Ömerli

History

Maʿsarteh (today called Ömerli) is identified as the town of Madaranzu in Bit-Zamani, which was conquered by Ashurnasirpal II in 879 BC. It is later mentioned by Theophylact Simocatta and George of Cyprus as a kastron called Matzaron (; ). It was likely captured by a Sasanian army in 573 at the time of the siege of Dara, during the Roman–Sasanian War of 572–591, but was retaken and the fort was restored by the Roman commanders Theodore and Andrew in 587. According to the Notitia Dignitatum, it was commanded by the Dux Mesopotamia. Maʿsarteh was part of the Syriac Orthodox diocese of the Monastery of Mar Abai until the death of its last bishop Ishaq (Isaac) Saliba in 1730, upon which the diocese was subsumed into the diocese of Mardin. In the Syriac Orthodox patriarchal register of dues of 1870, it was recorded that the village had 24 households, who paid 52 dues, and did not have a priest. There was a church of Yūldaṯ Alohō. German orientalist Eduard Sachau visited the village in 1880. It was visited by Oswald Parry in 1892. It was inhabited by 300 Syriacs in 1914, according to the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation. They adhered to the Syriac Orthodox Church. There was a church of Mar Gewergis. The village was known for grape cultivation and wool weaving. The Syriac Orthodox Christians spoke Arabic. Amidst the Sayfo, on 12 June 1915, the village's owner Huseyin Bakkero murdered 80 Syriacs at his house after assuring them of their safety and threw their bodies into wells. Two men survived by hiding in a cave whilst one man fled to the Mor Hananyo Monastery and the women and children were hidden by some Kurdish women for a few days and then escorted to the Church of the Martyrs at Mardin. Afterwards, some Syriacs from…