Assyrian people

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Assyrians (ܐܬܘܖ̈ܝܐ Āṯurāyē)
Chaldeans (ܟܠܕ̈ܝܐ Kaldāyē)
Syriacs (ܣܘܖ̈ܝܝܐ Suryāyē)

|image=Image:Assyrians.jpg |poptime= 1.5 million (est) |popplace= Iraq
   800,000 (estCIA)
Syria
   500,000 (est [1])
United States
   82,355(2000 census)
Sweden
   35,000 est </br> Germany
   23,000 est</br> Australia
   18,667 (2001 census)
Russia
   14,000 (2002)
Iran
   10,000 (est)
Canada
   6,980 (2001 census)
Lebanon
   5,000 (est)
Turkey
   5,000 (est)
Netherlands
   5,000 est</br> United Kingdom
   5,000 est</br> Georgia
   3,299 (2002 census)
Armenia
   3,409 (2001)
Ukraine:
3,143 <2001 census </br> Greece
   2,000 est
New Zealand
   1,176 (2001)
|langs=Syriac, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Turoyo |rels=Christianity (various Eastern denominations) |related= other Semites, Armenians, Persians }} Template:Otheruses4

The Aramaeans, Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs constitute an ethnic group found in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon, who are speakers of various neo-Aramaic languages. They primarily lived in the Middle East, but in the past century about half of its population have migrated to the Caucasus, North America, and Western Europe (see Assyrian diaspora).

Contents

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Identity

During the first century AD, Aramaic was spoken throughout much of the Middle East by Christians, Jews and followers of various pagan religions. However, commuities separated by religion and geographical distance spoke quite different varieties of Aramaic, and intelligibility between them was in places low. The other main language of the region was Koine Greek, which was spoken in the upper echelons of society and in the major urban centres of the Levant. The establishment of churches in urban centres in the Levant, Asia Minor and Greece led to Greek becoming the dominant language of the early church. However, the Christian faith also spread rapidly among the Aramaic-speaking peoples in the smaller towns and farther east. Early writings employ the name Armāyē (ܐܖ̈ܡܝܐ). However, Greek texts (including the Jewish Books of the Maccabees) referred to the language as Syriakos (Συριακός), and its speakers as Syriakoi (Συριακοί, probably based on Assyria). Relatively early on in the development of the Aramaic-speaking church, the name Armāyē was abandoned in favour of the Aramaicised Greek name, Suryāyē (ܣܘܖ̈ܝܝܐ). Therefore, originally, the Suryāyē are Christian Armāyē. Because of this distinction, the word Armāyā came to designate a pagan, even being applied to a person who did not speak Aramaic. From the Greek name, the English designation Syriacs is often used to refer to the entire community of Aramaic-speaking Christian people. Occasionally, the designation Syrians is used in the same manner, but this can lead to confusion with the modern nation-state of Syria and its inhabitants, some of whom are Syriacs, but the majority of whom are not. In the Middle Ages, Syriac scholars, particularly West Syriacs, revived the use of the designation Armāyē with a new vocalisation based on the Hebrew Ărāmîṯ, producing Ārāmāyē (ܐܖ̈ܡܝܐ, pronounced Oromoye by West Syriacs). This designation is, and was, used often to refer to a far larger group of people, and often including the Maronite Catholics, Melkite Greek Catholics and the Antiochian Orthodox.

The community has traditionally been divided into western and eastern parts. The exact division is somewhat uncertain, and is variously based on geography, linguistics and church affiliation. In ancient times, the main division was defined by the border between the Roman and Persian empires. Linguistically, although all groups employ for a liturgical language the Middle-Aramaic variety spoken in Edessa — Classical Syriac — many also use different varieties of Modern Aramaic. As far as church affiliation stands, the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syrian Catholic Church generally represent the western group, while the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church the eastern.

