Assyrian diaspora

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File:Assyrianfolkdance.jpg
An Assyrian folk dance at an Assyrian party in Chicago

The Assyrian diaspora (Syriac: ܓܠܘܬܐ, Galuta, "exile") refers to ethnic Assyrians living in communities outside their ancestral homeland. The Eastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrians claim descent from the ancient Assyrians and are one of the few ancient Semitic ethnicities in the Near East who resisted Arabization, Turkification, Persianization and Islamization during and after the Muslim conquest of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey.

The indigenous Assyrian homeland is within the borders of northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, and northeastern Syria, a region roughly corresponding with Assyria from the 25th century BC to the 7th century AD.[1] Assyrians are predominantly Christians; most are members of the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Assyrian Pentecostal Church and the Assyrian Evangelical Church.[2] The terms "Syriac", "Chaldean" and "Chaldo-Assyrian" can be used to describe ethnic Assyrians by their religious affiliation, and indeed the terms "Syriac" and "Syrian" are much later derivatives of the original "Assyrian", and historically, geographically and ethnically originally meant Assyrian (see Name of Syria).

Before the Assyrian genocide, the Assyrian people were largely unmoved from their native lands which they had occupied for about 5,000 years. Although a handful of Assyrians had migrated to the United Kingdom during the Victorian era, the Assyrian diaspora began in earnest during World War I (1914–1918) as the Ottoman Empire conducted both large scale genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Assyrian people with the aid of local Kurdish, Iranian and Arab tribes. This genocide was coordinated alongside the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide and Great Famine of Mount Lebanon.

Further atrocities such as the Simele massacres of the 1930s also stimulated emigration.

Additional emigration occurred in the 1980s, as Assyrian communities fled the violence of the Kurdish–Turkish conflict and the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran. During the 1990s and 2000s, Assyrians left the Middle East to evade persecution in Ba'athist Iraq and from Muslim fundamentalists. The exodus continued into the mid-2010s, as Assyrians fled Iraq and northeastern Syria due to genocide by the Islamic State and other Sunni Islamist groups.[3]

Demographic estimates

Country (or region) Most-recent census Assyrian
population (2008) 		Total country (or region)
population (2008)[4] 		% Assyrian Further information
Iraq - 500,000[5][6]–1,500,000[7] 30,711,152 2–5% Assyrians in Iraq
Syria - 200,000-877,000[8][9][10] 20,581,290 c.Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".4%[11] Assyrians in Syria
United States 82,355 (2000)[12] 100,000[13]–500,000[7][14] 307,006,550 0.03%-0.17% Assyrian Americans
Sweden - 100,000[15]–120,000[7] 9,219,637 1.2% Assyrians in Sweden
Jordan - 44,000[7]–150,000[16][17] 5,906,043 0.7% Assyrians in Jordan
Germany - 70,000[18]–100,000[7] 82,110,097 0.12% German Assyrians
Iran - 74,000[14]–80,000[19] 71,956,322 0.11% Assyrians in Iran
Lebanon - 37,000[20]–100,000[7] 4,193,758 0.9–2.38% Assyrians in Lebanon
Turkey - 24,000[14]–70,000[21] 73,914,260 0.03%-0.1% Assyrians in Turkey
Russia 13,649 (2002)[22] 70,000[7] 141,950,000 0.05% Assyrians in Russia
Australia 46,217 (2016)[23] 60,000[23] 23,431,800 0.13% Assyrian Australians
Canada 8,650 (2006)[24] 38,000[25] 33,311,400 0,11% Assyrians in Canada
Netherlands - 20,000[7] 16,445,593 0.12% Assyrians in the Netherlands
France - 40,000[7] 62,277,432 0.06% Assyrians in France
Belgium - 15,000[7] 10,708,433 0.14% Assyrians in Belgium
Georgia 3,299 (2002)[26] 15,000[7] 4,385,400 0.34% Assyrians in Georgia
Armenia 2,769 (2011)[27] 15,000[7] 3,018,854 0.09% Assyrians in Armenia
Brazil - 10,000[7] 193,733,795 0.005%
Switzerland - 10,000[7] 7,647,675 0.13%
Denmark - 10,000[7] 5,493,621 0.18%
Greece - 8,000[7] 11,237,094 0.07% Assyrians in Greece
Great Britain - 8,000[7] 51,446,000 0.02% British Assyrians
Austria - 7,000[7] 8,336,926 0.08% Assyrians in Austria
Italy - 3,000[7] 59,832,179 0.005%
Azerbaijan - 1,400[7] Assyrians in Azerbaijan
New Zealand 1,683 (2006)[28] 3,000[7] 4,268,900 0.07% Assyrians in New Zealand
Uruguay - 3,000[29] 3,449,285 0.09%
Argentina - 2,000[30] 44,361,150 0.04%
Mexico - 2,000[7] 106,350,434 0.002% Assyrians in Mexico
Other - 100,000[7]
Total - 3.3 million[31]–4.2 million[32]

