SDF leader condemns destruction of Syriac genocide monument

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi on Saturday condemned the destruction of the Sayfo genocide monument in Qamishlo.

Destructing Sayfo Monument in Qamishlo is unacceptable. It is considered an attack on Syriac martyrs to create regional tensions. We condemn such hateful attacks and affirm the friendship and solidarity of the people of our region.

— Mazloum Abdî مظلوم عبدي (@MazloumAbdi) February 25, 2023

“Destroying the Sayfo Monument in Qamishlo is unacceptable. It is considered an attack on Syriac martyrs to create regional tensions. We condemn such hateful attacks and affirm the friendship and solidarity of the people of our region,” he said.

The Syriac Military Council said the monument was erected in June 2016 by the Syriac Orthodox Church Patriarch Mor Aphrem II with the local community to commemorate the deaths of tens of thousands of Christians by the Ottoman army starting in 1915 in what is remembered as the Sayfo (Sword) massacre.

“We condemn this unacceptable attack against our memorial, history and remembrance,” the Syriac Military Council said in a tweet.

Nadine Maenza, former Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said the monument “was vandalized this morning in a community where they live peacefully alongside Kurds and others.

“Locals speculate it was done to cause division. No doubt they will rise above that.”

In 2016, a suicide bomber killed three Christians during a gathereing at a hall to commemorate the Sayfo genocide.