250,000-400,000 (1.4 million - 2 million Pre- Iraq
Iraq War)[7][8][5]

 Iran 20,000-50,000[9][10]

 Turkey 15,000–65,000[9][11][8]

Diaspora: Numbers can vary

 Sweden 120,000[12]

 Germany 70,000-100,000[13][14]

 United States 80,000-400,000[15] [16]

 Australia 46,217[17]

 Jordan 44,000-60,000[18][5]

 Lebanon 39,000-200,000[19][20][5]

 Netherlands 20,000[21]

 France 16,000[22]

 Belgium 15,000[21]

 Russia 15,000[23]

 Canada 10,810[24]

 Denmark 10,000[21]

 Brazil 10,000[21]

  Switzerland 10,000[21]

 Greece 6,000[25]

 Georgia 3,299[26]

 Ukraine 3,143[27]

 Italy 3,000[21]

 Armenia 2,769[28]

 Mexico 2,000[29]

 New Zealand 1,497[30]

 Azerbaijan 1,500[citation needed]

 Israel 1,000[31]

 Kazakhstan 350[32]

 Finland 300[33]

Languages

Neo-Aramaic (Assyrian, Chaldean, Turoyo)

Religion

Mainly Christianity (majority: Syriac Christianity; minority: Protestantism)

Assyrian people
Assyrian people (Syriac: ܐܫܘܪܝܐ‎), or Syriacs[34] (see terms for Syriac Christians), are an ethnic group indigenous to the Middle East.[35][36] Some of them self-identify as Arameans,[37] or as Chaldeans.[38] They speak East Aramaic languages as well as the dominant languages in their countries of residence.[39] The Assyrians are typically Syriac Christians who claim descent from Assyria, one of the oldest civilizations in the world, dating back to 2500 BC in ancient Mesopotamia.[40] The areas that form the Assyrian homeland
Assyrian homeland are parts of present-day northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran
Iran and, more recently, northeastern Syria.[41][42] The majority have migrated to other regions of the world, including North America, the Levant, Australia, Europe, Russia
Russia and the Caucasus
Caucasus during the past century. Emigration
Emigration was triggered by events such as the Massacres of Diyarbakır, the Assyrian Genocide
Assyrian Genocide (concurrent with the Armenian & Greek Genocide) during World War I
World War I by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire and allied Kurdish tribes, the Simele Massacre
Simele Massacre in Iraq
Iraq in 1933, the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Arab
Arab Nationalist Ba'athist policies in Iraq
Iraq and Syria, the rise of Islamic State of Iraq
Iraq and the Levant
Levant (ISIS) and its takeover of most of the Nineveh
Nineveh plains.[43][44] Assyrians are predominantly Christian, mostly adhering to the East and West Syrian liturgical rites of Christianity.[45] The churches that constitute the East Syrian rite include the Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, and Chaldean Catholic
Chaldean Catholic Church, whereas the churches of the West Syrian rite are the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church. Both rites use Classical Syriac as their liturgical language. Most recently, the 2003 Iraq
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
United Nations to have fled Iraq
Iraq since the occupation, nearly 40% were Assyrians even though Assyrians comprised only around 3% of the pre-war Iraqi demography.[46][47][48] According to a 2013 report by a Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council
Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council official, it is estimated that only 300,000 Assyrians remain in Iraq.[49] Because of the emergence of ISIS
ISIS and the taking over of much of the Assyrian homeland
Assyrian homeland by the terror group, another major wave of Assyrian displacement has taken place. ISIS
ISIS was driven out from the Assyrian villages in the Khabour River Valley and the areas surrounding the city of Al-Hasakah
Al-Hasakah in Syria
Syria by 2015, and from the Nineveh
Nineveh Plains in Iraq
Iraq by 2017. Since the expulsion of ISIS, the Nineveh
Nineveh Plains have been divided into Iraqi and Kurdish-controlled zones, with Assyrian militias on both sides. In Gozarto/Northern Syria, Assyrian groups have been taking part both politically and militarily in the Kurdish-dominated but multiethnic Democratic Federation of Northern Syria
Syria project.

Contents

1 History

1.1 Pre-Christian history 1.2 Early Christian period 1.3 Arab
Arab conquest 1.4 Mongolian and Turkic rule 1.5 From Iranian Safavid to confirmed Ottoman rule

1.5.1 World War I
World War I and aftermath

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 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References

8.1 Cited works

9 Further reading 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

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
Assyria belonged to the Jarmo
Jarmo culture c. 7100 BC and Tell Hassuna, the centre of the Hassuna culture, c. 6000 BC. The history of Assyria
Assyria begins with the formation of the city of Assur perhaps as early as the 25th century BC.[50] 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
Bronze Age period, Sargon of Akkad
Sargon of Akkad united all the native Semitic-speaking peoples and the Sumerians of Mesopotamia (including the Assyrians) under the Akkadian Empire
Akkadian Empire (2335-2154 BC). The cities of Assur
Assur and Nineveh, 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.[51] From 1700 BC and onward, the Sumerian language
Sumerian language was preserved by ancient Babylonians and Assyrians only as a liturgical and classical language for religious, artistic and scholarly purposes.[52] 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.[53] 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 24th century BC). The Assyrian people, after the fall of their empire, fell under foreign domination ever since. The Persian Empire
Persian Empire was founded, which consumed the entire Neo-Babylonian or "Chaldean" Empire in 539 BC. Assyrians became front line soldiers for the Persian Empire
Persian Empire under Xerxes I, playing a major role in the Battle of Marathon
Battle of Marathon under Darius I
Darius I in 490 BC.[54] The Assyrian army accounted for three legions of the Roman army, defending the Parthian border. In the 1st century, it was the Assyrian army that enabled Vespasian's coup. From the later 2nd century, the Roman Senate
Roman Senate included several notable Assyrians, including Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus and Avidius Cassius. From the 1st century BC, Assyria
Assyria was the theatre of the protracted Roman–Persian Wars. It would become a Roman province (Assyria Provincia) from 116 to 363 AD. Despite the influx of foreign elements, the presence of Assyrians is confirmed by the worship of the god Ashur, all proof of the continuity of the Assyrians.[55] The Greeks, Parthians, and Romans had a rather low-level of integration with the local population in Mesopotamia, which allowed their cultures to survive.[56] Early Christian period

Map of Asōristān
Asōristān (226 AD-637 AD).

