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The '''Chaldean genocide''' (also known as '''''Sayfo''''' or '''''Seyfo''''', {{lang-syr|ܩܛܠܐ ܕܥܡܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ}} or {{lang|syr|ܣܝܦܐ}}) refers to the mass slaughter of the [[Chaldean people|Chaldean]] population of the [[Ottoman Empire]] during the [[First World War]], in conjunction with the [[Armenian genocide|Armenian]] and [[Greek genocide]]s.<ref name="Travis2">Travis, Hannibal. ''Genocide in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire, Iraq, and Sudan''. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2010, 2007, pp. 237–77, 293–294.</ref><ref name="Anahit">Khosoreva, Anahit. "The Assyrian Chaldean Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and Adjacent Territories" in ''The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies''. Ed. [[Richard G. Hovannisian]]. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2007, pp. 267–274. ISBN 1-4128-0619-4.</ref>

Estimates on the overall death toll have varied. Providing detailed statistics of the various estimates of the Churches' population after the genocide, David Gaunt accepts the figure of 275,000 deaths as reported at the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] and ventures that the death toll would be around 300,000 because of uncounted Chaldean-inhabited areas, leading to the elimination of half of the Chaldean nation.<ref name="The Assyrian Chaldean Genocide of 1915">David Gaunt, [http://www.seyfocenter.com/index.php?sid=2&aID=36 "The Assyrian Chaldean Genocide of 1915"], ''Assyrian Chaldean Genocide Research Center'', 2009</ref>

[[File:Assyrian Chaldean population 1914.svg|thumb|left|Percentage of Chaldean populations in Several Vilayets and Sanjaks in the Ottoman Empire and Urmia in Persia prior to WW1 as presented by the Chaldean delegation to the 1919 peace conference.

According to historian David Gaunt, a primary characteristic was the total targeting of the Chaldean population, including farming villages as well as rebelling mountain tribes. The killing in rural regions was more extensive, while some survived the massacres in cities; Gaunt states that this indicates that a primary aim was the confiscation of land. The property, villages and animals of the villagers were destroyed totally to prevent their return. Gaunt states that organized troops were tasked with killing and expelling Chaldeans in [[Hakkari]] and Ottoman-controlled parts of Persia, as well as resisting villages.<ref>Gaunt, David. "The Ottoman Treatment of AssyriansChaldeans" in {{cite book|editor1-last=Grigor Suny|editor1-first=Ronald|editor2-last=Muge Gogek|editor2-first=Fatma|editor3-last=Naimark|editor3-first=Norman M.|title=A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire|date=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199781041|page=245|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q_mHshUAeZ8C&pg=PA245&dq=assyrianChaldean+massacres+mardin&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pmLuVN-rH8uBywO8tYCAAQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=assyrianChaldean%20massacres%20mardin&f=false|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref> There were also deportations of Chaldeans.<ref name=akcamsyr>{{cite book|last1=Akçam|first1=Taner|title=The Young Turks' Crime against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire|date=2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400841844|pages=xx-xxi|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V_C3AKGSBqkC&pg=PA55&dq=syriac+genocide&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z2_uVISmIorCywO3loGwDQ&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=snippet&q=Syriac&f=false|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref>

The earliest programs of extermination took place in the southern province of Diyarbekir, under the leadership of [[Reşit Bey|Reshid Bey]].<ref name="Anahit"/><ref>See David Gaunt, "Death's End, 1915: The General Massacres of Christians in Diarbekir" in ''Armenian Tigranakert/Diarbekir and Edessa/Urfa''. Ed. Richard G. Hovannisian. UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series: Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces, 6. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2006, pp. 309–359.</ref> A German Vice-Consul reported in July 1915 that Chaldeans were being massacred in [[Diyarbekir Vilayet]]. A German Consul reported in September 1915 that the adult Christians of [[Diyarbakır]], [[Harput]], [[Mardin]], and [[Viranşehir]] had been targeted, and also mentioned an Ottoman reign of terror in [[Şanlıurfa|Urhoy]].<ref name="Travis2"/> According to the reports, the Chaldean population of [[Faysh Khabur]] was completely killed, along with all the male Chaldeans of Mardin and Siirt. The widows and orphans of these men were reportedly left to flee to [[Mosul]] on foot, and died on their way due to starvation and harsh conditions. These atrocities prompted the Chaldean patriarch to appeal to the Russian representative in the Caucasus, claiming that the Turkish leaders were intent on killing all Chaldeans.<ref>Travis, Hannibal. "The Assyrian Chaldean Genocide: A Tale of Oblivion and Denial" in {{cite book|last1=Lemarchand|first1=Rene|title=Forgotten Genocides: Oblivion, Denial, and Memory|date=2011|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9780812204384|page=127|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4CEPu00Z-i8C&pg=PA127&dq=assyrianChaldean+massacres+mardin&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8F7uVJTcOOSxygPMwIKACg&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=assyrianchaldean%20massacres%20mardin&f=false|accessdate=25 February 2015}}</ref> The German ambassador reported that the Ottoman Empire was being "clear[ed]" of its indigenous Christians by "eliminat[ion]".<ref name="Travis2"/> In July 1915, he confirmed that the Chaldeans of Midyat, Nisibis, and Jazirah were also slain.<ref name="Travis2"/>

