Battle of Chamba

Background

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Perspective

The Assyrian patriarch Mar Benyamin Shimun declared war on the Ottomans after they executed his brother, they did this as a warning because they demanded that the Assyrians should stay neutral during the war.^[8]^[9] After this, the Assyrians took the opportunity to ally with the Russians after they promised an independent Assyrian Christian state.^[10]

This declaration of war would shortly lead to the Kurdish chieftains of Hakkari to form a coalition against the Assyrians during the Sayfo of 1915, in order to expel or get rid of the Assyrians of Hakkari by any means.^[11]^[12]^[13] The coalition contained multiple Kurdish tribal Chiefs such as the Emir of Upper Berwar, Reshid Bey,^[14] Simko Shikak,^[15]^[14] Said Agha,^[14] and Suto Agha.^[16]^[17]

Suto Agha was a fierce enemy to the mountain Assyrians, he previously sacked their villages, stole their flocks, and abducts their women while killing the male villagers.^[16] An example of these attacks was during the time of Sayfo in the early stages of the First World War, when the village of Oramar was controlled by Suto Agha of the Oramar tribe, during which he actively participated in the mass slaughter of Assyrian Christians in the region,^[18] and used Oramar as his headquarters.^[19] However, he spared the Assyrians in the village as they were responsible for the maintenance of the church of Mar Mamo, which was considered sacred by the Kurds also, and it was feared the snakes would return if the priests or the church were harmed.^[20]

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Battle

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Perspective

The conflict in Chamba began when Assyrian scouts, led by Deacon Dinkha, the son of Malik Ismail II, had noticed the movements of the Artushi Kurdish army of Simko Shikak, which had previously resided between Yellow Water and Kani Khale. On 13 June, a confrontation broke out when Dinkha’s 22 men engaged the Kurds near Suwareh camp but were forced to retreat after a two-hour battle.^[21]

The Assyrians regrouped at stronger defensive positions near Kamaka Beybuneh and Sheeva d’Gelleh, fighting off any further attacks and inflicting high casualties. That evening, a Kurdish soldier set fire to a house in order to create confusion, allowing the Kurds to enter the village, which led to Dinkha reporting the developments directly to Malik Ismail II.^[22]

In response to this, Malik Ismail mobilized his forces and sent out spies and messages to other Assyrian villages. On 14 June, fighting escalated across the region. Anticipating encirclement by the forces of Rashid Beg and Haidar Beg, Malik then ordered a retreat across the river to Beh Delyata. That night, Assyrian reinforcements had arrived, and about 100 fighters took up positions at the “Rock of Crucifixion.”^[23]

On 15 June, the Kurdish forces advanced, believing the Assyrian positions to be abandoned. When they entered the village of Chamba and began looting, the Assyrians ambushed them from hidden positions, leading to a fierce battle. Surrounded and disoriented, the defeated Kurdish fighters fled toward Kalitan, suffering fifteen dead and abandoning 40 rifles. The Assyrians lost seven men and had sixteen wounded, emerging victorious at the end.^[24]

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Aftermath

Despite the victories, many Assyrians fell victims to the ongoing genocide. Mar Benyamin Shimun however, led some surviving 50,000 Assyrians out of the mountains and into Russian controlled Qajar Iran.^[25] The Assyrians of Malik Ismail II would later depart from Urmia in 1916 and embark on an expedition in Hakkari to fight off these Ottoman and Kurdish forces that previously subjugated them the year prior.^[26]

Background

Battle

Aftermath

See also

References

Sources

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