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Assyrians
Suraye / Suryoye / ?A?orayeFlagofAssyria.svg
Ethnic flag used by most Assyrians
Total population
2�5 million[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][excessive citations]
Regions with significant populations
Assyrian homeland: Numbers can vary
Syria 200,000�877,000 (pre-Syrian civil war)[11][12][13][14]
Iraq 150,000�202,000[15][16][17]
Turkey 25,000[18]
Iran 7,000�17,000[19]
Diaspora: Numbers can vary
United States 110,807�600,000[20][21][22][23][24]
Sweden 150,000[25]
Jordan 30,000�150,000[26][27]
Germany 70,000�100,000[28][29]
Lebanon Up to 80,000[30]
Australia 61,000 (2020 est.)[31]
France 16,000[32]
Russia 14,000[33]
Canada 10,810[34]
Netherlands Thousands[vague][35]
Greece 6,000[36]
Palestine
� East Jerusalem 5,000[37]
1,000[38]
Armenia 2,769�6,000[39][40]
Austria 2,500�5,000[41][42]
United Kingdom 3,000�4,000[43]
Georgia 3,299[44][45]
Ukraine 3,143[46]
New Zealand 1,497[47]
Denmark 700[48]
Kazakhstan 350[49]
Finland 300[50]
Languages
Aramaic
(Syriac,
Neo-Aramaic
(Assyrian, Chaldean, Turoyo))
Religion
Predominantly Syriac Christianity
Minority Protestantism
Minority Judaism
Minority Islam (conversion)
Related ethnic groups
Arabs,[51] Jews,[51] Mandeans
Assyrians (???�??, Suraye/Suroye) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Middle
East.[Note 1] Some self-identify as Syriacs,[Note 2] Chaldeans,[Note 3] or
Arameans.[Note 4] They are speakers of the Neo-Aramaic branch of Semitic languages
as well as the primary languages in their countries of residence.[59] Modern
Assyrians are Syriac Christians who claim descent from Assyria, one of the oldest
civilizations in the world, dating back to 2500 BC in ancient Mesopotamia.[60]

The tribal areas that form the Assyrian homeland are parts of present-day northern
Iraq (Nineveh Plains and Dohuk Governorate), southeastern Turkey (Hakkari and Tur
Abdin), northwestern Iran (Urmia) and, more recently, northeastern Syria (Al-
Hasakah Governorate).[53] The majority have migrated to other regions of the world,
including North America, the Levant, Australia, Europe, Russia and the Caucasus
during the past century. Emigration was triggered by events such as the massacres
of Diyarbakir, the Assyrian genocide (concurrent with the Armenian and Greek
genocides) during World War I by the Ottoman Empire and allied Kurdish tribes, the
Simele massacre in Iraq in 1933, the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Arab Nationalist
Ba'athist policies in Iraq and Syria, the rise of Islamic State of Iraq and the
Levant (ISIL) and its takeover of most of the Nineveh Plains.[61][62]

Assyrians are predominantly Christian, mostly adhering to the East and West Syriac
liturgical rites of Christianity.[63][55] The churches that constitute the East
Syriac rite include the Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, and
the Ancient Church of the East, whereas the churches of the West Syriac rite are
the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church. Both rites use Classical
Syriac as their liturgical language.

Most recently, the post-2003 Iraq War and the Syrian Civil War, which began in
2011, have displaced much of the remaining Assyrian community from their homeland
as a result of ethnic and religious persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists.
Of the one million or more Iraqis reported by the United Nations to have fled Iraq
since the occupation, nearly 40% were Assyrians even though Assyrians accounted for
only around 3% of the pre-war Iraqi demography.[64][65]

Because of the emergence of ISIL and the taking over of much of the Assyrian
homeland by the terror group, another major wave of Assyrian displacement has taken
place. ISIL was driven out from the Assyrian villages in the Khabour River Valley
and the areas surrounding the city of Al-Hasakah in Syria by 2015, and from the
Nineveh Plains in Iraq by 2017. In northern Syria, Assyrian groups have been taking
part both politically and militarily in the Kurdish-dominated but multiethnic
Syrian Democratic Forces (see Khabour Guards and Sutoro) and Autonomous
Administration of North and East Syria.
Contents

1 History
1.1 Pre-Christian history
1.1.1 Language
1.2 Early Christian period
1.3 Arab conquest
1.4 Mongolian and Turkic rule
1.5 From Iranian Safavid to confirmed Ottoman rule
1.5.1 World War I and aftermath
1.5.2 Assyrian volunteers
1.6 Modern history
1.6.1 21st century
2 Demographics
2.1 Homeland
2.2 Assyrian subgroups
2.3 Persecution
 2.4 Diaspora
3 Identity and subdivisions
3.1 Self-designation
3.2 Assyrian vs. Syrian naming controversy
4 Culture
4.1 Language
4.1.1 Script
4.2 Religion
4.3 Music
4.4 Dance
4.5 Festivals
4.6 Traditional clothing
4.7 Cuisine
5 Genetics
5.1 Haplogroups
6 See also
7 Notes
8 References
9 Sources
10 External links

History
Main article: History of the Assyrian people
Pre-Christian history
Main articles: Achaemenid Empire, Achaemenid Assyria, and Neo-Assyrian Empire
Part of the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal, c. 645�635 BC

Assyria is the homeland of the Assyrian people; it is located in the ancient Near
East. In prehistoric times, the region that was to become known as Assyria (and
Subartu) was home to Neanderthals such as the remains of those which have been
found at the Shanidar Cave. The earliest Neolithic sites in Assyria belonged to the
Jarmo culture c. 7100 BC and Tell Hassuna, the centre of the Hassuna culture, c.
6000 BC.

The history of Assyria begins with the formation of the city of Assur perhaps as
early as the 25th century BC.[66] The Assyrian king list records kings dating from
the 25th century BC onwards, the earliest being Tudiya, who was a contemporary of
Ibrium of Ebla. However, many of these early kings would have been local rulers,
and from the late 24th century BC to the early 22nd century BC, they were usually
subjects of the Akkadian Empire. During the early Bronze Age period, Sargon of
Akkad united all the native Semitic-speaking peoples (including the Assyrians) and
the Sumerians of Mesopotamia under the Akkadian Empire (2335�2154 BC). The cities
of Assur and Nineveh (modern day Mosul), which was the oldest and largest city of
the ancient Assyrian Empire,[67] together with a number of other towns and cities,
existed as early as the 25th century BC, although they appear to have been
Sumerian-ruled administrative centres at this time, rather than independent states.
The Sumerians were eventually absorbed into the Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian)
population.[68]
Assyrian soldier of the Achaemenid Army circa 480 BC, Xerxes I tomb, Naqsh-e
Rustam.

In the traditions of the Assyrian Church of the East, they are descended from
Abraham's grandson (Dedan son of Jokshan), progenitor of the ancient Assyrians.[69]
However, there is no historical basis for the biblical assertion whatsoever; there
is no mention in Assyrian records (which date as far back as the 25th century BC).
Ashur-uballit I overthrew the Mitanni c. 1365 BC, and the Assyrians benefited from
this development by taking control of the eastern portion of Mitanni territory, and
later also annexing Hittite, Babylonian, Amorite and Hurrian territories.[70] The
Assyrian people, after the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 609 BC were under the
control of the Neo-Babylonian and later the Persian Empire, which consumed the
entire Neo-Babylonian or "Chaldean" Empire in 539 BC. Assyrians became front line
soldiers for the Persian Empire under Xerxes I, playing a major role in the Battle
of Marathon under Darius I in 490 BC.[71] Herodotus, whose Histories are the main
source of information about that battle, makes no mention of Assyrians in
connection with it.[72]

Despite the influx of foreign elements, the presence of Assyrians is confirmed by

the worship of the god Ashur; references to the name survive into the 3rd century
AD.[73] The Greeks, Parthians, and Romans had a rather low level of integration
with the local population in Mesopotamia, which allowed their cultures to survive.
[74] Several semi-independent kingdoms of Assyrian identity (Osroene, Adiabene,
Hatra and Assur) appeared in the East under Parthian rule. These kingdoms preserved
Assyrian cultural and religious traditions, but latter on would accept christianity
whose main ideas were similar to the central doctrines of Assyrian ideology and
religion.[75]
Language

Emerging in Sumer c. 3500 BC, cuneiform writing began as a system of pictograms.