Further information: Syriac Christianity, History of Eastern Christianity, and Asōristān The Assyrians were Christianized in the first to third centuries in Roman Syria
Syria and Roman Assyria. The population of the Sasanian province of Asōristān
Asōristān was a mixed one, composed of Assyrians, Arameans
Arameans in the far south and the western deserts, and Persians.[57] 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
Christianity and spread Eastern Christianity
Christianity to the Far East. The Council of Seleucia of ca. 325 dealt with jurisdictional conflicts among the leading bishops. They were divided by the Nestorian Schism
Nestorian Schism in the 5th century, and from the 8th century, they became a minority religion following the Muslim
Muslim conquest of Persia. At the subsequent Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon of 410, the Christian communities of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia renounced all subjection to Antioch and the "Western" bishops and the Bishop of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (modern al-Mada'in) assumed the rank of Catholicos. Whereas Latin and Greek Christian cultures became protected by the Roman and Byzantine Empires, respectively, Assyrian Christianity
Christianity often found itself marginalized and persecuted. The Nestorian schism and Monophysite schisms of the 5th century divided the church into separate denominations. With the rise of Syriac Christianity, eastern Aramaic enjoyed a renaissance as a classical language in the 2nd to 8th centuries, and the modern Assyrian people
Assyrian people continue to speak eastern Neo-Aramaic languages. Assyria
Assyria continued to exist as a geopolitical entity until the Arab-Islamic conquest in the mid-7th century. Arab
Arab conquest Further information: Muslim
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
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 (Qusta ibn Luqa, Masawaiyh,[58] Eutychius of Alexandria, and Jabril ibn Bukhtishu[59]) 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.[60] Many scholars of the House of Wisdom were of Assyrian Christian background.[61] Indigenous Assyrians became second-class citizens (dhimmi) in a greater Arab
Arab Islamic state, and those who resisted Arabisation and conversion to Islam
Islam were subject to severe religious, ethnic and cultural discrimination, and had certain restrictions imposed upon them.[62] 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
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
Muslim Arabs.[63] They couldn't seek conversion of a Muslim, a non- Muslim
Muslim man couldn't marry a Muslim
Muslim woman and the child of such a marriage would be considered Muslim. They couldn't own a Muslim
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.[64] As non-Islamic proselytising was punishable by death under Sharia, the Assyrians were forced into preaching in Transoxiana, Central Asia, India, Mongolia
Mongolia and China
China where they established numerous churches. The Church of the East
Church of the East was considered to be one of the major Christian powerhouses in the world, alongside Latin Christianity
Christianity in Europe
Europe and the Byzantine Empire.[65] From the 7th century AD onwards Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia saw a steady influx of Arabs, Kurds
Kurds and other Iranian peoples,[66] and later Turkic peoples. Assyrians were increasingly marginalized, persecuted, and gradually became a minority in their own homeland. Conversion to Islam
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
Mesopotamia as late as the 14th century[67] and the city of Ashur was still occupied by Assyrians during the Islamic period until the mid-14th century when the Muslim Turco-Mongol ruler Timur
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.[68] 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
Hakkari region were massacred in 1843 when Bedr Khan Beg, the emir of Bohtan, invaded their region.[69] 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 Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır soon after.[70] Being culturally, ethnically, and linguistically distinct from their Muslim
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.[71] Mongolian and Turkic rule Further information: Timurid Empire, Aq Qoyunlu, and Kara Koyunlu After initially coming under the control of the Seljuk Empire
Seljuk Empire and the Buyid dynasty, the region eventually came under the control of the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire after the fall of Baghdad
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
Aq Qoyunlu and Kara Koyunlu. Subsequently, all Assyrians, like with the rest of the ethnicities living in the former Aq Qoyunlu
Aq Qoyunlu territories, fell into Safavid hands from 1501 and on. From Iranian Safavid to confirmed Ottoman rule See also: Massacres of Badr Khan
Massacres of Badr Khan and Massacres of Diyarbakir
Diyarbakir (1895) Further information: Safavid Empire, Afsharid Empire, Zand dynasty, Qajar dynasty, Ottoman Empire, Ottoman-Persian Wars, and Treaty of Zuhab The Ottomans secured their control over Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia and Syria
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
Armenians until the 19th century, when Nestorian, Syriac Orthodox
Syriac Orthodox and Chaldeans gained that right as well.[72] A religious schism amongs the Assyrians took place in the mid to late 16th century. Dissent over the hereditary succession within the Assyrian Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East grew until 1552, when a group of Assyrian bishops, from the northern regions of Amid
Amid and Salmas, elected a priest, Mar Yohannan Sulaqa, as a rival patriarch. To look for a bishop of metropolitan rank to consecrate him patriarch, Sulaqa traveled to the pope in Rome and entered into communion with the Catholic Church. In 1553 he was consecrated bishop and elevated to the rank of patriarch taking the name of Mar Shimun VIII. He was granted the title of "Patriarch of the Chaldeans," and his church was named the Church of Athura and Mosul.[73] Mar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa returned to northern Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia in the same year and fixed his seat in Amid. Before being put to death by the partisans of the Assyrian Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East patriarch of Alqosh,[74]:57 he ordained five metropolitan bishops 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 places, in the isolated Assyrian village of Qochanis. Although this new church eventually drifted away from Rome by 1600 AD and reentered communion with the Assyrian Church, the archbishop of Amid
Amid reinstated relations with Rome in 1672 AD, giving birth to the modern Chaldean Catholic
Chaldean Catholic Church. In the 1840s many of the Assyrians living in the mountains of Hakkari in the south eastern corner of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire were massacred by the Kurdish emirs of Hakkari
Hakkari and Bohtan.[75] Another major massacre of Assyrians (and Armenians) in the Ottoman Empire occurred between 1894 and 1897 AD 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
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
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.[76] World War I
World War I and aftermath

The Assyrian flag
Assyrian flag prior to the first World War.

The burning of bodies of Assyrian women

Main articles: Assyrian Genocide
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 AD,[77] culminating in the large scale Hamidian massacres
Hamidian massacres of unarmed men, women and children by Muslim
Muslim Turks and Kurds
Kurds in the late 19th century at the hands of the Ottoman Empire
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
Assyrian genocide which occurred during the First World War. Between 275,000 and 300,000 Assyrians were estimated to have been slaughtered by the armies of the Ottoman Empire
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
Iraq (where they were to suffer further violent assaults at the hands of the Arabs
Arabs and Kurds), as well as other neighbouring countries in and around the Middle East such as Armenia, Georgia and Russia.[78][79][80][81] In reaction to the Assyrian Genocide
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
Tyari tribe, fought alongside the Allies against Ottoman forces in an Assyrian war of independence. 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
Anatolia which had endured for over four millennia was thus reduced to no more than 15,000 by the end of World War I. 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
Turkey were forced to flee to either Syria
Syria or Iraq
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
Iraq and instead demanded their recognition as a nation within a nation. The Assyrian leader Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII asked the League of Nations
League of Nations to recognize the right of the Assyrians to govern the area known as the "Assyrian triangle" in northern Iraq. The Assyrian Levies
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,[82] and were used to help the British put down insurrections among the Arabs
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
Royal Marine Commando and were involved in fighting in Albania, Italy
Italy and Greece. The Assyrian Levies
Assyrian Levies played a major role in subduing the pro- Nazi
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
Iraqi Army in August 1933. The events lead to the expulsion of Shimun XXIII Eshai
Shimun XXIII Eshai the Catholicos Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East
Assyrian Church of the East to the United States
United States where resided until his death in 1975.[83][84]