Script error: No such module "anchor".Former USSR

From 1937 to 1959, the Assyrian population in the Soviet Union grew by 587.3 percent.[33]

Former Soviet Union

History

Warmly-dressed men holding Assyrian flags
Assyrians in Russia protesting Iraqi church bombings in 2006

Assyrians came to Russia and the Soviet Union in three large waves. The first wave was after the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828, that delineated a border between Russia and Persia. The second was as a result of the Assyrian genocide during and after World War I; the third was after World War II, when the Soviet Union unsuccessfully tried to establish a satellite state in Iran.

Soviet troops withdrew in 1946, and left the Assyrians (who supported the coup) exposed to retaliation identical to that received from the Turks 30 years earlier. Soviet authorities persecuted Assyrian religious and community leaders in the same way that they persecuted Russians who remained members of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Most Assyrians are members of the Assyrian Church of the East; other churches include the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church.[34]

USSR census

  • 1897 census: 5,300 "Assyrians" (by language)[35]
  • 1919 refugee status:
7,000–8,000 Assyrian refugees in Tbilisi[36]
2,000 Assyrians in Yerevan[36]
15,000 Assyrians from Hakkari, 10,000 from Urmia and Salmas in the Russian region of Rostov[37]
  • 1926 census: 9,808 Assyrians (Aisor)[36]
  • 1959 census: 21,083 Assyrians[38]
  • 1970 census: 24,294 Assyrians[39]
  • 1979 census: 25,170 Assyrians[40]
  • 1989 census: 26,289 Assyrians[38]

Russia

Armenia

  • 1926 (Soviet) census:[39] 21,215 Assyrians
  • 1989 (Soviet) census:[41] 5,963 Assyrians
  • 2001 census:[42] 3,409 Assyrians (3rd minority ethnic group after Yazidis and Russians): 524 urban, 2,485 rural
  • 2011 census:[27] 2,769 Assyrians

Georgia

  • 1926 census: 2,904 Assyrians[39]
  • 1989 census: 6,206 Assyrians[26]
  • 2002 census: 3,299 Assyrians[26]

Ukraine

  • 2001 census: 3,143[43]

Kazakhstan

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Estimates on December 31, 1944, by province (muhafazah)
Denomination Beyrouth Mount Lebanon North Lebanon South Lebanon Biqa' Total
Syriac Catholics 4,089 275 169 9 442 4,984
Syriac Orthodox 2,070 209 100 22 1,352 3,753
Chaldean Catholic 974 120 1 10 225 1,330[45]
1932 census and later estimates
Denomination 1932 census[46] 1944 estimates[45] 1954 estimates[46]
Syriac Catholics 2,675 4,984 –
Chaldean Catholics 528 1,330 –
Syriac Orthodox 2,574 3,753 4,200
Church Of The East 800 1,200 1,400

North America

Canada

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  • 2001 Census: 6,980 Assyrians
  • 2006 Census: 8,650[47]
  • 2011 Census: 10,810[48]

United States

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South America

Uruguay

Argentina

Next to Uruguay, in Argentina the Syriac Orthodox Church counts with a Patriarchal Vicar.[56] However, the actual number of Assyrians is hard to know because the Argentine Census does not ask for ethnicity. Furthermore, their assimilation rate is very high, as it happens with other Middle Eastern communities settled in the country. There is an Assyrian presence in Buenos Aires, La Plata, Córdoba, Salta and Frías.[57][58] In the past, intellectuals like Farid Nazha went into exile in Argentina. Although 2,000 Assyrians are listed in Argentina, the actual number may be lower.[30]

Europe

Belgium

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Assyrians arrived in Belgium primarily as refugees from the Turkish towns of Midyat and Mardin in Tur Abdin. Most belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church, but some belong to the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Their three main settlements are in the Brussels municipalities of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (where their municipal councilman, Christian Democrat Ibrahim Erkan, is originally from Turkey) and Etterbeek, Liège and Mechelen.