Around 3000 BC, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract
as the number of characters in use grew smaller. The original Sumerian script was
adapted for the writing of the Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian) and Hittite
languages.[76]

The K�ltepe texts, which were written in Old Assyrian, preserve the earliest known
traces of the Hittite language, and the earliest attestation of any Indo-European
language, dated to the 20th century BC. Most of the archaeological evidence is
typical of Anatolia rather than of Assyria, but the use of both cuneiform and the
dialect is the best indication of Assyrian presence. To date, over 20,000 cuneiform
tablets have been recovered from the site.[77][78]

From 1700 BC and onward, the Sumerian language was preserved by the ancient
Babylonians and Assyrians only as a liturgical and classical language for
religious, artistic and scholarly purposes.[79]

The Akkadian language, with its main dialects Assyrian and Babylonian, once the
lingua franca of the Ancient Near East, began to decline during the Neo-Assyrian
Empire around the 8th century BC, being marginalized by Old Aramaic during the
reign of Tiglath-Pileser III. By the Hellenistic period, the language was largely
confined to scholars and priests working in temples in Assyria and Babylonia.
Early Christian period
Map of Asoristan (226�637 AD)
Further information: Syriac Christianity, History of Eastern Christianity, and
Asoristan

From the 1st century BC, Assyria was the theatre of the protracted Roman�Persian
Wars. Much of the region would become the Roman province Assyria from 116 to 118 AD
following the conquests of Trajan, but after a Parthian-inspired Assyrian
rebellion, the new emperor Hadrian withdrew from the short-lived province Assyria
and its neighboring provinces in 118 AD.[80] Following a successful campaign in
197�198, Severus converted the kingdom of Osroene, centred on Edessa, into a
frontier Roman province.[81] Roman influence in the area came to an end under
Jovian in 363, who abandoned the region after concluding a hasty peace agreement
with the Sassanians.[82] From the later 2nd century, the Roman Senate included
several notable Assyrians, including Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus and Avidius
Cassius.

The Assyrians were Christianized in the first to third centuries in Roman Syria and
Roman Assyria. The population of the Sasanian province of Asoristan was a mixed
one, composed of Assyrians, Arameans in the far south and the western deserts, and
Persians.[83] The Greek element in the cities, still strong during the Parthian
Empire, ceased to be ethnically distinct in Sasanian times. The majority of the
population were Eastern Aramaic speakers.

Along with the Arameans, Armenians, Greeks, and Nabataeans, the Assyrians were
among the first people to convert to Christianity and spread Eastern Christianity
to the Far East in spite of becoming, from the 8th century, a minority religion in
their homeland following the Muslim conquest of Persia.

In 410, the Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, the capital of the Sasanian Empire,[84]

organized the Christians within that empire into what became known as the Church of
the East. Its head was declared to be the bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, who in the
acts of the council was referred to as the Grand or Major Metropolitan, and who
soon afterward was called the Catholicos of the East. Later, the title of Patriarch
was also used. Dioceses were organised into provinces, each of which was under the
authority of a metropolitan bishop. Six such provinces were instituted in 410.
A 6th century church, St. John the Arab, in Hakkari, Turkey (Geramon)

Another council held in 424 declared that the Catholicos of the East was
independent of "western" ecclesiastical authorities (those of the Roman Empire).

Soon afterwards, Christians in the Roman Empire were divided by their attitude
regarding the Council of Ephesus (431), which condemned Nestorianism, and the
Council of Chalcedon (451), which condemned Monophysitism. Those who for any reason
refused to accept one or other of these councils were called Nestorians or
Monophysites, while those who accepted both councils, held under the auspices of
the Roman emperors, were called Melkites (derived from Syriac malka, king),[85]
meaning royalists. All three groups existed among the Syriac Christians, the East
Syriacs being called Nestorians and the West Syriacs being divided between the
Monophysites (today the Syriac Orthodox Church, also known as Jacobites, after
Jacob Baradaeus) and those who accepted both councils (primarily today's Orthodox
Church, which has adopted the Byzantine Rite in Greek, but also the Maronite
Church, which kept its West Syriac Rite and was not as closely aligned with
Constantinople). After this division the West Syriacs, who were under
Roman/Byzantine influence and the East Syriacs, under Persian influence, developed
dialects that were different from each other, both in pronunciation and written
symbolization of vowels.[86] With the rise of Syriac Christianity, eastern Aramaic
enjoyed a renaissance as a classical language in the 2nd to 8th centuries, and
varieties of that form of Aramaic (Neo-Aramaic languages) are still spoken by a few
small groups of Jacobite and Nestorian Christians in the Middle East.[87]
Arab conquest
Further information: Muslim conquest of Persia

The Assyrians initially experienced some periods of religious and cultural freedom
interspersed with periods of severe religious and ethnic persecution after the 7th
century Muslim conquest of Persia. Assyrians contributed to Islamic civilizations
during the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates by translating works of Greek
philosophers to Syriac and afterwards to Arabic. They also excelled in philosophy,
science (Masawaiyh,[88] Eutychius of Alexandria, and Jabril ibn Bukhtishu[89]) and
theology (such as Tatian, Bardaisan, Babai the Great, Nestorius, and Thomas of
Marga) and the personal physicians of the Abbasid Caliphs were often Assyrians,
such as the long-serving Bukhtishu dynasty.[90] Many scholars of the House of
Wisdom were of Assyrian Christian background.[91]

Indigenous Assyrians became second-class citizens (dhimmi) in a greater Arab

Islamic state, and those who resisted Arabisation and conversion to Islam were
subject to severe religious, ethnic and cultural discrimination, and had certain
restrictions imposed upon them.[92] Assyrians were excluded from specific duties
and occupations reserved for Muslims, they did not enjoy the same political rights
as Muslims, their word was not equal to that of a Muslim in legal and civil
matters, as Christians they were subject to payment of a special tax (jizya), they
were banned from spreading their religion further or building new churches in
Muslim-ruled lands, but were also expected to adhere to the same laws of property,
contract and obligation as the Muslim Arabs.[93] They could not seek conversion of
a Muslim, a non-Muslim man could not marry a Muslim woman, and the child of such a
marriage would be considered Muslim. They could not own a Muslim slave and had to
wear different clothing from Muslims in order to be distinguishable. In addition to
the jizya tax, they were also required to pay the kharaj tax on their land which
was heavier than the jizya. However they were ensured protection, given religious
freedom and to govern themselves in accordance to their own laws.[94]

As non-Islamic proselytising was punishable by death under Sharia, the Assyrians

were forced into preaching in Transoxiana, Central Asia, India, Mongolia and China
where they established numerous churches. The Church of the East was considered to
be one of the major Christian powerhouses in the world, alongside Latin
Christianity in Europe and the Byzantine Empire.[95]

From the 7th century AD onwards Mesopotamia saw a steady influx of Arabs, Kurds and
other Iranian peoples,[96] and later Turkic peoples. Assyrians were increasingly
marginalized, persecuted, and gradually became a minority in their own homeland.
Conversion to Islam as a result of heavy taxation which also resulted in decreased
revenue from their rulers. As a result, the new converts migrated to Muslim
garrison towns nearby.

