Changes
assyrian clean up, replaced: Assyrian → Chaldean
==Terminology==
The Chaldean genocide is sometimes also referred to as ''Sayfo'' or ''Seyfo'' in English language sources, based on the modern Chaldean (Mesopotamian neo-Aramaic) designation ''Saypā'' ({{lang|arc|ܣܝܦܐ}}), "[[saif|sword]]", pronounced as ''Seyfo'', and as ''Sayfo'' in the [[Western Neo-Aramaic|Western dialect]] (the term abbreviates ''shato d'sayfo'' "year of the sword"). The [[Neo-Aramaic|Chaldean]] name ''{{transl|arc|Qeṭlā ḏ-‘Amā Āṯûrāyā}}'' ({{lang|arc|ܩܛܠܐ ܕܥܡܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ}}), which literally means "killing of the Chaldean people", is used by some groups to describe these events. The word ''Qṭolamo'' ({{lang|arc|ܩܛܠܥܡܐ}}) which means ''Genocide'' is also used in Chaldean diaspora media. The term used in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] media is ''Süryani Soykırımı''.
==Background==
According to the Syrian Patriarchate, the Turkish government ordered an attack on the Christian villages near Mardin, which were mostly inhabited by Chaldeans. The soldiers went beyond attacking property and killed civilians, for instance, the Chaldeans of [[Kızıltepe|Kızıltepe/Tell Armen]] were gathered in a church and burned. In Diyarbekir, women and children were deported, but only a very small number reached their destinations as women were killed, raped or sold.<ref>de Courtois, 248.</ref>
Individual accounts of the massacres include several villages. In the village of Cherang near Diyarbekir, 114 men were killed and the women and children were put to forced agricultural labor and given the choice to convert or die. The massacre was committed by an Al-Khamsin death squad, which were recruited by the government and led by officials, while composed of local urban Muslims.<ref>Gaunt, David. "Relations Between Kurds and Syriacs and Assyrians" in {{cite book|editor1-last=Jongerden|editor1-first=Joost|editor2-last=Verheij|editor2-first=Jelle|title=Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915|publisher=BRILL|page=263|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=X_LmnA75Dt8C&pg=PA263&lpg=PA263&dq=al+khamsin+death+squad&source=bl&ots=wGBdpUp0AV&sig=TVNnmtgxhIb5wX3PmasatG74HYM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=R3PyVPTKKYGCPZWmgbgD&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=al%20khamsin%20death%20squad&f=false|accessdate=1 March 2015}}</ref> In the village of Hanewiye, about 400 Chaldeans are believed to have been murdered. In Hassana, a village near [[Cizre|Jezire]], the 300 inhabitants were massacred, with some managing to survive and flee. The inhabitants of the village of Kavel-Karre were attacked by Kurdish tribes on 19 June 1915 and killed; their bodies were then thrown into the [[Tigris River]]. In Kafarbe, 2 km from the [[Mor Gabriel Monastery]], 200 Chaldeans were attacked by a clan of Kurds and murdered in 1917. However, there were also cases when those in power chose to protect the Chaldeans, as Rachid Osman, the agha of [[Şırnak]] protected the 300–500 inhabitants of Harbol.<ref>Gaunt, ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I'', [http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=4mug9LrpLKcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Massacres,+resistance,+protectors&hl=en&ei=ECZLTcCpFML48AahyaTJDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Deyr-Zor&f=false p. 216-235].</ref>
Figures by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate presented to the peace conference after the war state that 77,963 Chaldeans were killed in 278 villages of the Diyarbekir province.<ref>de Courtois, 196.</ref> Jean Naayem writes that about 50 villages close to [[Midyat]] were ruined and their Chaldean inhabitants slaughtered, but he does not name any of them nor give any casualty figures. However, the figure agrees with the data of the patriarchate.<ref>de Courtois, 199.</ref>
There have been recent reports indicating that [[Armenia]] is ready to create a monument dedicated to the Chaldean genocide, placed in the capital next to the Armenian genocide monument.<ref>[http://www.zindamagazine.com/html/archives/2007/03.04.07/pix/AssyrianGenocideMonument.pdf Call for Architectural Sketches for Assyrian Genocide Monument in Yerevan, Armenia]. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref>
A monument to the victims of the Chaldean genocide has been built in [[Fairfield, New South Wales|Fairfield]] in [[Australia]], a suburb of [[Sydney]] where one in ten of the population is of Chaldean descent. The statue is designed as a hand of a martyr draped in an Chaldean flag and 4.5 meters tall. It was designed by Lewis Batros. The memorial is placed in a reserve to be named the Garden of Nineveh. The memorial statue and the name for the reserve were proposed in August 2009 by the Assyrian Chaldean Universal Alliance. After consultation with the community, Fairfield Council received more than 100 submissions for the memorial, including some from overseas, and two petitions. The proposal has been condemned by the [[Australian]] [[Turkish people|Turkish]] community. Turkey's consul general to Sydney expressed resentment about the monument, while acknowledging that tragedies had occurred to Chaldeans in the period as well as Turks.<ref>{{cite web|title=Turkey protests Assyrian 'genocide' monument|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_turkey-protests-assyrian-genocide-monument_195309.html|work=Today's Zaman|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref> The Chaldean genocide has been recognised by the NSW Local Government and South Australia state.<ref>Fairfield City Champion, 16 December 2009.</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|title=Assyrian Genocide Monument Unveiled in Australia|url=http://www.aina.org/releases/20100807163306.htm|agency=Assyrian International News Agency|date=8 July 2010|accessdate=31 August 2010|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100902172634/http://www.aina.org/releases/20100807163306.htm|archivedate=2 September 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|deadurl=no}}</ref> On the 30th of August 2010, twenty-three days after it was unveiled, the Australian monument was vandalised.<ref>{{cite web|title=Assyrian Genocide Monument in Australia Vandalized|url=http://www.aina.org/news/20100829191841.htm|agency=Assyrian International News Agency|date=August 30, 2010|accessdate=31 August 2010|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100831052445/http://www.aina.org/news/20100829191841.htm|archivedate=31 August 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|deadurl=no}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Assyrian memorial vandalised|url=http://www.fairfieldchampion.com.au/news/local/news/general/assyrian-memorial-vandalised/1926968.aspx|publisher=Fairfield Champion|date=30 August 2010|accessdate=31 August 2010|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100831211453/http://www.fairfieldchampion.com.au/news/local/news/general/assyrian-memorial-vandalised/1926968.aspx|archivedate=31 August 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|deadurl=yes}}</ref>
In 2013, an Chaldean Genocide monument opened in Belgium. The monument depicts a dove, representing peace.<ref>http://www.aina.org/news/2013089120251.htm</ref>
