Lady Surma D'Bait Mar Shimun (27 January 1883 – 7 December 1975) was the sister of the Catholicos Patriarch 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� ...

and leader of the Assyrians, Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin.

Biography

Lady Surma was born in

Qodshanis Qudshanis, "Kochanis" or "Kochanes" (officially ''Konak'', syr, ܩܘܕܫܢܝܣ, translit=Qūdšānīs , ; ku, Qoçanis, script=Latn), is a small village in the Hakkâri District of Hakkâri Province, Turkey. The village is populated by Kurds of ...

Hakkari Hakkari or Hakkâri may refer to: *Hakkari (historical region), a historical region in modern-day Turkey and Iraq *Hakkâri (city), a city and the capital of Hakkâri Province, Turkey *Hakkâri Province Hakkâri Province (, tr, Hakkâri ili, ...

. She was educated by Rev. W.H. Browne of the Archbishop of Canterbury mission where she became fluent in English. After the assassination of her brother by the Kurdish rebel Simko and succeeded by his younger brother, Mar Shimun XX Paulos. Surma Khanum (Lady Surma) practically became regent, and in 1918 she was invited by British authorities to present the Assyrian question in London and she also attended the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

negotiations, probably as the only woman regent. The descendants of the Assyrian Empire had lived as a semi-independent nation in the Hakari mountains, but they were massacred and driven out by the Ottomans and Kurds in 1915. In return they were promised an independent homeland by Britain,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

in 1918 in Northern Iraq – the Mosul district – but this promise was not fulfilled. Mar Paulus died of tuberculosis 1920 and was succeeded by his 12 years old nephew,

Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII ( syr, ܡܪܝ ܐܝܫܝ ܫܡܥܘܢ ܟܓ.) (26 February 1908 – 6 November 1975), sometimes known as Mar Eshai Shimun XXI, Mar Shimun XXIII Ishaya, Mar Shimun Ishai, or Simon Jesse,Foster, p. 34 served as the 119th Catholicos ...

, (1908–75), who was also assassinated. When Mar Eshai went to school in England until 1927, she assisted the Metropolitans Mar Yosip Khnanisho of Rustaqa in Church affairs and was in charge of the secular affairs together with her brother, General David d'Mar Shimun, father of the Patriarch. She continued to act as a consultant throughout Mar Eshai's life, given her temporal and secular expertise. At the time of the disturbances in 1933 in Iraq, the Patriarchal family were taken to Cyprus, where they remained until 1952 when they moved to England and finally settling in the United States in 1960 thanks to a private law enacted in Congress and signed by the President. She died in the year of 1975 in the city of Turlock,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

.Women in power 1900-1940
/ref>

Biography

References

Further reading