Yüksekova District is a district in the Hakkâri Province of Turkey . Its seat is the city Yüksekova . Its area is 2,547 km and had a population of 121,969 people in 2023. It borders Iran to the east, and Kurdistan Region of Iraq to the south.
127-521: The district was historically an important trade route location due to its proximity to Iran. From the 1810s to Sayfo in 1915, the entire population of around the Great Zab was East Syriac Assyrian whose main occupation was agriculture that consisted of wheat, barley, cotton and tea. The local Assyrian population were descendants of people who found refuge among Kurds from the Golden Horde in
254-519: A Protestant of British origins who spoke the language. Together, they worked primarily to secure the partition of the Habsburg monarchy . At the conference, Italy gained Istria , Trieste , Trentino , and South Tyrol . Most of Dalmatia was given to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Fiume remained disputed territory, causing a nationalist outrage. Orlando obtained other results, such as
381-704: A declaration on 24 May by Russia, France, and the United Kingdom condemning them. The Blue Book , a collection of eyewitness reports of Ottoman atrocities published by the British government in 1916, devoted 104 of its 684 pages to the Assyrians. A Kurdish rebellion in Bitlis province was suppressed shortly before the outbreak of war in November 1914. The CUP government reversed its previous opposition to
508-468: A broad Armenian rebellion, Djevdet ordered massacres of Christian civilians to reduce the potential future strength of volunteer units. Some local Kurdish tribes participated in the killings, but others protected Christian civilians. Some Assyrian villages also engaged in armed resistance when attacked. The Persian Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested the atrocities to the Ottoman government, but lacked
635-480: A budget deficit of 12,000,000,000 Italian lire during the war made both the government and people feel entitled to all of those territories and even others not mentioned in the Treaty of London, particularly Fiume, which many Italians believed should be annexed to Italy because of the city's Italian population. Orlando, unable to speak English, conducted negotiations jointly with his Foreign Minister Sidney Sonnino ,
762-488: A far larger proportion of its men than the 50,000 American men lost, it had at least the right to the representation of a "minor" power. Lloyd George eventually relented and persuaded the reluctant Americans to accept the presence of delegations from Canada, India , Australia, Newfoundland , New Zealand, and South Africa, and that those countries receive their seats in the League of Nations. Canada, despite its huge losses in
889-518: A group of about 150 academics to research topics likely to arise in diplomatic talks on the European stage, and to develop a set of principles to be used for the peace negotiations in order to end World War I . The results of this research were summarized in the so called Fourteen Points document that became the basis for the terms of the German surrender during the conference, as it had earlier been
1016-558: A hope to establish a more liberal and diplomatic world as stated in the Fourteen Points, in which democracy, sovereignty, liberty and self-determination would be respected. France and Britain, on the other hand, already controlled empires through which they wielded power over their subjects around the world, and aspired to maintain and expand their colonial power rather than relinquish it. Various people, both in Washington and
1143-722: A joint interest in opposing "Anglo-Saxon domination" of the world, and he warned that the "deepening of opposition" between the French and the Germans "would lead to the ruin of both countries, to the advantage of the Anglo-Saxon powers." The Germans rejected Massigli's offers because they believed that the intention was to trick them into accepting the Treaty of Versailles unchanged; also, the German Foreign Minister, Count Ulrich von Brockdorff-Rantzau , thought that
1270-813: A large-scale attack; they decided to send women and children to the area around Chamba in Upper Tyari , leaving only combatants behind. On 10 May, the Assyrian tribes met and declared war (or a general mobilization) against the Ottoman Empire. In June, Mar Shimun traveled to Persia to ask for Russian support. He met with General Fyodor Chernozubov in Moyanjik (in the Salmas valley), who promised support. The patriarch and Agha Petros also met Russian consul Basil Nikitin in Salmas shortly before 21 June, but
1397-627: A letter to Clemenceau, the conference chairman, was not answered. Britain had been planning to renege on the Government of Ireland Act 1914 and instead to replace it with a new Government of Ireland Bill which would partition Ireland into two Irish Home Rule states (which eventually was passed as the Government of Ireland Act 1920). The planned two states would both be within the United Kingdom and so neither would have dominion status. David Lloyd George commented that he did "not do badly" at
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#17327980087601524-414: A mutual defense treaty with France, but he did not present it to his country's government for ratification and so it never took effect. Another possible French policy was to seek a rapprochement with Germany. In May 1919 the diplomat René Massigli was sent on several secret missions to Berlin . During his visits, he offered, on behalf of his government, to revise the territorial and economic clauses of
1651-636: A telegram to Djevdet Bey , the governor of Van province (which included Hakkari). In a planned Ottoman attack in Persia, the loyalty of the Hakkari Assyrians was doubted. Talaat ordered the deportation and resettlement of the Assyrians who lived near the Persian border with Muslims farther west. No more than twenty Assyrians would live in each resettlement, destroying their culture, language, and traditional way of life. Gaunt cites this order as
1778-441: A world marked by violence, raiding, the kidnapping and rape of women, hostage taking, cattle stealing, robbery, plundering, the torching of villages and a state of chronic unrest". Assyrian efforts to maintain their autonomy collided with the Ottoman Empire's nineteenth-century attempts at centralization and modernization to assert control over what had effectively been a stateless region . The first mass violence targeting Assyrians
1905-454: A written promise that the Assyrians would not side with Russia or permit their tribes to take up arms against the Ottoman government. The tribal chiefs considered the offer, but rejected it. In January 1915, Kurds blocked the route from Qudshanis to the Assyrian tribes. The patriarch's sister, Surma D'Bait Mar Shimun , left Qudshanis the following month with 300 men. Early in 1915, the tribes of Hakkari were preparing to defend themselves from
2032-643: Is anachronistic". In Neo-Aramaic , the languages historically spoken by Assyrians, it has been known since 1915 as Sayfo or Seyfo ( ܣܝܦܐ , lit. ' sword ' ), which, since the tenth century, has also meant 'extermination' or 'extinction'. Other terms used by some Assyrians include nakba (Arabic for 'catastrophe') and firman (Turkish for 'order', as Assyrians believed that they were killed according to an official decree). The people now called Assyrian , Chaldean, or Aramean are native to Upper Mesopotamia and historically spoke Aramaic varieties, and their ancestors converted to Christianity in
