French Assyrians ( syr, ܐܬܘܪܝܐ ܕܦܪܲܢܓܝܵܐ), (french: Assyriens) alternatively (french: Assyriens) are French citizens of

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 ...

ancestry. There are around 16,000 most of whom are concentrated in the

Paris metropolitan area The Paris metropolitan area (french: aire d'attraction de Paris) is a statistical area that describes the reach of commuter movement to and from Paris, France and its surrounding suburbs. Overview In 2020 France's national INSEE statistica ...

History

The community has a history in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

dating back to the First World War, with most arriving during the 1920s in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

as a result of the

Assyrian genocide 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 ...

. The bulk of the Assyrian presence dates back to the early 20th century, when some Assyrians, fleeing the

, found refuge in France. Others arrived from rural south-eastern Turkey as a result of the

Kurdish–Turkish conflict Kurdish nationalist uprisings have periodically occurred in Turkey, beginning with the Turkish War of Independence and the consequent transition from the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish state and continuing to the present day with the curr ...

in the 1960s and 70s. Their numbers swelled after the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

in 2003 by those arriving from Iraqi cities.

Population

There are 30,000 Assyrians living in France. The first Assyrians arrived in Marseille France in the 1920's as refugees from the genocide of the Assyrians by Turks during World War One, in which 750,000 Assyrians (75%) were killed, as well as 1 million Greeks and 1.5 million Armenians. Around 10,000 of Assyrians live in

Sarcelles Sarcelles () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the arrondissement of Sarcelles. In the south of the commune ...

, a suburb of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. They are generally compared to

French Jews The history of the Jews in France deals with Jews and Jewish communities in France since at least the Early Middle Ages. France was a centre of Jewish learning in the Middle Ages, but persecution increased over time, including multiple expulsi ...

who are seen as inward-looking, conservative and well-integrated in the French society. 10,000 (of 16,000) Chaldeans live in

Notable French Assyrians

* Maria Theresa Asmar * François David * Henri Jibrayel *

Agha Petros Petros Elia of Baz ( syr, ܐܝܠܝܐ ܦܹܛܪܘܼܣ) (April 1880 – 2 February 1932), better known as Agha Petros, was an Assyrian military leader during World War I. Early years Petros Elia was from the Lower Baz village, Ottoman Empire in ...

Pascal Esho Warda Pascale Isho Warda ( syr, ܦܐܣܟܐܠ ܐܝܫܘ ܘܪܕܐ) was the Minister of Immigration and Refugees in the Iraqi Interim Government. Career An Assyrian Christian, Warda was born in 1961 in the city of Nohadra. She later was exiled to France, ...

External links

Association des Assyro-Chaldéens de France

Assyrians Establish National Federation in France

Notes

References

* Assyrians