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From Survival to
Revival: In the
Aftermath of the
Assyrian
Genocide
Assyrians After
Assyria
Conference
ProfessorAbdul-Massih
Saadi, Ph.D.
Lutheran School
of Theology at
Chicago
From the dawn of
civilization,
empires and
peoples have
risen to
greatness, left
their gifts for
posterity, and
then fallen into
obscurity or
extinction.
Among these is
the Assyrian
nation, not
extinct but
still living and
breathing,
thousands of
years after
Babylonia, Akkad,
Nineveh and Aram.
Its people have
ridden the tides
of time longer
than any other
nation on earth
now living, and
cling
tenaciously to
their culture
and language.
This monumental
achievement of
survival,
however, has
been long and
bitter, and has
not come without
a price. The
Assyrian men,
women and
children, when
faced with their
own extinction,
have paid over
and over again
in blood and in
numbers for the
right to exist
and to have a
name in their
ancestral
homelands.
If you talk to
Assyrians, you
will hear them
call themselves
by more than one
name (Suraye/
Suroye, Suryoye,
Othoraye,
Aramaye,
Chaldaye ..etc).
This is because
their rich and
ancient heritage
has left many
historic
classifications
by which various
groups came to
identify
themselves. In
fact they all
share the same
language, with a
few dialectical
difference, the
same
socio-cultural
cohesion, same
long history of
survival and now
the same fate.
While they
maintain these
historic naming
choices for some
community or
religious
purposes, they
all as one
acknowledge
their core
identity as one
and the same
nation. Out of
the ten great
civilizations in
human history,
the Assyrians
created one of
the greatest
many years
before Christ,
and their legacy
was to be the
world standard
of civilization
for commerce,
government, law,
literature and
culture in
general for two
thousand
years.And
despite the lost
of political and
military power,
their language
remain the
Lingua Franca
for more than a
thousand year.
Most
importantly,
centuries have
passed, and they
continue to seek
a productive
life and peace
for themselves
as well as for
everybody around
them.
Geographical
Location of the
Assyrians on the
Eve of WWI At
the turn of the
century, the
Assyrian people,
the torchbearers
of the earliest
civilization in
the world, and
the living
remnant of over
6,000 years of
history in the
region, lived
under the
Ottoman and
Persian
Empires.Their
region was
roughly known as
“Upper
Mesopotamia,”
which includes:
south and
southeastern
present-day
Turkey, [they
were spread from
Miyafarqin,
Hakkari, Bohtan,
Tur-Abdin (over
240 villages),
Nisibin, Mardin,
Urfa (Edessa)
all the way to
Adana West; in
the north, from
Siirt, Bitlis,
Diyarbakir,
Malatia. Under
Persian rule,
they were mostly
in western
Azerbaijan, at
Urmia and the
Salamas
districts.
The other
Assyrians
(Syriac people)
were spread over
places in
present day
Iraq, Syria,
Lebanon, and in
the Caucasus
(Georgia,
Armenia).
Ecclesiastical
Diversity Among
the Assyrians
Like most
peoples, the
Assyrians have
various
ecclesiastical
traditions,
although mostly
they are
Christian
denominators.
The Assyrians of
the Church of
the East
include:
Orthodox (or
Nestorians),
Catholic
(Chaldeans) and
Protestants.
Similarly, the
Assyrians of the
West Syriac
Church encompass
several
traditions:
Orthodox (or
Jacobites),
Catholic,
Melkites (Roman
Orthodox & Roman
Catholic),
Maronites, and
Protestants.
For thousands of
years, while the
Assyrians
maintained their
civilized
continuity and
peaceful
cooperation with
their neighbors
or partners in
the region:
Armenians,
Greeks,
Persians, Arabs,
Kurds and Turks,
they suffered
many severe
persecutions,
suppression and
massacres. Yet
in the end of
the 19th century
(Abdul-Hamid’s
massacres) and
by the turn of
the 20th century
in the World War
One, the
Assyrians
received the
biggest blows
time and again
from the Ottoman
authorities,
which reduced
them to
desperation and
annihilation.
As a surviving
remnant of our
parents’
genocides,
living the
consequences of
its aftermath,
we modern
Assyrians are
anxiously
struggling on
several fronts:
(1) to
understand the
reasons behind
the genocide of
our parents, (2)
to determine the
ways and means
to prevent such
a fate from ever
happening again;
(3) to secure a
civilized
continuity for
our next
generation; and
lastly (4) to
restore the
civilized and
civilizing role
of our
ancestors.
Implication of
Genocide
The survivors
from our parents
told their
stories in terms
of Killing
(Qettla),
Deportation
(sawqiaat), and
Sword (Sayfo).
This is because
the word and
concept of
Genocide had not
yet been coined
nor its concept
was determined.