2159-659: Is often determined by political alignment. The Church of the East was the first to adopt an identity derived from ancient Assyria . The Syriac Orthodox Church has officially rejected the use of Assyrian in favor of Syrian since 1952, although not all Syriac Orthodox reject Assyrian identity. Since the Ottoman Empire was organized by religion, Ottoman officials referred to populations by their religious affiliation rather than ethnicity. Therefore, according to historian David Gaunt , "speaking of an 'Assyrian Genocide'
2286-525: Is often sometimes considered by historians to be one of the direct causes of Nazi Party 's electoral successes and one of the indirect causes of World War II . The League of Nations proved controversial in the United States since critics said it subverted the powers of the US Congress to declare war. The US Senate did not ratify any of the peace treaties and so the United States never joined
2413-727: The Armenian Revolutionary Federation incited a pro-Ottoman revolt in Russia in the event of war. The Armenians refused. According to Gaunt, a similar offer was probably made to Mar Shimun in Van on 3 August. After returning to Qudshanis, Mar Shimun sent letters urging his followers to "fulfill strictly all their duties to the Turks". The Assyrians in Hakkari (like many other Ottoman subjects) resisted conscription into
2540-594: The British dominions , with Australia taking particular exception, became a major point of contention within the delegation. Ultimately, the British delegation did not treat that proposal as a fundamental aim of the conference; they were willing to sacrifice the Racial Equality Proposal to placate the Australian delegation and thus help to satisfy their overarching aim of preserving the unity of
2667-539: The Catholic Church . Each church considered the others heretical. In its millet system , the Ottoman Empire recognized religious denominations rather than ethnic groups: Süryaniler / Yakubiler (Syriac Orthodox or Jacobites), Nasturiler (Church of the East or Nestorians ), and Keldaniler (Chaldean Catholic Church). Until the nineteenth century, these groups were part of the Armenian millet . Assyrians in
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#17327980087602794-657: The Entente , and marched in Urmia. Agha Petros later said that he had been promised by Russian officials that in exchange for their support, they would receive an independent state after the war. Ottoman irregulars in Van province crossed the Persian border, attacking Christian villages in Persia. In response, Persia shut down the Ottoman consulates in Khoy , Tabriz, and Urmia and expelled Sunni Muslims . Ottoman authorities retaliated with
2921-603: The Milli and Dekşuri ), and many who had supported the anti-CUP 1914 Bedirhan revolt switched sides because the extermination of Christians did not threaten their interests. The Raman tribe became enthusiastic executioners for Reshid, but parts of the Heverkan leadership protected Christians; this limited Reshid's genocide, and allowed pockets of resistance to survive in Tur Abdin. Some Yazidis , who were also persecuted by
3048-542: The Ottoman Empire and Persia, some of which were effectively stateless . The Ottoman Empire's nineteenth-century centralization efforts led to increased violence and danger for the Assyrians. Mass killing of Assyrian civilians began during the Ottoman occupation of Azerbaijan from January to May 1915, during which massacres were committed by Ottoman forces and pro-Ottoman Kurds. In Bitlis province , Ottoman troops returning from Persia joined local Kurdish tribes to massacre
3175-592: The Ottoman Empire was not a topic in the 1918 general election . There was an indecision among British decision makers over defanging and demobilizing the Ottoman army, the fate to be assigned to leading Committee of Union and Progress members, and the future of the Turkish straits. Per Taner Akçam , the considerations of British envoys to Versailles were: A strong Greece, Armenia, and fortified Palestine were all reflections of this sentiment. The dominion governments were not originally given separate invitations to
3302-694: The Pacific Islands south of the Equator . Despite a generally pro-Chinese view by the American delegation, Article 156 of the Treaty of Versailles transferred German concessions in the Jiaozhou Bay , China, to Japan rather than returning sovereign authority to China. The leader of the Chinese delegation, Lu Zhengxiang , demanded a reservation be inserted, before he would sign the treaty. After
3429-811: The Seyfo or the Assyrian genocide , was the mass murder and deportation of Assyrian / Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish tribes during World War I . The Assyrians were divided into mutually antagonistic churches, including the Syriac Orthodox Church , the Assyrian Church of the East , and the Chaldean Catholic Church . Before World War I, they largely lived in mountainous and remote areas of
3556-648: The Tyrol as far as Brenner , Trieste , Istria , most of the Dalmatian Coast (except Fiume ), Valona , a protectorate over Albania , Antalya (in Turkey), and possibly colonies in Africa. Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando tried to obtain full implementation of the Treaty of London, as agreed by France and Britain before the war. He had popular support because of the loss of 700,000 soldiers and
3683-588: The Viranşehir kaza, west of Mardin, its Armenians were massacred in late May and June 1915. Syriacs were not killed, but many lost their property and some were deported to Mardin in August. In total, 178 Syriac towns and villages near Diyarbekir were wiped out and most of them razed. Under Reshid's leadership, a systematic anti-Christian extermination was conducted in Diyarbekir province which included Syriacs and
3810-509: The "butcher battalion" ( Turkish : kassablar taburu ). The arrival of these troops in Siirt led to more violence. District governor ( mutasarrif ) Serfiçeli Hilmi Bey and Siirt mayor Abdul Ressak were replaced because they did not support the killing. Forty local officials in Siirt organized the massacres. During the month-long massacre, Christians were killed in the streets or their houses (which were looted). The Chaldean diocese of Siirt
3937-455: The 1990s, spearheaded by the Assyrian diaspora . Although several countries acknowledge that Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire were victims of a genocide, this assertion is rejected by the Turkish government. There is no universally accepted translation in English for the endonym Suryoyo or Suryoye . The choice of which term to use, such as Assyrian , Syriac , Aramean , and Chaldean ,
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4064-477: The Armenians are absolutely not to be extended to other Christians ... you are ordered to put an immediate end to these acts". No action was taken against Reshid for exterminating Syriac Christians or assassinating Ottoman officials who disagreed with the massacres, however, and in 1916 he was appointed governor of Ankara. Talaat's telegram may have been sent in response to German and Austrian opposition to