As the Greek name Syriakoi is considered by many to be derived from the word Assyria (Ασσυρια), so many Aramaic-speaking Christians prefer to use the designation Assyrians or Āṯurāyē (ܐܬܘܖ̈ܝܐ, variously pronounced Othuroye, Atoraye and so forth). It appears that the few instances of the word in early Syriac texts refers simply to the inhabitants of the Mosul region, once dominated by the Assyrian cities of Assur and Nineveh. This designation for the region has continued ever since the days of the Assyrian Empire. This could explain the greater use of this designation among members of the eastern group. Assyrian as a modern ethnonym was introduced to the Western world in the 19th century by Protestant missionaries in the Ottoman and Persian Empires, first to designate the followers of the so-called "Nestorian" creed led by the feudal patriarchal dynasty of the Mar Shimun at Qochanis, at the time mostly inhabiting the Hakkari mountains and enjoying a relative autonomy within the Empire. This can be related to the 19th century context with the beginnings of modern archaeology (the modern discovery of Babylonia and Assyria), and of the idea among some missionaries that associating the remnants of these Christian communities with a powerful ancient empire would be useful to instill a religious and national revival.

Some seven hundred years after the fall of the Assyrian Empire in 612 BC to the Medes and Chaldeans, the name "Assyria" was used during the Roman Empire's rule of the area, it was one of the fifty one provinces of the Empire. From around the year 100, Christianity became a factor strengthening the ethnicity of the Assyrians. During the Sassanid dynasty (224 to 651,) Assyria withstood, as maps of that period always indicated an "Asuristan" or land of the Assyrians. In the 7th century, Islam's prophet Muhammad also mentioned the Assyrians, in a fatwa demanding the protection of the Assyrian people of Mesopotamia <ref>Iraq's Church Bombers vs. MuhammadChristianity Today Magazine</ref> (The documental fatwa was destroyed by the Ottoman Empire in 1847, which lead to the massacre of 30,000 Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire.) During the conquests of Timur in the 14th Century, the Assyrians were nearly eliminated to extinction, as they rejected Islam. The survivors fled to the mountains of southeastern Anatolia. From the 16th Century, the majority of the Assyrians lived in what is today southern Turkey. That changed, after many were subjected to genocide and the survivors migrated to the South, in what is today Northern Iraq.

The term "Assyrian" is disputed by some scholars. Rudolf Macuch <ref>Rudolf Macuch, Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur, Berlin, New York:de Gruyter 1976</ref> points out that from the beginning, the Eastern Neo-Aramaic press used the term "Syrian" (ܣܘܪܝܝܬܐ Suryēṯā) and only much later, with the rise of nationalism, switched to the name "Assyrian" (ܐܬܘܪܝܬܐ Aṯorēṯā). However, according to Tsereteli <ref>Tsereteli, Sovremennyj assirijskij jazyk, Moscow:Nauka 1964</ref>, a Georgian equivalent of "Assyrians" appears in Georgian documents from the 18th century, designating Eastern Aramaeans.

Among linguists, supporters of the term "Assyrian" <ref>Edward Odisho The sound system of Modern Assyrian, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz 1988</ref> admit that linguistically the term is misleading, because in linguistics, the name "Assyrian" is reserved for the extinct language of ancient Assyrians, while the modern Aramaic dialects belong to a different branch of Semitic languages. He further argues that ancient Assyrians could be among the ancestors of modern Arameans in Iraq.

Assyrians are divided among several churches (see below). They read and write various dialects of neo-Aramaic, a Semitic language which, in the form of Syriac, is used in their religious observances.

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Self-identifications

Image:Syriac aramaeac flag.jpg

Aramaean (ܐܖ̈ܡܝܐ Ārāmāyē)
Throughout the history of the Syriac Christians, there have been references to their Aramaean heritage in Syriac literature, both in the West Syrian and in the East Syrian traditions.<ref>[2]</ref>. Since Christianization, Oromoyo/Ārāmāyā began to bear the connotation "pagan", whereas Suryoyo/Suryāyā (literally "Syrian") was used to refer only to the Christianized Aramaeans. More recently, in reaction to Syriac Christians calling themselves "Assyrians", there has been an awakening of the self-appellation "Aramaean", especially among Syriacs in the diaspora, but to a growing extent also in Turkey, and among some Maronites in Lebanon. In Germany, for instance, the name Aramäer has come into use quite extensively to refer to Syriacs primarily from the West Syrian tradition.