Celebration at a Syriac Orthodox
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
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
Ba'ath Party seized power in Iraq
Iraq and Syria
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
Chaldean Catholic Church vs Syriac Orthodox
Syriac Orthodox Church).[85] In response to Baathist persecution, the Assyrians of the Zowaa movement within the Assyrian Democratic Movement
Assyrian Democratic Movement took up armed struggle against the Iraqi government in 1982 under the leadership of Yonadam Kanna,[86] and then joined up with the Iraqi-Kurdistan Front in the early 1990s. Yonadam Kanna
Yonadam Kanna in particular was a target of the Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Ba'ath government for many years. The Anfal campaign of 1986–1989 in Iraq
Iraq 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
Arabs and Kurds.[87][88] 21st century

Assyrian Genocide
Assyrian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, Armenia

Main articles: Assyrian exodus from Iraq
Iraq and 2008 attacks on Christians in Mosul Since the 2003 Iraq
Iraq War social unrest and chaos have resulted in the unprovoked persecution of Assyrians in Iraq, mostly by Islamic extremists, (both Shia
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.[89] Islamic resentment over the United States' occupation of Iraq, and incidents such as the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons and the Pope
Pope Benedict XVI Islam
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.[90] In recent years, the Assyrians in northern Iraq
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, ISIS/ISIL, Nusra Front
Nusra Front and other terrorist Islamic Fundamentalist groups. In 2014 Islamic terrorists of ISIS
ISIS attacked Assyrian towns and villages in the Assyrian Homeland
Assyrian Homeland of northern Iraq, together with cities such as Mosul
Mosul and Kirkuk
Kirkuk which have large Assyrian populations. There have been reports of atrocities committed by ISIS
ISIS 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
Iraq have responded by forming armed militias to defend their territories. The Dawronoye modernization movement has a growing influence on Assyrian identity in the 21st century.[91] It is particularly influential in Syria, where 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,[92][93] which then started with the 2016/17 academic year.[94] With that academic year, states the Rojava Education Committee, "three curriculums have replaced the old one, to include teaching in three languages: Kurdish, Arabic
Arabic and Assyrian."[95] 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
Syria as well as working together with the other communities in Syria
Syria to change the current government of Bashar al-Assad.[96] Since 2015 it is a component of the Syrian Democratic Forces. Demographics Homeland Main articles: Assyrian homeland, List of Assyrian tribes, and Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq

The Assyrian Triangle is the area with the greatest concentration of Assyrians in the Assyrian homeland
Assyrian homeland and where they seek autonomy today.

The Assyrian homeland
Assyrian homeland constitutes northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran
Iran and northeastern Syria.[97][42] This includes the ancient cities of Nineveh
Nineveh (Mosul), Nuhadra (Dohuk), Arrapha/Beth Garmai (Kirkuk), Amida (Diyarbakir), Edessa/Urhoy (Urfa), Harran, Nisabina/Zalin (Nusaybin/Qamishli), Arbela (Erbil), and also the Christianized settlements from the 5th century AD after the spread of Islam, such as Urmia
Urmia in Iran, Hakkari
Hakkari (Yuksekova, Çukurca
Çukurca and Semdinli), Uludere
Uludere and Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin ( Midyat
Midyat and Kafro) in Turkey, among others.[98] Assyrians have existed in what is now Syria
Syria since ancient times[99], but more recent settlement in Qamishli, Al-Hasakah, Al-Qahtaniyah, Al Darbasiyah, Al-Malikiyah, Amuda, Tel Tamer
Tel Tamer and a few other small towns in Al-Hasakah
Al-Hasakah Governorate were populated by Assyrians in the early 20th century, after the Assyrian genocide
Assyrian genocide in 1914, when they were displaced from other areas of their homeland by the Ottoman Turks and Kurdish tribes.[100] During the 1930s and 1940s, an influx of Assyrians, mainly those from northern Iraq
Iraq who were targeted during the Simele massacre, resettled in northeastern Syrian villages, mainly in Tel Tamer
Tel Tamer and smaller villages along the Khabour River Valley.[101] The Assyrians in Syria
Syria did not have Syrian citizenship
Syrian citizenship and title to their land until late 1940s.[102] Sizable Assyrian populations only remain in Syria, where an estimated 400,000 Assyrians live,[4] and in Iraq, where an estimated 300,000 Assyrians live.[49] In Iran
Iran and Turkey, only small populations remain, with only 20,000 Assyrians in Iran,[9][10] and a small but growing Assyrian population in Turkey, where 25,000 Assyrians live.

The Assyro-Chaldean Delegation's map of an independent Assyria, presented at the Paris
Paris Peace Conference 1919.

In Tur Abdin, a traditional center of Assyrian culture, there are only 2,500 Assyrians left.[103] 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
Turkey and the PKK in the 1980s. However, There are an estimated 25,000 Assyrians in all of Turkey, with most living in Istanbul.[104] Hakkari's Assyrian population was ethnically cleansed during the Assyrian Genocide
Assyrian Genocide of the First World War. Those who survived fled to unaffected areas of Assyrian settlement in Syria, Iran, and Iraq. Many went to neighboring countries in and around the Caucasus
Caucasus and Middle East like Armenia, Georgia, southern Russia, Lebanon, Jordan. Most Assyrians currently reside in the West due to the centuries of persecution by the neighboring Muslims. Assyrian subgroups There are three main Assyrian subgroups: Eastern, Western, Chaldean. These subdivisions range from fully or semi-overlapping linguistic, historical, cultural, and religious similarities between each grouping.

The Eastern subgroup historically inhabited the northern Zagros Mountains, the Nahla and Sapna valleys in Nuhadra, and the Nineveh
Nineveh and Urmia
Urmia plains speaking Northeastern Neo-Aramaic languages. They are religiously diverse, adhering to the East Syriac churches, Protestantism, Judaism, or are irreligious. The Chaldean subgroup is a subset of the Eastern one, as they are traditionally speakers of Northeastern Neo-Aramaic and belong to the East Syriac Rite. While some today consider themselves as having a distinct Chaldean identity or belonging to a distinct Chaldean culture, many Chaldean Catholics
Chaldean Catholics identify as Assyrian or Chaldo-Assyrian.[105] The Western subgroup historically inhabited Tur Abdin
Tur Abdin and Upper Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia speaking Central Neo-Aramaic languages. Most adhere to the West Syriac churches, but a number are 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
Christianity as a buffer between the Churches of Rome and Persia. Persecutions and attempts to impose Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism continued during the reign of Yazdegerd II.[106][107] During the eras of Mongol rule under Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan and Timur, there was indiscriminate slaughter of tens of thousands of Assyrians and destruction of the Assyrian population of northwestern Iran
Iran and central and northern Iran.[108] More recent persecutions since the 19th century include the Massacres of Badr Khan, the Massacres of Diyarbakır
Diyarbakır (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