Contrary to the
concept of
homicide, the
intentional of
murder of an
individual,
Genocide means
the destruction
of a group as
the outcome of
governmental
policy. It was
on December 9,
1948 the U.N.
General Assembly
adopted a
resolution
delineating the
full meaning of
Genocide and
condemned it as
“a crime under
international
law.”[1]
Specifically
speaking, the
Genocide,
according to the
statement issued
by the U.N.,
“means any of
the following
acts committed
with intent to
destroy, in
whole or in
part, a
national,
ethnic, racial
or religious
group, such as:
-
Killing members of the group;
-
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
-
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated
to bring
about its
physical
destruction
in whole or
in part;
-
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
-
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.[2]
This inclusive
definition of
Genocide by the
U.N. presented a
spectrum of acts
and policies.
All five of
defined points
of Genocide
unequivocally
are applicable
to our Assyrian
people, from
physical
massacres to
forcible
deculturation.
The history of
millions of
native Assyrians
in the region
witnesses that
they endured
their fate
century after
century. On one
hand, they
honestly and
earnestly
presented to
their partners
the most
civilized
production
ranged of
literary,
spirituality,
science,
economy, and
peace; on the
other hand, they
suffered all
kinds of
atrocities,
brutality and
overall
decimation from
many of their
neighbors or
partners. The
horrific
massacres in WWI
by the Ottoman
authorities was
neither the
first nor the
last; the
instance of
SEMILE in Iraq
in 1933, which
we often
commemorate on
the 7th of
August where
3,000 innocent
civilian
Assyrians were
massacred by the
Iraqi regular
troops led by
Baker Sedqi, the
chief army. The
constant process
of deculturation
against our
people continues
not only by
Turkey but also
by many other
countries, as
their own
language,
values,
patriotism,
folklore,
personal
security,
dignity and
economical
survival are
threatened and
almost
nullified.
Specifically,
the Assyrians
(all various
denominations)
of “Upper
Mesopotamia,”
they were
numbered one
million persons
on the eve of
WWI. And had
there been no
Genocide, they
Assyrians could
have numbered 20
million by now.
In fact, because
of the Genocide
and its
aftermath, now,
at that same
region they
number only a
couple thousand.
By the turn of
the century, and
due to
nationalistic
awakening, many
members of the
above-mentioned
churches
preferred to be
identified with
one
nationalistic
name, Assyrian,
rather than by
the various
names of the
church
traditions.[3]
Generally
speaking, the
Assyrians of the
Church of the
East were
distributed in
the Eastern part
of “Upper
Mesopotamia,”
while the
Assyrians of the
West Syriac
Churches lived
in the middle
and Western part
of “Upper
Mesopotamia.”
Dramatic Tragedy
For the last
2500 years, the
Assyrians
experienced many
persecutions as
a powerless
people. Although
they were among
the first people
to adopt
Christianity,
through which
they
demonstrated
their prolific
literary and
civilized
contribution,
becoming
Christians did
not prevent
their fate of
constant
persecution and
perseverance.
But despite all
the obstacles,
and for two more
millennia, the
Assyrians proved
their vitality
of productivity,
peace, and
loving intention
for all the
people of the
earth. Their
writers and
philosophers did
not cease to
contribute in
most kinds of
constructive
knowledge,
cordial
interfaith
tracts, and even
science.
Likewise, their
spiritual people
generously
enriched the
culture of their
region.And their
missionaries,
without
distinction or
prejudice,
reached out to
all their
surrounding
world, as far as
India and China,
to show, through
their
unprejudiced and
indiscriminate
good deeds, the
power of love
that makes all
people around
the world one
through
faith.[4] This
civilized
nature, despite
all the blows
throughout their
long history,
proved to be
like an elastic
and flexible
willow tree,
that bends with
the stormy winds
and weather, but
afterwards
stands tall,
proud and
unbroken, once
more to continue
to bear fruits.
The harshest,
most pitiless
blow, however,
like a fiery
sword falling
time and time
again on the
trunk of our
tree, occurred
in the beginning
of this century
by the so-called
“civilized,
modern nation,”
Turkey,
and under the
observation and
silence of the
“most civilized
western
nations.”
In the aftermath
of the horrible
massacre by the
Ottoman Sultan
Abdul-Hamid in
1894-1896, which
claimed
thousands of
Assyrians, the
Assyrians were
unable to heal
their wounds
because the
direst time of
their entire
history on
earth, their
genocide, was
waiting like an
angel of death
at the door. The
Young Turk
dethroned
Abdul-Hamid in
1908, and
contrary to the
optimistic
expectation of
the Assyrians,
the new movement
demonstrated
even more
scathing cruelty
and severity.
