Liege, Belgium -- On 4 October, an event will take place in Liège to commemorate the Sayfo Genocide against the Syriac (Aramean-Assyrian-Chaldean), Armenian and Pontic Greek peoples. The event will feature a documentary exhibition, an academic lecture, and a documentary based on testimonies from survivors and eyewitnesses from 1915.

Related: The Assyrian Genocide

The event is organized by the European Syriac Union (ESU) and will be held at Place des Franchises. It will feature a lecture by Syriac Orthodox priest and genocide scholar Dr. Fikri Gabriel, followed by a screening of the documentary Silenced Scream (Syriac: Zahqa dlo qolo). The event is the closing of the ESU Sayfo exhibition "Sayfo 1915: The Syriac People -- The Story of a Forgotten Genocide, which opened on 12 September, at the local Church of Sainte-Marie des Anges.

We spoke to former ESU Co-Chair Fehmi Vergili who explained that preparations for the project began 2 years ago. The aim was to create a professional exhibition that introduces the broader Belgian audience to the background of the Sayfo Genocide and to present aspects of the atrocities experienced by the Syriac people in 1915. Using documents, photographs, personal testimonies and academic research provide multiple means of transmitting this memory and preserving it as part of the history that should reach future generations.

Vergili said that preparations finally resulted in an exhibition with 18 panels and approximately 50 photographs, which have already been exhibited in 3 different municipalities in Brussels before the organizers received a request from the city of Liège to organize the exhibition there. He added that the event of 4 October comes as part of the continuation of this work, while expanding outreach to audiences beyond Syriac circles.

Survivors' Testimonies on Screen

Fr Fikri Gabriel, who did a doctoral thesis on the Sayfo based on Vatican archives and has published 2 books on the subject. Vergili said that the lecture by Fr Fikri Gabril will address the Sayfo period through archival documents and historical sources, providing a scientific framework for understanding the events that the region witnessed during that turbulent and bloody period.

The program also includes a screening of the documentary Silent Scream produced by Syriac satellite station Suroyo TV, which features interviews and testimonies from people who lived through the Sayfo. The testimonies of individuals who experienced those events as children and witnessed them directly, Vergili said, serve as a key resource for understanding the humanitarian and historical aspects of the tragedy.

Showing the documentary alongside documents and photographs aims to combine written historical sources with living testimonies, allowing visitors to learn more about the events through more than one type of evidence and historical memory.

The closing event of 4 October is open to all interested in learning more about Sayfo. The goal is to give visitors the opportunity to view the exhibition, listen to the lecture and learn about the testimonies included in the documentary, thereby helping present the cause to a wider audience within Belgian society.