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
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
Sweden (100,000),[109] Germany (100,000),[110] the United States
United States (80,000),[111] and in Australia (46,000).[112] By ethnic percentage, the largest Assyrian diaspora
Assyrian diaspora communities are located in Södertälje
Södertälje 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
Fairfield Heights and Greenfield Park.[113][114][115] There is also a sizable Assyrian community in Melbourne, Australia
Australia (Broadmeadows, Meadow Heights
Meadow Heights and Craigieburn)[116] In the United States, Assyrians are mostly found in Chicago
Chicago (Niles and Skokie), Detroit
Detroit (Sterling Heights, and West Bloomfield Township), Phoenix, Modesto (Stanislaus County) and Turlock.[117] Furthermore, small Assyrian communities are found in San Diego, Sacramento
Sacramento and Fresno
Fresno in the United States, Toronto
Toronto in Canada
Canada and also in London, UK ( London
London Borough of Ealing). In Germany, pocket-sized Assyrian communities are scattered throughout Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Berlin
Berlin and Wiesbaden. In Paris, France, the commune of Sarcelles
Sarcelles has a small number of Assyrians. Assyrians in the Netherlands
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
Krasnodar Kray and Moscow.[29] To note, the Assyrians residing in California
California and Russia
Russia tend to be from Iran, whilst those in Chicago
Chicago and Sydney
Sydney are predominantly Iraqi Assyrians. The Assyrians in Detroit
Detroit are primarily Chaldean speakers, who also originate from Iraq. Assyrians in such European countries as Sweden
Sweden and Germany
Germany would usually be Turoyo-speakers or Western Assyrians.[118] Identity and subdivisions Further information: Assyrian nationalism, Arabization, Turkification, and Kurdification

Assyrian flag
Assyrian flag (adopted in 1968).[119]

Syriac- Aramean
Aramean flag[120]

Assyrians of the Middle East
Middle East and diaspora employ different terms for self-identification based on conflicting beliefs in the origin and identity of their respective communities.[121] In certain areas of the Assyrian homeland, identity within a community depends on a person's village of origin (see List of Assyrian villages) or Christian denomination rather than their ethnic commonality, for instance Chaldean Catholics
Chaldean Catholics preferring to be called Chaldeans instead of Assyrians, or a Syriac Orthodox
Syriac Orthodox Christian preferring to be called a Syriac.[122] During the 19th century English archaeologist Austen Henry Layard believed that the Syriac Christian
Syriac Christian communities were descended from the ancient Assyrians, a view that was also shared by William Ainger Wigram.[123] Today, Assyrians and other minority ethnic groups in the Middle East, feel pressure to identify as "Arabs",[124][125] "Turks" and "Kurds".[126] In addition, Western Media
Western Media often makes no mention of any ethnic identity of the Christian people of the region and simply call them Christians,[127] Iraqi Christians, Iranian Christians, Syrian Christians, 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 Syrian Rite Churches as a catch all term. (see Syriac Christianity)[121][128] Chaldean, named after the ancient Chaldean people, is advocated by some followers of the Chaldean Catholic
Chaldean Catholic Church[127] Syriac, named after the Syriac language
Syriac language and as a corruption of "Syrian", can be found advocated by followers of the Western Rite Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church.[127] Aramean, also known as West Assyrian or Syriac-Aramean,[129] named after the ancient Aramean
Aramean people, is advocated by followers of the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church in Syria[130][131] and some followers of Syriac Catholic Church
Catholic Church in Israel.[132] Some scholars argue that the Aramean identity has become predominant amongst followers of West Syrian churches, and has been partially merged with the Syriac identification.[129]

Assyrian vs. Syrian naming controversy As early as the 8th century BC Luwian
Luwian and Cilician
Cilician subject rulers referred to their Assyrian overlords as Syrian, a western Indo-European corruption of the original term Assyrian. This version of the name took hold in the Hellenic lands to the west of the old Assyrian Empire, thus during Greek Seleucid
Seleucid rule from 323 BC the name Assyria
Assyria was altered to Syria, and this term was also applied to Aramea to the west which had been an Assyrian colony. When the Seleucids lost control of Assyria
Assyria to the Parthians they retained the corrupted term (Syria), applying it to ancient Aramea, while the Parthians called Assyria
Assyria "Assuristan," a Parthian form of the original name. It is from this period that the Syrian vs Assyrian controversy arises. Today it is accepted by the majority of scholars that the Medieval, Renaissance and Victorian term Syriac when used to describe the indigenous Christians of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia and its immediate surrounds in effect means Aramean.[133] 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 Sūryāyē ܣܘܪܝܝܐ and Ārāmayē ܐܪܡܝܐ, while the majority "Assyrian" faction insists on Āṯūrāyē ܐܬܘܪܝܐ but also accepts Sūryāyē. However, an increasing number of scholars as well as "Syriacs" have begun to use Aramean
Aramean to refer to this distinct ethnicity (as opposed to ethic Assyrians) since this is historically, culturally and linguistically a more accurate term.

Alqosh, located in the midst of Assyrian contemporary civilization.

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
Syria is indeed ultimately derived from the Assyrian term Aššūrāyu.[134] [135] Meanwhile, some scholars has disclaimed the theory of Syrian being derived from Assyrian as "simply naive", and detracted its importance to the naming conflict.[136] Rudolf Macuch points out that the Eastern Neo-Aramaic press initially used the term "Syrian" (suryêta) and only much later, with the rise of nationalism, switched to "Assyrian" (atorêta).[137] According to Tsereteli, however, a Georgian equivalent of "Assyrians" appears in ancient Georgian, Armenian and Russian documents.[138] This correlates with the theory of the nations to the East of Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia knew the group as Assyrians, while to the West, beginning with Greek influence, the group was known as Syrians. Syria
Syria being a Greek corruption of Assyria. The debate appears to have been settled by the discovery of the Çineköy inscription
Çineköy inscription in favour of Syria
Syria being derived from Assyria. The Çineköy inscription
Çineköy inscription is a Hieroglyphic Luwian-Phoenician bilingual, uncovered from Çineköy, Adana Province, Turkey
Turkey (ancient Cilicia), dating to the 8th century BC. Originally published by Tekoglu and Lemaire (2000),[139] 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
Luwian inscription reads "Sura/i" whereas the Phoenician translation reads ’ŠR or "Ashur" which, according to Rollinger (2006), "settles the problem once and for all".[140] Culture Main article: Assyrian culture

Assyrian child dressed in traditional clothes.

The Assyrian dialects.

Assyrian culture
Assyrian culture is largely influenced by Christianity.[141] Main festivals occur during religious holidays such as Easter
Easter and Christmas. There are also secular holidays such as Kha b-Nisan
Kha b-Nisan (vernal equinox).[142] People often greet and bid relatives farewell with a kiss on each cheek and by saying "ܫܠܡܐ ܥܠܝܟ" 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.[143] There are many Assyrian customs that are common in other Middle Eastern cultures. A parent will often place an eye pendant on their baby to prevent "an evil eye being cast upon it".[144] Spitting
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, not unless if the foreigner is of a different religious background, especially a Muslim.[145] Language Main article: Neo-Aramaic languages The Neo-Aramaic languages 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. Aramaic was the language of commerce, trade and communication and became the vernacular language of Assyria
Assyria in classical antiquity.[146][147][148] By the 1st century AD, Akkadian was extinct, although its influence on Modern Eastern Neo-Aramaic languages is significant and some loaned vocabulary still survives in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic to this day.[149][150] 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
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, Lishán Didán and Lishana Deni, written in the Hebrew script, are spoken by Assyrian Jews.[151][152][153] There is a considerable amount of mutual intelligibility between Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Senaya, Lishana Deni and Bohtan
Bohtan Neo-Aramaic. Therefore, these "languages" would generally be considered to be dialects of Assyrian Neo-Aramaic
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic rather than separate languages. The Jewish Aramaic
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.[151][154][155] 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[156][157], a substantial number still reside in Arabic-speaking countries speaking Arabic
Arabic alongside the Neo-Aramaic languages[5][158] 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
Turkey ( Istanbul
Istanbul and Tur Abdin) and Armenia
Armenia still do today. Many loanwords from the aforementioned languages also exist in the Neo-Aramaic languages, with the Iranian languages
Iranian languages and Turkish being the greatest influences overall. Only Turkey
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
Syria and a smaller number of Assyrians returning from the diaspora in Europe.[159] 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
Aramaic alphabet and shares similarities with the Phoenician, Hebrew and the Arabic
Arabic alphabets.[160] 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.[161] The oldest and classical form of the alphabet is the ʾEsṭrangēlā script.[162] Although ʾEsṭrangēlā 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
Unicode Standard in September, 1999. The East Syriac dialect is usually written in the Maḏnḥāyā 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 Serṭā form of the alphabet. Most of the letters are clearly derived from ʾEsṭrangēlā, but are simplified, flowing lines.[163] Furthermore, for practical reasons, Assyrian people
Assyrian people would also use the Latin alphabet, especially in social media. Religion

