The demographics of this area underwent a huge shift in the early part of the 20th century when Ottoman troops along with Kurdish detachments conducted ethnic cleansing of its Christian populations . Some Circassian , Kurdish and Chechens tribes cooperated with the Ottoman authorities in the massacres of Armenian and Assyrian Christians in Upper Mesopotamia , in southeastern Turkey , between 1914 and 1920 , with further attacks on unarmed fleeing civilians conducted by local Arab militias . Many Assyrians fled to northeastern Syria during the Simele Massacre in the early 1930s in Iraq and settled mainly in the Al-Hasakah Governorate governate in the Jazira Region . In 1936 , the French forces bombarded Amuda ( Tusha Amudi ) . On 13 August 1937 , in a revenge attack , about 500 Kurds from the Dakkuri , Milan , and Kiki tribes attacked the then predominantly Christian Amuda , and burned the town . The town was destroyed and the Christian population , about 300 families , fled to the towns of Qamishli and Hasakah . During the great war , Kurdish tribes attacked and sacked and villages in Albaq District immediately to the north of Hakkari mountains . According to lieutenant Ronald Sempill Stafford , a large numbers of Assyrians and Armenians were killed
Armenian
Armenian Genocide
History of Syria