Freydun Bet-Abram ( syr, ܒܝܬ ܐܒܪܡ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ; 1891 – 2 October 1926), better known as Freydun Atturaya (ܦ̮ܪܝܕܢ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ), was an
Assyrian
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
national leader, politician,
doctor
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
** ...
and poet. Atturaya was one of the founders of the first Assyrian political party, the
Assyrian Socialist Party
The Assyrian Socialist Party (Syriac: ''Gaba Shawtapaya Atouraya''), abbreviated as ASP or GSA, is an Assyrian political party primarily active in Iraq. Its original incarnation, founded by Freydun Atturaya, Benjamin Arsanis and Baba Parhad in Fe ...
, and a prominent early advocate for
Assyrian independence. He is remembered by Assyrians today as a romantic figure, considered by some to be a
national hero
The title of Hero is presented by various governments in recognition of acts of self-sacrifice to the state, and great achievements in combat or labor. It is originally a Soviet-type honor, and is continued by several nations including Belarus, Ru ...
and
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
.
Born in the village of Charbash in
Urmia
Urmia or Orumiyeh ( fa, ارومیه, Variously transliterated as ''Oroumieh'', ''Oroumiyeh'', ''Orūmīyeh'' and ''Urūmiyeh''.) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an alt ...
, Iran, Atturaya grew up in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
in Georgia. He studied medicine at a Russian missionary school in
Harpoot
Harpoot ( tr, Harput) or Kharberd ( hy, Խարբերդ, translit=Kharberd) is an ancient town located in the Elazığ Province of Turkey. It now forms a small district of the city of Elazığ. p. 1. In the late Ottoman period, it fell under the M ...
, graduating in 1915, and perhaps then went on to study in Russia itself. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, he was recruited as a medical doctor into the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
and he held various positions and offices, both medical and political, before returning to Urmia in 1916 as a political officer and the head of an army hospital. In Urmia, Atturaya organized the
Assyrian National Committee of Urmia, which sent young Assyrians to study in Russia. Inspired by the
February Revolution
The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
in Russia, Atturaya early in 1917, together with the other Assyrian activists
Benjamin Arsanis and
Baba Parhad
Baba and similar words may refer to:
Places
* Baba mountain range, also known as ''Koh-i-Baba'', in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan
* Baba Canton, a canton in Los Ríos Province, Ecuador
* Baba, Iran, a village in Kurdistan Province
* Baba, Kohg ...
founded the Assyrian Socialist Party, which prominently advocated for the creation of an independent Assyrian state in the
Assyrian homeland
The Assyrian homeland, Assyria ( syc, ܐܬܘܪ, Āṯūr or syc, ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, Bêth Nahrin) refers to the homeland of the Assyrian people within which Assyrian civilisation developed, located in their indigenous Upper Mesopotamia. Th ...
, closely allied to the nascent
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. In April 1917 he published the
Urmia Manifesto of the United Free Assyria
Urmia Manifesto of the United Free Assyria was written by Assyrian people, Assyrian nationalist Freydun Atturaya, in his struggle for Assyrian independence movement, Assyrian independence during and after World War I. It was written in Syriac langu ...
.
Atturaya also partook in other Assyrian cultural efforts. He published articles in the prominent Assyrian magazine ''
Kokhva'' ("Star") and for a time published his own Assyrian magazine, ''Nakusha''. He also founded Assyrian libraries in both Tbilisi and
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
and as a poet wrote numerous poems dedicated to the Assyrian cause and Assyrian culture. On Atturaya's initiative, the Assyrians of Tbilisi organized the
National Council of Transcaucasia
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
, an organization founded to help Assyrian refugees during the ''
Sayfo
The Sayfo or the Seyfo (; see below), also known as the Assyrian genocide, was the mass slaughter and deportation of Assyrian / Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish tr ...
'' (Assyrian genocide). He was also a prominent member of other Assyrian organizations; in 1921 he was elected as the chairman of the
Assyrian People's Council
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
, the exeutive committee of the
Assyrian National Council of Georgia
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
. Though Atturaya tried to align his efforts with the policies of the Soviet Union, the Soviets opposed his movements on account of his Assyrian nationalism and some of his other policies being opposed to what they viewed as the principles of
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
. He was arrested twice by the Soviet authorities, first in 1924 and then in 1926. After his second arrest he was
executed by shooting
Execution by shooting is a method of capital punishment in which a person is shot to death by one or more firearms. It is the most common method of execution worldwide, used in about 70 countries, with execution by firing squad being one particula ...
