Gercüş

History

According to the Life of Jacob of Ṣalaḥ, Kfar-Gawze (today called Gercüş) was founded by a wealthy Roman soldier named Gawson prior to Jacob's death in 421 AD. Gawson had been forced to leave Ṣalaḥ after it was discovered that his daughter had committed adultery with his servant Decius. The village is also mentioned in the Life of Theodotus of Amida (). In the Syriac Orthodox patriarchal register of dues of 1870, it was recorded that Kfar-Gawze had sixteen households, who paid twenty-nine dues, and did not have a church or priest. In 1914, Kfar-Gawze was inhabited by 150 Syriacs, according to the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation. It was located in the kaza of Midyat. It was populated by Syriac Orthodox Christians, Chaldean Catholics, and Muslims. Amidst the Sayfo, at the end of July 1915, despite initially having promised to help and protect the Syriacs, the local Kurdish agha Yusuf Hasan Shamdin took some men from Kfar-Gawze to a place called Zaghore, where they were robbed and killed, and their bodies were thrown into a river. The remaining Syriacs were made to do forced labour and many fled to Midyat. The Mhallami Şeyh Fethullah forced the release of the captive Syriac women and children. In 1960, the population was 2354. There were 90 Kurdish-speaking Christians in twelve families at Kfar-Gawze in 1966.