts to retain seized Armenian wealth. Through the close analysis of laws and treaties, it reveals that decrees issued during the genocide constitute central pillars of the Turkish system of property rights, retaining their legal validity, and although Turkey has acceded through international agreements to return Armenian properties, it continues to refuse to do so. The book demonstrates that genocides do not depend on the abolition of the legal system and elimination of rights, but that, on the contrary, the perpetrators of genocide manipulate the legal system to facilitate their plans.

This is a pioneering historical investigation of the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syrian Christian minorities during World War I, who suffered the same fate as the Armenians. Ethnic cleansing and large-scale massacres occurred throughout northern Mesopotamia and parts of Ottoman-occupied Iran. Based on primary sources from official Russian, Turkish, and West European archives, as well as hitherto unused manuscript sources and oral histories published here for the first time, this book attempts to give a full picture of the events of 1915. The book concentrates on the Assyrians of Urmia and Hakkari and on the Syrians of Diyarbekir province, particularly in Tur Abdin.