Image:FlagofAssyria.png

Assyrian (ܐܬܘܖ̈ܝܐ Āṯurāyē)
Assyrian is what is used today by members of the Nestorian church, whose church has been officially called the Assyrian Church of the East since 1886. Assyrian is also used by some Chaldean Catholics as well in Iran and Iraq. The Assyrian name is still today what is primarily used by ethnic Assyrians in the Middle East.
Assyro-Chaldean or Chaldo-Assyrian (ܟܠܕܘܐܫܘܖ̈ܝܐ Kaldu-Āšurāyē)
Assyro-Chaldean is the term used in the beginning of the 20th century when both groups were weak and were allegedly being subjected to massacre by the Ottomans. It was used to unite the Assyrians of the Eastern Church and the Catholic Church. As the present-day Iraqi Assyro-Chaldeans belong mostly to the Chaldean Church of Babylon, the term Chaldo-Assyrians is also used there, whereas in Iran the non-Catholic Assyro-Chaldeans are more numerous than their Catholic cousins, and the term Assyrians is generally favoured.
Chaldean (ܟܠܕ̈ܝܐ Kaldāyē)

Image:Kalflag.gif

Catholic missionaries succeeded during the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries in converting Assyrians into Catholicism (from the Church of the East). In 1445, the then-Nestorian Church in Cyprus requested to unite with Rome. Pope Eugenius IV accepted and Rome extended the term of the Chaldean Church of Cyprus to cover all those new Catholic converts in northern Mesopotamia proper.
Up until the 20th century, all Chaldeans referred to themselves as Assyrian. Today, the Archbishop of the Chaldeans goes by the official name of "The Patriarch of Babylon over the Chaldeans" and the name of the church is Chaldean Church of Babylon. The Chaldean name is what is primarily used by diaspora Catholic Assyrians (specifically the 50,000-strong community in the Detroit area) The original Aramaic for Chaldeans is Kasdāyē (ܟܣܕܝ̈ܐ), but this was replaced at an early period with the Aramaic derivative of the Akkadian term Kaldu.
Syriac (ܣܘܪ̈ܝܝܐ Suryoye/Suryāyē)
Syriac is a term often used to describe all Semitic and ethnically non-Arab Christians of the Middle East (excluding Armenians of the Middle East and Egyptian Christians).
There is also the Syriac Orthodox Church. The term is not that often used in Lebanon, but is used by some diaspora Maronites, who do not wish to be called Arabs (see example.)

In Turkey, none of these churches is recognized as a religious minority (see Treaty of Lausanne and Demographics of Turkey) and both use of minority languages or non-Turkish ethnic identities have always been repressed by the governments. Süryani, Keldani, and Nasturi are used in Turkish for Syriacs, Chaldeans, and "Nestorians", respectively.

In all the countries of emigration where ethnic censuses have been held, i.e. Armenia, Australia, Canada, Georgia, New Zealand, Russia (and the former Soviet Union) and the United States, the used census ethnic category is Assyrians. Iran and Syria do not conduct ethnic census. Iraq announced in 2005 that they will use the term Chaldo-Assyrian during their future census.

In Sweden, there is a dividing line between:

  • the religiously defined group, Syrians, who are Syrian Orthodox Christians, and
  • the politically or ethnically determined category: Assyrians, whose members belong to several different Christian beliefs (the majority being Syrian Orthodox Christians, plus Christian Iraqi refugees of other denominations) but whose religious affiliation is toned down.<ref>Dan Lundberg, Christians from the Middle East, A virtual Assyria</ref>
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Languages

The various ethnic groups and religious communities included under the Assyrians umbrella-ethnonym usually speak various Neo-Aramaic languages, including Assyrian Neo-Aramaic (Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey) and Chaldean Neo-Aramaic (Iraq), which belong to the Eastern Aramaic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. These dialects are the contemporary remnants of the Aramaic language, a Semitic languages language akin to Hebrew and to Arabic, whose vocabulary includes many words borrowed from Aramaic. The Syriac language, on the other hand, is an extinct Semitic language from the same Aramaic group used in the liturgies of the Assyrian, Chaldean, Syriac, and Maronite churches.

Nowadays, most Assyrians are at least bilingual, many speak also Arabic, Turkish, Persian and/or Kurdish, or the language(s) used in the countries where they live.

