ܣܘܪ̈ܝܐ ܕܐܪܡܢܝܐ Ասորիները Հայաստանում | |
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| Total population | |
| 2,769 - 6,000[1][2] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Languages | |
| Armenian,Russian,Neo-Aramaic | |
| Religion | |
| MainlyChristianity (majority:Syriac Christianity) |
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| Assyrians |
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Assyrians in Armenia (Syriac:ܣܘܪ̈ܝܐ ܕܐܪܡܢܝܐ,Armenian:Ասորիները Հայաստանում,romanized: Asorinery Hayastanum), orArmenian Assyrians, areAssyrian people or people of Assyrian descent living in theRepublic of Armenia. Genetically distinct from the Armenian population,[3] they make up the country's third largest ethnic minority, afterYazidis andRussians.
According to the 2022Armenian census, there are 2,755Assyrians living inArmenia,[4] and Armenia is home to some of the last surviving Assyrian communities in theCaucasus. The majority of Assyrians living in the country are originally fromUrmia, and continue to refer to themselves asUrmijenāye to designate their place of origin.[5]
The Assyrian–Armenian interrelations and interactions history numbers many centuries, both in pre-Christian and post-Christian era.[6] According to the legend, the Armenian patriarch Hayk defeated the evil Assyrian rulerBel in an epic battle, in order to win his people's freedom. He named this territoryHayastan, and the Armenians are still using this name. This legend is a part of Armenia's rich and storied history, where Armenian heroes fought against evil invaders and conquerors for their freedom. There is also the story of the Armenian kingAra the Beautiful who refused Assyrian QueenSemiramis’s offer to a marriage and become king of the world.[7] Semiramis outraged by Ara's refusal, wages a war against Armenia and demands Ara's capture alive.[citation needed]
Prior to their acceptance ofChristianity, Armenians and Assyrians were considered to be bitter foes, engaging in conflict during theUrartu–Assyria War.[8] The conflict resulted in an Assyrian victory, andUrartu became a client state of ancientAssyria. Both states shares aspects of their culture such as writing and artwork.[7] Armenians also had a prominent presence inEdessa and made contacts with Assyrians in areas where theSyriac Orthodox Church hadepiscopal sees such asAdana andAnazarbus.[9] Armenians traditionally called Assyrians "Asori" (Armenian:ասորի), and many Armenian Christian figures were of Assyrian origins.[6]
Today's Assyrian population in Armenia are mostly descendants of settlers who arrived in the early nineteenth century during theRusso-Persian War (1826–1828), when thousands of refugees fled their homeland in the areas aroundUrmia inPersia.[10][11][12][13] Like withAssyrians in Azerbaijan, emigration was influenced by theRussian Empire after the treaties ofGulistan andTurkmenchay, when they annexed territories held byQajar Iran.[14][15][16] A total of 20 families settled in the now-abandoned town ofGelaysor, marking the first instance of Assyrian emigration to the country as well as emigration creating anAssyrian diaspora.[17] Under Russian influence, Assyrian immigrants adoptedOrthodox Christianity and had their last namesRussified.[10][18][19]
In the beginning of the 20th century, a new wave of immigration occurred from what is today Southeastern Turkey, specifically theHakkari region, due to theAssyrian genocide.[13] As many Armenians fledAnatolia for what is today Armenia, many Assyrians followed as well, citing it as the only "Christian haven" in the region (although many also fled toGeorgia). There were seven Assyrian villages in the country during this time, and the population reached 2,500 beforeWorld War I.[16]
In theArmenian Soviet Socialist Republic, Assyrians were primarily educated inRussian language schools and their language waslatinized.[20] Despite introduction of the language, Russification policies caused schools to be closed in the 1930s.[21] Gelaysor had been abandoned by the 1940s afterStalinist repression andSoviet deportations,[19] and some of the population had resettled in other villages.[22] Starting in the 1970s, the Armenian SSR began to reintroduce Assyrian language into village schools, and after thedissolution of the Soviet Union, a linguistic and cultural revival began to take place as Assyrians wanted greater understanding of their roots.[23][21] Amid theFirst Nagorno-Karabakh War, Assyrians in Azerbaijan would flee toRussia and Armenia, as well as theRepublic of Artsakh.[5]
On the eve of theEastern al-Hasakah offensive and attacks on Assyrian villages inSyria in 2015,Gagik Yeganyan of the Armenian State Migration Service stated that Armenia was willing to accept Assyrian refugees fleeing the country.[24]
In 2020, amid theSecond Nagorno-Karabakh War, many Assyrians from Armenia volunteered to fight or provide assistance to theArmed Forces of Armenia for the defense ofArtsakh againstAzerbaijan.[25] Five Assyrian soldiers had been killed by November of 2020, with six additional servicemen wounded and two who weremissing in action.[26] Anahit Khosroeva, a genocide scholar of Assyrian descent from Armenia, estimated that more than 100 Assyrians were fighting for Armenia. AssyriaTV, a station based in Europe, arrived to Armenia to report the war as well as talk to the Assyrian families who lost their sons in the war.[27] During theblockade of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the largerNagorno-Karabakh conflict, member of parliament Zemfira Mirzoyeva testified how Artsakh's Assyrian community had been unable to leave the region due to the actions of the Azerbaijani government.[28]
In 2022,Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the EastAwa III met withKarekin II of theArmenian Apostolic Church where both emphasized the positive relations between Assyrians and Armenians.[29] Awa III consecrated the Church of the Assyrian community of Armenia during his visit. In 2025, the Assyrian World Conference was held in Yerevan,[30] with Armenian prime ministerNikol Pashinyan emphasizing the importance of Assyrians toArmenian society.[31]