.
Background and early life
Freydun Bet-Abram was born in 1891 in the village of Charbash in
Urmia
Urmia or Orumiyeh ( fa, ارومیه, Variously transliterated as ''Oroumieh'', ''Oroumiyeh'', ''Orūmīyeh'' and ''Urūmiyeh''.) is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an alt ...
, Iran. He was the son of Yacob Bet-Abram and Insoph Taimoorazy. The name Atturaya was assumed later on during his activism and literally means "the Assyrian". In 1902, Atturaya and his family moved to Georgia and he grew up in
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
. Georgia was at the beginning of the 20th century one of the unofficial centers of the Assyrian elite; owing to the concentration of Assyrian refugees, vacancies for employment in the local competitive labor market and other factors, there was substantial Assyrian settlement in the country.
In the early 1910s, Atturaya headed a
theatrical troupe
Theatrical troupe ( French: ''troupe''), sometimes referred to as an acting company, is a group of theatrical performers working together. They may work in repertory other types of theatres, and may take performances on tour. They are not the sam ...
that acted in the
Marjanishvili Theatre
Kote Marjanishvili State Academic Drama Theatre ( ka, კოტე მარჯანიშვილის სახელობის სახელმწიფო აკადემიური დრამატული თეატრი) i ...
in Tbilisi. The troupe, dubbed the "Dramatic Society of Assyrians in Tbilisi", often performed plays rooted in Assyrian culture and history. In 1911, they performed the play ''Grief'', written by Atturaya, and in 1914 they performed the play ''Shamiram'', which included characters such as
Sargon,
Sennacherib
Sennacherib (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: or , meaning " Sîn has replaced the brothers") was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his father Sargon II in 705BC to his own death in 681BC. The second king of the Sargonid dynast ...
,
Nimrod
Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...
and
Ninus Ninus ( el, Νίνος) was a mythology character who according to Greek historians writing in the Hellenistic period and later, was the founder of Nineveh (also called Νίνου πόλις "city of Ninus" in Greek), ancient capital of Assyria.
I ...
. All the proceeds from this performance went to the publication of the Assyrian ''
Kokhva'' ("Star") magazine.
Atturaya studied medicine at a Russian missionary school in
Harpoot
Harpoot ( tr, Harput) or Kharberd ( hy, Խարբերդ, translit=Kharberd) is an ancient town located in the Elazığ Province of Turkey. It now forms a small district of the city of Elazığ. p. 1. In the late Ottoman period, it fell under the M ...
, a prominent center of
Armenian nationalism
Armenian nationalism in the modern period has its roots in the romantic nationalism of Mikayel Chamchian (1738–1823) and generally defined as the creation of a free, independent and united Armenia formulated as the Armenian Cause ( hy, Հայ ...
. He graduated as a
doctor
Doctor or The Doctor may refer to:
Personal titles
* Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree
* A medical practitioner, including:
** Physician
** Surgeon
** Dentist
** Veterinary physician
** Optometrist
*Other roles
** ...
in 1915, the same year as the city's population was violently massacred by the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
during the
Armenian genocide
The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...
. In Harpoot, Atturaya would have met
Ashur Yousif, another prominent Assyrian activist, killed by the Ottomans in 1915. Atturaya might also have studied in Russia, perhaps attending the military academy at the
Leningrad University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
. After graduating, Atturaya was appointed as a medical doctor in the
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...
. Atturaya was promoted to the head of a military hospital in Georgia during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and eventually attained the position of "Chief Medical Officer for the Northern and Southern Caucasian Railways".
Activism
Early activities
Urmia became a prominent center for early
Assyrian nationalism
Assyrian nationalism is a movement of the Assyrian people that advocates for Assyrian independence movement, independence or autonomy within the regions they inhabit in northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran, and southeastern Turkey. ...
. Owing to ceaseless massacres, harassment and discrimination under the Ottoman Empire, the Assyrian elite in Urmia became convinced that there was nobody else protecting them and they had to organize themselves and fight for their freedom and autonomy on their own, seeking a "rebirth of the nation". The "mouthpiece" of this movement was the ''Kokhva'' magazine, published in Urmia from 1906 to 1918 as the only independent Assyrian publication, without any foreign Christian support. ''Kokhva'' prominently supported unity among the Assyrians, despite denominational differences. Also in 1906, the Assyrians of Urmia succeeded in creating the
Assyrian National Council, consisting of nine people and aiming to send representatives to the
Iranian parliament
The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The P ...