4191-464: The Assyrian tribes on the highlands, confining their attacks to poorly-armed Christian villages in the plains. Refugees from the area told the Russian army that "nearly the entire male Christian population of Gawar and Bashkale" had been massacred. In May 1915, Ottoman forces retreating from Bashkale massacred hundreds of Armenian women and children before continuing to Siirt. Mar Shimun learned about
4318-521: The Assyrian villages in the Ottoman–Persian borderlands organized self-defense forces; by the outbreak of World War I, they were well armed. In 1914, before the declaration of war against Russia, Ottoman forces crossed the border into Persia and destroyed Christian villages. Large-scale attacks in late September and October 1914 targeted many Assyrian villages, and the attackers neared Urmia. Due to Ottoman attacks, thousands of Christians living along
4445-552: The Assyrians retreated further into the high mountains without food and watched as their homes, farms, and herds were pillaged. They had no other option but fleeing to Persia, which most had done by September. Most of the men joined the Russian army, hoping to return home. During the 1915 fighting, the Assyrians' only strategic objective was defensive; the Ottoman goal was to defeat the Assyrian tribes and prevent their return. In 1903, Russia estimated that 31,700 Assyrians lived in Persia. Facing attacks from their Kurdish neighbors,
4572-577: The Big Four, Paris was effectively the center of a world government during the conference, which deliberated over and implemented the sweeping changes to the political geography of Europe . Most famously, the Treaty of Versailles itself weakened the German military and placed full blame for the war and costly reparations on Germany's shoulders, and the later humiliation and resentment in Germany
4699-590: The Big Four. The conference came to an end on 21 January 1920, with the inaugural General Assembly of the League of Nations . Five major peace treaties were prepared at the Paris Peace Conference, with, in parentheses, the affected countries: The major decisions were the establishment of the League of Nations ; the five peace treaties with defeated enemies; the awarding of German and Ottoman overseas possessions as "mandates" , chiefly to members of
4826-554: The British Empire and to France; reparations imposed on Germany; and the drawing of new national boundaries, sometimes with plebiscites, to better reflect the forces of nationalism. The main result was the Treaty of Versailles , with Germany, which in section 231 laid the guilt for the war on "the aggression of Germany and her allies". This provision proved humiliating for Germany and set the stage for very high reparations Germany
4953-410: The British Empire. Britain had reluctantly consented to the attendance of separate delegations from British dominions, but the British managed to rebuff attempts by the envoys of the newly proclaimed Irish Republic to put a case to the conference for Irish self-determination , diplomatic recognition, and membership in the proposed League of Nations. The Irish envoys' final "Demand for Recognition" in
5080-657: The British, led by David Lloyd George , in their treatment of Germany and its allies in Europe and the former Ottoman Empire in the Middle East . Wilson's attempts to gain acceptance of his Fourteen Points ultimately failed; France and Britain each refused to adopt specific points as well as certain core principles. Several of the Fourteen Points conflicted with the desires of European powers. The United States did not consider it fair or warranted that Article 231 of
5207-455: The Chinese patriotic student group. In 1914, at the outset of the war, Japan seized the territory that had been granted to Germany in 1897 and seized the German islands in the Pacific north of the equator . In 1917, Japan made secret agreements with Britain, France, and Italy to guarantee their annexation of these territories. With Britain, there was an agreement to support British annexation of
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5334-637: The Church of the East Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin began negotiations with the Russian Empire before World War I . Before the war, Russia and the Ottoman Empire courted populations in each other's territory to wage guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The Ottoman Empire tried to enlist Caucasian Muslims and Armenians, as well as Assyrians and Azeris in Persia, and Russia looked to the Armenians, Kurds, and Assyrians living in
5461-520: The East , Assyrian tribes controlled the Hakkari mountains east of Tur Abdin (adjacent to the Ottoman–Persian border ). Hakkari is very mountainous, with peaks reaching 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) and separated by steep gorges; many areas were only accessible by footpaths carved into the mountainsides. The Assyrian tribes sometimes fought each other on behalf of their Kurdish allies. Church of
5588-680: The East settlement began in the east on the western shore of Lake Urmia in Persia ; a Chaldean enclave was just north, in Salamas . There was a Chaldean area around Siirt in Bitlis province (northeast of Tur Abdin and northwest of Hakkari, less mountainous than Hakkari), but most Chaldeans lived farther south in present-day Iraq. Although the Kurds and Assyrians were well-integrated with each other, Gaunt writes that this integration "led straight into
5715-708: The East. The schisms in Syriac Christianity were fueled by political divisions between empires and personal antagonism between clergymen. Middle Eastern Christian communities were devastated by the Crusades and the Mongol invasions . The Chaldean and Syriac Catholic Churches split from the Church of the East and the Syriac Orthodox Church, respectively, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and entered into full communion with
5842-732: The Hamidiye regiments, recruiting them to put down the rebellion. As elsewhere, military requisitions became pillage; in February, labor-battalion recruits began to disappear. In July and August 1915, 2,000 Chaldeans and Syriac Orthodox from Bitlis were among those who fled to the Caucasus when the Russian army retreated from Van. Before the war, Siirt and the surrounding area were Christian enclaves populated largely by Chaldean Catholics. Catholic priest Jacques Rhétoré [ fr ] estimated that there were 60,000 Christians living in
5969-435: The League to administer all German colonies until they were ready for independence. Lloyd George realized he needed to support his dominions and so he proposed a compromise: there be three types of mandates. Mandates for the Turkish provinces were one category and would be divided up between Britain and France. The second category, of New Guinea, Samoa, and South West Africa, were located so close to responsible supervisors that
6096-483: The League's Covenant and Japanese territorial claims with respect to former German colonies: Shantung (including Kiaochow ) and the Pacific islands north of the Equator, the Marshall Islands , Micronesia , the Mariana Islands , and the Carolines . The former Foreign Minister Baron Makino Nobuaki was de facto chief. Saionji's role was symbolic and limited because of his history of ill-health. The Japanese delegation became unhappy after it had received only half of
