TheAssyrian diaspora (Syriac: ܓܠܘܬܐ,Galuta, "exile") refers to ethnicAssyrians living in communities outside theirancestral homeland. TheEastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrians claim descent from the ancient Assyrians and are one of the fewancient Semitic ethnicities in theNear East who resistedArabization,Turkification,Persianization andIslamization during and after theMuslim conquest of Iraq,Iran,Syria and Turkey.
TheindigenousAssyrian homeland is within the borders of northernIraq, southeasternTurkey, northwesternIran, and northeasternSyria, a region roughly corresponding withAssyria from the 25th century BC to the 7th century AD.[1] Assyrians are predominantlyChristians; most are members of theAssyrian Church of the East, theAncient Church of the East, theChaldean Catholic Church, theSyriac Orthodox Church, theSyriac Catholic Church, theAssyrian Pentecostal Church and theAssyrian 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 (seeName of Syria).
Before theAssyrian 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 hadmigrated to theUnited Kingdom during theVictorian era, the Assyrian diaspora began in earnest duringWorld War I (1914–1918) as theOttoman Empire conducted both large scalegenocide andethnic cleansing against the Assyrian people with the aid of localKurdish,Iranian andArab tribes. This genocide was coordinated alongside theArmenian genocide,Greek genocide andGreat Famine of Mount Lebanon.
Further atrocities such as theSimele massacres of the 1930s also stimulatedemigration.
Additional emigration occurred in the 1980s, as Assyrian communities fled the violence of theKurdish–Turkish conflict and the establishment of theIslamic Republic of Iran. During the 1990s and 2000s, Assyrians left theMiddle East to evadepersecution inBa'athist Iraq and fromMuslim fundamentalists. The exodus continued into the mid-2010s, as Assyrians fledIraq and northeasternSyria due togenocide by theIslamic State and otherSunni Islamist groups.[3]
| 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.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] |
From 1937 to 1959, the Assyrian population in the Soviet Union grew by 587.3 percent.[33]
Assyrians came toRussia and theSoviet Union in three large waves. The first wave was after theTreaty of Turkmenchay in 1828, that delineated a border betweenRussia andPersia. The second was as a result of the Assyrian genocide during and afterWorld War I; the third was afterWorld 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 theTurks 30 years earlier. Soviet authorities persecuted Assyrian religious and community leaders in the same way that they persecuted Russians who remained members of theRussian Orthodox Church.
Most Assyrians are members of theAssyrian Church of the East; other churches include theSyriac Orthodox Church and theChaldean Catholic Church.[34]
| 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] |
| 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 |
Next to Uruguay, inArgentina theSyriac 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 inBuenos Aires,La Plata,Córdoba,Salta andFrías.[57][58] In the past, intellectuals likeFarid Nazha went into exile in Argentina. Although 2,000 Assyrians are listed in Argentina, the actual number may be lower.[30]
Assyrians arrived inBelgium primarily as refugees from theTurkish towns ofMidyat andMardin inTur 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 theBrussels municipalities ofSaint-Josse-ten-Noode (where their municipal councilman, Christian Democrat Ibrahim Erkan, is originally from Turkey) andEtterbeek,Liège andMechelen.
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 wroteMechelen aan de Tigris (Mechelen on the Tigris) about Assyrian refugees from Hassana in the southeastern Turkish district ofSilopi. Municipal candidate Melikan Kucam is one of them. In theOctober 14, 2012 municipal elections, Kucam was elected in Mechelen as a member of theFlemisch nationalistsN-VA.
An estimated 20,000 Assyrians live inFrance, primarily concentrated in the northern French suburbs ofSarcelles (where several thousand Chaldean Catholics live) and inGonesse andVilliers-le-Bel. They are from several villages in southeasternTurkey.[59][60]
The number ofAssyrians in Germany is estimated at 100,000.[61] Most Assyrian immigrants and their descendants in Germany live inMunich,Wiesbaden,Paderborn,Essen,Bietigheim-Bissingen,Ahlen,Göppingen,Köln,Hamburg,Berlin,Augsburg andGütersloh.
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 thegastarbeiter (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 theKurdish–Turkish conflict.
The first Assyrian migrants arrived inGreece in 1934, and settled inMakronisos (today uninhabited),Keratsini,Pireus,Egaleo andKalamata.[62] The vast majority of Assyrians (about 2,000) live inPeristeri, a suburb ofAthens.[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.
The first Assyrians came to theNetherlands in the 1970s, primarily from Turkey and observing theWest Syriac Rite. The number of Assyrians in the country is estimated at 25,000 to 35,000. They primarily live in the eastern Netherlands, inEnschede,Hengelo,Oldenzaal andBorne in the province ofOverijssel.
In the late 1970s, about 12,000 Assyrians fromTurkey,Iran,Iraq andSyria emigrated toSweden. 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.[citation needed] The Assyrian TV channelsSuryoyo Sat andSuroyo TV are based inSödertälje. From 2005 to 2006 and since 2014, the AssyrianIbrahim Baylan has been a minister in the Swedish government.
About 8,000 Assyrians live in theUnited Kingdom, primarily inLondon andManchester. The first Assyrians arrived during the 1850s, most immigration began in the 1950s.[59]
In the 2016census, 46,217 people identified themselves as having Assyrian ancestry, 0.13 percent of Australia's population.[65] Of theAssyrians in Australia, 21,000 are members of theAssyrian Church of the East and 9,000 are members of theChaldean Catholic Church. TheCity of Fairfield, inSydney, has the country's largest number of Assyrians.[66] In Sydney, Assyrians are theleading ethnic group in the FairfieldLGA suburbs ofFairfield,Fairfield Heights andGreenfield Park.[67]
InMelbourne, Assyrians live in the northwestern suburbs ofBroadmeadows,Craigieburn,Meadow Heights,Roxburgh Park andFawkner. In 2016, Melbourne had 13,812 people who claimed Assyrian ancestry.[67] The Assyrian community is growing, and there are new arrivals fromSyria andIraq, adding to those with origins inIran,Jordan and theCaucasus. In May 2013, the New South Wales parliament formally recognised theAssyrian genocide.[68] Assyrians have been labelled as asuccessful minority group, and have established many churches, schools and community centres.
The Assyrians, although closely assiociated with their Christian religion, are divided among a number of Christian sects. The largest denominations are the Chaldean Catholic Church with about 45% of the Assyrian population, the Syriac Orthodox with 26%, the Assyrian Church of the East with 19%, the free Orthodox Church of Antioch or Syriac Catholic Church with 4%, and various Protestant sects with a combined 6%.
Syria has several other ethnic groups, the Kurds... they make up an estimated 9 percent...Turkomen comprise around 4-5 percent. of the total population. The rest of the ethnic mix of Syria is made of Assyrians (about 4 percent), Armenians (about 2 percent), and Circassians (about 1 percent).
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| Saint Thomas Christians, legacy of theMalankara Church (active 1st century–1601) inKerala,India |
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