Sarıköy, İdil

In the Syriac Orthodox patriarchal register of dues of 1870, it was recorded that Sārī (today called Sarıköy) had 47 households, who paid 136 dues, and was served by the Church of Morī Malkī and one priest.^[10] In 1914, it was inhabited by 300 Syriacs, according to the list presented to the Paris Peace Conference by the Assyro-Chaldean delegation.^[11] It was administered as part of the kaza (district) of Midyat.^[11] The Syriacs adhered to the Syriac Orthodox Church.^[12] The Syriacs were divided into fourteen clans and were historically under the patronage of the Kurdish Salihan tribe.^[2] Amidst the Sayfo, the Syriacs of Sārī took refuge at Basibrin.^[13]

The village had a population of 168 in 1960.^[14] There were 180 Turoyo-speaking Christians in 24 families at Sārī in 1966.^[14] There were 180 speakers of Turoyo in the village in 1984.^[15] In the late 20th century, Syriacs from Sārī emigrated to the Netherlands, Germany, and France.^[16] The last Syriac villagers left the village in 1994.^[17] Over 30 Syriac Orthodox families previously inhabited the village.^[17] It was subsequently occupied by village guards and their families with the agreement of the military.^[17] By 2004, about 30 Kurdish families inhabited the village.^[17] The village guards denied the Syriacs access to their homes and refused to leave and thus, in May 2004, Osman Güneş, the governor (Vali) of Şırnak, ordered them to leave the village.^[17] In 2007, the Turkish army was ordered to evict the Kurds who had illegally settled at Sārī.^[16] Eventually, the village guards left after having received approximately 70,000 Euros from the villagers in compensation.^[18] In the winter, the village is inhabited by only the Christian mukhtar.^[16]