6223-423: The League, equal and just treatment in every respect making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality. The clause quickly proved problematic to both the American and British delegations. Though the proposal itself was compatible with Britain's stance of nominal equality for all British subjects as a principle for maintaining imperial unity, there were significant deviations in
6350-457: The League. Instead, the 1921–1923 Harding administration concluded new treaties with Germany , Austria , and Hungary . The German Weimar Republic was not invited to attend the conference at Versailles. Representatives of White Russia but not Communist Russia were at the conference. Numerous other nations sent delegations to appeal for various unsuccessful additions to the treaties, and parties lobbied for causes ranging from independence for
6477-508: The Lizan valley, and Lower Tyari from the west. The joint encirclement operation was launched on 11 June. The Jilu tribe was attacked at the beginning of the campaign by several Kurdish tribes; the fourth-century church of Mar Zaya , with historic artifacts, was destroyed. Ottoman forces based in Julamerk and Mosul launched a joint attack on Tyari on 23 June. Haydar first attacked the Tyari villages of Ashita and Sarespido; later, an expeditionary force of three thousand Turks and Kurds attacked
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#17327980087606604-538: The Ottoman Empire lived in remote, mountainous areas, where they had settled to avoid state control. Although this remoteness enabled Assyrians to avoid military conscription and taxation, it also cemented internal differences and prevented the emergence of a collective identity similar to the Armenian national movement . Unlike the Armenians , Syriac Christians did not control a disproportionate part of Ottoman commerce and did not have significant populations in nearby hostile countries. There were no accurate estimates of
6731-436: The Ottoman Empire. Prior to the war, Russia controlled parts of northeastern Persia, including Azerbaijan and Tabriz. Like other genocides, the Sayfo had a number of causes. The rise of nationalism led to competing Turkish , Kurdish , Persian , and Arab national movements , which contributed to increasing violence in the already conflict-ridden borderlands inhabited by the Assyrians. Historian Donald Bloxham emphasizes
6858-416: The Ottoman army and laid waste to Tkhuma, Tyari, Jilu, and Baz. During the campaign, Ottoman forces took no prisoners. Mar Shimun's brother, Hormuz, was arrested while he was studying in Constantinople ; in late June, Talaat tried to obtain the surrender of the Assyrian tribes by threatening Hormuz' life if Mar Shimun did not capitulate. The Assyrians refused, and he was killed. Outnumbered and outgunned,
6985-421: The Ottoman army during the mobilization, and many fled to Persia in August. Those in Mardin , however, accepted conscription. In August 1914, Assyrians in nine villages near the border were forced to flee to Persia and their villages were burned after they refused to join the Ottoman army. On 26 October 1914, a few days before the Ottoman Empire entered World War I, Ottoman interior minister Talaat Pasha sent
7112-456: The Quai d'Orsay in Paris. This date was symbolic, as it was the anniversary of the proclamation of William I as German Emperor in 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles , shortly before the end of the Siege of Paris – a day itself imbued with significance in Germany, as the anniversary of the establishment of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. The Delegates from 27 nations (delegates representing 5 nationalities were for
7239-428: The Salmas valley to protect Christians, although some local Muslims tried to do so. In Dilman, the Persian governor offered shelter to 400 Christians; he was forced to surrender the men to Ottoman forces, however, who executed them in the town square. The Ottoman forces lured Christians to Haftevan , a village south of Dilman, by demanding that they register there, and arrested notable people in Dilman who were brought to
7366-405: The Sayfo, existing until 1968 when their residents emigrated. After leaving Siirt, Djevdet proceeded to Bitlis and arrived on 25 June. His forces killed men, and the women and girls were enslaved by Turks and Kurds. The Syriac Orthodox Church estimated its Bitlis province losses at 8,500, primarily in Schirwan and Gharzan. The situation for Christians in Diyarbekir province worsened during
7493-409: The Siirt district ( sanjak ), including 15,000 Chaldeans and 20,000 Syriac Orthodox. Violence in Siirt began on 9 June with the arrest and execution of Armenian, Syriac Orthodox, and Chaldean clerics and notable residents, including the Chaldean bishop Addai Sher . After retreating from Persia, Djevdet led the siege of Van; he continued to Bitlis province in June with 8,000 soldiers, whom he called
7620-506: The Syriac Orthodox in Diyarbekir province lost 72 percent of their population, compared to 92 percent of Armenian Catholics and 97 percent of Armenian Apostolic Church adherents. German diplomats noticed that the Ottoman deportations were targeting groups other than Armenians, leading to a complaint from the German government. Austria-Hungary and the Holy See also protested the violence against non-Armenians. Talaat Pasha telegraphed Reshid on 12 July 1915 that "measures adopted against
7747-417: The Treaty of Versailles declared Germany solely responsible for the war. (The United States did not sign peace treaties with the Central Powers until 1921 under President Warren Harding , when separate documents were signed with Germany, Austria, and Hungary respectively.) In the Middle East, negotiations were complicated by competing aims and claims, and the new mandate system. The United States expressed
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#17327980087607874-399: The U.S., and Japan, controlled the Conference. Amongst the "Big Five", in practice Japan only sent a former prime minister and played a small role; and the " Big Four " leaders dominated the conference. The four met together informally 145 times and made all the major decisions, which were then ratified by other attendees. The open meetings of all the delegations approved the decisions made by
8001-401: The United States was more likely to reduce the severity of the penalties than France was. (Lloyd George was the one who eventually pushed for better terms for Germany.) In 1914, Italy remained neutral despite the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary. In 1915, it joined the Allies to gain the territories promised by the Triple Entente in the secret Treaty of London : Trentino ,
8128-428: The basis of the German government's negotiations in the Armistice of 11 November 1918 . The main result of the conference was the Treaty of Versailles with Germany; Article 231 of that treaty placed the whole guilt for the war on "the aggression of Germany and her allies". That provision proved very humiliating for German leaders, armies and citizens alike, and set the stage for the expensive reparations that Germany