Assyrians remained dominant in Upper Mesopotamia as late as the 14th century,[97]

and the city of Assur was still occupied by Assyrians during the Islamic period
until the mid-14th century when the Muslim Turco-Mongol ruler Timur conducted a
religiously motivated massacre against Assyrians. After, there were no records of
Assyrians remaining in Ashur according to the archaeological and numismatic record.
From this point, the Assyrian population was dramatically reduced in their
homeland.[98]

From the 19th century, after the rise of nationalism in the Balkans, the Ottomans
started viewing Assyrians and other Christians in their eastern front as a
potential threat. The Kurdish Emirs sought to consolidate their power by attacking
Assyrian communities which were already well-established there. Scholars estimate
that tens of thousands of Assyrian in the Hakkari region were massacred in 1843
when Bedr Khan Beg, the emir of Bohtan, invaded their region.[99] After a later
massacre in 1846, the Ottomans were forced by the western powers into intervening
in the region, and the ensuing conflict destroyed the Kurdish emirates and
reasserted the Ottoman power in the area. The Assyrians were subject to the
massacres of Diyarbakir soon after.[100]

Being culturally, ethnically, and linguistically distinct from their Muslim

neighbors in the Middle East�the Arabs, Persians, Kurds, Turks�the Assyrians have
endured much hardship throughout their recent history as a result of religious and
ethnic persecution by these groups.[101]
Mongolian and Turkic rule
Further information: Timurid Empire, Aq Qoyunlu, and Kara Koyunlu
Aramaic language and Syriac Christianity in the Middle East and Central Asia until
being largely annihilated by Tamerlane in the 14th century

After initially coming under the control of the Seljuk Empire and the Buyid
dynasty, the region eventually came under the control of the Mongol Empire after
the fall of Baghdad in 1258. The Mongol khans were sympathetic with Christians and
did not harm them. The most prominent among them was probably Isa Kelemechi, a
diplomat, astrologer, and head of the Christian affairs in Yuan China. He spent
some time in Persia under the Ilkhanate. The 14th century massacres of Timur
devastated the Assyrian people. Timur's massacres and pillages of all that was
Christian drastically reduced their existence. At the end of the reign of Timur,
the Assyrian population had almost been eradicated in many places. Toward the end
of the thirteenth century, Bar Hebraeus, the noted Assyrian scholar and hierarch,
found "much quietness" in his diocese in Mesopotamia. Syria's diocese, he wrote,
was "wasted."[citation needed]

The region was later controlled by the in Iran-based Turkic confederations of the
Aq Qoyunlu and Kara Koyunlu. Subsequently, all Assyrians, like with the rest of the
ethnicities living in the former Aq Qoyunlu territories, fell into Safavid hands
from 1501 and on.
From Iranian Safavid to confirmed Ottoman rule
See also: Massacres of Badr Khan and Massacres of Diyarbakir (1895)
Mar Elias (Eliya), the Nestorian bishop of the Urmia plain village of Geogtapa, c.
1831

The Ottomans secured their control over Mesopotamia and Syria in the first half of
the 17th century following the Ottoman�Safavid War (1623�39) and the resulting
Treaty of Zuhab. Non-Muslims were organised into millets. Syriac Christians,
however, were often considered one millet alongside Armenians until the 19th
century, when Nestorian, Syriac Orthodox and Chaldeans gained that right as well.
[102]

The Aramaic-speaking Mesopotamian Christians had long been divided between

followers of the Church of the East, commonly referred to as "Nestorians", and
followers of the Syriac Orthodox Church, commonly called Jacobites. The latter were
organised by Marutha of Tikrit (565�649) as 17 dioceses under a "Metropolitan of
the East" or "Maphrian", holding the highest rank in the Syriac Orthodox Church
after that of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and All the East. The
Maphrian resided at Tikrit until 1089, when he moved to the city of Mosul for half
a century, before settling in the nearby Monastery of Mar Mattai (still belonging
to the Syriac Orthodox Church) and thus not far from the residence of the Eliya
line of Patriarchs of the Church of the East. From 1533, the holder of the office
was known as the Maphrian of Mosul, to distinguish him from the Maphrian of the
Patriarch of Tur Abdin.[103]

In 1552, a group of bishops of the Church of the East from the northern regions of
Amid and Salmas, who were dissatisfied with reservation of patriarchal succession
to members of a single family, even if the designated successor was little more
than a child, elected as a rival patriarch the abbot of the Rabban Hormizd
Monastery, Yohannan Sulaqa. This was by no means the first schism in the Church of
the East. An example is the attempt to replace Timothy I (779�823) with Ephrem of
Gandisabur.[104]

By tradition, a patriarch could be ordained only by someone of archiepiscopal

(metropolitan) rank, a rank to which only members of that one family were promoted.
For that reason, Sulaqa travelled to Rome, where, presented as the new patriarch
elect, he entered communion with the Catholic Church and was ordained by the Pope
and recognized as patriarch. The title or description under which he was recognized
as patriarch is given variously as "Patriarch of Mosul in Eastern Syria";[105]
"Patriarch of the Church of the Chaldeans of Mosul";[106] "Patriarch of the
Chaldeans";[107][108][109] "patriarch of Mosul";[110][111][112] or "patriarch of
the Eastern Assyrians", this last being the version given by Pietro Strozzi on the
second-last unnumbered page before page 1 of his De Dogmatibus Chaldaeorum,[113] of
which an English translation is given in Adrian Fortescue's Lesser Eastern
Churches.[114][115]

Mar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa returned to northern Mesopotamia in the same year
and fixed his seat in Amid. Before being imprisoned for four months and then in
January 1555 put to death by the governor of Amadiya at the instigation of the
rival patriarch of Alqosh, of the Eliya line,[116] he ordained two metropolitans
and three other bishops,[117] thus beginning a new ecclesiastical hierarchy: the
patriarchal line known as the Shimun line. The area of influence of this
patriarchate soon moved from Amid east, fixing the see, after many changes, in the
isolated village of Qochanis.
A massacre of Armenians and Assyrians in the city of Adana, Ottoman Empire, April
1909

The Shimun line eventually drifted away from Rome and in 1662 adopted a profession
of faith incompatible with that of Rome. Leadership of those who wished communion
with Rome passed to the Archbishop of Amid Joseph I, recognized first by the
Turkish civil authorities (1677) and then by Rome itself (1681). A century and a
half later, in 1830, headship of the Catholics (the Chaldean Catholic Church) was
conferred on Yohannan Hormizd, a member of the family that for centuries had
provided the patriarchs of the legitimist "Eliya line", who had won over most of
the followers of that line. Thus the patriarchal line of those who in 1553 entered
communion with Rome are now patriarchs of the "traditionalist" wing of the Church
of the East, that which in 1976 officially adopted the name "Assyrian Church of the
East".[118][119][120][121]

In the 1840s many of the Assyrians living in the mountains of Hakkari in the south
eastern corner of the Ottoman Empire were massacred by the Kurdish emirs of Hakkari
and Bohtan.[122]

Another major massacre of Assyrians (and Armenians) in the Ottoman Empire occurred
between 1894 and 1897 by Turkish troops and their Kurdish allies during the rule of
Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The motives for these massacres were an attempt to reassert
Pan-Islamism in the Ottoman Empire, resentment at the comparative wealth of the
ancient indigenous Christian communities, and a fear that they would attempt to
secede from the tottering Ottoman Empire. Assyrians were massacred in Diyarbakir,
Hasankeyef, Sivas and other parts of Anatolia, by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. These
attacks caused the death of over thousands of Assyrians and the forced
"Ottomanisation" of the inhabitants of 245 villages. The Turkish troops looted the
remains of the Assyrian settlements and these were later stolen and occupied by
Kurds. Unarmed Assyrian women and children were raped, tortured and murdered.[123]
[124]
World War I and aftermath
Assyrian flag, c. 1920[125][126]
The burning of bodies of Assyrian women
Main articles: Assyrian genocide and Assyrian struggle for independence

The Assyrians suffered a number of religiously and ethnically motivated massacres

throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries,[122] culminating in the large-scale
Hamidian massacres of unarmed men, women and children by Muslim Turks and Kurds in
the late 19th century at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and its associated
(largely Kurdish and Arab) militias, which further greatly reduced numbers,
particularly in southeastern Turkey.

The most significant recent persecution against the Assyrian population was the
Assyrian genocide which occurred during the First World War.[127] Between 275,000
and 300,000 Assyrians were estimated to have been slaughtered by the armies of the
Ottoman Empire and their Kurdish allies, totalling up to two-thirds of the entire
Assyrian population.