In 2004, Assyrian residents ofDimitrov alleged that they were discriminated against due to their non-Armenian origin, as they had failed to receive local aid from government authorities.[32] TheArmenian government was quick to deny the allegations, andHranush Kharatyan stated that discontent with the Dimitrov village chief was high even among ethnic Armenians for the same reasons.[citation needed]
In 2021, Assyrians in Armenia protested against a decision by the Armenian government to have their towns governed by one mayor.[33] Nikademus Youkhanaev, a priest of theAssyrian Church of the East in Armenia, stated that the decision would cause problems regarding the erosion ofAssyrian culture and identity in Armenia.[citation needed]
The AzerbaijaniCenter for International Relations Analysis states that from 2015-2018, no grants were given to the Assyrian community through the "Support to National Minorities" program, and that Assyrian schools are inadequate in teaching history and language; similar issues of teaching language have been previously discussed by community leaders such as Razmik Khosroev.[34][35] In 2019, a dispute broke out over the ownership of a church in Dimitrov, with attempts to solve the dispute by the village head being unsuccessful.[36] Irana Gasparyan, an Assyrian community leader in Armenia, alleges that Assyrians face invisible discrimination in preserving culture and the Armenian workforce.[37][38]
They mostly work in the fields of gardening, agriculture[5][21] and viniculture. The Assyrian community in the country has mostly acclimated to the environment, siding with Armenian causes and even married into mixed-Armenian families.[39][12] Generally, positive relations are maintained between the two groups in the country and in both theArmenian and Assyrian diasporas.[7]
The Assyrian community in Armenia has received an annual message of congratulations on the occasion ofKha b-Nisan (Assyrian New Year) on 1 April between 2022–2025.[40][41][42][43] Other ACOE-specific holidays are also observed,[22] and general facets of Assyrian culture such asKhigga,cuisine, andmusic are also celebrated by the Assyrian community in Armenia.[22]
In the Armenian capital ofYerevan is the Assyrian Association, 'Atour', in the Armenian capital ofYerevan.[44] Assyrian culture has begun a revival process in the country, with greater language/culture education and religious initiatives taking place across Assyrian communities in the country.[5] The Armenian government offers finances and support to Assyrians in the country for programs related to the language, including radio hours.[45] However, according to Razmik Khosroev, the Armenian government is not doing a sufficient job in allocating cultural development programs for Assyrians as no sufficient policy exists for minorities in the state, and concerns of Armenianization/cultural preservation remain.[35]
In 2012, a memorial to the Assyrian genocide was enacted in Yerevan and unveiled in a ceremony with Armenian government representatives and Assyrians from the country.[46] The memorial contains inscriptions in Armenian, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, and Russian, and memorial ceremonies are commemorated annually onAssyrian Martyrs Day.[47] Three years later, theNational Assembly of Armenia officially recognized the Assyrian genocide alongside theGreek genocide.[48] Annually on April 24th, the Assyrian community commemoratesArmenian Genocide Remembrance Day at theTsitsernakaberd memorial complex.[49][50]
There are four public schools that are providing instructions inAssyrian Neo-Aramaic. Each village inhabited by Assyrians has instructions fully in the language, with additional lessons on culture and history at schools.[51] They are usually taught in a multilingual environment and can speakArmenian and Russian as well. Many Assyrians in Armenia desire Russian-language education after learning Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, with more stating fluency in Russian in the 2011 census.[52]
Assyrians in Armenia today mostly belong to Assyrian Church of the East, receiving their first ACOE priest in 2003, but may also attend theRussian Orthodox andArmenian Apostolic churches.[23] Most Assyrians living in Armenia are not cognizant of religious identity, however, and may accept any Christian religious belief irrespective of denomination.[53]
A Russian Orthodox parish is present in Dimitrov, where the majority of attendees are Armenian or Assyrian.[54] Since the 2000s, an ACOE-parish has been present in Verin Dvin;[53] the town has a functioning church (Mar-Tuma) and the Marez Orthodox Chapel.[55][56]
There were 6,000 Assyrians in Armenia before thedissolution of the Soviet Union, but because ofArmenia's struggling economy during the 1990s, the population has since been cut by half, as many have emigrated to Russia orUkraine.[19][56]
The Assyrian population in Armenia is mainly rural. Out of 3,409 Assyrians in Armenia in 2001, 2,885 (84.6%) lived in rural settlements while 524 (15.4%) were urban.[57] In the 2022 census, 347 Assyrians lived in cities while the remainder lived in villages.[4] According to the Council of EuropeEuropean Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, there were four rural settlements in the country with a significant Assyrian population:
Verin Dvin has the largest Assyrian population anywhere in the country. Aside from rural settlements, Assyrians also live in the Armenian capital of Yerevan and formerly in theRepublic of Artsakh.[51] During the 2015 census for theRepublic of Artsakh, 16 Assyrians were recorded as having lived there, while the overwhelming majority of the population were ethnicArmenians.[59]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1939 | 3,280 | — |
| 1970 | 5,544 | +69.0% |
| 1979 | 6,183 | +11.5% |
| 1989 | 5,963 | −3.6% |
| 2001 | 3,409 | −42.8% |
| 2011 | 2,769 | −18.8% |
| 2022 | 2,755 | −0.5% |
| Sources: 1939,[60] 1970,[61] 1979,[62] 1989,[63] 2001,[64] 2011,[1] 2022[65] | ||
Assyrians in Asia | |
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