Savur

Until 1609, Sawro was primarily inhabited by Christian Mhalmoye (Syriacs) – except for a few Ottoman colonizers on a conquest. That is, until the Ottomans gained full control of the city. Sawro’s emir ܥܡܺܝܪܵܐ ܕܘ ܨܰܘܪܐ was a Christian Mhalmoyo. The Church of Mar Tuma (St Thomas), today’s Ulu Cami in the Castle, was the residence of the archdiocese. Its bishop was called Polikarpos Sawroyo.

The following quote was told in 2015 by cammo “uncle” Cemil [III]:

“The Ottomans issued an ultimatum to the emir [who he believed to be called Ishoc (Isa)] to either convert to Islam and maintain his position as the city’s leader or to keep his Christian religion but face torture and expulsion from the Castle. After much excited debate in the city, emir Isa consulted the bishop. The bishop advised the leaders to accept Islam, in order to maintain the leadership of the city and to protect the population from all kinds of torture and death. After all, the Ottomans would not stay in the area forever, was the reasoning. Once they leave the area, we can return to our faith.”

But the Ottomans stayed, and the population did not dare to return to their religion. It was during this time that the Church of Mor Tuma [IV] was converted into a mosque and the name of the flow Nahro d’Qadish ܢܰܗܪܳܐ ܕ ܩܰܕܝܫ (Kadish Nehri) was changed into Savur Cayi.

• The famous Christian leader of the 300s is Mor Slemun Meshtoyo (Meshtiye).
• Mor Polikarpos, one of its bishops.
• Cmiro ܥܡܝܪܐ Ishoc, Sawro’s emir from 1596-1609.

• Nahro d’Qadish ܢܰܗܪܳܐ ܕ ܩܰܕܝܫ or Savur Cayi, branch of the Tigris River.
• Mor Tuma Church. The Ulu Cami (mosque) since 1609.
• The Monastery of the Romans ܕܝܪܐ ܕ ܪܘܡܝ̈ܐ in the village of Mor Aday (Ahmadi/Baskavak).
• The Mor Yuhanon Dawlimoyo Church in the village of Qeleth (Dereiçi).
• The Mor Abay Monastery in Qeleth.
• The bridge in the village of Mor Aday (Baskavak köprusu).
• The Sawro Castle.

Priest Ishak Armale, who was an eyewitness to Sayfo in 1914–1915, writes (p. 290) the following about the genocide that took place in Sawro and its surrounding villages;

“Until 1915, Sawro was inhabited by about 300 Christian Syriac / Mhalmoyo families and a few Armenian families who had settled in the city after 1912. At the end of June 1915, the infamous Baggawat (chieftains) gathered and discussed with the provincial authorities in Mardin what to do with the Christians who lived there. The message from the authorities in Mardin was clear; the Baggawat had the full freedom to commit all kinds of atrocities, torture, rape and genocide. Subsequently, the chieftains imprisoned and tortured all men and young people. The victims were then brutally killed. The leaders of the Christians, Yusuf Bar Elyas and four others, were kept hostage inside the prison.”

“After three weeks, those in charge turned to Yusuf Bar Elyas and the other four imprisoned leaders. They were told that they would be taken to the provincial capital Mardin. There they would be handed over to the governor of Mardin so that he could take a decision regarding their lives. But this turned out to be a lie. Once outside the city of Sawro, they were tortured and killed. Their bodies were thrown into ditches. The killers then returned to Sawro and went from house to house, yelling at the women and children: “Give us your gold, silver, and jewels! You will get it back in Mardin. Your men have already been sent to Mardin. You will meet them in Mardin.”

The executioners looted everything they could get their hands on. They arrested the women and children, took them to the barracks and closed the doors. They then unleashed their wildest yokels, who carried off both invaluable and valuable, both small and large, and brought the spoils to government building. After two days in prison, the tongues of women and children were dry with thirst, their stomachs empty and their strength exhausted from all the crying and lamentation. Mayor Hasan Bey, Mustafa Anfis, Hamdo, Ismail Dafo and a few others came to tell them to get ready. The women were brought out in pairs with their children by the hand or by their breasts and their fetuses in their bellies. They were all hungry, thirsty and they wept. When they got to Khirba, the soldiers started firing at them and stabbing them with their swords. Those who were not killed there were taken to the village of Bakesa (Beth Qayse), where the soldiers undressed them and searched for valuables in their clothing. Father Ishak Armale describes it like this;

“My pen has the greatest difficulty writing down all the scum and the crimes they have committed. They beated an violated virgins and naked women.”

Most survived, however. The beastly barbarians handed them some cloths to cover themselves with. After a short rest in Bakesa, the march continued.

As they approached Reshmel and Kabala, men came from the villages and took the boys and girls they liked. The women cooed like pigeons who just lost their young. The deportees were then driven on, under torture and beatings with daggers and swords, until they reached Ras El-Maydan east of Mardin. The people of Ras El-Maydan in turn picked the children who appealed to their voracious minds. The remaining women and children were then forced by the soldiers to immediately resume their nightly march towards Harrin. After this, they marched to Nusaybin and from there to the village of Kharab Gurt. There they had to rest for a while after the hardships of the long deportation march. Father Ishak Armale remarks emotionally;

“It cannot have escaped your notice, dear readers, that the women have not been given anything to eat or drink since they were taken away from their homes.”