This led to a large-scale migration of Turkish-based Assyrian people into countries

such as Syria, Iran, and Iraq (where they were to suffer further violent assaults
at the hands of the Arabs and Kurds), as well as other neighbouring countries in
and around the Middle East such as Armenia, Georgia and Russia.[128][129][130][131]
Assyrian volunteers
Main article: Assyrian volunteers
Assyrian troops led by Agha Petros (saluting) with a captured Turkish banner in the
foreground, 1918

In reaction to the Assyrian Genocide and lured by British and Russian promises of
an independent nation, the Assyrians led by Agha Petros and Malik Khoshaba of the
Bit-Tyari tribe, fought alongside the Allies against Ottoman forces known as the
Assyrian volunteers or Our Smallest Ally. Despite being heavily outnumbered and
outgunned the Assyrians fought successfully, scoring a number of victories over the
Turks and Kurds. This situation continued until their Russian allies left the war,
and Armenian resistance broke, leaving the Assyrians surrounded, isolated and cut
off from lines of supply. The sizable Assyrian presence in south eastern Anatolia
which had endured for over four millennia was thus reduced significantly by the end
of World War I.[132][133]
Modern history
Assyrian refugees on a wagon moving to a newly constructed village on the Khabur
River in Syria

The majority of Assyrians living in what is today modern Turkey were forced to flee
to either Syria or Iraq after the Turkish victory during the Turkish War of
Independence. In 1932, Assyrians refused to become part of the newly formed state
of Iraq and instead demanded their recognition as a nation within a nation. The
Assyrian leader Shimun XXI Eshai asked the League of Nations to recognize the right
of the Assyrians to govern the area known as the "Assyrian triangle" in northern
Iraq. During the French mandate period, some Assyrians, fleeing ethnic cleansings
in Iraq during the Simele massacre, established numerous villages along the Khabur
River during the 1930s.

The Assyrian Levies were founded by the British in 1928, with ancient Assyrian
military rankings such as Rab-shakeh, Rab-talia and Tartan, being revived for the
first time in millennia for this force. The Assyrians were prized by the British
rulers for their fighting qualities, loyalty, bravery and discipline,[134] and were
used to help the British put down insurrections among the Arabs and Kurds. During
World War II, eleven Assyrian companies saw action in Palestine and another four
served in Cyprus. The Parachute Company was attached to the Royal Marine Commando
and were involved in fighting in Albania, Italy and Greece. The Assyrian Levies
played a major role in subduing the pro-Nazi Iraqi forces at the battle of
Habbaniya in 1941.

However, this cooperation with the British was viewed with suspicion by some
leaders of the newly formed Kingdom of Iraq. The tension reached its peak shortly
after the formal declaration of independence when hundreds of Assyrian civilians
were slaughtered during the Simele massacre by the Iraqi Army in August 1933. The
events lead to the expulsion of Shimun XXI Eshai the Catholicos Patriarch of the
Assyrian Church of the East to the United States where resided until his death in
1975.[135][136]
Celebration at a Syriac Orthodox monastery in Mosul, Ottoman Syria, early 20th
century

The period from the 1940s through to 1963 saw a period of respite for the
Assyrians. The regime of President Abd al-Karim Qasim in particular saw the
Assyrians accepted into mainstream society. Many urban Assyrians became successful
businessmen, others were well represented in politics and the military, their towns
and villages flourished undisturbed, and Assyrians came to excel, and be over
represented in sports.

The Ba'ath Party seized power in Iraq and Syria in 1963, introducing laws aimed at
suppressing the Assyrian national identity via arabization policies. The giving of
traditional Assyrian names was banned and Assyrian schools, political parties,
churches and literature were repressed. Assyrians were heavily pressured into
identifying as Iraqi/Syrian Christians. Assyrians were not recognized as an ethnic
group by the governments and they fostered divisions among Assyrians along
religious lines (e.g. Assyrian Church of the East vs. Chaldean Catholic Church vs
Syriac Orthodox Church).[137]

In response to Baathist persecution, the Assyrians of the Zowaa movement within the
Assyrian Democratic Movement took up armed struggle against the Iraqi government in
1982 under the leadership of Yonadam Kanna,[138] and then joined up with the Iraqi-
Kurdistan Front in the early 1990s. Yonadam Kanna in particular was a target of the
Saddam Hussein Ba'ath government for many years.

The Anfal campaign of 1986�1989 in Iraq, which was intended to target Kurdish
opposition, resulted in 2,000 Assyrians being murdered through its gas campaigns.
Over 31 towns and villages, 25 Assyrian monasteries and churches were razed to the
ground. Some Assyrians were murdered, others were deported to large cities, and
their lands and homes then being appropriated by Arabs and Kurds.[139][140]
21st century
Assyrian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, Armenia
Main articles: Assyrian exodus from Iraq and 2008 attacks on Christians in Mosul

Since the 2003 Iraq War social unrest and chaos have resulted in the unprovoked
persecution of Assyrians in Iraq mostly by Islamic extremists (both Shia and Sunni)
and Kurdish nationalists (ex. Dohuk Riots of 2011 aimed at Assyrians & Yazidis). In
places such as Dora, a neighborhood in southwestern Baghdad, the majority of its
Assyrian population has either fled abroad or to northern Iraq, or has been
murdered.[141] Islamic resentment over the United States' occupation of Iraq, and
incidents such as the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons and the Pope Benedict XVI
Islam controversy, have resulted in Muslims attacking Assyrian communities. Since
the start of the Iraq war, at least 46 churches and monasteries have been bombed.
[142]

In recent years, the Assyrians in northern Iraq and northeast Syria have become the
target of extreme unprovoked Islamic terrorism. As a result, Assyrians have taken
up arms alongside other groups (such as the Kurds, Turcomans and Armenians) in
response to unprovoked attacks by Al Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIL), Nusra Front
and other terrorist Islamic Fundamentalist groups. In 2014 Islamic terrorists of
ISIL attacked Assyrian towns and villages in the Assyrian Homeland of northern
Iraq, together with cities such as Mosul and Kirkuk which have large Assyrian
populations. There have been reports of atrocities committed by ISIL terrorists
since, including; beheadings, crucifixions, child murders, rape, forced
conversions, ethnic cleansing, robbery, and extortion in the form of illegal taxes
levied upon non-Muslims. Assyrians in Iraq have responded by forming armed militias
to defend their territories.

In response to the Islamic State's invasion of the Assyrian homeland in 2014, many
Assyrian organizations also formed their own independent fighting forces to combat
ISIL and potentially retake their "ancestral lands."[143] These include the Nineveh
Plain Protection Units,[144][143][145] Dwekh Nawsha,[146][147] and the Nineveh
Plain Forces.[148][149] The latter two of these militias were eventually disbanded.
[150]

In Syria, the Dawronoye modernization movement has influenced Assyrian identity in

the region.[151] The largest proponent of the movement, the Syriac Union Party
(SUP) has become a major political actor in the Democratic Federation of Northern
Syria. In August 2016, the Ourhi Centre in the city of Zalin was started by the
Assyrian community, to educate teachers in order to make Syriac an optional
language of instruction in public schools,[152][153] which then started with the
2016/17 academic year.[154] With that academic year, states the Rojava Education
Committee, "three curriculums have replaced the old one, to include teaching in
three languages: Kurdish, Arabic and Assyrian."[155] Associated with the SUP is the
Syriac Military Council, an Assyrian militia operating in Syria, established in
January 2013 to protect and stand up for the national rights of Assyrians in Syria
as well as working together with the other communities in Syria to change the
current government of Bashar al-Assad.[156] However, many Assyrians and the
organizations that represent them, particularly those outside of Syria, are
critical of the Dawronoye movement.[157][158]