Historical divisions within Syriac Christian
Syriac Christian Churches in the Middle East.

Main article: Syriac Christianity Assyrians belong to various Christian denominations
Christian denominations such as the Assyrian Church of the East, with an estimated 400,000 members,[164] the Chaldean Catholic
Chaldean Catholic Church, with about 600,000 members,[165] and the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church (ʿIdto Suryoyto Triṣaṯ Šuḇḥo), which has between 1,000,000 and 4,000,000 members around the world (only some of whom are Assyrians),[166] the Ancient Church of the East
Ancient Church of the East with some 100,000 members. A small minority of Assyrians accepted the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation 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 Assyrian groups. While Assyrians are predominantly Christians, a number are irreligious. 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
Christianity and speaking Neo-Aramaic languages. It is subdivided into:

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

For obvious reasons the Chaldean Catholics
Chaldean Catholics who follow the East Syrian Rite and were originally members of the historical Church of the East are not Nestorian in theology, a designation which the Church of the East itself denied. Baptism and First Communion are celebrated extensively, similar to a Brit Milah
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. Music Main articles: Assyrian/Syriac folk music
Assyrian/Syriac folk music and Syriac sacral music

Traditional clothing
Traditional clothing may be worn in the Assyrian folk dance.

Assyrian music is a combination of traditional folk music and western contemporary music genres, namely pop, but also rap and recently, EDM. 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. The first International Aramaic Music Festival was held in Lebanon
Lebanon in August 2008 for Assyrian people
Assyrian people internationally. Dance Main article: Assyrian folk dance 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. Most of the 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
Easter is the most prominent of the celebrations. Members of the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic
Chaldean Catholic Church and Syriac Catholic Church
Syriac Catholic Church follow the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar and as a result celebrate Easter
Easter on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25 inclusively.[167] However, members of the Syriac Orthodox Church
Syriac Orthodox Church and Ancient Church of the East
Ancient Church of the East celebrate Easter
Easter on a Sunday between April 4 and May 8 inclusively on the Gregorian calendar
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
Kha b-Nisan ܚܕ ܒܢܝܣܢ‬, 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.[168] Sauma d-Ba'utha
Sauma d-Ba'utha ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܝܐ‬, the Nineveh
Nineveh fast, is a three-day period of fasting and prayer.[169] Somikka, All Saints Day, is celebrated to motivate children to fast during Lent
Lent through use of frightening costumes Kalu d'Sulaqa, feast of the Bride of the Ascension, celebrates Assyrian resistance to the invasion of Assyria
Assyria by Tamerlane Nusardyl, commemorating the baptism of the Assyrians of Urmia
Urmia by St. Thomas.[170] Sharra d'Mart Maryam, usually on August 15, a festival and feast celebrating St. Mary with games, food, and celebration.[170] 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
Simele Massacre and the hundreds of thousands massacred in the Assyrian Genocide.

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
Assyrian homeland usually last 2–3 days; in the Assyrian diaspora
Assyrian diaspora they last 1–2 days. Traditional clothing Main article: Assyrian clothing 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 Assyrian cuisine
Assyrian cuisine is similar to other Middle Eastern cuisines. It is rich in grain, meat, potato, cheese, bread and tomato. Typically, rice is served with every meal, with a stew poured over it. Tea
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 drank. Genetics Further information: Genetic history of the Near East Late 20th century
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."[171] Genetic analysis of the Assyrians of Persia demonstrated that they were "closed" with little "intermixture" with the Muslim
Muslim Persian population and that an individual Assyrian's genetic makeup is relatively close to that of the Assyrian population as a whole.[172][173] "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".[171] 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." [174] 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
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.[175] In a 2011 study focusing on the genetics of Marsh Arabs
Marsh Arabs of Iraq, researchers identified Y chromosome haplotypes shared by Marsh Arabs, Iraqis, and Assyrians, "supporting a common local background." [176] In a 2017 study focusing on the genetics of Northern Iraqi populations, it was found that Iraqi Assyrians
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
Yazidis from Northern Iraq
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".[177] See also

Assyrians portal Syriac Christianity
Christianity portal

Assyria Assyrian diaspora Assyrian genocide Assyrian homeland Assyrian Universal Alliance Neo-Aramaic languages

Syriac Christianity Syriac Language Syriac Universal Alliance The Last Assyrians List of Assyrians World Council of Arameans
Arameans (Syriacs) Assyrian independence movement Proposals for Assyrian autonomy in Iraq

