Sayfo - An Account of the Assyrian Genocide

Translates and annotates a rare eyewitness account of the 1915 Assyrian genocide during the First World War

• Set in the context of the failing Ottoman state and rising Young Turk regime
• Discusses Armenians and Greeks as well as Assyrians in one primary source
• Includes comments and interviews with perpetrators of events
• Annotated with information about sites, people and events

This text is one of the few surviving eyewitness sources on the Assyrian genocide, written by a seminarian living in greater Tur Abdin (the southeast of today’s Turkish state). The perspective is one that is little known and less discussed. Translated and annotated by a master of Syriac with an in-depth knowledge of modern Assyrian history, this text creates a unique opportunity for new and progressive scholarship.

The Assyrian genocide is one of the forgotten atrocities of the 20th century. The physical destruction was but one element; it also caused demographic shifts, loss of territory, generational trauma and linguicide, along with cultural genocide/ethnocide and identity erosion.