A 2018 report stated that Kurdish authorities in Syria, in conjunction with

Dawronoye officials, had shut down several Assyrian schools in Northern Syria and
fired their administration. This was said to be because these schooled failed to
register for a license and for rejecting the new curriculum approved by the
Education Authority. Closure methods ranged from officially shutting down schools
to having armed men enter the schools and shut them down forcefully. An Assyrian
educator named Isa Rashid was later badly beaten outside of his home for rejecting
the Kurdish self-administration�s curriculum.[158][157] The Assyrian Policy
Institute claimed that an Assyrian reporter named Souleman Yusph was arrested by
Kurdish forces for his reports on the Dawronoye-related school closures in Syria.
Specifically, he had shared numerous photographs on Facebook detailing the
closures.[158]
Demographics
Maunsell's map, a Pre-World War I British Ethnographical Map of the Middle East
showing "Chaldeans", "Jacobites", and "Nestorians"
The Assyro-Chaldean Delegation's map of an independent Assyria, presented at the
Paris Peace Conference 1919
Homeland
Main articles: Assyrian homeland, List of Assyrian tribes, and Proposals for
Assyrian autonomy in Iraq

The Assyrian homeland includes the ancient cities of Nineveh (Mosul), Nuhadra
(Dohuk), Arrapha/Beth Garmai (Kirkuk), Al Qosh, Tesqopa and Arbela (Erbil) in Iraq,
Urmia in Iran, and Hakkari (a large region which comprises the modern towns of
Yuksekova, Hakk�ri, �ukurca, Semdinli and Uludere), Edessa/Urhoy (Urfa), Harran,
Amida (Diyarbakir) and Tur Abdin (Midyat and Kafro) in Turkey, among others.[159]
Some of the cities are presently under Kurdish control and some still have an
Assyrian presence, namely those in Iraq, as the Assyrian population in southeastern
Turkey (such as those in Hakkari) was ethnically cleansed during the Assyrian
genocide of the First World War.[53] Those who survived fled to unaffected areas of
Assyrian settlement in northern Iraq, with others settling in Iraqi cities to the
south. Though many also immigrated to neighbouring countries in and around the
Caucasus and Middle East like Armenia, Syria, Georgia, southern Russia, Lebanon and
Jordan.[160]

In ancient times, Akkadian-speaking Assyrians have existed in what is now Syria,

Jordan, Israel and Lebanon, among other modern countries, due to the sprawl of the
Neo-Assyrian empire in the region.[161] Though recent settlement of Christian
Assyrians in Nisabina, Qamishli, Al-Hasakah, Al-Qahtaniyah, Al Darbasiyah, Al-
Malikiyah, Amuda, Tel Tamer and a few other small towns in Al-Hasakah Governorate
in Syria, occurred in the early 1930s,[162] when they fled from northern Iraq after
they were targeted and slaughtered during the Simele massacre.[163] The Assyrians
in Syria did not have Syrian citizenship and title to their established land until
late the 1940s.[164]

Sizable Assyrian populations only remain in Syria, where an estimated 400,000

Assyrians live,[165] and in Iraq, where an estimated 300,000 Assyrians live.[166]
In Iran and Turkey, only small populations remain, with only 20,000 Assyrians in
Iran,[167][168] and a small but growing Assyrian population in Turkey, where 25,000
Assyrians live, mostly in the cities and not the ancient settlements. In Tur Abdin,
a traditional center of Assyrian culture, there are only 2,500 Assyrians left.[169]
Down from 50,000 in the 1960 census, but up from 1,000 in 1992. This sharp decline
is due to an intense conflict between Turkey and the PKK in the 1980s. However,
there are an estimated 25,000 Assyrians in all of Turkey, with most living in
Istanbul. Most Assyrians currently reside in the West due to the centuries of
persecution by the neighboring Muslims.[170] Prior to the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant, in a 2013 report by a Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council
official, it was estimated that 300,000 Assyrians remained in Iraq.[166]
Assyrian subgroups

There are three main Assyrian subgroups: Eastern, Western, Chaldean. These
subdivisions are only partially overlapping linguistically, historically,
culturally, and religiously.

The Eastern subgroup historically inhabited Hakkari in the northern Zagros

Mountains, the Simele and Sapna valleys in Nuhadra, and parts of the Nineveh and
Urmia Plains. They speak Northeastern Neo-Aramaic dialects and are religiously
diverse, adhering to the East Syriac churches[171] and Protestantism.[172]
The Chaldean subgroup is a subgroup of the Eastern one. The group is often
equated with the adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church,[173] however not all
Chaldean Catholics identify as Chaldean.[174][175] They are traditionally speakers
of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic dialects, however there are some Turoyo speakers. In
Iraq, Chaldean Catholics inhabit the western Nineveh Plains villages of Alqosh,
Batnaya, Tel Keppe and Tesqopa, as well as the Nahla valley and Aqra. In Syria they
live in Aleppo and the Al-Hasakah Governorate. In Turkey, they live scattered in
Istanbul, Diyarbakir, Sirnak Province and Mardin Province.[176]
The Western subgroup, historically inhabited Tur Abdin[177][178] They mainly
speak the Central Neo-Aramaic language Turoyo. Most adhere to the West Syriac
churches,[171] but a number are also irreligious.

Map depicting Assyrian relocation after Seyfo in 1914

Persecution

Due to their Christian faith and ethnicity, the Assyrians have been persecuted
since their adoption of Christianity. During the reign of Yazdegerd I, Christians
in Persia were viewed with suspicion as potential Roman subversives, resulting in
persecutions while at the same time promoting Nestorian Christianity as a buffer
between the Churches of Rome and Persia. Persecutions and attempts to impose
Zoroastrianism continued during the reign of Yazdegerd II.[179][180]

During the eras of Mongol rule under Genghis Khan and Timur, there was
indiscriminate slaughter of tens of thousands of Assyrians and destruction of the
Assyrian population of northwestern Iran and central and northern Iran.[181]

More recent persecutions since the 19th century include the massacres of Badr Khan,
the massacres of Diyarbakir (1895), the Adana massacre, the Assyrian genocide, the
Simele massacre, and the al-Anfal campaign.
Diaspora
Main article: Assyrian Diaspora
See also: List of Assyrian settlements and Assyrian population by country
Assyrian world population
more than 500,000
100,000�500,000
50,000�100,000
10,000�50,000
less than 10,000
Since the Assyrian genocide, many Assyrians have left the Middle East entirely for
a more safe and comfortable life in the countries of the Western world. As a result
of this, the Assyrian population in the Middle East has decreased dramatically. As
of today there are more Assyrians in the diaspora than in their homeland. The
largest Assyrian diaspora communities are found in Sweden (100,000),[182] Germany
(100,000),[183] the United States (80,000),[184] and in Australia (46,000).[185]

By ethnic percentage, the largest Assyrian diaspora communities are located in

S�dert�lje in Stockholm County, Sweden, and in Fairfield City in Sydney, Australia,
where they are the leading ethnic group in the suburbs of Fairfield, Fairfield
Heights, Prairiewood and Greenfield Park.[186][187][188] There is also a sizable
Assyrian community in Melbourne, Australia (Broadmeadows, Meadow Heights and
Craigieburn)[189] In the United States, Assyrians are mostly found in Chicago
(Niles and Skokie), Detroit (Sterling Heights, and West Bloomfield Township),
Phoenix, Modesto (Stanislaus County) and Turlock.[190]

Furthermore, small Assyrian communities are found in San Diego, Sacramento and
Fresno in the United States, Toronto in Canada and also in London, UK (London
Borough of Ealing). In Germany, pocket-sized Assyrian communities are scattered
throughout Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin and Wiesbaden. In Paris, France,
the commune of Sarcelles has a small number of Assyrians. Assyrians in the
Netherlands mainly live in the east of the country, in the province of Overijssel.
In Russia, small groups of Assyrians mostly reside in Krasnodar Kray and Moscow.
[191]

To note, the Assyrians residing in California and Russia tend to be from Iran,
whilst those in Chicago and Sydney are predominantly Iraqi Assyrians. More
recently, Syrian Assyrians are growing in size in Sydney after a huge influx of new
arrivals in 2016, who were granted asylum under the Federal Government's special
humanitarian intake.[192][193] The Assyrians in Detroit are primarily Chaldean
speakers, who also originate from Iraq. Assyrians in such European countries as
Sweden and Germany would usually be Turoyo-speakers or Western Assyrians.[194]
Identity and subdivisions
Further information: Assyrian nationalism, Arabization, Turkification, and
Kurdification
Assyrian flag (adopted in 1968)[195]
Syriac-Aramean flag[196]
Chaldean flag (published in 1999)[197]

Syriac christians of the Middle East and diaspora employ different terms for self-
identification based on conflicting beliefs in the origin and identity of their
respective communities.[198] During the 19th century, English archaeologist Austen
Henry Layard believed that the native Christian communities in the historical
region of Assyria were descended from the ancient Assyrians,[199][200] a view that
was also shared by William Ainger Wigram.[201][202] Although at the same time
Horatio Southgate[203] and George Thomas Bettany[204] claimed during their travels
through Mesopotamia that the Syriac christians are the descendants of the Arameans.