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&nbsp;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>

In late 1915, [[Jevdet Bey]], Military Governor of [[Van Vilayet]], upon entering [[Siirt]] (or Seert) with 8,000 soldiers whom he himself called "The Butchers' Battalion" ({{lang-tr|Kasap Taburu}}),<ref name="Anahit"/> ordered the massacre of almost 20,000 Chaldean [[civilian]]s in at least 30 villages. The following is a list<ref name="aina.org">[http://www.aina.org/aol/martyr.htm Genocides Against the Assyrian Nation]. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref> documenting the villages that were attacked by Cevdet's soldiers and the estimated number of Chaldean deaths:

The town of Sa'irt/Seert (modern-day Siirt), was populated by Chaldeans and Armenians. Seert was the seat of a Chaldean Archbishop [[Addai Scher]] who was murdered by the Kurds.<ref>[[Ara Sarafian]]. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=H0mfmdThGLAC&pg=PA120]''</ref> The eyewitness Hyacinthe Simon wrote that 4,000 Christians died in Seert.<ref name="Gaunt, David 2006, p. 436">Gaunt, David. ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I''. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2006, p. 436.</ref><ref>[[Yves Ternon|Ternon, Yves]]. ''[http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.imprescriptible.fr/rhac/tome4/l1-p4-ch4&ei=kbBbS4TkB9GOtgfn-tihAg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBQQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhyacinthe%2Bsimon%2Bsite:fr%26hl%3Den Mardin 1915]''. Paris: Center for Armenian History, 2000. Accessed 2010-02-02.</ref> According to Joseph Naayem, who was an Chaldean priest, the number of Chaldeans killed in the town of Seert/Siirt alone exceeded 8000. Eyewitness accounts state that the Chaldean men were rounded up by criminal gangs and forced to a march to the valley of Zeryabe, where they were killed. This was followed by the gangs' attack on women. The Ottoman officer Raphael de Nogales described a "slope [...] crowned by thousands of half-nude and still bleeding corpses, lying in heaps". He then wrote that when he entered Siirt, he saw that the police and the locals were sacking Christian homes, and learned that the governors of the town directed the massacre, which had been arranged beforehand.<ref name=intro>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Adam|title=Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction|date=2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136937965|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1xDGBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=genocide+a+comprehensive+introduction&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Nx_xVNGNBsjjywOHrILoDQ&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=AssyrianChaldean&f=false|accessdate=28 February 2015}}</ref>

According to "the Blue Book" of the American government, widespread ethnic cleansing and massacres occurred against the Chaldeans as well as Armenians in the [[Hakkari]] area, with the orders for the deportations of Armenians being misinterpreted as orders against all Christians by the local Kurds. It was reported that an attack was launched on Chaldean dwellings in summer 1915, and that Chaldeans were attempted to be "starved out". According to Paul Shimmon and [[Arnold J. Toynbee]], an Chaldean village called "Goele", with the population of 300, was attacked and its men were killed, while the women and children were forced into slavery and the houses were pillaged. In another village with fifty houses, the Kurds reportedly killed the entire civilian population. "The Blue Book" states that in one district of Hakkari, only 17 Christian survivors were left from 41 villages.<ref name=Travis/> In April 1915, after a number of failed Kurdish attempts, Ottoman Troops invaded [[Gawar]], a region of Hakkari, and massacred the entire population.<ref>"[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C07EEDF143BE633A2575BC1A96F9C946796D6CF The Plight of AssyriaChaldeans]." ''New York Times'', 18 September 1916. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref> Prior to this, in October 1914, 71 Chaldean men of Gawar were arrested and taken to the local government center in [[Başkale]] and killed.<ref name=bryce>{{cite web |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/brycereport_armenia.htm |title=British Government Report on the Armenian Massacres of April–December 1915 |author=Bryce, James Lord |accessdate=17 September 2013}}</ref> There were later reports of the mass killing of hundreds of Chaldeans in the same area, and women being forced into sexual slavery.<ref name=Travis/>

