The city dates back to the 1920s , when a sizable amount of Assyrians escaping the Assyrian genocide carried out by the Ottoman Empire fled from northwestern Iran and southern Turkey built a small town which they initially called Bet-Zalin . One of the most important funders of the early development projects in the city was Masoud Asfar , an Assyrian who survived the Massacres of Diyarbakır ( 1895 ) as a young child . Masoud , along with stepbrother , whose last name was Najjar , established the Asfar & Najjar Corporation , a company that produced wheat in Qamishli . Throughout the 1920s – 1940s , the Asfar & Najjar Corporation funded hospitals , Assyrian schools , and churches throughout the city . However , in the 1960s and until the late 1970s , when Assyrians constituted two-thirds of the city 's population , the government of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region actively confiscated Assyrian farms , lands , and areas , causing an Assyrian exodus . At this same time , many Kurds , fleeing persecution from Iraq and Turkey , moved into the region
Massacres of Diyarbakır ( 1895 )
Massacres of Diyarbakır (1895)
Qamishli