Today, Assyrians and other minority ethnic groups in the Middle East, feel pressure
to identify as "Arabs",[205][206] "Turks" and "Kurds".[207]

In addition, Western media often makes no mention of any ethnic identity of the
Christian people of the region and simply call them Christians,[165] Iraqi
Christians, Iranian Christians, Christians in Syria, and Turkish Christians, a
label rejected by Assyrians.
Self-designation
Main article: Names of Syriac Christians

Below are terms commonly used by Assyrians to self-identify:.

 Assyrian, named after the ancient Assyrian people, is advocated by followers
from within all Middle Eastern based East and West Syriac Rite Churches. (see
Syriac Christianity)[198][208]
Chaldean is a term that was used for centuries by western writers and scholars
as designation for the Aramaic language. It was so used by Jerome,[209] and was
still the normal terminology in the nineteenth century.[210][211][212] Only in 1445
did it begin to be used to designate Aramaic speakers who had entered communion
with the Catholic Church. This happened at the Council of Florence,[213] which
accepted the profession of faith that Timothy, metropolitan of the Aramaic speakers
in Cyprus, made in Aramaic, and which decreed that "nobody shall in future dare to
call [...] Chaldeans, Nestorians".[214][215][216] Previously, when there were as
yet no Catholic Aramaic speakers of Mesopotamian origin, the term "Chaldean" was
applied with explicit reference to their "Nestorian" religion. Thus Jacques de
Vitry wrote of them in 1220/1 that "they denied that Mary was the Mother of God and
claimed that Christ existed in two persons. They consecrated leavened bread and
used the 'Chaldean' (Syriac) language".[217] Until the second half of the 19th
century, the term "Chaldean" continued in general use for East Syriac Christians,
whether "Nestorian" or Catholic.[218][219][220][221] In 1840, upon visiting
Mesopotamia, Horatio Southgate reported that local Chaldeans consider themselves to
be descended from ancient Assyrians,[203] and in some later works also noted the
same origin of local Jacobites.[222][223]
Aramean, also known as Syriac-Aramean,[224][225] named after the ancient
Aramean people, is advocated by followers from within all Middle Eastern based East
and West Syriac Rite Churches.[226][227] Furthermore, those identifying as Aramean
have obtained recognition from the Israeli government.[228][229] To note, ancient
Arameans were a separate ethnic group that lived concurrently with the Assyrian
empire in what is now Syria and parts of Lebanon, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Iraq
and Turkey.[230][231][232][233]

Assyrian vs. Syrian naming controversy

Proximity between Roman Syria and Mesopotamia in the 1st century AD (Alain Manesson
Mallet, 1683)

As early as the 8th century BC Luwian and Cilician subject rulers referred to their
Assyrian overlords as Syrian, a western Indo-European corruption of the original
term Assyrian. The Greeks used the terms "Syrian" and "Assyrian" interchangeably to
indicate the indigenous Arameans, Assyrians and other inhabitants of the Near East,
Herodotus considered "Syria" west of the Euphrates. Starting from the 2nd century
BC onwards, ancient writers referred to the Seleucid ruler as the King of Syria or
King of the Syrians.[234] The Seleucids designated the districts of Seleucis and
Coele-Syria explicitly as Syria and ruled the Syrians as indigenous populations
residing west of the Euphrates (Aramea) in contrast to Assyrians who had their
native homeland in Mesopotamia east of the Euphrates.[235][236]

This version of the name took hold in the Hellenic lands to the west of the old
Assyrian Empire, thus during Greek Seleucid rule from 323 BC the name Assyria was
altered to Syria, and this term was also applied to Aramea to the west which had
been an Assyrian colony, and from this point the Greeks applied the term without
distinction between the Assyrians of Mesopotamia and Arameans of the Levant.[237]
[238] When the Seleucids lost control of Assyria to the Parthians they retained the
corrupted term (Syria), applying it to ancient Aramea, while the Parthians called
Assyria "Assuristan," a Parthian form of the original name. It is from this period
that the Syrian vs Assyrian controversy arises.

The question of ethnic identity and self-designation is sometimes connected to the

scholarly debate on the etymology of "Syria". The question has a long history of
academic controversy, but majority mainstream opinion currently strongly favours
that Syria is indeed ultimately derived from the Assyrian term A��urayu.[239][240]
[241][242] Meanwhile, some scholars has disclaimed the theory of Syrian being
derived from Assyrian as "simply naive", and detracted its importance to the naming
conflict.[243]

Rudolf Macuch points out that the Eastern Neo-Aramaic press initially used the term
"Syrian" (sury�ta) and only much later, with the rise of nationalism, switched to
"Assyrian" (ator�ta).[244] According to Tsereteli, however, a Georgian equivalent
of "Assyrians" appears in ancient Georgian, Armenian and Russian documents.[245]
This correlates with the theory of the nations to the East of Mesopotamia knew the
group as Assyrians, while to the West, beginning with Greek influence, the group
was known as Syrians. Syria being a Greek corruption of Assyria. The debate appears
to have been settled by the discovery of the �inek�y inscription in favour of Syria
being derived from Assyria.

The �inek�y inscription is a Hieroglyphic Luwian-Phoenician bilingual, uncovered

from �inek�y, Adana Province, Turkey (ancient Cilicia), dating to the 8th century
BC. Originally published by Tekoglu and Lemaire (2000),[246] it was more recently
the subject of a 2006 paper published in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, in
which the author, Robert Rollinger, lends support to the age-old debate of the name
"Syria" being derived from "Assyria" (see Etymology of Syria).

The object on which the inscription is found is a monument belonging to Urikki,

vassal king of Hiyawa (i.e., Cilicia), dating to the eighth century BC. In this
monumental inscription, Urikki made reference to the relationship between his
kingdom and his Assyrian overlords. The Luwian inscription reads "Sura/i" whereas
the Phoenician translation reads ��R or "Ashur" which, according to Rollinger
(2006), "settles the problem once and for all".[247]

The modern terminological problem goes back to colonial times, but it became more
acute in 1946, when with the independence of Syria, the adjective Syrian referred
to an independent state. The controversy isn't restricted to exonyms like English
"Assyrian" vs. "Aramaean", but also applies to self-designation in Neo-Aramaic, the
minority "Aramaean" faction endorses both Suryaye ?????? and Aramaye ?????, while
the majority "Assyrian" faction insists on A?uraye ?????? but also accepts Suryaye.
[citation needed]
Culture
Main article: Assyrian culture
Assyrian child dressed in traditional clothes

Assyrian culture is largely influenced by Christianity.[248] There are many

Assyrian customs that are common in other Middle Eastern cultures. Main festivals
occur during religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas. There are also
secular holidays such as Kha b-Nisan (vernal equinox).[249]

People often greet and bid relatives farewell with a kiss on each cheek and by
saying "???? ????" Shlama/Shlomo lokh, which means: "Peace be upon you" in Neo-
Aramaic. Others are greeted with a handshake with the right hand only; according to
Middle Eastern customs, the left hand is associated with evil. Similarly, shoes may
not be left facing up, one may not have their feet facing anyone directly,
whistling at night is thought to waken evil spirits, etc.[250] A parent will often
place an eye pendant on their baby to prevent "an evil eye being cast upon it".
[251] Spitting on anyone or their belongings is seen as a grave insult.

