We cordially invite you to a two-day program titled Remembering Sayfo: History, Identity, and Survival, taking place on 18–19 July 2025 at Akebi, Berlin.
Marking the 110th year of the Assyrian Genocide, this event brings together scholars, artists, and activists to engage with the long-term repercussions of genocidal violence on Assyrian identity and memory. The program features academic lectures, documentary film screenings, and curated conversations that foreground oral histories, feminist critique, and the interplay between diaspora and homeland.
Special attention will be given to questions of collective memory, minority agency, and the potential for justice-oriented historical engagement.
Venue: Akebi https://akebi.de/de/
Date: 18 -19 July 2025
Program
Friday 18.7.25 | 7:00- 10 PM
1. Opening Words & Collective Introduction | 7:00 – 7:40 PM
Opening Words | 110 Years Genocide Commemoration
Prof. Dr. Shabo Talay (to be confirmed)
Assyrian Movement for Collective Liberation | Introduction
Monette
2. Short Documentary | 7:40– 7:45 PM
An Assyrian Exodus (2008) | Archival Photodocumentary (5:05)
by Rosie Malek-Yonan, Emil Brikha Production
Dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Assyrian Genocide and those forced to walk
the “Death Marches.” The survivors who safely made the unthinkable journey to distant
shores around the globe, were able to secure the identity of future generations of
Assyrians now living in diaspora.
https://www.atour.com/news/assyria/20120414a.html
3. Lecture | 7:45 – 8:30 PM
“Ancestral Knowledge and Oral Histories of Genocide: A -Syriac Feminist Perspective”
Isla Hanna Khoury
Isla Hanna Karademir-Khoury is an MA researcher focusing on ethno-religious
communities in the Middle East, with a particular emphasis on Syriac Christians. Her
research explores how these communities navigate contemporary shifting power dynamics,
with attention to questions of minority agency, historical continuity, and the possibilities of
multi-ethnic citizenship beyond the framework of the modern nation-state.
Break | 8:30 – 9:00 PM
4. Music & Poetry | 9:00 – 10:00 PM
Poetry and Texts with Music by Bakr Khleifi
Dr. Yousef Khouriye, Lecturer for Syriac-Aramaic, Syriac-Aramaic Literary History, and
Arabic at the Department of Semitic and Arabic Studies at Freie Universität Berlin
Isla Hanna Khoury
Saturday 19.7.25 | 6-10PM
1. Second Opening | 6:00 – 6:15 PM
Dr. Nicholas Al-Jeloo, Syriac Studies, University of Sydney (to be confirmed)
Topic: Auto-biographical reflections on activism, research, and returning to the homeland
(requested, not confirmed due to travel circumstances)
2. Film Screening | 6: 15 – 6:50 PM
The Untold Holocaust (1991) | Documentary (34:43)
by John Homeh, Assyrian Australian Academic Society
Religious persecution and ethnic genocide of Assyrians in the Middle East,
featuring survivor interviews from South-Eastern Asia Minor and Northern
Mesopotamia (1915–1922)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpD_cvj2Vi4
Break | 6:50 – 7:00 PM
3. Çay Round Table | 7:00 – 8:00 PM (online)
Shifting Landscapes: Trans-National Solidarity between Homeland and Diaspora
With Alfreda Eilo & Yamane Mousli
TOPICS:
- Clash of Identities: Assimilation yet estrangement?
- Transformative Justice: Mobilization and Organization of Assyrian Civil Society in terms of justice?
- Agency: Assyrians caught in the frontiers of shifting power dynamics.
Alfreda Eilo (formerly publishing under the name Dara Foi’Elle) is an Assyrian human rights
advocate with an LLM in International Criminal Justice currently based in Beirut. She has
worked for over a decade on human rights issues relating to Syrian detainees and women’s
rights, minority rights in the SWANA region, refugee rights and migrant domestic workers
trapped under the Kafala system in Lebanon. Her work includes publications on Assyrian
linguistic rights, minority rights in the context of the Arab spring and the struggles of
indigenous people between the diaspora and the homelands.
Yamane Mousli is a Syrian-Assyrian human rights activist based in Paris. He works as a
consultant with a focus on legal advocacy, supporting survivors, and international justice.
His work involves addressing crimes committed by states and non-state actors, as well as
issues of corporate responsibility, mainly in the context of Syria, Iraq, and Iran. Paris based
international lawyer
Break | 8:00 – 8:15
4. Short Film | 8:15 – 8:45
Silence after the Storm (2024) | Documentary (25:38)
By Sargon Saadi, YOP Production
In midst of an existential threat to the indigenous Assyrians by ISIS, the filmmaker
travels back to his ancestral homeland, Syria, on a journey of nostalgia and
discovery.
Cast: Nicholas Al-Jeloo, Savina Dawood, Fadi Khiyo Director: Sargon Saadi Writer:
Sargon Saadi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=KtYtCb7Hueo
5. Reflection | 8:45 – open
Dr. Nicholas Al-Jeloo, Syriac Studies, University of Sydney