In the morning they were awakened and again put on a brisk march. Kurds from the surrounding villages approached, grabbed them one by one, stripped them, beat them on the head and threw them down a well shaft. Finally, they hit Maryam, daughter of Abdulmasih Kalayili, on the head and threw her into the well to let death do its work slowly.

A man named Hidir, son of Sofi Murad Adkhe, happened to pass by the well when he heard a woman moaning. He shouted down into the well, “I want to save you.” She replied, “If you bring me up from here, you will kill me.” He swore by his own life and the prosperity of the state not to kill her. She said: “If the state had done any good, it would not have inflicted so much harm on the women. Their honor is the honor of the sultan.” Hidir was surprised by her confident statement and threw down a cloth she could cover herself with. Then he lowered a rope and pulled her up. He took her home and fetched a doctor who treated her. Eventually, she returned to Mardin and settled in the home of her uncle Abdulahad Shakro.

After 1918, many families returned to Sawro, though this time as human wrecks. Insecurity, persecution, and financial hardships had marked their lives. In particular at the hands of the Kurdish tribes that lived in the Barava area, which lies between Sawro and Bşhem Il ܒܫܶܡ ܐܝܠ (Bişmil) in the north.

The Christians had to do away their lands and live in poverty which caused most of them to leave Sawro and environs and settle in Mardin or move south to Syria and Lebanon. Some went to France from there. Only craftsmen and blacksmiths remained in Sawro. In the 1970s, there were about 20 Christian Syriac / Mhalmoye families in Sawro. The Sawreni (Cankalp) family was the last family to move away from the city and now lives in Sweden.

It has become a kind of custom that Sayfo is only commemorated with the 1915, the Year of the Sword, that is, when the genocide actually took place and the main reason why the Christian population of Turkey has been decimated. However, the murders, the loss of property, the daily violence against those who survived the genocide – the Turks call them “Remnants of the Sword” (Kilic Artiklari) – and the violent confiscation of land, houses and violent abductions of Christian girls by Kurdish tribes are often forgotten and only increased after 1915. All these factors were a major push factor for the Christian Mhalmoye, as with the other Christian peoples, to leave behind everything they owned in land, houses, businesses, shops, and the land of their fathers, to flee to safer lands.

In the local elections of March 2019, Gülistan Öncü of the pro-minority HDP was elected mayor.[4] On 15 November 2019, she was detained due to an investigation related to terrorism. She was dismissed the following day, and District Governor Bayram Türker was appointed as a trustee.[5]

Savur has a high literacy rate compared to neighboring regions.

Nobel laureate Aziz Sancar was born in this town in 1946. He attended primary school in Savur.[6]

[I] Short description of the etymological names of Mhalmoye villages by Fr Abraham Garis.

[II] The Keshyar Plateau consists of Tur Abdin including the Mhalmayto Region. In other words, the area between Mardin in the west and the Ghozarto d’Bukhtoye (Cizre) in the east.

[III] Uncle Cemil, or cammo Cemil, the name by which this elderly man was known in 2015 in Sawro, was the one who would normally be found in the courtyard of the mosque, sitting by the well. He told me all this with joy as I sat next to him and listened with great interest. The reason that makes this story so fascinating is that it passed down from generation to generation as a kind of primary socialization. A true story that did not have to be censored by several biased historians.

[IV] The cross is still visible today in the minaret and in the walls of the mosque.

https://www.mardinlife.com/mardin-savur-ilcesi-hakkinda-genel-bilgiler–gezilecek-yerler–tarihi–nufusu–cografyasi–kalesi.html

Living Cultural Heritage, Turabdin, Hans Hollenweger, Linz, 1999.

De spridda pärlorna, Ignatios Aphrem I Barsoum, Alfa print, Sundbyberg, 2006.

Türkiye Yer Adları Sözlüğü, Devam Nışanyan. Liberya Yayınları, 2020.

Massakern på syrianerna i Turabdin 1914-1915, Suleyman Hinno, Syrianska riksförbundet, Örebro, 1998.

“Mardin Savur traditionell urban textur och hus” (pdf), M. Feral Hanifoğlu, Neslihan Dalkılıç, 2006. Uludag University Journal of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, volym 11, no.1. Archived from the originalet (pdf), Download, 2022.

Ögonvittne till de kristnas hemska katastrofer- Osmanernas och ungturkarnas folkmord i norra Mesopotamien, 1895/1914-1918, Fr Ishak Armale, Nsibins bokförlag, 2005.

Short description of the etymological names of Mhalmoye villages by Fr Abraham Garis, Fr Abraham Garis.

Monastery of Mor Abay Savur District, Kıllıt, Qellet (Dereiçi) Village, Andıddeyr Locale Present Function: Abandoned Registry Status: Registered – 06.07.2010/3280 Diyarbakır Regional Board for Conservation of Cultural and Natural Assets

www.mardinlife.com

Dmo Zliho, Abdumasih Qarabashi, Lebanon.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Savur.