Notes

References

^ "Assyria". Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization. unpo.org. ^ http://www.nineveh.com/whoarewe.htm ^ https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/assyrians-return-to-turkey-from-europe-to-save-their-culture-10131 ^ a b "Syria's Assyrians threatened by extremists – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East". Al-Monitor. Retrieved 18 February 2015.  ^ a b c d e http://www.aina.org/reports/utrmcfsi.pdf ^ http://www.aina.org/faq.html ^ https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/dec/24/iraq-minorities-assyrians ^ a b http://www.aina.org/reports/frankwolfiraqreport.pdf ^ a b c "Ishtar: Documenting The Crisis In The Assyrian Iranian Community". aina.org.  ^ a b United Nations
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2010-10-13). "Iran: Last of the Assyrians". Refworld. Retrieved 2013-09-18.  ^ United Nations
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "Refworld - World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Turkey : Assyrians". Refworld.  ^ http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6102914 ^ "Diskussion zum Thema 'Aaramäische Christen' im Kapitelshaus" Borkener Zeitung (in German) (archived link, 8 October 2011) ^ 70,000 Syriac Christians according to REMID (of which 55,000 Syriac Orthodox). ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20111109061931/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-ds_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_&-mt_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G2000_B04003&-CONTEXT=dt&-redoLog=true&-currentselections=ACS_2007_1YR_G2000_B04001&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en%7C%7D%7D ^ http://www.aina.org/brief.html ^ "CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN AUSTRALIA, 2016". Australian Bureau of Statistics. 27 June 2017. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 27 June 2017.  ^ Jordan
Jordan Should Legally Recognize Displaced Iraqis
Iraqis As Refugees, AINA.org. Assyrian and Chaldean Christians
Chaldean Christians Flee Iraq
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Lebanon / Religions – LookLex Encyclopaedia". Looklex.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.  ^ http://www.aina.org/brief.html ^ a b c d e f "CNN Under-Estimates Iraqi Assyrian Population". Aina.org. Retrieved 2013-09-18.  ^ Wieviorka & Bataille 2007, pp. 166 ^ "Google Translate". Translate.googleusercontent.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.  ^ Statistics Canada. "2011 National Household Survey: Data tables". Retrieved 11 February 2014. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link) ^ Tzilivakis, Kathy (10 May 2003). "Iraq's Forgotten Christians Face Exclusion in Greece". Athens News. Retrieved 7 April 2012.  ^ "Georgia – ecoi.net – European Country of Origin Information Network". Retrieved 18 February 2015.  ^ State statistics committee of Ukraine
Ukraine – National composition of population, 2001 census (Ukrainian) ^ 2011 Armenian Census ^ a b "Brief History of Assyrians". Retrieved 18 February 2015.  ^ "2013 Census ethnic group profiles: Assyrian". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 13 March 2018.  ^ [1][permanent dead link] ^ "Assyrian Community in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan Survived Dark Times, Now Focuses on Education". The Astana Times. Retrieved 18 February 2015.  ^ "Assyrian Association Founded in Finland". aina.org. Retrieved 18 February 2015.  ^ For use of the term Syriac, see:

John A. Shoup, Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia, p. 30 Nicholas Aljeloo, Who Are The Assyrians? UNPO Assyria Steven L. Danver, Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues, p. 517 James Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C, pp. 205-206

^ For Assyrians as indigenous to the Middle East, see

Mordechai Nisan, Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression, p. 180 James Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C, p. 206 Carl Skutsch, Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities, p. 149 Steven L. Danver, Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues, p. 517 UNPO Assyria Richard T. Schaefer, Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society, p. 107

^ James Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C, pp. 205-209 ^ For use of the term Aramean, see

Donabed & Mako, Identity of Syrian Orthodox Christians, p. 72 Nicholas Aljeloo, Who Are The Assyrians? John A. Shoup, Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia, p. 30

^ For use of the term Chaldean, see:

John A. Shoup, Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia, p. 30 [2] Nicholas Aljeloo, Who Are The Assyrians? [3] Mordechai Nisan, Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression, p. 180 [4] UNPO Assyria
Assyria [5] Steven L. Danver, Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues, p. 517 [6]

^ Carl Skutsch, Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities, p. 149 ^ A. Leo Oppenheim (1964). Ancient Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia (PDF). The University of Chicago
Chicago Press.  ^ Donabed, Sargon (2015). Reforging a Forgotten History: Iraq
Iraq and the Assyrians in the Twentieth Century. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-8605-6.  ^ a b Carl Skutsch (2013). Encyclopedia of the World's Minorities. Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 978-1-135-19388-1.  ^ http://www.aina.org/news/20160721201009.htm ^ Eden Naby. "Documenting The Crisis In The Assyrian Iranian Community".  ^ For Assyrians as a Christian people, see

Joel J. Elias, The Genetics of Modern Assyrians and their Relationship to Other People of the Middle East
Middle East [7] Steven L. Danver, Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues, p. 517 UNPO Assyria James Minahan, Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C, p. 209

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Chicago [8] ^ Genesis 25:3 ^ Artifacts show rivals Athens and Sparta, Yahoo News, December 5, 2006. ^ "Ancient and Modern Assyrians: A Scientific Analysis". Retrieved 16 December 2014.  ^ Olmatead, History of the Persian Empire, Chicago
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Assyrian Australian Academic Journal ^ Thrown to the Lions Archived 2013-08-08 at the Wayback Machine., Doug Bandow, The America Spectator ^ B. Furze, P. Savy, R. Brym, J. Lie, Sociology in Today's World, 2008, p. 349 ^ "Assyria". Crwflags.com. Archived from the original on 12 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-16.  ^ "Syriac-Aramaic People (Syria)". Crwflags.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 2001. Retrieved 2008-11-16.  ^ a b Classical Syriac and the Syriac Churches: A Twentieth-Century History, Heleen Murre-van den Berg, p. 127 ^ "Note on the Modern Assyrians, & Other Nationalistic Issues". friesian.com.  ^ Cross, Frank Leslie (2005). The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press. p. 119. ISBN 9780192802903. In the 19th cent. A. H. Layard, the excavator of Nineveh, first suggested that the local * Syriac Christian
Syriac Christian communities in the region were descended from the ancient Assyrians, and the idea was later popularized by W. A. Wigram, a member of the Abp. Of Canterbury’s Mission to the Church of the East
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Arab American Institute Still Deliberately Claiming Assyrians Are Arabs". Aina.org. Retrieved 2008-11-16.  ^ "In Court, Saddam Criticizes Kurdish Treatment of Assyrians". Aina.org. Retrieved 2008-11-16.  ^ a b c Al-Monitor: Ethnic dimension of Iraqi Assyrians
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Chicago Press ^ a b Avenery, Iddo, The Aramaic Dialect of the Jews
Jews of Zakho. The Israel
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Science and Humanities 1988. ^ Khan, Geoffrey (1999). A Grammar of Neo-Aramaic: the dialect of the Jews
Jews of Arbel. Leiden: EJ Brill. ^ Maclean, Arthur John (1895). Grammar of the dialects of vernacular Syriac: as spoken by the Eastern Syrians of Kurdistan, north-west Persia, and the Plain of Mosul: with notices of the vernacular of the Jews
Jews of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan and of Zakhu near Mosul. Cambridge University Press, London. ^ Heinrichs, Wolfhart (ed.) (1990). Studies in Neo-Aramaic. Scholars Press: Atlanta, Georgia. ISBN 1-55540-430-8. ^ Tezel, Aziz (2003). Comparative Etymological Studies in the Western Neo-Syriac (Ṭūrōyo) Lexicon: with special reference to homonyms, related words and borrowings with cultural signification. Uppsala Universitet. ISBN 91-554-5555-7. ^ O'Brien, Abbie. "Australia's only Assyrian school is giving refugees a fresh start". SBS News. Retrieved 14 March 2018.  ^ "The inside story of how 226 Assyrian Christians were freed from ISIS". Catholic Herald. Retrieved 14 March 2018.  ^ http://www.warscapes.com/reportage/revolutionaries-bethnahrin ^ "Assyrians return to Turkey
Turkey from Europe
Europe to save their culture". Assyrians return to Turkey
Turkey from Europe
Europe to save their culture (in Turkish). Retrieved 2018-03-05.  ^ Pennacchietti, Fabrizio A. (1997). "On the etymology of the Neo-Aramaic particle qam/kim; in Hebrew", M. Bar-Aher (ed.): Gideon Goldenberg Festschrift, Massorot, Stud ^ "Syriac alphabet". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved June 16, 2012.  ^ Hatch, William (1946). An album of dated Syriac manuscripts. Boston: The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, reprinted in 2002 by Gorgias Press. p. 24. ISBN 1-931956-53-7. ^ Nestle, Eberhard (1888). Syrische Grammatik mit Litteratur, Chrestomathie und Glossar. Berlin: H. Reuther's Verlagsbuchhandlung. [translated to English as Syriac grammar with bibliography, chrestomathy and glossary, by R. S. Kennedy. London: Williams & Norgate 1889. p. 5]. ^ "Adherents.com". Adherents.com. Retrieved 2013-09-18.  ^ J. Martin Bailey, Betty Jane Bailey, Who Are the Christians in the Middle East? p. 163: "more than two thirds" out of "nearly a million" Christians in Iraq. ^ "Adherents.com". adherents.com.  ^ The Date of Easter. Article from United States
United States Naval Observatory (March 27, 2007). ^ AUA Release March 26, 2006. Archived November 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. ^ "Three Day Fast of Nineveh". syrianorthodoxchurch.org. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.  ^ a b "Assyrian Festivals and Events in Iran", Encyclopædia Iranica ^ a b Dr. Joel J. Elias, Emeritus, University of California, The Genetics of Modern Assyrians and their Relationship to Other People of the Middle East
Middle East Archived August 16, 2000, at the Wayback Machine. ^ Akbari M.T.; Papiha Sunder S.; Roberts D.F.; Farhud Daryoush D. (1986). "Genetic Differentiation among Iranian Christian Communities". American Journal of Human Genetics. 38 (1): 84–98. PMC 1684716 . PMID 3456196.  ^ Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca; Menozzi, Paolo; Piazza, Alberto (1994). The History and Geography of Human Genes. p. 243. ISBN 0691087504.  ^ Yepiskoposian et al., Iran
Iran and the Caucasus, Volume 10, Number 2, 2006, pp. 191-208(18), "Genetic Testing of Language Replacement Hypothesis in Southwest Asia" ^ Banoei, M. M.; Chaleshtori, M. H.; Sanati, M. H.; Shariati, P; Houshmand, M; Majidizadeh, T; Soltani, N. J.; Golalipour, M (Feb 2008). "Variation of DAT1 VNTR alleles and genotypes among old ethnic groups in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia to the Oxus region". Hum Biol. 80 (1): 73–81. doi:10.3378/1534-6617(2008)80[73:VODVAA]2.0.CO;2. PMID 18505046. The relationship probability was lowest between Assyrians and other communities. Endogamy was found to be high for this population through determination of the heterogeneity coefficient (+0,6867), Our study supports earlier findings indicating the relatively closed nature of the Assyrian community as a whole, which as a result of their religious and cultural traditions, have had little intermixture with other populations.  ^ Al-Zahery et al., BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011, 11:288, "In search of the genetic footprints of Sumerians: a survey of Y-chromosome and mtDNA variation in the Marsh Arabs
Marsh Arabs of Iraq""In the less frequent J1-M267* clade, only marginally affected by events of expansion, Marsh Arabs
Arabs shared haplotypes with other Iraqi and Assyrian samples, supporting a common local background." ^ Dogan, Serkan (3 November 2017). A glimpse at the intricate mosaic of ethnicities from Mesopotamia: Paternal lineages of the Northern Iraqi Arabs, Kurds, Syriacs, Turkmens and Yazidis http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0187408. Retrieved 25 January 2018.  Missing or empty title= (help)

