Battle of Seray Mountain

In the summer of 1915, the Assyrians of Hakkari successfully stopped the Ottoman army. The Ottomans, unable to break the Assyrians, then brought in heavy artillery and ammunition that, together with an overwhelming advantage in numbers and supplies, eventually overwhelmed the lightly armed and outnumbered Assyrians. Despite the extreme situation, they managed to bring all of their women and flocks and herds safely to Persia.^[4] Survivors of fighting age joined the Assyrians of northwest Persia and established an Assyrian army with Russian assistance.^[5]

During the first summer of the arrival of the Assyrian refugees in Persia, the Assyrians of Lower Tyari under the leadership of Malik Khoshaba were settled around the mountains of Seray where they were besieged by Turkish forces under the command of Halil Kut.^[1] The Ottoman army was composed of less than 6,000 men thus outnumbering the Assyrian army led by Agha Petros which numbered less than 1,200 troops. Upon their arrival, the Assyrians surprised them, the Turks had come in range of the Assyrians’ machine guns which were hidden behind the rocks of sloping hills and in the bushes.^[6] During the night, Malik Khiyo of Ashitha (17 years old at the time) observed two groups crossing his front, positioned himself in an artillery observation post and directed a moonlight strike to hold off the enemy. Two of Khoshaba's patrols were successful in capturing Turkish soldiers to gather intel about their positions. Khoshaba was also successful in preventing the enemy's field guns from damaging his post at dawn, while also bringing in twenty-four Turkish prisoners and personally killing four Turkish soldiers. By 7:30am the enemy was beaten by the men of Khoshaba and Khiyo of Ashitha.^[1] Along with the wounded, there were only 24 remaining Turkish officers who were now prisoners.^[6]