SYRIA: Sayfo Genocide Memorial in Beth Zalin vandalized

BETH ZALIN (QAMISHLI) – The Sayfo Genocide Memorial in Beth Zalin was destroyed this morning by unknown persons, the Syriac Military Council (MFS) reports on its official Twitter page. Our reporters in Beth Zalin report that members of the Syriac internal security forces, Sutoro, are now investigating the crime scene.

The erection of a Sayfo Genocide Memorial in Beth Zalin became possible after the founding of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria. Through the efforts of Syriac political parties, primarily the Syriac Union Party, civil and church organizations it was possible to erect the memorial in June 2016. Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II consecrated the memorial.

The Syriac Orthodox Church and the Syriac Catholic Church included an official Sayfo Remembrance Day in their church calendars in 2015. This came 100 years after the genocide and was assumed to be partly possible due to the fact that diplomatic relations between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ba’ath party leader and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad were at an all-time low at that time.

The two Syriac Orthodox and Syriac Catholic churches commemorate the martyrs of the Sayfo Genocide annually on June 15 in their church calendars.

Erected in June 2016 by the #Syriac Orthodox Church Patriarch @MorAphremII with local community, #Sayfo1915 Syriac genocide monument in Zalin/Qamishli city has been vandalized this morning.

We condemn this unacceptable attack against our memory, history and remembrance. pic.twitter.com/0VM6yxnF89

— SyriacMilitaryMFS (@SyriacMFS) February 25, 2023