Scholars have summarized events as follows: specific massacres included 25,000 Chaldeans in Midyat, 21,000 in Jezira-ibn-Omar, 7,000 in Nisibis, 7,000 in Urfa, 7,000 in the Qudshanis region, 6,000 in Mardin, 5,000 in Diyarbekir, 4,000 in Adana, 4,000 in Brahimie, and 3,500 in Harput.<ref name="Anahit"/><ref name="Travis">Travis, Hannibal. "[http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/yv544142p5rnx055/?p=91e7dbe895ec4cbf9eef0ad842fef76a&pi=6 'Native Christians Massacred': The Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians Chaldeans During World War I]." ''Genocide Studies and Prevention'', Vol. 1, No. 3, December 2006, pp. 327–371. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref><ref>Gaunt. ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors'', pp. 76–77, 164, 181–96, 226–30, 264–67.</ref><ref>{{de icon}} Gorgis, Amill "Der Völkermord an den Syro-Aramäern," in ''Verfolgung, Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Christen im Osmanischen Reich 20''. Ed. Tessa Hoffman. London and Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2004.</ref> In its December 4, 1922, memorandum, the Assyro-Chaldean National Council stated that the total death toll was unknown. It estimated that about 275,000 "Assyro-Chaldeans" died between 1914 and 1918.<ref name="Yacoub">{{fr icon}} Yacoub, Joseph. ''La question assyro-chaldéenne, les Puissances européennes et la SDN (1908–1938)'', 4 vol., thèse Lyon, 1985, p. 156.</ref> The population of the Chaldeans of the Ottoman Empire and Persia was about 600,000 before the genocide, and was reduced by 275,000, with very few survivors in 1930s Turkey or Iran.<ref name="Travis2"/><ref>Gaunt, ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors'', pp. 21–28, 300–3, 406, 435.</ref> Contemporary newspapers reported death tolls of 200,000 to 250,000.<ref name=Travis/> Representatives from the [[Anglican Church]] in the region claimed that about half of the Chaldean population had perished.<ref name=intro/>

The memorandum of the Chaldean Archbishopric of Syria ([[Damascus]]-[[Homs]]) to the 1920 peace conference, places the death toll at 90,313 people, with 345 villages burned and 156 churches destroyed. The archbishop demanded 250,000 pounds sterling of reparations to compensate for the destruction of the churches. The figures of the archbishopric places the death toll in Harput at 3,500, in [[Midyat]] at 25,830, in Diyarbekir and surroundings at 5,679, in Jezireh at 7,510, in [[Nusaybin]] at 7,000, in Mardin at 5,815, in [[Bitlis]] at 850, in [[Urfa]] at 340, and tens of thousands at other areas. The archbishopric states that the Ottoman government undertook massacres of Chaldean civilians with "no revolutionary tendencies" in the provinces of Diyarbekir, Urfa, Van, Harput and Bitlis.<ref>{{cite book|last1=de Courtois|first1=Sébastien|title=The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, the Last Arameans|publisher=Gorgias Press|isbn=9781593330774|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=whDcogCNZs4C&pg=PA237&dq=assyrianchaldean+massacre+urfa&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_HHuVOCQF4KaygOS9oHwBA&ved=0CFAQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=assyrianchaldean%20massacre%20urfa&f=false|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref>

* "Turks Kill Christians in Assyria", ''[[The Muscatine Journal]]'' (Muscatine, Iowa), 1915