8255-423: The beginning of the Sayfo. The government in Van reported that the order could not be implemented due to the lack of forces to carry it out, and by 5 November the expected Assyrian unrest did not materialize. Assyrians in Julamerk and Gawar were arrested or killed, and Ottoman irregulars attacked Assyrian villages throughout Hakkari in retaliation for their refusal to follow the order. The Assyrians, unaware of
8382-579: The border fled to Urmia. Others arrived in Persia after fleeing from the Ottoman side of the border. The November 1914 proclamation of jihad by the Ottoman government inflamed jihadist sentiments in the Ottoman–Persian border area, convincing the local Kurdish population to side with the Ottomans. In November, Persia declared its neutrality; however, it was not respected by the warring parties. Russia organized units of Assyrian and Armenian volunteers to bolster local Russian forces against Ottoman attack. Assyrians led by Agha Petros declared their support for
8509-452: The border into Russia. Assyrians who had volunteered for the Russian forces were separated from their families, who were often left behind. An estimated 15,000 Ottoman troops reached Urmia by 4 or 5 January, and Dilman on 8 January. Ottoman troops began attacking Christian villages during their February 1915 retreat, when they were turned back by a Russian counterattack. Facing losses which they blamed on Armenian volunteers and imagining
8636-412: The colonies that they wanted. Japan obtained mandates over German possessions north of the Equator . Wilson wanted no mandates for the United States, but his main advisor, Colonel House , was deeply involved in awarding the others. Wilson was especially offended by Australian demands and had some memorable clashes with Hughes (the Australian Prime Minister), this the most famous: The maintenance of
8763-480: The conference and had been expected to send representatives as part of the British delegation. Convinced that Canada had become a nation on the battlefields of Europe, Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden demanded that it have a separate seat at the conference. That was initially opposed not only by Britain but also by the United States, which saw any Dominion delegation as an extra British vote. Borden responded by pointing out that since Canada had lost nearly 60,000 men,
8890-494: The countries of the South Caucasus to Japan's unsuccessful proposal for racial equality to the other great powers . A central issue of the conference was the disposition of the overseas colonies of Germany (Austria-Hungary did not have major colonies, and the Ottoman Empire was a separate issue). The British dominions wanted their reward for their sacrifice. Australia wanted New Guinea , New Zealand wanted Samoa , and South Africa wanted South West Africa . Wilson wanted
9017-439: The deliberations; this later gave rise to political resentments that lasted for decades. The arrangements made by this conference are considered one of the great watersheds of 20th-century geopolitical history. The conference involved diplomats from 32 countries and nationalities . Its major decisions were the creation of the League of Nations and the five peace treaties with the defeated states. Main arrangements agreed upon in
9144-605: The desire to appropriate their land. At the 1919 Paris Peace Conference , the Assyro-Chaldean delegation said that its losses were 250,000, about half the prewar population. The accuracy of this figure is unknown. They later revised their estimate to 275,000 dead at the Lausanne Conference in 1923. The Sayfo is less studied than the Armenian genocide. Efforts to have it recognized as a genocide began during
9271-463: The district from 2007 to 2023: Yüksekova has a continental mediterranean climate ( Köppen : Dsb ). The winter months are cold and snowy, springs are cool and wet, autumns are mild and crisp, while the summer months are pleasantly warm and dry with cool nights. The average annual temperature is 7.7 °C and precipitation here averages 757 mm. Sayfo The Sayfo ( Syriac : ܣܲܝܦܵܐ , lit. ' sword ' ), also known as
9398-638: The divide between the Assyrians and the Muslim Kurds. Many Assyrians were killed in the 1895 massacres of Diyarbekir . Violence worsened after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution , despite Assyrian hopes that the new government would stop promoting anti-Christian Islamism. In 1908, 12,000 Assyrians were expelled from the Lizan valley by the Kurdish emir of Barwari . Due to increasing Kurdish attacks which Ottoman authorities did nothing to prevent, Patriarch of
9525-536: The early fifteenth century. Traveller Soane visisted the district in 1910, describing the area as 'one of the most inaccessible of the many sealed corners of this mountain country'. After the genocide, Assyrian villages were subsequently populated by Kurds . In 1936, the name of the district was Turkified to Yüksekova , 'plateau'. The district encompasses three municipalities : The district has fifty-two villages of which three are unpopulated: The district has 104 hamlets . Population history of
9652-590: The empire. There was a direct connection between the deportation of the Christian population and the resettlement of Muslims in the depopulated areas. The goals of the population replacement were to Turkify the Balkan Muslims and end the perceived internal threat from the Christian populations. With local politicians predisposed to violence against non-Muslims, these factors helped generate the preconditions for genocide. CUP politician Enver Pasha set up
9779-524: The expulsion of several thousand Hakkari Assyrians to Persia. Resettled in farming villages, the Assyrians were armed by Russia. The Russian government was aware that the Assyrians and Armenians of Azerbaijan could not stop an Ottoman army, and was indifferent to the danger to which these communities would be exposed in an Ottoman invasion. On 1 January 1915, Russia abruptly withdrew its forces. Ottoman forces led by Djevdet, Kazim Karabekir, and Ömer Naji occupied Azerbaijan with no opposition. Immediately after
9906-645: The first centuries CE. The first major schism in Syriac Christianity dates to 410, when Christians in the Sasanian Empire formed the Church of the East to distinguish themselves from the official religion of the Roman Empire . The West Syriac church , later the Syriac Orthodox Church, was persecuted by Roman rulers for theological differences but remained separate from the Church of
10033-457: The genocide. The Sayfo occurred concurrently with and was closely related to the Armenian genocide , although the Sayfo is considered to have been less systematic. Local actors played a larger role than the Ottoman government , but the latter also ordered attacks on certain Assyrians. Motives for killing included a perceived lack of loyalty among some Assyrian communities to the Ottoman Empire and
10160-687: The government's role in these events until December 1914, protested to the governor of Van. The Ottoman garrison in the border town of Bashkale was commanded by Kazim Karabekir , and the local Special Organization branch by Ömer Naji [ tr ] . Russian forces captured Bashkale and Sarai in November 1914 and held both for a few days. After their recapture by the Ottomans, the towns' local Christians were punished as collaborators, out of proportion to any actual collaboration. Local Ottoman forces consisting of gendarmerie , Hamidiye irregulars, and Kurdish volunteers were unable to mount attacks on