Two more councilmen were elected in Etterbeek on October 8, 2006: the Liberal Sandrine Es (whose family is from Turkey) and the Christian Democrat Ibrahim Hanna (from Syria's Khabur region). Flemish author August Thiry wrote Mechelen aan de Tigris (Mechelen on the Tigris) about Assyrian refugees from Hassana in the southeastern Turkish district of Silopi. Municipal candidate Melikan Kucam is one of them. In the October 14, 2012 municipal elections, Kucam was elected in Mechelen as a member of the Flemisch nationalists N-VA.

France

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". An estimated 20,000 Assyrians live in France, primarily concentrated in the northern French suburbs of Sarcelles (where several thousand Chaldean Catholics live) and in Gonesse and Villiers-le-Bel. They are from several villages in southeastern Turkey.[59][60]

Germany

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The number of Assyrians in Germany is estimated at 100,000.[61] Most Assyrian immigrants and their descendants in Germany live in Munich, Wiesbaden, Paderborn, Essen, Bietigheim-Bissingen, Ahlen, Göppingen, Köln, Hamburg, Berlin, Augsburg and Gütersloh.

Since they were persecuted throughout the 20th century, many Assyrians arrived from Turkey seeking a better life. The first large wave arrived during the 1960s and 1970s as part of the gastarbeiter (guest worker) economic program. Germany was seeking immigrant workers (largely from Turkey) and many Assyrians, seeing opportunities for freedom and success, applied for visas. Assyrians began working in restaurants or in construction, and many began operating their own shops. The first Assyrian immigrants in Germany organized by forming culture clubs and building churches. The second wave came in the 1980s and 1990s as refugees from the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.

Greece

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The first Assyrian migrants arrived in Greece in 1934, and settled in Makronisos (today uninhabited), Keratsini, Pireus, Egaleo and Kalamata.[62] The vast majority of Assyrians (about 2,000) live in Peristeri, a suburb of Athens.[63] There are five Christian Assyrian marriages recorded at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Athens in 1924–25 (the transcripts can be viewed on St. Paul's Anglican Church website), indicating the arrival of refugees at that time.

Netherlands

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The first Assyrians came to the Netherlands in the 1970s, primarily from Turkey and observing the West Syriac Rite. The number of Assyrians in the country is estimated at 25,000 to 35,000. They primarily live in the eastern Netherlands, in Enschede, Hengelo, Oldenzaal and Borne in the province of Overijssel.

Sweden

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In the late 1970s, about 12,000 Assyrians from Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria emigrated to Sweden. Although they considered themselves persecuted for religious and ethnic reasons, they were not recognized as refugees. Those who had lived in Sweden for a longer period received residence permits for humanitarian reasons.[64]

Södertälje is considered the unofficial Assyrian capital of Europe because of the city's high percentage of Assyrians.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". The Assyrian TV channels Suryoyo Sat and Suroyo TV are based in Södertälje. From 2005 to 2006 and since 2014, the Assyrian Ibrahim Baylan has been a minister in the Swedish government.

United Kingdom

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". About 8,000 Assyrians live in the United Kingdom, primarily in London and Manchester. The first Assyrians arrived during the 1850s, most immigration began in the 1950s.[59]

Pacific

Australia

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". In the 2016 census, 46,217 people identified themselves as having Assyrian ancestry, 0.13 percent of Australia's population.[65] Of the Assyrians in Australia, 21,000 are members of the Assyrian Church of the East and 9,000 are members of the Chaldean Catholic Church. The City of Fairfield, in Sydney, has the country's largest number of Assyrians.[66] In Sydney, Assyrians are the leading ethnic group in the Fairfield LGA suburbs of Fairfield, Fairfield Heights and Greenfield Park.[67]

In Melbourne, Assyrians live in the northwestern suburbs of Broadmeadows, Craigieburn, Meadow Heights, Roxburgh Park and Fawkner. In 2016, Melbourne had 13,812 people who claimed Assyrian ancestry.[67] The Assyrian community is growing, and there are new arrivals from Syria and Iraq, adding to those with origins in Iran, Jordan and the Caucasus. In May 2013, the New South Wales parliament formally recognised the Assyrian genocide.[68] Assyrians have been labelled as a successful minority group, and have established many churches, schools and community centres.

