The Assyrians (also called Syriacs and Chaldeans) are a Christian people who origin from the ancient Assyrian empire in Mesopotamia. The Assyrians have, since 612 BC, not had a country of their own, and therefore lived as a minority in their former homeland; today situated in Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. The Assyrians were one of the first peoples who confessed to Christianity. In the 500s, the church was divided, and in many ways also the people.

Today the Assyrians belong to several different churches, among them the Ancient Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Syriac Catholic Church.
The Assyrians of today speak Assyrian, also called Syriac, which is a language belonging to the Semitic languages. The modern Assyrian spoken today is usually divided into two main dialects: Eastern and Western Assyrian. The Assyrian language is the language that was spoken by the majority in the Middle East during the time of Jesus.

Genocides
The Assyrians have through history been victims of persecutions, murders, and violation. There are three years in history that have forever been inscribed in the Assyrians’ memories and that still affect the Assyrians of today: 1843, 1915, and 1933.

The Massacre of 1843 – after Easter Week 1843, a bloody massacre took place, slaughtering an Assyrian tribe in Tiyyar, Iraq. The villages were burnt and more than 10,000 Assyrians were murdered in cold blood. Thousands of women and young girls were abducted and raped, and the ones who survived became slaves to their tyrants. The children were sent away to be sold as slaves or killed.

Seyfo 1915 – The Genocide that took place in the shadow of World War I, is commonly counted as the first genocide in modern time. This horror, which stroke the Assyrians, was by ordinary people simply called the Year of the Sword (Seyfo). Seyfo started on April 24 1915, and over 500,000 innocent Assyrians were systematically massacred by the swords of Turks and Kurds.

The Massacres in Simele 1933 – in October 1932, Iraq became an independent country, and at the same time the country joined The League of Nations. The Englishmen left the country. The Iraqi government immediately started suppressing all strives for independence among the Assyrians. In August 1933, over 1,000 unarmed Assyrians in the cities of Simele and Duhok were brought together and shot by Iraqi police and army. The Assyrians left their villages in panic, 64 villages were looted and destroyed. The people in the villages, mostly women and children, were raped and murdered by the Iraqi army. More than 2,000 Assyrians died during this massacre.
The Assyrians in Modern Time

After the victory of the allies in the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was divided. When the allies later in the beginning of the 1920s were drawing the new map in the Middle East, they did not seem to care about the promises they had given the Assyrians – the Assyrians were let down. When the League of Nations during the time between the World Wars gave the District of Mosul to the new Iraqi self-governing kingdom, and the Assyrian city of Hakkari to the independent nation Turkey, the Assyrians once again felt deserted. The Assyrian people were split across the borders, and many families suddenly had relatives who lived across the border.

The Assyrians in Modern Time
After the victory of the allies in the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was divided. When the allies later in the beginning of the 1920s were drawing the new map in the Middle East, they did not seem to care about the promises they had given the Assyrians – the Assyrians were let down. When the League of Nations during the time between the World Wars gave the District of Mosul to the new Iraqi self-governing kingdom, and the Assyrian city of Hakkari to the independent nation Turkey, the Assyrians once again felt deserted. The Assyrian people were split across the borders, and many families suddenly had relatives who lived across the border.

Exodus from the Home Country – during the 60s and 70s, when the crisis of Cyprus went on between Greece and Turkey, the Assyrians once again came in-between. Since the Assyrians in Turkey belonged to the Orthodox Church, as the Greeks, the Turks turned their weapons against the Assyrians, which resulted in a great exodus to Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands.

During the civil war in Lebanon, and the Gulf War, the Assyrians were once again forced to leave their former home countries. During the Gulf War alone, more than 100,000 Assyrians fled to Syria, Lebanon, and Iran.

Iraq after Saddam Hussein – since the exodus of Assyrians started in the late 60s, it has continued rapidly. From being several millions, the number of Assyrians in the Middle East has, in a very short time, minimized to about 1,2 millions, most of them living in northern Iraq. The situation in Iraq seems worse than it has been for a very long time, and independent sources say that about half of all the Assyrians have fled Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. It is believed that approximately 150,000 Assyrian refugees live under horrible circumstances in Jordan and Syria.