Many historians
and politicians
have analyzed
the reasons
behind the
brutal
deportations and
massacre by the
Ottomans
authorities
against their
Christian
(Greek,
Armenians,
Assyrians)
subjects. The
crux of the
matter is that
the Assyrians
were not
responsible in
any way or
deserving of
such a fate.
This is the real
bottom line and
the real reason
we are all here
today. According
to historical
analysis, it
might be said
that among the
various motives
that the Ottoman
authorities had
to commit such
various and
stupefying
atrocities were:
first, the new,
national
ideology and
identity of the
Turks; second,
the dramatic
territorial loss
of Ottoman
Empire: Bulgaria
in 1908, Bosnia,
Herzegovina
which in 1908
were annexed to
Austria, Libya
in 1911 by
Italy, and the
Balkan states in
1914.Such losses
not only
eliminated large
territories and
their subjects,
but also shook
to its
foundations the
multinational
and
multi-religious
character of the
Empire.Accordingly,
the Young Turk
regarded the
Armenians,
Greeks and
Assyrians not
only as
foreigners, but
also as
distrustful and
unwanted people
who could only
be dealt with
through
dissolution and
extermination.
The Young Turk’s
distrust of
non-Turks was
such that Young
Turk could not
imagine a future
Turkey which had
as its national
base any ethnic
or cultural
entity not
purely their
own, in fact
mirroring an
attitude later
manifested fully
by Hitler and
Turkey’s World
War I ally,
Germany. It was
no surprise,
therefore, for
Adolf Hilter to
justify the
massacres
committed by the
Young Turk,
stating in
August 1939 as
follows: “Who,
after all,
speaks today of
the
extermination of
the
Armenians?”[5]The
eruption of a
fanatic,
nationalistic
ideology in both
Turkey and
Germany led
their leaders to
be convinced of
the necessity of
destroying the
people they had
defined as the
target. In
Turkey, in WWI,
the victims were
the Greeks,
Armenians, and
the Assyrians of
all their
denominations.
For the same
reason of
confronting a
fanatic,
nationalistic
ideology, the
Assyrian
survivors of WWI
had to suffer
another Genocide
in 1933 in
SEMELE and
countless
incidences,
which reduced
them to
dispersion and
annihilation.
While the
evidence abounds
in a huge corpus
of documents,
the U.S. Major
General James G.
Harborad, the
chief of a
Fact-Finding
Mission to
Anatolia, reported in 1919 as follows:
Massacres and
deportations
were organized
in the spring of
1915 under a
definite system,
the soldiers
going from town
to town. The
official reports
of the Turkish
Government show
1,100,000 as
having been
deported. Young
men were first
summoned to the
government
building in each
village and then
marched out and
killed. The
women, the old
men, and
children were,
after a few
days, deported
to what Talaat
pasha called
“agricultural
colonies,” from
the high, cool,
breeze-swept
plateau of
Armenia to the
malarial flats
of the Euphrates
and the burning
sands of Syria
and Arabia.
Mutilation,
violation,
torture and
death ..the most
colossal crime
of all the
ages.[6]
Our people, with
no means to
defend
themselves,
received the
biggest blow. No
course of action
was safe, not
one. Those who
tried to flee
from their
historical
territories,
such as Hikkari,
could not save
themselves.[7]
Neither could
those who chose
to remain under
the Ottoman role
escape their
horrific
destiny.
Realizing their
pending fate,
the terrified
Christians made
every effort
possible to
appease their
Ottoman masters,
whether through
distancing
themselves from
other Christian
denominations,
namely, the
Armenians and
Nestorians (as
they were called
by the
Ottomans), or
showing
neutrality and
loyalty in a
variety of more
subtle ways. For
example, the
Patriarch of the
Syriac Orthodox
church wrote a
telegram to the
grand vizier,
condemning the
“Armenian
disturbances,”
and thanking
“his Majesty for
the protection
he has ever
accorded to it,
as also to our
Mussulman
compatriots.”
Finally, the
Patriarch
begged, “under
these
circumstances,
we can but
appeal to the
Sovereign, our
sole refuge, to
protect us in
his mercy.”[8]
It should be
clear from such
a communication
that the Syriac
Orthodox
Patriarch felt
forced to
demonstrate a
reproach of a
Christian group
in order to
stake a claim
for his own
survival.
Few days later,
on December 20,
1916, in the New
York Times
reported:
“Syrian
Patriarch Slain:
Murdered in His
Residence in
[Mardin] by Band
of Turks”[9]
Meanwhile, the
language of “the
holy war,”
Jihad, aroused
Muslims against
their powerless
Christian
neighbors.Between
the so-called
“acts of mobs,”
and direct
orders of the
Ottoman
authorities, one
third of the
Assyrian nation,
people of
various
denominations,
were killed. The
rest remained “a
hostage people,”
subjected to all
sorts of
humiliations,
dispersion and
annihilation.[10]
The following
Syriac
Patriarch, I.