New Zealand

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  • 1991 census: 315[69]
  • 1996 census: 807[69]
  • 2001 census: 1,176[69]
    • 465 in the Auckland region
    • 690 in the Wellington region
    • Highest unemployment rate (40 percent)
    • Highest-percentage-Christian ethnic group (99 percent)
    • English spoken: 774; no English: 348. Number of languages spoken: 1: 225; 2: 405; 3: 423; 4: 63; 5: 3
  • 2006 census: 1,683[28]

See also

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Brief History of Assyrians Template:Webarchive, AINA.org
  8. ↑ "Prior to the start of the war in Syria, it is estimated that the country was home to approximately 200,000 ethnic Assyrians" Template:Webarchive
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Turkey-Syria deal allows Syriacs to cross border for religious holidays "An estimated 25,000 Syriacs live in Turkey, while Syria boasts some 877,000."
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ 2000 Census USA Template:Webarchive
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Demographics of Sweden Template:Webarchive, Swedish Language Council "Sweden has also one of the largest exile communities of Assyrian and Syriac Christians (also known as Chaldeans) with a population of around 100,000."
  16. ↑ Thrown to the Lions Template:Webarchive, Doug Bandow, The America Spectator
  17. ↑ Jordan Should Legally Recognize Displaced Iraqis As Refugees Template:Webarchive, AINA.org. Assyrian and Chaldean Christians Flee Iraq to Neighboring Jordan, ASSIST News Service
  18. ↑ 70,000 Syriac Christians according to REMID Template:Webarchive (of which 55,000 Syriac Orthodox).
  19. ↑ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=iran Template:Webarchive, SIL Ethnologue "Assyrian Neo-Aramaic 15,000 in Iran (1994). Ethnic population: 80,000 (1994)" See also Christianity in Iran.
  20. ↑ Languages of Lebanon Template:Webarchive, Ethnologue "Immigrant languages: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (1,000), Chaldean Neo-Aramaic (18,000), Turoyo (18,000)."
  21. ↑ SIL Ethnologue Template:Webarchive "Turoyo [tru] 3,000 in Turkey (1994 Hezy Mutzafi). Ethnic population: 50,000 to 70,000 (1994). Hértevin [hrt] 1,000 (1999 H. Mutzafi). Originally Siirt Province. They have left their villages, most emigrating to the West, but some may still be in Turkey." See also Christianity in Turkey.
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  23. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  32. ↑ SIL Ethnologue estimate for the "ethnic population" associated with Assyrian Neo-Aramaic. Template:Webarchive
  33. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. ↑ a b Assyrians Template:Webarchive, Center for Russian Studies, NUPI - Norwegian Institute of International Affairs Template:Webarchive
  35. ↑ Youri Bromlei et al., Processus ethniques en U.R.S.S., Editions du Progrès, 1977
  36. ↑ a b c Eden Naby, "Les Assyriens d'Union soviétique," Cahiers du Monde russe, 16/3-4. 1975
  37. ↑ A. Chatelet (Supérieur de la mission catholique de Téhéran), Question assyro-chaldéenne, Quartier général - Bureau de la Marine, Constantinople, 31 août 1919
  38. ↑ a b An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires, by James Stuart Olson, Lee Brigance Pappas, Nicholas Charles
  39. ↑ a b c Eden Naby 1975
  40. ↑ Annuaire démographique des Nations-Unies 1983, Département des affaires économiques et sociales internationales, New York, 1985
  41. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  43. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  44. ↑ Assyrian cultural center in KazakhstanScript error: No such module "Unsubst".
  45. ↑ a b Albert H. Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World, London: Oxford University Press, 1947
  46. ↑ a b Kenneth C. Bruss, "Lebanon - Area and population," Encyclopædia Britannica, 1963
  47. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  48. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  49. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  50. ↑ U.S. Bureau of the Census, Language Spoken at Home for the Foreign-Born Population 5 Years and Over: 1980 and 1990 Template:Webarchive, Internet Release date: March 9, 1999
  51. ↑ US Census, QT-P13. Ancestry: 2000 Template:Webarchive
  52. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  53. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  54. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  55. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  56. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  57. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  58. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  59. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  60. ↑ Gaunt, David, "Cultural diversity, Multilingualism and Ethnic minorities in Sweden - Identity conflicts among Oriental Christian in Sweden", s.10.
  61. ↑ "Diskussion zum Thema 'Aaramäische Christen' im Kapitelshaus" Borkener Zeitung Template:In lang (archived link, 8 October 2011)
  62. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  63. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  64. ↑ Swedish Minister for Development Co-operation, Migration and Asylum Policy, Migration 2002, June 2002 Template:Webarchive
  65. ↑ Kinarah: Twentieth Anniversary of Assyrian Australian Association 1989, Assyrian Australian Association, Edensor Park.
  66. ↑ Community Relations Commission For a Multicultural NSW 2004, Cultural Harmony. The Next Decade 2002-2012 (White Paper), New South Wales Government, Sydney South.
  67. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  68. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  69. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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Bibliography

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Further reading

  • Talia, Peter. Assyrians in the West. Chicago: Nineveh Printing Co. [199-]. 106 p. Without ISBN
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