Cultural Event in Hasakah in Commemoration of the 104th Anniversary of “Seyfo” Genocide
Al-Hasakah – North-Press Agency
Jindar Abdulqadir
On the commemoration of the 104th anniversary of Assyrian-Syriac-Chaldean-Armenian genocide during World War I, Syriac Progressive Youth League held a cultural event on Sunday, at the headquarter of Syriac Cultural Association in Al-Nasira neighborhood in Al-Hasakah city, northeast Syria.
The event was attended by dozens of Syriac, Chaldean, and Assyrians as well as figures in the Democratic Autonomous Administration institutions, members of political parties and social figures, as well as many regional components of Kurds and Arabs.
The event began with a minute of silence in respect to those who lost their lives, followed by a speech by Syriac Progressive Youth League mentioning the genocide committed against Assyrian, Syriac, Chaldean, and others such as Armenians by the “Ottoman Sultanate”.
Furthermore, poems, mime and theater presentation about “Seyfo” massacres have taken place in the event.
“As Assyrian-Syriac people, every year we commemorate the massacres committed by the Ottomans against our Assyrian, Armenian and Pontic peoples in 1915 during World War I,” Rami Issa, a member of the Syriac Progressive Youth in Hasakah told “North-Press Agency”.
Issa condemned the massacres of “Seyfo”, which he described as “The greatest massacre against our people in the modern history. History repeats itself with the same structure and system through invasions, killings and assassinations carried out by the Turks against the people of the region, we are still demanding our right, and with the endeavor of the youth we will be recognized as well as the massacres committed by the Turks against us,” Issa said.
Issa concluded his talk with the words “We will not forget,” referring to the 1915 massacres committed by the “Ottomans” against them.
For her part, Hiba Asia Avdariyah, a member of Syriac Youth, told North-Press, “Today, we gathered, dozens of Syriacs along with other components, Kurds and Arabs to commemorate the massacres of “Seyfo” that have been committed against our people since 1915, we condemn the genocide committed against children, women, and men of Syriac, Assyrian, Chaldean and others on religious grounds, and we call upon all the peoples of the region and the world to recognize the harsh massacres that have overwhelmed our people,” Asia added.
The Assyrian and Syriac genocide “Seyfo”, is mentioned to be a series of military operations by conducted by The Ottoman forces with the help of armed groups targeted Assyrian, Syriac and Chaldean civilians during and after World War I.
Those operations were the reason for killing hundreds of thousands of them and displacing others from their homes in southeastern Turkey and northwestern Iran.