Cited works

Danver, Steven L. (2015). Native Peoples of the World: An Encyclopedia of Groups, Cultures and Contemporary Issues. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-46400-6.  Frazee, Charles A. (2006) [1983]. Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire 1453-1923. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-32109-2.  Nisan, Mordechai (2002). Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression, 2d ed. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-5133-3.  Shoup, John A. (2011). Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-59884-362-0. 

Further reading

Aphram I Barsoum, Patriarch (1943). The Scattered Pearls.  Benjamin, Yoab. "Assyrians in Middle America: A Historical and Demographic Study of the Chicago
Chicago Assyrian Community" (PDF). 10 (2). Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies.  BetGivargis-McDaniel, Maegan (2007). Assyrians of New Britain. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-5012-4. OCLC 156908771.  Brock, Sebastian (9 September 2002). The Hidden Pearl: The Aramaic Heritage. Trans World Film. ISBN 1-931956-99-5.  De Courtis, Sėbastien (2004). The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, the Last Arameans
Arameans (1st Gorgias Press ed.). Piscataway, New Jersey: Gorgias Press. ISBN 978-1-59333-077-4.  Donabed, Sargon; Donabed, Ninos (2006). Assyrians of Eastern Massachusetts. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-4480-9. OCLC 70184669.  Ephrem I Barsaum, Ignatius (2006). De spridda pärlorna – En historia om syriansk litteratur och vetenskap (in Swedish). Sweden: Anastasis Media AB. ISBN 91-975751-4-3.  Gaunt, David; Jan Bet̲-Şawoce; Racho Donef (2006). Massacres, resistance, protectors: Muslim-Christian relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I. Gorgias Press LLC. ISBN 1-59333-301-3. OCLC 85766950.  Henrich, Joseph; Henrich, Natalie (May 2007). Why Humans Cooperate: A Cultural and Evolutionary Explanation. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-531423-9.  Hollerweger, Hans (1999). Tur Abdin: A Homeland of Ancient Syro-Aramaean Culture (in English, German, and Turkish). Österreich. ISBN 3-9501039-0-2.  Hunter, Erica C. D. (2014). "The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East". In Leustean, Lucian N. Eastern Christianity
Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century. London-New York: Routledge. pp. 601–620. ISBN 9781317818663.  Kitchen, Robert A. (2012). "The Assyrian Church of the East". In Casiday, Augustine M. The Orthodox Christian World. London-New York: Routledge. pp. 78–88. ISBN 9780415455169.  MacDonald, Kevin (2004-07-29). "Socialization for Ingroup Identity among Assyrians in the United States". Archived from the original on 2007-06-10.  Садо, Стефан (1996). "Российская православная миссия в Урмии (1898-1918)" (PDF). Христианское чтение. 13: 73–112.  Taylor, David; Brock, Sebastian (9 September 2002). Vol. I: The Ancient Aramaic Heritage. Trans World Film.  Taylor, David; Brock, Sebastian (9 September 2002). Vol. II: The Heirs of the Ancient Aramaic Heritage. Trans World Film.  Taylor, David; Brock, Sebastian (9 September 2002). Vol. III: At the Turn of the Third Millennium; The Syrian Orthodox Witness. Trans World Film.  Wieviorka, Michel; Bataille, Philippe (2007). The lure of anti-Semitism: hatred of Jews
Jews in present-day France. BRILL. ISBN 9789004163379. 

