Sayfo
Sayfo
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Sayfo
赛福 (Sayfo)
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‘Sayfo’, or ‘the sword’, is the term now commonly used for the large-scale massacres of the Syriac (as well as the Armenian) inhabitants of eastern Turkey in 1915 and following years.
“赛福”（Sayfo，意为“剑”）是现在通常用于指代 1915 年及随后几年土耳其东部 (eastern Turkey) 的叙利亚人（Syriac）（以及亚美尼亚人 (Armenian)）居民遭受的大规模屠杀的术语。
‘Sayfo’, or ‘the sword’, is the term now commonly used for the large-scale massacres of the Syriac (as well as the Armenian) inhabitants of eastern Turkey in 1915 and following years, in the course of World War I and its aftermath (another term also used is ‘Firman’, denoting the order to kill the Christian population; also ‘Seferberlik’ denoting mass deportations). Serious massacres had occurred at intervals in the 19th cent., notably in 1843 ( Hakkari ), 1860 ( Damascus and Lebanon), and 1895–6 (eastern Turkey), but those of 1915 were evidently orchestrated by high Ottoman officials, in particular the Minister of the Interior, Talaat Pasha. In the area between Urfa ( Edessa ) and Cizre the massacres and deportations primarily affected the Syr. Orth., Syr. Cath. and Chaldeans. The Assyrians, to the east of Cizre, in the Hakkari region, having sided with the Russians in 1916, were abandoned after the Russian Revolution (1917), and were driven out by the Ottoman army, escaping to the Urmia region (northwest Iran). Subsequently, when Urmia fell, large numbers were massacred.
“赛福”（Sayfo），或称“剑”（the sword），是现今通常用于指代第一次世界大战 (World War I) 及其后续期间，1915 年及随后几年间土耳其东部 (eastern Turkey) 叙利亚人 (Syriac)（以及亚美尼亚人 (Armenian)）居民遭受的大规模屠杀的术语（另一使用的术语为“菲尔曼”（Firman），意指杀害基督教人口的命令；另有“塞费尔伯里克”（Seferberlik），意指大规模驱逐）。19 世纪 (19th cent.) 期间曾间歇性发生过严重屠杀，特别是 1843 年（哈卡里 (Hakkari)）、1860 年（大马士革 (Damascus) 和黎巴嫩 (Lebanon)）以及 1895–6 年（土耳其东部 (eastern Turkey)），但 1915 年的屠杀显然由奥斯曼 (Ottoman) 高官策划，尤其是内政大臣 (Minister of the Interior) 塔拉特帕夏 (Talaat Pasha)。在乌尔法 (Urfa)（埃德萨 (Edessa)）与杰兹赖 (Cizre) 之间的地区，屠杀和驱逐主要波及叙利亚正教会 (Syr. Orth.)、叙利亚天主教会 (Syr. Cath.) 信徒及迦勒底人 (Chaldeans)。位于杰兹赖 (Cizre) 以东哈卡里 (Hakkari) 地区的亚述人 (Assyrians)，因于 1916 年站在俄罗斯人 (Russians) 一边，在俄国革命 (Russian Revolution)（1917 年）后遭抛弃，被奥斯曼 (Ottoman) 军队驱逐，逃往乌尔米耶 (Urmia) 地区（伊朗西北部 (northwest Iran)）。随后，当乌尔米耶 (Urmia) 沦陷时，大量人员遭屠杀。
The losses to all the Syriac-speaking communities were enormous. Eight out of twenty Syr. Orth. dioceses were completely or largely wiped out, and whole areas that had formerly had a considerable Syriac presence, notably Bsheriyyeh (Syr. Orth. and Chaldean) and Hakkari (Ch. of E.), were totally depleted of their Christian population. Reliable figures for those killed or who died in the course of deportations are difficult to attain (see Gaunt, 300–303), but in any case for all the Syriac Churches in eastern Turkey, the losses of their people formerly living in that region were well over 50%, and in some cases as much as 90%.
所有讲叙利亚语的社群所遭受的损失都是巨大的。二十个叙利亚正教 (Syr. Orth.) 教区中有八个被完全或大部分覆灭，而且以前曾有大量叙利亚语社群存在的整个地区，特别是布舍里耶 (Bsheriyyeh)（叙利亚正教 (Syr. Orth.) 和加勒底教会 (Chaldean)）和哈卡里 (Hakkari)（东方教会 (Ch. of E.)），其基督徒人口完全消失。关于那些被杀害或在驱逐过程中死亡的人的可靠数字难以获得 (see Gaunt, 300–303)，但无论如何，对于土耳其东部的所有叙利亚语教会而言，该地区原有人口的损失远远超过 50%，在某些情况下高达 90%。
Those who escaped the massacres fled south to Syria, Palestine, or Iraq, and in the case of the Assyrians, also Iran or north towards the Caucasus. Although the emigration of Middle Eastern Christians to the Americas had begun in the 19th cent., especially after the massacres of 1895/6, it was Sayfo that gave a huge impetus to the creation of a massive diaspora that today accounts for a large proportion of all Syriac Christians.
那些逃脱大屠杀者向南逃往叙利亚 (Syria)、巴勒斯坦 (Palestine) 或伊拉克 (Iraq)；就亚述人 (Assyrians) 而言，亦逃往伊朗 (Iran) 或向北前往高加索 (Caucasus)。尽管中东基督徒 (Middle Eastern Christians) 向美洲 (Americas) 的移民始于 19 世纪 (19th cent.)，特别是在 1895/6 年大屠杀 (massacres of 1895/6) 之后，但正是赛福 (Sayfo) 极大地推动了大规模流散社群的形成，如今该社群占所有叙利亚基督徒 (Syriac Christians) 的很大比例。
References
A. al-Khoury, Ṣulpoto qašyoto d-ʿal suryoye (1998).
[I. Armalah], al-Quṣārā fī nakabāt al-naṣārā (1919).
J. Beit-Sawoce, Sayfo b-Tur ʿAbdin 1914–1915 (2006).
Brock and Taylor, Hidden Pearl, vol. 3, 66–9.
S. de Courtois, The forgotten genocide. Eastern Christians, the last Aramaeans (2004). (translation from French ed. 2002).
D. Gaunt, Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I (2006). (with further references)
S. Henno, Die Verfolgung und Vernichtung der Syro-Aramäer im Tur ʿAbdin 1915 (2005). (translation from Syriac ed. 1987; Swedish tr., 1998).
T. Hofmann (ed.), Verfolgung, Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Christen im Osmanischen Reich 1912–1922 (2004).
P. V. M., ‘Documents sur les événements de Mardine 1915–1920’, Studia Orientalia Christiana, Collectanea 29/30 (1996/7), 5–220; 35/36 (2002/3), 33–87.
J. Rhétoré and J. Alichoran, Les chrétiens aux bêtes. Souvenirs de la guerre sainte proclamée par les Turcs contre les chrétiens en 1915 (2005).
ʿA. N. Qarabashi, Vergossenes Blut (2002). (translation from Syriac ed. 1997).
Y. Shahbaz, The Rage of Islam. An account of the massacres of Christians by the Turks in Persia (2006).
G. Yonan, Ein Vergessener Holocaust. Die Vernichtung der christlichen Assyrer in der Türkei (1989).
Citation
Sebastian P. Brock. 2011. “Sayfo.” In Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage. Beth Mardutho. https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Sayfo.