10287-518: The government, aided the Christians. The killers in Diyarbekir were typically volunteers organized by local leaders, and the freelance perpetrators took a share of the loot. Some women and children were abducted into local Kurdish or Arab families. Thousands of Armenians and several hundred Syriacs (including all their clergymen) in Diyarbekir city were arrested, deported, and massacred in June. In
10414-399: The great historic and contemporary states. This is, for me, our main and principal expansion." Japan sent a large delegation, headed by the former Prime Minister, Marquis Saionji Kinmochi . It was originally one of the "big five" but relinquished that role because of its slight interest in European affairs. Instead, it focused on two demands: the inclusion of its Racial Equality Proposal in
10541-652: The invasion, the districts of Julamerk, Gawar, and Shemdinan were temporarily transferred to Mosul province . The Ottoman army joined local Kurdish tribes against specific targets. Suto Agha of the Kurdish Oramar tribe attacked Jilu , Dez , and Baz from the east; Said Agha attacked a valley in Lower Tyari; Ismael Agha targeted Chamba in Upper Tyari, and the Upper Berwar emir attacked Ashita ,
10668-588: The local Christian population ( Armenians and Assyrians ). Ottoman forces and Kurds attacked the Assyrian tribes of Hakkari in mid-1915, driving them out by September despite the tribes mounting a coordinated military defense. Governor Mehmed Reshid initiated a genocide of all of the Christian communities in Diyarbekir province , including Syriac Christians, facing only sporadic armed resistance in some parts of Tur Abdin . Ottoman Assyrians living farther south, in present-day Iraq and Syria, were not targeted in
10795-499: The mandates could hardly be given to anyone except Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Finally, the African colonies would need the careful supervision as "Class B" mandates, which could be provided only by experienced colonial powers: Britain, France, and Belgium although Italy and Portugal received small amounts of territory. Wilson and the others finally went along with the solution. The dominions received " Class C Mandates " to
10922-536: The massacre of Assyrians in lowland areas, and believed that the highland tribes would be next. Via Agha Petros , an Assyrian interpreter for the Russian consulate in Urmia , he contacted the Russian authorities. Shimun traveled to Bashkale to meet Mehmed Shefik Bey , an Ottoman official sent from Mardin to win over the Assyrians for the Ottoman cause, in December 1914. Shefik promised protection and money in exchange for
11049-416: The massacres, with no expectation of implementation. The perpetrators began separating Armenians and Syriacs in early July, only killing the former; however, the killing of Syriacs resumed in August and September. Paris Peace Conference (1919%E2%80%931920) The Paris Peace Conference was a set of formal and informal diplomatic meetings in 1919 and 1920 after the end of World War I , in which
11176-748: The men had been executed) were forced to march west from Siirt towards Mardin or south towards Mosul, assaulted by police. As they passed through, their possessions, including their clothes, were stolen by local Kurds and Turks. Those unable to keep up were killed. Women considered attractive were abducted by police or Kurds, raped, and killed. One site of attacks and robbery by Kurds was the gorge of Wadi Wawela in Sawro kaza , northeast of Mardin. No deportees reached Mardin, and only 50 to 100 Chaldeans (of an original 7,000 to 8,000) reached Mosul. Three Assyrian villages in Siirt—Dentas, Piroze and Hertevin —survived
11303-468: The most part ignored) were assigned to 52 commissions, which held 1,646 sessions to prepare reports, with the help of many experts, on topics ranging from prisoners of war to undersea cables, to international aviation, to responsibility for the war. Key recommendations were folded into the Treaty of Versailles with Germany, which had 15 chapters and 440 clauses, as well as treaties for the other defeated nations. The five major powers, France, Britain, Italy,
11430-500: The mountain pass between Tyari and Tkhuma . Although the Assyrians were victorious in most of the battles, they had unsustainable losses of lives and ammunition and lacked their invaders' German-manufactured rifles, machine guns, and artillery. In July, Mar Shimun sent Malik Khoshaba and bishop Mar Yalda Yahwallah from Barwari to Tabriz in Persia to request urgent assistance from the Russians. The Kurdish Barzani tribe assisted
11557-743: The murder of Armenian and Syriac soldiers serving in the Ottoman army, and several hundred were killed. In several other massacres in Azerbaijan in early 1915, hundreds of Christians were killed and women were targeted for kidnapping and rape; seventy villages were destroyed. In May and June, Christians who had fled to the Caucasus returned to find their villages destroyed. Armenian and Assyrian volunteers attacked Muslims in revenge. After retreating from Persia, Ottoman forces—blaming Armenians and Assyrians for their defeat—took revenge against Ottoman Christians. Ottoman atrocities in Persia were widely covered by international media in mid-March 1915, prompting
11684-669: The negative influence of European powers interfering in the Ottoman Empire under the premise of protecting Ottoman Christians. This imperialism put the Ottoman Christians at risk of retaliatory attacks. In 1912 and 1913, the Ottoman loss in the Balkan Wars triggered an exodus of Muslim refugees from the Balkans. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) government decided to resettle the refugees in eastern Anatolia, on land confiscated from populations deemed disloyal to
11811-542: The paramilitary Special Organization , which was loyal to himself. Its members, many of whom were convicted criminals released from prison for the task, operated as spies and saboteurs. The Ottoman Empire ordered a full mobilization for war on 24 July 1914, and concluded the German–Ottoman alliance shortly thereafter. In August 1914, the CUP sent a delegation to an Armenian conference offering an autonomous Armenian region if
11938-459: The peace conference "considering I was seated between Jesus Christ and Napoleon ." This was a reference to the great idealism of Wilson, who desired merely to punish Germany, and the stark realism of Clemenceau, who was determined to see Germany effectively destroyed. Like the other main Allied powers, the British public was more inclined to punish Germany and Austria. Britain's relationship with
12065-538: The permanent membership of Italy in the League of Nations and the promise by the Allies to transfer British Jubaland and the French Aozou strip to Italian colonies. Protectorates over Albania and Antalya were also recognized, but nationalists considered the war to be a mutilated victory , and Orlando was ultimately forced to abandon the conference and to resign. Francesco Saverio Nitti took his place and signed