External links

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Insurgency (2011–2013) Civil War (2014–present)

Mosul
Mosul liberation

Geography

Al-Faw Peninsula Al-Jazira Euphrates Hamrin Mountains Persian Gulf Islands Mesopotamia Mesopotamian Marshes Places Lakes Shatt al-Arab Syrian Desert Tigris Umm Qasr Zagros Mountains

Politics

Administrative divisions Constitution Council of Representatives (legislative) Elections Foreign aid Foreign relations Government

Council of Ministers Presidency Council President Prime Minister

Human rights

in pre-Saddam Iraq in Saddam Hussein's Iraq in post-invasion Iraq

in ISIL-controlled territory

LGBT Freedom of religion Women

Law Military Police Political parties Judiciary Wars and conflicts

Economy

Central Bank Dinar (currency) Infrastructure Oil Industry Oil reserves Reconstruction Stock Exchange Telecommunications Transportation

Society

Cuisine Culture Education Health Media Music Smoking Sports

Demographics

Iraqis

diaspora refugees

Languages

Arabic Aramaic Kurdish Persian Iraqi Turkmen
Iraqi Turkmen dialect

Minorities

Armenians Assyrians Circassians Kurds Mandaeans Marsh Arabs Persians Solluba Turkmen/Turcoman Jews

Religion

Islam Christianity Mandaeism Yazidis

Outline Index

Category Portal

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Turkey articles

History

Pre-Turkish era

Prehistory of Anatolia
Prehistory of Anatolia & Thrace Classical Anatolia
Classical Anatolia & Thrace Neo-Assyrian Empire Byzantine Anatolia

Seljuq era

Sultanate of Rum Mongol invasions of Anatolia Ilkhanate

Ottoman era

Osman's Dream Rise

Interregnum Conquest of Constantinople

Classical Age Transformation

Sultanate of Women Köprülü era

Old Regime

Tulip period

Decline and modernization

Tanzimat First Constitutional Era

Defeat and dissolution

Second Constitutional Era Partition

Republican era

War of Independence One-party period Multi-party period

By topic

Ancient Anatolians Constitutional Economic Military Thracians Timeline of Turkish history Turkic migration

Geography

Capes Cities Districts Earthquakes Environmental issues Gulfs and bays Islands Lakes Metropolitan municipalities Mountains Peninsulas Provinces Regions Rivers

Places

Anatolia Thrace (Eastern) Turkish Riviera Çukurova

Politics

Cabinet Elections Foreign relations Military Parliament President Prime Minister

Legal system

Constitution Constitutional Court Law enforcement Official gazette

Controversies

Deep state Conspiracy theories in Turkey EU accession Kemalism Neo-Ottomanism Ottomanism Political parties Secularism Northern Syria
Syria Security Belt Northern Cyprus

Economy

Banks

central bank

Borsa Istanbul
Istanbul (stock exchange) Companies EU Customs Union Industries Lira (currency) Southeastern Anatolia
Anatolia Project Tourism Transport

aviation railways

Rankings

Society

Crime Education Languages

Turkish

Culture

Architecture

Ottoman architecture

Art Cinema Cuisine

wine

Dance Drama (TV) Festivals Folklore Human rights

LGBT

Literature Media

newspapers radio stations TV

Music Names Public holidays Religion

Islam

Smoking Sport Theatre

Demographics

Turkish people

list

Population

diaspora immigration Muhacir

Minorities

Arabs Armenians Bosniaks Circassians Kurds

Symbols

Anthem Emblem Flag Motto Presidential seal

Outline Index

Book Category Portal

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Semitic topics

Peoples

Adnanites Algerians Amhara people Amorites Arab
Arab diaspora Arabs Arabs
Arabs in India Arabs
Arabs in Turkey Arameans Argobba people Arma people Assyrian people Bahrani people Bedouin Chaldeans Chaush Egyptians Emiratis Gurage people Habesha people Hadhrami people Harari people Hyksos Iranian Arabs Iraqis Ishmaelites Israelis

Israeli Arabs Israeli Jews

Israelites Jewish diaspora Jews Jordanians Lebanese people

Maronites

Libyans Mandaeans Marsh Arabs Mauritanians Mhallami Moors Moroccans Nabataeans Omanis Palestinians Qahtanite Qataris Sabians Samaritans Saracen Soqotri Sudanese people Syrian people Tigrayans Tigre people Tigrinyas Tunisians Yemenis

Politics

Algerian nationalism Arab
Arab nationalism Arab
Arab socialism Assyrian nationalism Canaanism Egyptian nationalism Iraqi nationalism Jewish political movements

Bundism Zionism

Jewish religious movements Lebanese nationalism

Phoenicianism

Libyan nationalism Palestinian nationalism Pan-Arabism Pan-Islamism Syrian nationalism Tunisian nationalism

Origins

Generations of Noah Genetic studies on Jews Haplogroup IJ Haplogroup IJK Haplogroup J-M172 Haplogroup J-M267 Haplogroup J (Y-DNA) Shem Y-chromosomal Aaron Y-DNA haplogroups in populations of the Near East

History

Abbasid Caliphate Akkadian Empire Amorites Arabization Aram Rehob Aram-Damascus Aram-Naharaim Assyria Babylonia Bit Adini Canaan Carthage Chaldea Davidic line Edom Fatimid Caliphate Ghassanids Hasmonean dynasty Herodian kingdom Herodian Tetrarchy Himyarite Kingdom Judaization Kindah Kingdom of Aksum Kingdom of Awsan Kingdom of Israel
Israel (Samaria) Kingdom of Israel
Israel (united monarchy) Kingdom of Judah Lakhmids Lihyan Midian Minaeans Moab Nabataeans Neo-Assyrian Empire Neo-Babylonian Empire Paddan Aram Palmyrene Empire Phoenicia Qataban Qedarite Rashidun Caliphate Sabaeans Solomonic dynasty Thamud Umayyad Caliphate Zagwe dynasty ʿĀd

Countries

Algeria Arab
Arab world Bahrain Comoros Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia Iraq Israel Jordan Lebanon Libya Mauritania Palestinian territories1 Qatar Sahrawi Arab
Arab Democratic Republic1 (Western Sahara) Saudi Arabia Somalia Sudan Syria Tunisia United Arab
Arab Emirates Yemen

Flags and coats of arms

Algeria Arab
Arab flags Aramean-Syriac flag Assyria Bahrain Cedrus libani The Coromos Crescent Djibouti Egypt Eritrea Ethiopia
Ethiopia (emblem) Ethiopia
Ethiopia (flag) Hamsa Iraq Israel
Israel (emblem) Israel
Israel (flag) Janbiya Jordan Khanjar Kuwait Lebanon Libya Lion of Judah Mauritania Menorah (Temple) Morocco Oman Palestine Pan- Arab
Arab colors Qatar Saudi Arabia Scimitar Shamash Star of David Sudan Syria Takbir Tanit Tunesia United Arab
Arab Emirates Yemen Zulfiqar

Studies

Arabist Assyriology Hebraist Semitic Museum Semitic studies Syriac studies

Religions

Abrahamic religions Ancient Canaanite religion Ancient Mesopotamian religion Ancient Semitic religion Babylonian religion Christianity Druze
Druze religion Islam Judaism Mandaeism pre-Islamic Arabia Samaritan religion Semitic neopaganism

Organizations

Arab
Arab European League Arab
Arab League Assyrian Universal Alliance World Council of Arameans
Arameans (Syriacs) World Zionist Congress

1 Is a state with limited interna