. This organization was however dissolved after less than a year due to rivalry between the different Christian denominations. A second iteration of the National Council was thereafter founded in Tbilisi, where it continued to function for some time.
Atturaya was early on an activist for Assyrian nationalism and independence. On 24 April 1911, at just twenty years old, Atturaya wrote an article in ''Kokhva'' titled "Who are the Syrians? How is Our Nation to Be Raised Up?" in which he stressed the ancient descent of the modern Assyrians and proclaimed them to be the "children of
Ashur Ashur, Assur, or Asur may refer to:
Places
* Assur, an Assyrian city and first capital of ancient Assyria
* Ashur, Iran, a village in Iran
* Asur, Thanjavur district, a village in the Kumbakonam taluk of Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India
* Assu ...
or Ator, the second son of
Shem
Shem (; he, שֵׁם ''Šēm''; ar, سَام, Sām) ''Sḗm''; Ge'ez: ሴም, ''Sēm'' was one of the sons of Noah in the book of Genesis and in the book of Chronicles, and the Quran.
The children of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, L ...
". Throughout the following years, he continued to closely collaborate with ''Kokhva'' in promoting Assyrian nationalism.
During the war, Atturaya returned to Urmia as a part of a contingent of Russian soldiers. He served there as a political officer and a medical professional at the 492nd Army Hospital in
Khoy
Khoy (Persian and az, خوی; ; ; also Romanized as Khoi), is a city and capital of Khoy County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran. At the 2012 census, its population was 200,985.
Khoy is located north of the province's capital and largest city ...
. In 1916, he was one of two representatives, alongside a bishop, sent by the Assyrians of Khoy to be interviewed by the Russians concerning the organization of refugees of the
Caucasian front of World War I. In Urmia, Atturaya also organized the
Assyrian National Committee of Urmia, which provided local Christians with the opportunity to study in Russia. In total, about 250 young Assyrians studied in Russia with the help of this programme.
Atturaya presented himself as a serious thinker and a
revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.
...
. Unlike the then stereotypical image of Assyrians as mountain tribesmen, Atturaya's photographs showed him as a slender man with round wire-frame glasses, sometimes posing with his fist on his temple, the stereotypical pose of a "thinker".
Assyrian Socialist Party
Inspired by the
February Revolution
The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...
in Russia, Atturaya early in 1917, together with the other Assyrian activists
Benjamin Arsanis and
Baba Parhad
Baba and similar words may refer to:
Places
* Baba mountain range, also known as ''Koh-i-Baba'', in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan
* Baba Canton, a canton in Los Ríos Province, Ecuador
* Baba, Iran, a village in Kurdistan Province
* Baba, Kohg ...
, founded the
Assyrian Socialist Party
The Assyrian Socialist Party (Syriac: ''Gaba Shawtapaya Atouraya''), abbreviated as ASP or GSA, is an Assyrian political party primarily active in Iraq. Its original incarnation, founded by Freydun Atturaya, Benjamin Arsanis and Baba Parhad in Fe ...
. The Assyrian Socialist Party, founded in Urmia, was the first ever Assyrian political party and prominently advocated for the creation of an independent Assyrian state in the
Assyrian homeland
The Assyrian homeland, Assyria ( syc, ܐܬܘܪ, Āṯūr or syc, ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, Bêth Nahrin) refers to the homeland of the Assyrian people within which Assyrian civilisation developed, located in their indigenous Upper Mesopotamia. Th ...
, closely allied to the nascent
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. Originally operating under the full name ''Assyrian Socialist Party of the
Transcaucasus
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
'', the Assyrian Socialist Party is today seen as the first step towards the many later Assyrian political organizations. Although Arsanis headed the party's central committee, Atturaya was so pivotal to the party's foundation that some historians list only Atturaya as founder. Later in 1917, the party established cells in various villages in Urmia and
Salmas
Salmas ( fa, سلماس; ; ; ; syr, ܣܵܠܵܡܵܣ, Salamas) is the capital of Salmas County, West Azerbaijan Province in Iran. It is located northwest of Lake Urmia, near Turkey. According to the 2019 census, the city's population is 127,864. ...
, as well as throughout the Transcaucasus (including Tbilisi and
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
) and reached more than two hundred full members.
