Midyat

History

Assyrian tablets from 9th century BC refer to Midyat as Matiate. During a campaign in 879 BC, the Assyrian king Assurnasirpal II and his army marched through the city, staying for two nights. His successor, the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III did the same in 845 BC. The tablets also described how Assurnasirpal II erected a monument in the city, which remains to be found. The archaeological site Matiate is located below the town and is assumed to have been in use for about 1,900 years and at its peak been inhabited by up to 70,000 people. The leading Assyrian Syriac Orthodox family, the Safars, were highly placed in the Deksuri confederation, while other local Assyrians were aligned with the opposing, anti-government Heverkan confederation. In mid-1915, Assyrian Christians in Midyat considered resistance after hearing about massacres elsewhere, but the local Syriac Orthodox community initially refused to support this. Hanne Safar Pasha was persuaded to break with other Christian leaders who wanted to organize an uprising in Midyat. Shortly thereafter, Safar was killed after all male members of the pacifist Protestant Hermez family. In late June, kaymakam Nuri Bey disappeared, likely executed by Mehmed Reshid after refusing to massacre local Christian Assyrians. On 21 June, 100 Christian men (mostly Armenians and Assyrian Protestants) were arrested, tortured for confessions implicating others, and executed outside the city; this panicked the Assyrian population. Local people refused to hand over their arms, attacked government offices, and cut telegraph lines; local Arab and Kurdish tribes were recruited by the Ottoman government to attack the Christians. The town was pacified in early August after weeks of bloody urban warfare which killed hundreds of Christians…