Assyrians are endogamous, meaning they generally marry within their own ethnic
group, although exogamous marriages are not perceived as a taboo, unless the
foreigner is of a different religious background, especially a Muslim.[252]
Throughout history, relations between the Assyrians and Armenians have tended to be
very friendly, as both groups have practised Christianity since ancient times and
have suffered through persecution under Muslim rulers. Therefore, mixed marriage
between Assyrians and Armenians is quite common, most notably in Iraq, Iran, and as
well as in the diaspora with adjacent Armenian and Assyrian communities.[253]
Language
Main article: Neo-Aramaic languages
The Assyrian dialects

The Neo-Aramaic languages, which are in the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic
language family, ultimately descend from Late Old Eastern Aramaic, the lingua
franca in the later phase of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which displaced the East
Semitic Assyrian dialect of Akkadian and Sumerian. The Arameans, a semitic people
were absorbed into the Assyrian empire after being conquered by them. Ultimately,
the Arameans and many other ethnic groups were thought of as Assyrians, and the
Aramean language, Aramaic became the official language of Assyria, alongside
Akkadian, because Aramaic was easier to write than their original language.[254]
[255] Aramaic was the language of commerce, trade and communication and became the
vernacular language of Assyria in classical antiquity.[231][256][233] By the 1st
century AD, Akkadian was extinct, although its influence on contemporary Eastern
Neo-Aramaic languages spoken by Assyrians is significant and some loaned vocabulary
still survives in these languages to this day.[257][258]

To the native speaker, "Syriac" is usually called Surayt, Soureth, Suret or a

similar regional variant. A wide variety of languages and dialects exist, including
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, and Turoyo. Minority dialects include
Senaya and Bohtan Neo-Aramaic, which are both near extinction. All are classified
as Neo-Aramaic languages and are written using Syriac script, a derivative of the
ancient Aramaic script. Jewish varieties such as Lishanid Noshan, Lish�n Did�n and
Lishana Deni, written in the Hebrew script, are spoken by Assyrian Jews.[259][260]
[261]

There is a considerable amount of mutual intelligibility between Assyrian Neo-

Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Senaya, Lishana Deni and Bohtan Neo-Aramaic.
Therefore, these "languages" would generally be considered to be dialects of
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic rather than separate languages. The Jewish Aramaic languages
of Lishan Didan and Lishanid Noshan share a partial intelligibility with these
varieties. The mutual intelligibility between the aforementioned languages and
Turoyo is, depending on the dialect, limited to partial, and may be asymmetrical.
[259][262][263]

Being stateless, Assyrians are typically multilingual, speaking both their native
language and learning those of the societies they reside in. While many Assyrians
have fled from their traditional homeland recently,[264][265] a substantial number
still reside in Arabic-speaking countries speaking Arabic alongside the Neo-Aramaic
languages[266][2][267] and is also spoken by many Assyrians in the diaspora. The
most commonly spoken languages by Assyrians in the diaspora are English, German and
Swedish. Historically many Assyrians also spoke Turkish, Armenian, Azeri, Kurdish,
and Persian and a smaller number of Assyrians that remain in Iran, Turkey (Istanbul
and Tur Abdin) and Armenia still do today. Many loanwords from the aforementioned
languages also exist in the Neo-Aramaic languages, with the Iranian languages and
Turkish being the greatest influences overall. Only Turkey is reported to be
experiencing a population increase of Assyrians in the four countries constituting
their historical homeland, largely consisting of Assyrian refugees from Syria and a
smaller number of Assyrians returning from the diaspora in Europe.[268]
Script
Main article: Syriac alphabet

Assyrians predominantly use the Syriac script, which is written from right to left.
It is one of the Semitic abjads directly descending from the Aramaic alphabet and
shares similarities with the Phoenician, Hebrew and the Arabic alphabets.[269] It
has 22 letters representing consonants, three of which can be also used to indicate
vowels. The vowel sounds are supplied either by the reader's memory or by optional
diacritic marks. Syriac is a cursive script where some, but not all, letters
connect within a word. It was used to write the Syriac language from the 1st
century AD.[270]

The oldest and classical form of the alphabet is the ?Es?rangela script.[271]
Although ?Es?rangela is no longer used as the main script for writing Syriac, it
has received some revival since the 10th century, and it has been added to the
Unicode Standard in September, 1999. The East Syriac dialect is usually written in
the Ma?n?aya form of the alphabet, which is often translated as "contemporary",
reflecting its use in writing modern Neo-Aramaic. The West Syriac dialect is
usually written in the Ser?a form of the alphabet. Most of the letters are clearly
derived from ?Es?rangela, but are simplified, flowing lines.[272]

Furthermore, for practical reasons, Assyrian people would also use the Latin
alphabet, especially in social media.
Religion
Main article: Syriac Christianity
Historical divisions within Syriac Christian Churches in the Middle East

Assyrians belong to various Christian denominations such as the Assyrian Church of

the East, with an estimated 400,000 members,[273] the Chaldean Catholic Church,
with about 600,000 members,[274] and the Syriac Orthodox Church (?Idto Suryoyto
Tri?a? �u??o), which has between 1 million and 4 million members around the world
(only some of whom are Assyrians),[275] the Ancient Church of the East with some
100,000 members. A small minority of Assyrians accepted the Protestant Reformation
thus are Reform Orthodox in the 20th century, possibly due to British influences,
and is now organized in the Assyrian Evangelical Church, the Assyrian Pentecostal
Church and other Protestant/Reform Orthodox Assyrian groups. While there are some
atheist Assyrians, they tend to still associate with some denomination.[276]

Many members of the following churches consider themselves Assyrian. Ethnic

identities are often deeply intertwined with religion, a legacy of the Ottoman
Millet system. The group is traditionally characterized as adhering to various
churches of Syriac Christianity and speaking Neo-Aramaic languages. It is
subdivided into:

adherents of the Assyrian Church of the East and Ancient Church of the East
following the East Syriac Rite also known as Nestorians
adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church following the East Syriac Rite also
known as Chaldeans
adherents of the Syriac Orthodox Church following the West Syriac Rite also
known as Jacobites
adherents of the Syriac Catholic Church following the West Syriac Rite

Baptism and First Communion are celebrated extensively, similar to a Brit Milah or
Bar Mitzvah in Jewish communities. After a death, a gathering is held three days
after burial to celebrate the ascension to heaven of the dead person, as of Jesus;
after seven days another gathering commemorates their death. A close family member
wears only black clothes for forty days and nights, or sometimes a year, as a sign
of mourning.

During the "Seyfo" genocide,[277] there were a number of Assyrians who converted to
Islam. They reside in Turkey, and practice Islam but still retain their identity.
[278][279] A small number of Assyrian Jews exist as well.[280]
Music
Main articles: Assyrian/Syriac folk music and Syriac sacral music
Traditional clothing may be worn for Assyrian folk dance.
Assyrian music is a combination of traditional folk music and western contemporary
music genres, namely pop and soft rock, but also electronic dance music.
Instruments traditionally used by Assyrians include the zurna and davula, but has
expanded to include guitars, pianos, violins, synthesizers (keyboards and
electronic drums), and other instruments.

Some well known Assyrian singers in modern times are Ashur Bet Sargis, Sargon
Gabriel, Evin Agassi, Janan Sawa, Juliana Jendo, and Linda George. Assyrian artists
that traditionally sing in other languages include Melechesh, Timz and Aril Brikha.
Assyrian-Australian band Azadoota performs its songs in the Assyrian language
whilst using a western style of instrumentation.

