Prior to

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 ...

, the Tkhuma ( syr, ܬܚܘܡܐ, Tkhūmā "Borderland") were one of five principal and semi-independent

Assyrian tribes The following is a list of Assyrian clans or tribes of northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran. Tribes * Nerwa tribe * Albaq Tribe * Alqosh Tribe * Barwar Tribe * Baz tribe * Botan tribe * Chal Tr ...

subject to the spiritual and temporal jurisdiction of the Assyrian Patriarch with the title Mar Shimun. The Assyrians claimed the status of a

firman A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman com ...

of protection from the

Caliphate A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

and of an Ottoman millet to preserve their customs and traditions along with the tribes of Jelu, Baz,

Tyari Tyari ( syr, ܛܝܵܪܹܐ, Ṭyārē) is an Assyrian tribe and a historical district within Hakkari, Turkey. The area was traditionally divided into Upper (''Tyari Letha'') and Lower Tyari (''Tyari Khtetha'')–each consisting of several Assyrian ...

, and Deez/Diz, "forming the highest authority under His Holiness Mar Shimun, the patriarch." The Tkhuma Tribe is a tribe of Assyrians that lived in upper

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

until 1915, when they were dispersed into

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

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 ...

or Assyrian genocide. In 1915, the representative of the Assyrian Patriarch

Shimun XX Paulos Mar Shimun XX Paulos (1885 in Qodshanis, Hakkari, Ottoman Empire – 27 April 1920 in Baquba, Ottoman Empire) served as the 118th Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. After his brother, Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Shimun XIX Beny ...

wrote that the Tkhuma of "many Christian villages" had "been entirely destroyed." In 1933, Malik Loco Badawi, the chief of the Tkhuma tribe, from the Royal House of Badawi, went with the chief of the Tyari and 700 armed Assyrians into Syria at the outset of the

Simele massacre The Simele massacre, also known as the Assyrian affair, was committed by the Kingdom of Iraq, led by Bakr Sidqi, during a campaign systematically targeting the Assyrians in and around Simele in August 1933. An estimated 600 to 6,000 Assyrians ...

. The

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

took responsibility for the resettlement of the Tkhuma Assyrians, reporting in 1937 that 2,350 Tkhuma had been settled in three villages in Syria.

Military

It was said that they were the best fighters in the West Asia along with the Assyrian tribe of

. Their Muslim neighbors stated that in order to stand a chance they needed to outnumber the Assyrians of Tkhuma or Tyari five to one, and have superior modern weapons. A journalist of 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) ...

wrote, "The people of Tkhuma put up a great defense on September 27th and 28th

915 Year 915 ( CMXV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Battle of Garigliano: The Christian League, personally led by Pope John X, lays s ...

But while they were building trenches for themselves the Kurds were destroying them with guns. The Turks destroyed... Inner Tkhuma and many other places.". In the early 1930s the Assyrians consisting mainly of Tkhoumnayeh and Tyarayeh successfully defeated the Iraqis in Dairabun killing 33 and wounding 40 including 3 officers while the Assyrians suffered significantly less losses. The Iraqis were armed with modern weapons and attack planes given to them by the British while the Assyrians were only equipped with old rifles.

References

{{reflist Assyrian tribes Hakkari