Ephrem, reported
(and I quote):
“the ‘rumor’ was
that the
Armenians had
rebelled; in
reality the mobs
were calling for
extermination of
“all the
Christians.”[11]
Thus, the
Assyrians of the
East had no
choice but to
try to broker
their fate with
the Russians. By
doing so, they
lost one third
of their people
and gained
another ally
with imperial
pretensions who
exacted from
them more than
they returned.
On the other
hand, the
Assyrians of the
West Syriac
Churches, who
until the end
remained loyal
to the Ottoman
authorities, the
only course of
action left open
to them, were
humiliated,
dispersed and
also lost one
third of its
people. Finally,
when Syria was
under the French
mandate, the
Turks granted
“permission … to
all Christians”
to leave Turkey,
creating another
flight of
refugees.
Assyrian
Christians (of
East and West
Syriac Churches)
in large numbers
fled their land,
bringing to an
end their
centuries old
history in
Hikkari, Tur
Abdin, Mardin,
Urfa, Adana and
others. The vast
majority of them
were helpless
victims, and
innocent of all
political
ambitions.
The Reaction of
the World
The world (the
victorious World
War I allies)
reacted to these
holocaustic
events with a
unified and
categorical
denunciation of
what they
determined was
criminal
massacres. They
roundly
condemned the
Ottoman
authorities.
Various
encouraging
statements were
issued by the
allied nations
affirming their
support of the
Assyrians and
Armenians. The
American
president,
Woodrow Wilson,
took this to a
practical level
by delineating
fourteen
humanitarian
principles in
the Sevres
treaty of 1920.
One of these
clearly and
unambiguously
stated that it
was the
obligation of
Turkey to
protect the
rights of its
ethnic
minorities and
to promote their
progress and
independence.
While Turkey
signed the
treaty,
ostensibly
bowing to the
terms, the new
nationalistic
Turkish
movement, led by
Mustafa Kemal
gained momentum
and supported by
the incipient
Soviet Union,
created a
counter-government
at Ankara in the
spring of 1920,
challenged the
treaty and
virtually
cancelled
it.[12] The rise
of Mustafa Kemal
was followed by
various shifts
in the political
balances in the
region. At this
stage, the
allies were
exhausted from
their effort
against the
Germans and its
allies, who, we
must not forget,
included Turkey.
This fact should
be mentioned
because it shows
a similarity of
feeling towards
nationalism and
ethnic purity,
which was later
to erupt so
effectively and
tragically in
World War II. In
any event, at
this point the
allies were
feeling the need
to look homeward
for the post-war
cleanup, and
possibly did not
see Turkey, with
its newly
shrunken
borders, as any
kind of threat,
either to its
internal
constituents or
anyone else.As
such, they
conceded, though
unwillingly, to
Mustafa Kemal. A
new treaty was
signed in
Lausanne in
1923, in which
no real
obligation
toward ethnic
minorities was
acknowledged.As
an outcome of
this treaty, the
Allies
recognized the
new frontiers of
Turkey,
including
southern
boundary that
left a string of
cities from
Aintab to Urfa,
Mardin, Tur
Abdin, and
Hakkari within
new Turkey.[13]
Assyrians in the
Aftermath of
Genocide
Turkey’s
national policy
and its
priorities did
not serve any
group except
ethnic Turks
with no regard
whatsoever to
their victims,
confirming
Hitler’s
statement: “who,
after all,
speaks, today,
of the
extermination of
Armenians.”[14]
But regardless
of contemporary
circumstances,
the crime of
genocide does
not expire over
time like a
penalty in a
game of
football. The
right to exist,
the right to
live and work
and not be
harassed on a
daily basis for
one’s religious
beliefs and
ethnic
background, and
the right to
have a name and
a modicum of
protection and
civil rights, is
stressed and
guaranteed in
international
law. And if in
the past the
policies of the
international
communities were
totally focused
on the balance
in the Cold War
at the expense
of small,
oppressed
people; now the
Cold War is
over, and the
process of
settling these
issues begin.
But this right
means nothing if
one does not
lives up to it,
and
appropriately
claims it. Thus
the Assyrians
have to face two
challenges: an
internal one and
a broader based
external one.
Internally, we
need to have our
own vision,
mission and
civilized goal.
Our claim will
not and cannot
be taken
seriously by
either our
partners or by
the
international
community if we
cannot rise to
this most basic
challenge of
unity and
consistent
vision.