The first international Aramaic Music Festival was held in Lebanon in August 2008
for Assyrian people internationally.
Dance
Main article: Assyrian folk dance
Folk dance in an Assyrian party in Chicago

Assyrians have numerous traditional dances which are performed mostly for special
occasions such as weddings. Assyrian dance is a blend of both ancient indigenous
and general Near Eastern elements. Assyrian folk dances are mainly made up of
circle dances that are performed in a line, which may be straight, curved, or both.
The most common form of Assyrian folk dance is khigga, which is routinely danced as
the bride and groom are welcomed into the wedding reception. Most of the circle
dances allow unlimited number of participants, with the exception of the Sabre
Dance, which require three at most. Assyrian dances would vary from weak to strong,
depending on the mood and tempo of a song.
Festivals

Assyrian festivals tend to be closely associated with their Christian faith, of

which Easter is the most prominent of the celebrations. Members of the Assyrian
Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church and Syriac Catholic Church follow the
Gregorian calendar and as a result celebrate Easter on a Sunday between March 22
and April 25 inclusively.[281] However, members of the Syriac Orthodox Church and
Ancient Church of the East celebrate Easter on a Sunday between April 4 and May 8
inclusively on the Gregorian calendar (March 22 and April 25 on the Julian
calendar). During Lent, Assyrians are encouraged to fast for 50 days from meat and
any other foods which are animal based.

Assyrians celebrate a number of festivals unique to their culture and traditions as

well as religious ones:

Kha b-Nisan ?? ??????, the Assyrian New Year, traditionally on April 1, though
usually celebrated on January 1. Assyrians usually wear traditional costumes and
hold social events including parades and parties, dancing, and listening to poets
telling the story of creation.[282]
Sauma d-Ba'utha ????? ????????, the Nineveh fast, is a three-day period of
fasting and prayer.[283]
Somikka, All Saints Day, is celebrated to motivate children to fast during Lent
through use of frightening costumes
Kalu d'Sulaqa, feast of the Bride of the Ascension, celebrates Assyrian
resistance to the invasion of Assyria by Tamerlane
Nusardyl, commemorating the baptism of the Assyrians of Urmia by St. Thomas.
[284]
Sharra d'Mart Maryam, usually on August 15, a festival and feast celebrating
St. Mary with games, food, and celebration.[284]
Other Sharras (special festivals) include: Sharra d'Mart Shmuni, Sharra d'Mar
Shimon Bar-Sabbaye, Sharra d'Mar Mari, and Shara d'Mar Zaia, Mar Bishu, Mar Sawa,
Mar Sliwa, and Mar Odisho
 Yoma d'Sah'deh (Day of Martyrs), commemorating the thousands massacred in the
Simele massacre and the hundreds of thousands massacred in the Assyrian genocide.
It is commemorated annually on August 7.

Assyrians also practice unique marriage ceremonies. The rituals performed during
weddings are derived from many different elements from the past 3,000 years. An
Assyrian wedding traditionally lasted a week. Today, weddings in the Assyrian
homeland usually last 2�3 days; in the Assyrian diaspora they last 1�2 days.
Traditional clothing
Main article: Assyrian clothing

Assyrian clothing varies from village to village. Clothing is usually blue, red,
green, yellow, and purple; these colors are also used as embroidery on a white
piece of clothing. Decoration is lavish in Assyrian costumes, and sometimes
involves jewellery. The conical hats of traditional Assyrian dress have changed
little over millennia from those worn in ancient Mesopotamia, and until the 19th
and early 20th centuries the ancient Mesopotamian tradition of braiding or platting
of hair, beards and moustaches was still commonplace.
Cuisine
Main article: Assyrian cuisine
Typical Assyrian cuisine

Assyrian cuisine is similar to other Middle Eastern cuisines and is rich in grains,
meat, potato, cheese, bread and tomatoes. Typically, rice is served with every
meal, with a stew poured over it. Tea is a popular drink, and there are several
dishes of desserts, snacks, and beverages. Alcoholic drinks such as wine and wheat
beer are organically produced and drunk. Assyrian cuisine is primarily identical to
Iraqi/Mesopotamian cuisine, as well as being very similar to other Middle Eastern
and Caucasian cuisines, as well as Greek cuisine, Levantine cuisine, Turkish
cuisine, Iranian cuisine, Israeli cuisine, and Armenian cuisine, with most dishes
being similar to the cuisines of the area in which those Assyrians live/originate
from.[285] It is rich in grains such as barley, meat, tomato, herbs, spices,
cheese, and potato as well as herbs, fermented dairy products, and pickles.[286]
Genetics
Further information: Genetic history of the Middle East

Late-20th-century DNA analysis conducted by Cavalli-Sforza, Paolo Menozzi and

Alberto Piazza, "shows that Assyrians have a distinct genetic profile that
distinguishes their population from any other population."[287] Genetic analyses of
the Assyrians of Persia demonstrated that they were "closed" with little
"intermixture" with the Muslim Persian population and that an individual Assyrian's
genetic makeup is relatively close to that of the Assyrian population as a whole.
[288][289] "The genetic data are compatible with historical data that religion
played a major role in maintaining the Assyrian population's separate identity
during the Christian era".[287]

In a 2006 study of the Y chromosome DNA of six regional Armenian populations,

including, for comparison, Assyrians and Syrians, researchers found that, "the
Semitic populations (Assyrians and Syrians) are very distinct from each other
according to both [comparative] axes. This difference supported also by other
methods of comparison points out the weak genetic affinity between the two
populations with different historical destinies."[290] A 2008 study on the genetics
of "old ethnic groups in Mesopotamia", including 340 subjects from seven ethnic
communities ("Assyrian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Armenian, Turkmen, the Arab peoples in
Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait") found that Assyrians were homogeneous with respect to all
other ethnic groups sampled in the study, regardless of religious affiliation.[291]

In a 2011 study focusing on the genetics of Marsh Arabs of Iraq, researchers

identified Y chromosome haplotypes shared by Marsh Arabs, Iraqis, and Assyrians,
"supporting a common local background."[292] In a 2017 study focusing on the
genetics of Northern Iraqi populations, it was found that Iraqi Assyrians and Iraqi
Yazidis clustered together, but away from the other Northern Iraqi populations
analyzed in the study, and largely in between the West Asian and Southeastern
European populations. According to the study, "contemporary Assyrians and Yazidis
from northern Iraq may in fact have a stronger continuity with the original genetic
stock of the Mesopotamian people, which possibly provided the basis for the
ethnogenesis of various subsequent Near Eastern populations".[293]
Haplogroups

Y-DNA haplogroup J-M304 has been measured at 55% among Assyrians of Iraq, Syria,
Lebanon, and diaspora; while it has been found at 11% among Assyrians of Iran.[294]
Haplogroup T-M184 [reported as K*] has been measured at 15.09% among Assyrians in
Armenia.[295] The haplogroup is frequent in Middle Eastern Jews, Georgians, Druze
and Somalians. According to a 2011 study by Lashgary et al., R1b [reported as
R*(xR1a)] has been measured at 40% among Assyrians in Iran, making it major
haplogroup among Iranian Assyrians.[294] Yet another DNA test comprising 48
Assyrian male subjects from Iran, the Y-DNA haplogroups J-M304, found in its
greatest concentration in the Arabian peninsula, and the northern R-M269, were also
frequent at 29.2% each.[296] Lashgary et al. explain the presence of haplogroup R
in Iranian Assyrians as well as in other Assyrian communities (~23%) as a
consequence of mixing with Armenians and assimilation/integration of different
peoples carrying haplogroup R, while explain its frequency as a result of genetic
drift due to small population size and endogamy due to religious barriers.[294]

Haplogroup J2 has been measured at 13.4%, which is commonly found in the Fertile
Crescent, the Caucasus, Anatolia, Italy, coastal Mediterranean, and the Iranian
plateau.[297][298]
See also

iconChristianity portal

Assyria
Assyrian diaspora
Assyrian genocide
Assyrian homeland
Assyrian independence movement
Assyrian Universal Alliance
The Last Assyrians
List of Assyrians
Neo-Aramaic languages
Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq
Syriac Christianity
Syriac language
World Council of Arameans

Notes

Assyrians, as indigenous people of the Middle East.[52][53][54][55]

Use of the term Syriacs, as a variant name for Assyrians.[56][51][55]
Use of the term Chaldeans, as a variant name for Assyrians.[56][52][51][55]

Use of the term Arameans, as a variant name for Assyrians.[56][57][58]

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