Kids holding the Assyrian and Armenian flags in Yerevan

Armenian–Assyrian relations covers the historical relations between the Armenians and the

Assyrians 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 ...

, dating back to the mid 1st millennium BC. The southern border of Greater Historic Armenia, which covered an area of about 350,000 square km, shared a border with Assyria. Both the Armenians and Assyrians were among the first peoples to convert to Christianity. Today, a few thousand Armenians live in the Assyrian homeland, and about three thousand Assyrians live in Armenia.

History of Armenia and Assyria

The Assyrian–Armenian interrelations and interactions history numbers many centuries, both in pre-

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

and post-Christian era.Assyrians and Armenians: The history of interrelations and interactions for centuries.
According to the legend, the Armenian patriarch Hayk defeated the evil Assyrian ruler

Bel BEL can be an abbreviation for: * The ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for Belgium * ''BEL'' or bell character in the C0 control code set * Belarusian language, in the ISO 639-2 and SIL country code lists * Bharat Electronics Limited, an Indian stat ...

in an epic battle, in order to win his people's freedom. He named this territory

Hayastan Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

, and the Armenians are still using this name. This legend is a part of Armenia's rich and storied history, where Armenian heroes fought against evil invaders and conquerors for their freedom. There is also the story of the Armenian king Ara the Beautiful who refused Assyrian Queen Semiramis’s offer to a marriage and become king of the world. Semiramis outraged by Ara's refusal, wages a war against Armenia and demands Ara's capture alive. Today, several thousands of Armenians live in villages in

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 ...

, Iraq, Iran, Turkey that have Assyrian population as well, however their number have been decreased significantly after the Iraqi war in 2003, the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and the Syrian Crisis/revolution that has started in 2011 as most of them migrated back to Armenia after Armenian government granted them Armenian citizenship, some Assyrians of Syria and Iraq have also migrated to Sweden and Australia legally to run away from Iraqi war and Syrian Crisis. There are also three thousand Assyrians that live in Armenia. More came after Armenia obtained their independence in 1991, and after most of the secular regimes in the Arab countries and Iran have started to collapse and are becoming replaced with Islamic,

Shari'ah Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...

based governments, Assyrians have started to migrate to Armenia. Though low in numbers, Assyrians living in Armenia have complete and full rights with citizenship compared to in the Islamic nations. There are many mixed marriages between Armenians and Assyrians.

Genocide

The Armenians and

both suffered genocides within the Ottoman empire. The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Awakening to International Human Rights By

Peter Balakian Peter Balakian, born June 13, 1951, is an American poet, prose writer, and scholar. He is the author of many books including the 2016 Pulitzer prize winning book of poems ''Ozone Journal'', the memoir ''Black Dog of Fate'', winner of the PEN/Alb ...

. The genocides were committed against mostly the Christian populations of the Ottoman Empire, which also included the Greek Pontic population.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Armenian-Assyrian Relations Assyrians in Armenia

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 ...

History of Armenia and Assyria

Genocide

See also

References