Externally, as a
civilized
people, we need
to effect an
approach which
leverages the
power of logic
and
international
law for
reclaiming our
rights. Our most
peaceful and
logic case is
and will
continue to be
the real test
for the
credibility of
the
International
Community, U.N.
and the whole
New World Order,
including our
partner Turkey
for making
justice. For the
sake of justice,
and even for
antiquity’s
sake, for the
sake of the
remnant people
who created one
of the earliest
civilization in
the world), for
the sake of
setting our case
as an exemplar
case pursuing
only logic, law
and peaceful
means for
restoring its
rights, we
appeal to
justice.Otherwise,
what kind of
credibility is
this when the
victim cannot
acquire his
justice unless
he becomes
strong enough to
impose his case,
and sometime to
impose it by
force, and
virtually, he
makes his case
“a problem” to
the world? Only
at that time,
the
International
Community, U.N.,
and the intended
countries move
towards solving
that “problem”?
Such kind of
equation between
the victim and
the
International
Community with
its
International
Law is just a
ridiculous
scandal!On our
part, thanks be
to God, we
cannot violently
threaten
anybody. But, as
a civilized
people, our only
way to pursue
our justice will
be through
peaceful and
legal means.
The internal and
external
challenges may
be one and the
same in our
modern days.
Modern
technology,
computers and
telecommunications
and especially
the Internet,
have shrunken
the world in a
cold fusion of
new ideas,
startling
pathways to
success and
revolutionary
ways of
achieving and
disseminating
information and
therefore truth.
We must not
forget for one
minute that at
this crucial
time we are
facing the new,
compacted world
community in
which our people
are challenged
with its
reality:to be
“contributors to
the new
civilization” or
not to be. For
us, this
principle was
our challenge
throughout our
long history;
and previously,
our people
successfully
proved their
civilized
contribution for
themselves and
for the
people(s) they
lived with.
Moreover, they
played the major
role as
connecting
bridges and
mediators among
a number of
civilizations:
Greek/ Roman,
Persian and
Arab. Thus, our
mission, today,
would become our
only identity
and entity. We
need to be aware
that NOT living
up to this
challenge will
spell our
destruction and
national death.
This is because
the power of the
information
highway can work
as well in our
favor, if we
choose to
harness it, as
against us, if
we simply
ignored our
mission and
production; the
quick result of
it is “total
assimilation.”
Thus, we may
face a different
type of
genocide/homocide,
“hidden
genocide:
assimilation”
leaving behind
the precious
legacy both of
the historical
and the living.
Today, although
the potential of
our people lies
scattered around
the world, as a
result of the
genocide and its
aftermath, we
need to
determine ways
and means, in a
unified manner,
to turn such
scattering into
a blessing and
productive
power. There is
in this a
tremendous
opportunity to
make use of such
decentralization,
and it consists
of the
possibility to
have not just
the ears or
sympathy of one
city or nation,
but literally to
every corner in
the world, and
most importantly
our partner,
Turkey. As
someone once
said, “Defeat is
only Victory
Turned Inside
Out.”How can we
do this?
While many
viable answers
may be
suggested, none
will result from
the outpouring
of emotions or
disorganized
verbal and
counter-effective
“sniper attacks”
at each other.
We need to
present
ourselves as an
example of a
peaceful people,
which insists on
solving its
problems
peacefully and
cooperatively
and only through
law and logic. I
suggest that, in
the interest of
creating and
maintaining
national
credibility, a
professional,
Assyrian,
working
committee(s) may
be constituted,
which should
consist mostly
of university
scholars in
various
humanitarian
specialties. The
committee(s)
must be
inclusive to
include all our
branches and
religious,
linguistic
affiliation.
Such
committee(s),
through its
constant
conferences and
promulgation of
information, may
handle, the
critical issues
that concern the
future of our
people. For
example, the
issue of the
genocide would
be imperative to
be treated first
by professionals
in genocidal
studies,
International
law, political
science and
other relevant
humanitarian
specialties. As
specialists in
this field know,
there is much
international
legislation that
favorably affect
our national
case. Among such
legislature is:
the 1948
International
Proclamation for
Human Rights,
which recognizes
the equality of
all peoples, be
they small or
large in number;
the Right of
self-determination;
the Right of
Native Peoples;
the law that the
Crime of
Genocide never
expires; and the
most recent one
is the 1993 UN
Resolution
concerning
linguistic,
religious, or
ethnic groups,
who live as
minorities in a
certain country.
The 1993 UN
Resolution
demands from
those countries
to legislate
laws and ways to
help protect,
develop and
revive the
culture of their
minorities. Its
details are even
more favorable
and persuasive.
Thus, a major
and most
sensitive role
is upon the
shoulders of the
Assyrian
professional
Committee (of
Genocidal
Studies,
International
laws etc.): that
is, to prepare a
bill of legal
case for the
genocide of our
parents and the
rights of their
children to live
in peace in
their extracted
territories with
guaranteed
human, cultural
and political
rights. This
bill needs to be
presented to the
UN and also
directly to
Turkey, which
is showing its
intention to
resolve its old
problems before
2004.