Beside local Neo-Aramaic vernacular forms, there is a literary language, based primarily on the dialect used in the Urmia district of northwestern Iran. It uses the Syriac alphabet in its Eastern variety, redesigned by Europeean missionaries in the first half of the 19th century. It is in this alphabet and language, Eastern Neo-Aramaic, that the first newspaper in all of Iran was printed (1849–1918). When American missionaries first arrived in Urmia, among 125,000 Aramaic-speaking inhabitants, only 40 men and one woman (sister of the Patriarch) could read and write. By the 1890s, the Assyrians had made such progress in education that most of the dozens of villages in the Urmia area had primary schools, and some had secondary schools as well. Although attempts to create a literary form for Eastern Aramaic probably date back to the 17th century (with the priests of the school of Alqosh), the Americans and their local advisors in Urmia can fairly be credited for laying the foundations of what is now called Neo-Aramaic Koine or Dachsprache.

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Neo-Assyrian revival

Image:Yomataya.jpg

With the dire prospect of survival for Aramaic-speaking, Christian communities in Iraq being recognized, there is a slow process to bring together the various church groups. A political awakening is taking place, both in the large diaspora and in the Middle East. Enhanced communication, especially through the Internet and by e-mail is breaking down the barriers that 20th century nationalism in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey in particular, had fostered. While there still are many quarrels, the multilingualism of Assyrians and the rise in communications in English, is breaking down some of the antagonisms. To some extent, the quarrels are fed inadvertently by Western scholarship combined with a lack of cultural and historical knowledge among Assyrians themselves. Many continue to link language use with ethnic name: since all Assyrians speak one of two living forms of Aramaic (Eastern and Western), the assumption is often made that this must also become the ethnic name of the group. Others who want to revive classical Syriac, the revered liturgical language of the community, insist on some term having to do with the word "Syriac" and call themselves Syriacs. Because the indigenous word in both dialects for the people themselves and for the language is "Suryoyo" or "Suryaye", some take the facile route of equating these terms with Syriac or Syrian without realizing that the terms Assyrian and Syrian are the same in origin.

Similar disagreements over language and unity exist among many minorities in the Middle East that have had no state structure. Assyrians have managed to preserve Aramaic for more than two thousand years without any state backing. The cultural heritage and the language may help to preserve the community.

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Religious denominations

People who consider themselves as Assyrians are usually followers of one of the aforementioned churches, but not all members of them consider themselves as Assyrians, ethnic and national identities being intertwined with religious ones, a heritage of the millet system.

There are no (known) Assyrian Muslims, but Arabic-speaking Muslims locally named Mhalmoye in Tur Abdin seem to be converts to Islam from the Syriac Orthodox Church in the 16th century (compare with Hamshenis, Greek-speaking Muslims, Pomaks, Torbesh, Gorani, etc.). They would have kept many customs from the period in which they were Christian, without being aware of their origins: the Cross frequently finds itself in their work, but is thought of as a decoration based on a flower.<ref>Voice of Tur Abdin No. 16, quoted in Stephen Griffith, A Fourth Visit to Tur Abdin and SE Turkey - A Short Report of a Visit between 24th and 28th October 1999, Syriac Orthodox Resources</ref> <ref>Stephen Griffith, Tur Abdin - A Report of a Visit to S.E. Turkey in May 2001, Syriac Orthodox Resources</ref> A Swedish Assyrian website names four other ethnic groups whom it considers as "Assyrian Muslims": Barzanoye (the Barzani Kurdish clan), Tagritoye, Taye (the Tay tribal confederation), and Shammor (the Shammar tribal confederation).<ref>http://ornina.org/assa/verk97/verk97.htm Assyriska sällskapet förstudenter och akademiker (ASSA), VERKSAMHETSBERÄTTELSE 1997</ref> <ref>Denho Özmen, Shaikh fathullah. The Assyrian "modern" identity, Hujådå, autumn 1997</ref>

In some memoranda of Assyrian-Chaldean delegations at the post-WWI peace conferences, Sabeans-Mandeans were also included as potentially Assyro-Chaldeans.

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See also

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References

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External links

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Publication links

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News and reference sites

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Activist sites

Template:Syriac Christianityarc:ܐܬܘܪܝܐ fr:Assyriens he:אשור (עם) it:Assiri ku:Asûrî pl:Asyryjczycy (współcześni) sl:Asirci sv:Assyrier tr:Süryaniler

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