{{quotation|There was absolutely no human power to protect these unhappy people from the savage onslaught of the invading hostile forces. It was an awful situation. At midnight the terrible exodus began; a concourse of 25,000 men, women, and children, Chaldeans and Armenians, leaving cattle in the stables, all their household hoods and all the supply of food for winter, hurried, panic-stricken, on a long and painful journey to the Russian border, enduring the intense privations of a foot journey in the snow and mud, without any kind of preparation. ... It was a dreadful sight, ... many of the old people and children died along the way.<ref>Yohannan, Abraham. ''The Death of a Nation: Or, The Ever Persecuted Nestorians Or Assyrian Christians''. London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1916, pp. 119–120. ISBN 0-524-06235-8.</ref>}}

On 11 March 2010, the Genocide of the [[Chaldean people|Chaldeans]] was officially recognized by the [[Riksdag]] of [[Sweden]], alongside that of the [[Armenians]] and [[Pontic Greeks]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://riksdagen.se/templates/R_PageExtended____21484.aspx|title=Motion 2008/09:U332 Genocide of Armenians, Chaldeans/Syriacs and Pontiac Greeks in 1915|date=11 March 2010|publisher=The [[Riksdag]]|accessdate=12 March 2010|location=[[Stockholm]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thelocal.se/25468/20100311/|title=Sweden to recognize Armenian genocide|date=11 March 2010|work=[[The Local]]|accessdate=12 March 2010|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100313002959/http://www.thelocal.se/25468/20100311/|archivedate=13 March 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|deadurl=no}}</ref> In March 2015, [[Armenia]] became the second country to recognize the Chaldean genocide in a declaration from the [[National Assembly of Armenia|National Assembly]] which concurrently recognized the Greek genocide.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://armenpress.am/eng/news/798768/adoption-of-declaration-to-certify-that-armenia-recognizes-greek-and-assyrianchaldean-genocide-eduard-sharmazanov.html|publisher=[[Armenpress]]|title=Adoption of declaration to certify Armenia recognizes Greek and Chaldean genocides: Eduard Sharmanazov|date=23 March 2015}}</ref> The Chaldean genocide is also recognized by the [[New South Wales]] state parliament in [[Australia]]

This is in contrast to the [[Armenian Genocide]], which has also been [[Recognition of the Armenian Genocide|recognized]] by other countries and international organizations. Chaldean historians attribute the limited recognition to the smaller number of Chaldean survivors, whose Chaldean leaders were killed in 1918.<ref name="Travis"/> For example, there are one million Armenians living in the United States alone, but even they were unable to persuade Congress to pass a [[United States resolution on Armenian genocide]]. In addition, the widespread massacres of all [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Christians]] in [[Asia Minor]] is sometimes referred to by Armenian authors as an "[[Armenian Genocide]]". On April 24, 2001, Governor of the [[United States|US]] state of [[New York]], [[George Pataki]], proclaimed that "killings of civilians and food and water deprivation during forced marches across harsh, arid terrain proved successful for the perpetrators of genocide, who harbored a prejudice against ... Chaldean Christians."<ref>{{cite web|date=April 1, 2001|url=http://www.armenian-genocide.org/keyword_search.assyrianachaldean/Affirmation.196/current_category.40/affirmation_detail.html|title=New York State Governor Proclamation|accessdate=2006-06-16}}</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>

* {{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YAvgAAAACAAJ|title=The Assyrians Chaldeans of Turkey: Victims of Major Power Policy|last=Ramadan Sonyel|first=Salahi|year=2001|publisher=Turkish Historical Society Printing House|isbn=975-16-1296-9}}* {{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LSzuzsRh37gC&printsec=frontcover|title=The Tragedy of the AssyriansChaldeans|last=Stafford|first=Ronald Sempill|year=2006|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|isbn=1-59333-413-3}}

* {{cite journal|url=http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/yv544142p5rnx055/?p=91e7dbe895ec4cbf9eef0ad842fef76a&pi=6|title='Native Christians Massacred': The Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians Chaldeans During World War I|last=Travis|first=Hannibal|journal=Genocide Studies and Prevention|date=December 2006|volume=1|issue=3|doi=10.3138/YV54-4142-P5RN-X055}}

* {{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LnpIkgiKUhYC&printsec=frontcover|title=The Assyrians Nestorians and Their Neighbours|last=Wigram|first=W. A.|year=2002|publisher=Gorgias Press LLC|isbn=1-931956-11-1}}