As we pursue in
our aspiration,
the committee
may demand the
UN, for
instance, to
provide a
satellite T.V.
channel running
24 hours a day
for the Assyrian
people as a
means of
constant
connection among
its scattered
remnants around
the world, which
occurred as a
result of the
Genocide. Such a
T.V. channel, if
executed
properly, would
go a long way
toward
preventing the
otherwise
pending “hidden
genocide:
Assimilation.”
As another
example, we have
just finished
Symposium
Syriacum.
Although there
are many good
things we can
relate about it,
the most
conspicuous
feature of the
Symposium is
that it consists
chiefly of
non-Assyrians,
who have as
their scholarly
interest the
ancient language
and manuscripts
of our
forefathers.
While we should
be gratified and
indebted to them
for their
achievements in
keeping our
ancient heritage
and literature
alive, it would
have been more
appropriate for
the Assyrian
“Syriac
scholars” to
initiate
additional,
constant
conferences on
relevant themes
that serve our
vision, mission
and goal. Thus,
a committee of
Assyrian
specialists in
the “Syriac
Studies” field
should be
created and
follow up on
this goal.
The suggestion
of creating
several working,
professional
committees [as
pillars on which
our nation can
be erected] may
include every
vital aspect of
the community
life, such as
genocide
studies,
education,
economy, art,
music, society,
spirituality,
sport ..etc.
Each of these
committees
should be
encouraged to
intensify their
own
communications
between each
other, and they
should have
their own
regular
conferences.
Furthermore, to
demonstrate our
willingness to
treat others in
the world
community as we
ourselves would
like to be
treated, the
activities of
these committees
should be open
to all
interested
peoples of all
nations, creeds
and races.
Encouraging
unbiased
inter-community
relations should
be a primary
objective, to
the end that
de-isolating
ourselves as a
people is a
crucial
component of our
overall
credibility and
as such our
world success.
In other words,
the collective,
cooperative
efforts of these
committees can
plan and help
execute their
inclusive
agenda, and
would go a long
way toward
demonstrating
the singularity
of purpose and
united front
that the rest of
the world will
notice and
appreciate.
However, our
institutions
now, as they
are, whether
cultural,
churches, arts
or politics can
and should still
have their role
separately and
in cooperation
with the
committees. As a
separate
activity, the
example of the
convention of
the AUA in 1998
was exemplary.
At that
convention, a
Middle Eastern
President,
personally and
publicly
recognized our
people as an
ethnic and
civilized people
integral to the
homeland.
President M.
Khatimi said,
“Today, although
the Assyrians
are few in
number in
comparison with
world
population, they
are present and
active in our
human society as
well as an
independent
ethnic group and
as the masters
of a culture
with a
historical
record, bearers
of a rich
civilization.”[15]
In conclusion, I
would like to
say that no
matter how dire
our situation
may seem, the
fact is that our
ancestors and
parents
succeeded in the
challenge of
their time, and
this truly means
that we can
succeed in ours:
“to be
contributors to
the new
civilization or
not to be.”
Otherwise, what!
Shall our nation
die, now, in
this time of
unprecedented
possibilities
and renewed
world interest
in native
cultures and
peoples, when
our ancestors
somehow scraped
up their
survival as
actual slaves
and servants
with all the
barbaric,
uncivilized
attitudes of
empire-grasping
masters as their
added challenge?
If for no other
reason than for
the respect we
owe to the
memory of their
monumental
achievement, and
to ourselves as
a nation, we
likewise MUST
prove our
competence and
pride; God
willing.
[1] Yearbook of
the United
Nations,
1947-1948 (New
York: The United
Nations, 1949)
595-599.
[2] Yearbook of
the United
Nations,
1948-1949 (New
York: The United
Nations, 1950)
595ff.
[3] E.
Southgate,
Narrative of a
Visit to the
Syrian
[Jacobite]
Church of Mesopotamia
(New York:
Appleton, 1844)
87.
[4] Shah Kuvad..
[5] Louis
Lochner, What
About Germany?
(New York: Dodd
Mead, 1942) 2;
Gerhard L.
Weinberg, The
Foreign policy
of Hitler’s
Germany:
Starting World
War II,
1937-1939
(Chicago/
London, 1980)
610-612; see
also “Letters to
the Editors,”
New York Times
(June 8, 1985)
16.
[6] U.S.
Congress,
Senate, 66th
Cong., 2nd
sess., Senate
Document no.
266, Major
General James G.
Harbord,
Conditions in
the Near East:
Report of the
American
Military Mission
to Armenia
(Washington,
D.C.: G.P.O.,
1920) 7.