12192-401: The postwar era. In doing so, Wilson ultimately began to lead the foreign policy of the United States towards interventionism , a move that has been strongly resisted in some United States circles ever since. Once Wilson arrived, however, he found "rivalries, and conflicting claims previously submerged." He worked mostly at trying to influence both the French, led by Georges Clemenceau , and
12319-505: The potentially-rebellious Kurds; in practice, however, the areas were resettled by Kurds and the genocide consolidated the province's Kurdish presence. Historian Uğur Ümit Üngör says that in Diyarbekir, "most instances of massacre in which the militia engaged were directly ordered by" Reshid and "all Christian communities of Diyarbekir were equally hit by the genocide, although the Armenians were often particularly singled out for immediate destruction". The priest Jacques Rhétoré estimated that
12446-408: The power to prevent them. Many Christians did not have time to flee during the Russian withdrawal, and 20,000 to 25,000 refugees were stranded in Urmia. Nearly 18,000 Christians sought shelter in the city's Presbyterian and Lazarist missions. Although there was reluctance to attack the missionary compounds, many died of disease. Between February and May, when the Ottoman forces pulled out, there
12573-460: The prewar Assyrian population, but Gaunt gives a possible figure of 500,000 to 600,000. Midyat , in Diyarbekir province ( vilayet ), was the only town in the Ottoman Empire with an Assyrian majority (Syriac Orthodox, Chaldeans, and Protestants). Syriac Orthodox Christians were concentrated in the hilly rural areas around Midyat, known as Tur Abdin , where they lived in almost 100 villages and worked in agriculture or crafts. Syriac Orthodox culture
12700-465: The promised Russian help never materialized. In May, Assyrian warriors were part of the Russian force which was rushed to relieve the defense of Van ; Haydar Bey , the governor of Mosul, was given the power to invade Hakkari. Talaat ordered him to drive the Assyrians out and added, "We should not let them return to their homelands". The ethnic-cleansing operation was coordinated by Enver, Talaat, and military and civilian Ottoman authorities. To legalize
12827-528: The province's few Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholics . Reshid knew that his decision to extend the persecution to all Christians in Diyarbekir was against the central government's wishes, and he concealed relevant information from his communications. Unlike the government, Reshid and his Mardin deputy Bedri Bey classified all Aramaic-speaking Christians as Armenians: enemies of the CUP who must be eliminated. Reshid planned to replace Diyarbekir's Christians with selected, approved Muslim settlers to counterbalance
12954-539: The reservation was denied, the treaty was signed by all the delegations except that of China. Chinese outrage over that provision led to demonstrations known as the May Fourth Movement . The Pacific Islands north of the equator became a class C mandate, administered by Japan. Until Wilson's arrival in Europe in December 1918, no sitting American president had ever visited the continent. Wilson's 1918 Fourteen Points had helped win many hearts and minds as
13081-668: The rights of Germany, and it then walked out of the conference. During the negotiations, the leader of the Japanese delegation, Saionji Kinmochi, proposed the inclusion of a " racial equality clause " in the Covenant of the League of Nations on 13 February as an amendment to Article 21: The equality of nations being a basic principle of the League of Nations, the High Contracting Parties agree to accord as soon as possible to all alien nationals of states, members of
13208-552: The senior statesmen stopped working personally on the conference in June 1919, the formal peace process did not really end until July 1923, when the Treaty of Lausanne was signed." The entire process is often referred to as the "Versailles Conference", although only the signing of the first treaty took place in the historic palace; the negotiations occurred at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris. The Conference formally opened on 18 January 1919 at
13335-400: The stated interests of its dominions , notably Australia and South Africa . Though both dominions could not vote on the decision individually, they were strongly opposed to the clause and pressured Britain to do likewise. Ultimately, the British delegation succumbed to imperial pressure and abstained from voting for the clause. Meanwhile, though Wilson was indifferent to the clause, there
13462-407: The treaties were, among others, the transition of German and Ottoman overseas possessions as " mandates " from the hands of these countries chiefly into the hands of Britain and France; the imposition of reparations upon Germany ; and the drawing of new national boundaries, sometimes involving plebiscites , to reflect ethnic boundaries more closely. US President Woodrow Wilson in 1917 commissioned
13589-464: The treaties. There was a general disappointment in Italy, which the nationalists and fascists used to build the idea that Italy was betrayed by the Allies and refused what had been promised. That was a cause for the general rise of Italian fascism. Orlando refused to see the war as a mutilated victory and replied to nationalists calling for a greater expansion, "Italy today is a great state... on par with
13716-409: The unity, territories, and interests of the British Empire was an overarching concern for the British delegates to the conference. Still, they entered the conference with more specific goals with this order of priority: The Racial Equality Proposal put forth by the Japanese did not directly conflict with any core British interest, but as the conference progressed, its full implications on immigration to
13843-469: The upcoming peace treaty. Massigli spoke of the desirability of "practical, verbal discussions" between French and German officials that would lead to a "Franco-German collaboration." Massigli told the Germans that the French thought of the "Anglo-Saxon powers" (the United States and the British Empire) as the major threat to France in the post-war world. He argued that both France and Germany had
13970-470: The victorious Allies set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers . Dominated by the leaders of Britain, France, the United States and Italy, the conference resulted in five treaties that rearranged the maps of Europe and parts of Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands, and also imposed financial penalties. Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and the other losing nations were not given a voice in
14097-464: The village for execution. Over two days in February, 700 to 800 people, including the entire male Christian population, was murdered in Haftevan. The killings were committed by the Ottoman army, led by Djevdet, and the local Shekak Kurdish tribe, led by Simko Shikak . In April, Ottoman army commander Halil Pasha arrived in Azerbaijan with reinforcements from Rowanduz . Halil and Djevdet ordered