In April 1917, having heard of the ongoing ''
Sayfo
The Sayfo or the Seyfo (; see below), also known as the Assyrian genocide, was the mass slaughter and deportation of Assyrian / Syriac Christians in southeastern Anatolia and Persia's Azerbaijan province by Ottoman forces and some Kurdish tr ...
'' (Assyrian genocide) in the Ottoman Empire, Atturaya published the
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
-inspired
Urmia Manifesto of the United Free Assyria
Urmia Manifesto of the United Free Assyria was written by Assyrian people, Assyrian nationalist Freydun Atturaya, in his struggle for Assyrian independence movement, Assyrian independence during and after World War I. It was written in Syriac langu ...
. The Urmia manifesto, written in Aramaic, set out various goals of the Assyrian people, most prominently gaining peace, freedom and autonomy in their ancestral homeland. The manifesto called for the creation of an Assyrian state which included Urmia,
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...
,
Nisibin
Nusaybin (; '; ar, نُصَيْبِيْن, translit=Nuṣaybīn; syr, ܢܨܝܒܝܢ, translit=Nṣībīn), historically known as Nisibis () or Nesbin, is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009 and is ...
,
Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin ( syr, ܛܽܘܪ ܥܰܒ݂ܕܺܝܢ or ܛܘܼܪ ܥܲܒ݂ܕܝܼܢ, Ṭūr ʿAḇdīn) is a hilly region situated in southeast Turkey, including the eastern half of the Mardin Province, and Şırnak Province west of the Tigris, on the borde ...
,
Jazira
Jazira or Al-Jazira ( 'island'), or variants, may refer to:
Business
*Jazeera Airways, an airlines company based in Kuwait
Locations
* Al-Jazira, a traditional region known today as Upper Mesopotamia or the smaller region of Cizre
* Al-Jazira (c ...
and
Jularmeg and which was to be economically, militarily and industrially tied to Russia. The Urmia Manifesto was notably secular in its content, advocating for Assyria led by intellectual and political leaders rather than the clergy. As this threatened the spiritual leadership of the
Assyrian Church of the East
The Assyrian Church of the East,, ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية sometimes called Church of the East, officially the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,; ar, كنيسة المشرق الآشورية الرسول ...
over the people, both the manifesto and the Assyrian Socialist Party were condemned by Patriarch
Shimun XIX Benyamin
Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin (1887– 3 March 1918) ( syr, ܡܪܝ ܒܢܝܡܝܢ ܫܡܥܘܢ ܥܣܪܝܢ ܘܩܕܡܝܐ) served as the 117th Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East.
Life
He was born in 1887 in the village of Qochanis in the Hak ...
.
The intent of the Assyrian Socialist Party was to establish cells within Russia, that together with the Soviet Union could eventually facilitate the return of the Assyrians to their homeland. Upon the victory of the Russian Revolution in late 1918, the Assyrian National Council met the news with holding a meeting attended by many thousands, at which (among others) both Atturaya and Arsanis held speeches. The Soviets were despite this opposed to the Assyrian movement on the grounds of its nationalism, which among other policies of the Assyrian Socialist Party was viewed as opposed to the principles of
communism
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
.
Other organizations and efforts
During the ''Sayfo'', the Assyrians of Tbilisi, aided by members of the local government, organized a committee to help Assyrian refugees from Turkey and Iran. This committee, dubbed the
National Council of Transcaucasia
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
, was Atturaya's initiative. During the voting for leadership of the council on 3 January 1918, Atturaya was without much opposition elected
chairman
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...
. Atturaya personally met around 7,000 Assyrian refugees in Tbilisi. The council swiftly began to also invest itself into military matters, overstepping its original mission and purpose. Atturaya kept up to date with developments on the Caucasian front of the war and corresponded with
allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
military officials concerning the equipment of Assyrian units in their armies, such as the British
Assyrian volunteers
The Assyrian volunteers was an ethnic Assyrian military force during WW1, led mainly by General Agha Petros Elia of Baz and several tribal leaders known as Maliks ( syr, ܡܠܟ) under the spiritual leadership of the Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Shi ...
. The council initially viewed the creation of such units as a possible step towards the army of a future independent Assyrian state. Owing to internal disagreements, the National Council of Transcaucasia collapsed during the spring of 1918 and by May, only three active members remained. At the council's final meeting on May 22, it was agreed to dissolve the organization.
Though internal disagreements led to the rise of various other Assyrian organizations, the most major Assyrian organization in Georgia, the remaining Assyrian National Council, reorganized itself formally as the
Assyrian National Council of Georgia
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
(ASSNARS) in 1921. In a meeting on 11 March 1921, the executive committee of this new body, dubbed the
Assyrian People's Council
Assyrian may refer to:
* Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia.
* Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire.
** Early Assyrian Period
** Old Assyrian Period
** Middle Assyrian Empire
** Neo-Assyrian Empire
* Assyrian ...
, were elected; Atturaya was elected as chairman. Also in 1921, Atturaya visited
Georgy Chicherin
Georgy Vasilyevich Chicherin (24 November 1872 – 7 July 1936), also spelled Tchitcherin, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and a Soviet politician who served as the first People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs in the Soviet government from Ma ...
, the Soviet
People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs
The Ministry of External Relations (MER) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (russian: Министерство иностранных дел СССР) was founded on 6 July 1923. It had three names during its existence: People's Co ...
, to advocate for resettling Assyrian refugees in Urmia and elsewhere in Iran, but the meeting had little effect.
Arrests and death
To combat nationalism within the Soviet Union, the Soviet authorities used political repression. Over the course of the 1920s, the majority of the members of the Assyrian cultural and political elite within the Soviet Union were persecuted with varying consequences and degrees of intensity. Many were arrested, some were sent to
forced labor camps and a handful were killed. In 1924, Atturaya was arrested by the Soviet authorities as a "British spy" and Assyrian nationalist. Though he was eventually released, he was arrested again on 12 July 1926.
Atturaya's case was transferred to the
People's Commissariat of Justice of the
Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic
The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц ...
for a public hearing, which worked little in his favor. On 30 August, Atturaya sent a letter to the
Supreme Court of the Soviet Union
The Supreme Court of the Soviet Union (russian: Верховный Суд СССР) was the highest court of the Soviet Union during its existence. The Supreme Court of the USSR included a Military Collegium and other elements which were not typic ...
with the title "my spy case, devised by my personal enemies". He was killed on 2 October 1926. Though the Soviets denied involvement in his death and claimed that he had hanged himself and some later historians have stated that he was poisoned in prison, Soviet documentation records that he was
executed by shooting
Execution by shooting is a method of capital punishment in which a person is shot to death by one or more firearms. It is the most common method of execution worldwide, used in about 70 countries, with execution by firing squad being one particula ...
.
Personal life
In 1922, Atturaya married his wife Sonia, with whom he had two children: the son Sargon (born in 1923) and the daughter Nelli (born in 1926). Atturaya's son was one of the first contemporary Assyrians to be given the ancient name Sargon, today a common name among Assyrians. Sonia was pregnant with Nelli at the time of Atturaya's last arrest and he never saw his daughter.
Legacy
Atturaya remains recognized as an important early Assyrian national leader and is remembered as a romantic figure, seen by some Assyrians as a
national hero
The title of Hero is presented by various governments in recognition of acts of self-sacrifice to the state, and great achievements in combat or labor. It is originally a Soviet-type honor, and is continued by several nations including Belarus, Ru ...
and
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
. Among Atturaya's other cultural efforts beyond his participation in Assyrian political organizations was the publication of his own Assyrian nationalist magazine, ''Nakusha'', and the establishment of Assyrian libraries in both Tbilisi and
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
.
Atturaya was a talented
romantic poet
Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18t ...
, dedicating numerous poems to the Assyrian cause. Though only a small number of his writings have survived owing to the destruction of both the archives of the Assyrian Socialist Party and his own personal archive, some of his surviving poems have been turned into popular songs. One of his poems, "Oh Eagle of
Tkhuma
Prior to World War I, the Tkhuma ( syr, ܬܚܘܡܐ, Tkhūmā "Borderland") were one of five principal and semi-independent Assyrian tribes subject to the spiritual and temporal jurisdiction of the Assyrian Patriarch with the title Mar Shimun. Th ...
" (''Ya Nishra Di Tkhumi''), has become almost akin to a
national anthem
A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...
for many Assyrians. "Oh Eagle of Tkhuma" describes the flight of an eagle over the lands of
ancient Assyria, focusing first on the mountains and then on the "bold and warlike men" who live there.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Atturaya, Freydon
Assyrian nationalists
Iranian Assyrian politicians
1891 births
1926 deaths
Russian people of Assyrian descent
Physicians from Tbilisi
Iranian emigrants to the Russian Empire
Iranian people imprisoned abroad
People from Urmia
Iranian Assyrian people
Russian politicians of Assyrian descent
Russian military personnel of World War I
People executed by the Soviet Union