[7] For details
on the fleeing
from Hikkari,
see Abdul-Massih
Saadi, “The
Scythe of the
Ottomans and the
Decimation of
the Assyrian
Nation,” Journal
of Assyrian
Academic Society
Vol. XII.2
(forthcoming).
[8] Echos
d’Orient, 424,
no.
187.Concerning
the Patriarch,
it was reported
that he was
collaborator
with the Ottoman
authorities who
helped him
elected as a
Patriarch; See
J. Joseph,
Muslim-Christian
Relations,
92-93.
[9]New York
Times, Dec. 20,
1916.
[10] Two
Documents in the
Archive of the
British Foreign
Ministry; Cf. Y.
Ibrahem, Mar
Ignatius Ephrem
(Damascus: 1996)
68-69.
[11] I. Ephrem
Barsum, Tarikh
Tur Abdin [in
Syriac],
translated into
Arabic by B.
Bahnam,
(Lebanon: 1963)
366; Cf. I.
Armalah, al-Qasara
fi Nakabat al-Masara
(np.: nd) 43.
[12] Kemal’s
leadership
sought an ally
with the soviets
over against
“Great Britain
and the common
enemies in the
West.”During the
summer of 1920
the first
shipment of
Soviet gold
reached
Anatolia.See
Richard
Hovannisian,
“Armenia and the
Caucasus in the
Genesis of the
Soviet-Turkish
Entente,”
International
Journal of
Middle East
Studies 4 (1973)
129-47.
[13] Great
Britain, Foreign
Office, British
and Foreign
State Papers,
Vol. 117 (1923)
543-639.
[14] Louis
Lochner, What
About Germany?
(New York: Dodd
Mead, 1942) 2;
Gerhard L.
Weinberg, The
Foreign policy
of Hitler’s
Germany:
Starting World
War II,
1937-1939
(Chicago/
London, 1980)
610-612; see
also “Letters to
the Editors,”
New York Times
(June 8, 1985)
16.
[15] M. Khatami,
“Khatami’s
speech to the
XXII World
Congress of the
Assyrian
Universal
Alliance
Tehran-Iran, Nov. 2, 1998,” Assyrian Star August (1999) 9-11.
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From Survival to Revival: In the Aftermath of the Assyrian Genocide
Assyrians After Assyria Conference
ProfessorAbdul-Massih Saadi, Ph.D.
Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
From the dawn of civilization, empires and peoples have risen to greatness, left their gifts for posterity, and then fallen into obscurity or extinction. Among these is the Assyrian nation, not extinct but still living and breathing, thousands of years after Babylonia, Akkad, Nineveh and Aram. Its people have ridden the tides of time longer than any other nation on earth now living, and cling tenaciously to their culture and language. This monumental achievement of survival, however, has been long and bitter, and has not come without a price. The Assyrian men, women and children, when faced with their own extinction, have paid over and over again in blood and in numbers for the right to exist and to have a name in their ancestral homelands.
If you talk to Assyrians, you will hear them call themselves by more than one name (Suraye/ Suroye, Suryoye, Othoraye, Aramaye, Chaldaye ..etc). This is because their rich and ancient heritage has left many historic classifications by which various groups came to identify themselves. In fact they all share the same language, with a few dialectical difference, the same socio-cultural cohesion, same long history of survival and now the same fate. While they maintain these historic naming choices for some community or religious purposes, they all as one acknowledge their core identity as one and the same nation. Out of the ten great civilizations in human history, the Assyrians created one of the greatest many years before Christ, and their legacy was to be the world standard of civilization for commerce, government, law, literature and culture in general for two thousand years.And despite the lost of political and military power, their language remain the Lingua Franca for more than a thousand year. Most importantly, centuries have passed, and they continue to seek a productive life and peace for themselves as well as for everybody around them.
Geographical Location of the Assyrians on the Eve of WWI At the turn of the century, the Assyrian people, the torchbearers of the earliest civilization in the world, and the living remnant of over 6,000 years of history in the region, lived under the Ottoman and Persian Empires.Their region was roughly known as “Upper Mesopotamia,” which includes: south and southeastern present-day Turkey, [they were spread from Miyafarqin, Hakkari, Bohtan, Tur-Abdin (over 240 villages), Nisibin, Mardin, Urfa (Edessa) all the way to Adana West; in the north, from Siirt, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Malatia. Under Persian rule, they were mostly in western Azerbaijan, at Urmia and the Salamas districts.
The other Assyrians (Syriac people) were spread over places in present day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and in the Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia).
Ecclesiastical Diversity Among the Assyrians Like most peoples, the Assyrians have various ecclesiastical traditions, although mostly they are Christian denominators. The Assyrians of the Church of the East include: Orthodox (or Nestorians), Catholic (Chaldeans) and Protestants. Similarly, the Assyrians of the West Syriac Church encompass several traditions: Orthodox (or Jacobites), Catholic, Melkites (Roman Orthodox & Roman Catholic), Maronites, and Protestants.