14224-557: The war ended, not only in America but all over Europe, including Germany, as well as its allies in and the former subjects of the Ottoman Empire . Wilson's diplomacy and his Fourteen Points had essentially established the conditions for the armistices that had brought an end to World War I. Wilson felt it to be his duty and obligation to the people of the world to be a prominent figure at the peace negotiations. High hopes and expectations were placed on him to deliver what he had promised for
14351-412: The war, did not ask for either reparations or mandates. The Australian delegation, led by Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes fought greatly for its demands: reparations, the annexation of German New Guinea , and the rejection of the Racial Equality Proposal. He said that he had no objection to the proposal if it was stated in unambiguous terms that it did not confer any right to enter Australia. He
14478-412: The weapons at the end of the war, Assyrians—relying on older weapons—were at a disadvantage and subject to increasing violence. The irregular Hamidiye cavalry were formed in the 1880s from Kurdish tribes loyal to the government; their exemption from civil and military law enabled them to commit acts of violence with impunity. The rise of political Islam in the form of Kurdish shaikhs also widened
14605-588: The winter of 1914–1915; the Saint Ephraim church was vandalized, and four young men from the Syriac village of Qarabash (near Diyarbekir ) were hanged for desertion. Syriacs who protested the executions were clubbed by police, and two died. In March, many non-Muslim soldiers were disarmed and transferred to road-building labor battalions. Harsh conditions, mistreatment, and individual murders led to many deaths. On 25 March, CUP founding member Mehmed Reshid
14732-528: The withdrawal of Russian forces, local Muslims committed pogroms against Christians; the Ottoman army also attacked Christian civilians. Over a dozen villages were sacked and, of the large villages, only Gulpashan was left intact. News of the atrocities spread quickly, leading many Armenians and Assyrians to flee to the Russian Caucasus. Those north of Urmia had more time to flee. According to several estimates, about 10,000 or 15,000 to 20,000 crossed
14859-467: Was a campaign of mass execution, looting, kidnapping, and extortion against Christians in Urmia. More than 100 men were arrested at the Lazarist compound, and dozens, including Mar Dinkha, bishop of Tergawer, were executed on 23 and 24 February. Near Urmia, the large Syriac village of Gulpashan was attacked; men were killed, and women and children were abducted and raped. There were no missionaries in
14986-513: Was appointed governor of Diyarbekir. Chosen for his record of anti-Armenian violence, Reshid brought thirty Special Organization members (mainly Circassians ) who were joined by released convicts. Many local officials ( kaymakams and district governors) refused to follow Reshid's orders, and were replaced in May and June 1915. Kurdish confederations were offered rewards to allow their Syriac clients to be killed. Government allies complied (including
15113-455: Was centered in two monasteries near Mardin (west of Tur Abdin): Mor Gabriel and Deyrulzafaran . Outside the core area of Syriac settlement, there were also sizable populations in villages and the towns of Urfa , Harput , and Adiyaman . Unlike the Syriac population of Tur Abdin, many of these Syriacs spoke non-Aramaic languages. Under the Qudshanis -based Patriarch of the Church of
15240-538: Was concerned by the increasing power of Japan. Within months of the declaration of war in 1914, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand had seized all of Germany's possessions in the Far East and the Pacific Ocean . The British had given their blessing for Japan to occupy German possessions, but Hughes was alarmed by that policy. French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau controlled his delegation, and his chief goal
15367-408: Was destroyed, including its library of rare manuscripts. The massacre was organized by Bitlis governor Abdülhalik Renda , the chief of police, the mayor, and other prominent local residents. The killing in Siirt was committed by çetes , and the surrounding villages were destroyed by Kurds; many local Kurdish tribes were involved. According to Venezuelan mercenary Rafael de Nogales , the massacre
15494-533: Was fierce resistance to it from the American public, and he ruled as Conference chairman that a unanimous vote was required for the Japanese proposal to pass. Ultimately, on the day of the vote, only 11 of the 17 delegates voted in favor of the proposal. The defeat of the proposal influenced Japan's turn from co-operation with the Western world , into more nationalist and militarist policies and approaches. The Japanese claim to Shantung faced strong challenges from
15621-466: Was in the mid-1840s, when Kurdish emir Bedir Khan devastated Hakkari and Tur Abdin, killing several thousands . During intertribal feuds, the bulk of the violence was directed at Christian villages under the protection of the opposing tribe. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 , the Ottoman state armed the Kurds with modern weapons to fight Russia. When the Kurds refused to return
15748-820: Was intended to pay, only a small portion of which had been delivered when it stopped paying after 1931. The five great powers at that time, France , Britain , Italy , Japan and the United States , controlled the Conference. The " Big Four " leaders were French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau , British Prime Minister David Lloyd George , US President Woodrow Wilson , and Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Emanuele Orlando . Together with teams of diplomats and jurists , they met informally 145 times and agreed upon all major decisions before they were ratified. The conference began on 18 January 1919. With respect to its end, Professor Michael Neiberg noted, "Although
15875-410: Was planned as revenge for Ottoman defeats by Russia. De Nogales believed that Halil was trying to assassinate him, since the CUP had disposed of other witnesses. He left Siirt as quickly as he could, passing deportation columns of Syriac and Armenian women and children. Only 400 people were deported from Siirt; the remainder were killed or kidnapped by Muslims. The deportees (women and children, since
16002-401: Was supposed to pay. Germany paid only a small portion, before reparations ended in 1931. According to British historian AJP Taylor, the treaty seemed to Germans "wicked, unfair" and "dictation, a slave treaty" but one which they would repudiate at some stage if it "did not fall to pieces of its own absurdity." As the conference's decisions were enacted unilaterally and largely on the whims of
16129-573: Was to weaken Germany militarily, strategically, and economically. Having personally witnessed two German attacks on French soil in the last 40 years, he was adamant for Germany not to be permitted to attack France again. Particularly, Clemenceau sought an American and British joint guarantee of French security in the event of another German attack. Clemenceau also expressed skepticism and frustration with Wilson's Fourteen Points and complained: "Mr. Wilson bores me with his fourteen points. Why, God Almighty has only ten!" Wilson gained some favour by signing
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