For thousands of years, while the Assyrians maintained their civilized continuity and peaceful cooperation with their neighbors or partners in the region: Armenians, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Kurds and Turks, they suffered many severe persecutions, suppression and massacres. Yet in the end of the 19th century (Abdul-Hamid’s massacres) and by the turn of the 20th century in the World War One, the Assyrians received the biggest blows time and again from the Ottoman authorities, which reduced them to desperation and annihilation.
As a surviving remnant of our parents’ genocides, living the consequences of its aftermath, we modern Assyrians are anxiously struggling on several fronts: (1) to understand the reasons behind the genocide of our parents, (2) to determine the ways and means to prevent such a fate from ever happening again; (3) to secure a civilized continuity for our next generation; and lastly (4) to restore the civilized and civilizing role of our ancestors.
Implication of Genocide
The survivors from our parents told their stories in terms of Killing (Qettla), Deportation (sawqiaat), and Sword (Sayfo). This is because the word and concept of Genocide had not yet been coined nor its concept was determined. Contrary to the concept of homicide, the intentional of murder of an individual, Genocide means the destruction of a group as the outcome of governmental policy. It was on December 9, 1948 the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution delineating the full meaning of Genocide and condemned it as “a crime under international law.”[1]
Specifically speaking, the Genocide, according to the statement issued by the U.N., “means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, such as:
This inclusive definition of Genocide by the U.N. presented a spectrum of acts and policies. All five of defined points of Genocide unequivocally are applicable to our Assyrian people, from physical massacres to forcible deculturation. The history of millions of native Assyrians in the region witnesses that they endured their fate century after century. On one hand, they honestly and earnestly presented to their partners the most civilized production ranged of literary, spirituality, science, economy, and peace; on the other hand, they suffered all kinds of atrocities, brutality and overall decimation from many of their neighbors or partners. The horrific massacres in WWI by the Ottoman authorities was neither the first nor the last; the instance of SEMILE in Iraq in 1933, which we often commemorate on the 7th of August where 3,000 innocent civilian Assyrians were massacred by the Iraqi regular troops led by Baker Sedqi, the chief army. The constant process of deculturation against our people continues not only by Turkey but also by many other countries, as their own language, values, patriotism, folklore, personal security, dignity and economical survival are threatened and almost nullified. Specifically, the Assyrians (all various denominations) of “Upper Mesopotamia,” they were numbered one million persons on the eve of WWI. And had there been no Genocide, they Assyrians could have numbered 20 million by now. In fact, because of the Genocide and its aftermath, now, at that same region they number only a couple thousand.
By the turn of the century, and due to nationalistic awakening, many members of the above-mentioned churches preferred to be identified with one nationalistic name, Assyrian, rather than by the various names of the church traditions.[3] Generally speaking, the Assyrians of the Church of the East were distributed in the Eastern part of “Upper Mesopotamia,” while the Assyrians of the West Syriac Churches lived in the middle and Western part of “Upper Mesopotamia.”
Dramatic Tragedy
For the last 2500 years, the Assyrians experienced many persecutions as a powerless people. Although they were among the first people to adopt Christianity, through which they demonstrated their prolific literary and civilized contribution, becoming Christians did not prevent their fate of constant persecution and perseverance. But despite all the obstacles, and for two more millennia, the Assyrians proved their vitality of productivity, peace, and loving intention for all the people of the earth. Their writers and philosophers did not cease to contribute in most kinds of constructive knowledge, cordial interfaith tracts, and even science. Likewise, their spiritual people generously enriched the culture of their region.And their missionaries, without distinction or prejudice, reached out to all their surrounding world, as far as India and China, to show, through their unprejudiced and indiscriminate good deeds, the power of love that makes all people around the world one through faith.[4] This civilized nature, despite all the blows throughout their long history, proved to be like an elastic and flexible willow tree, that bends with the stormy winds and weather, but afterwards stands tall, proud and unbroken, once more to continue to bear fruits.
The harshest, most pitiless blow, however, like a fiery sword falling time and time again on the trunk of our tree, occurred in the beginning of this century by the so-called “civilized, modern nation,” Turkey, and under the observation and silence of the “most civilized western nations.”
In the aftermath of the horrible massacre by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid in 1894-1896, which claimed thousands of Assyrians, the Assyrians were unable to heal their wounds because the direst time of their entire history on earth, their genocide, was waiting like an angel of death at the door. The Young Turk dethroned Abdul-Hamid in 1908, and contrary to the optimistic expectation of the Assyrians, the new movement demonstrated even more scathing cruelty and severity.
Many historians and politicians have analyzed the reasons behind the brutal deportations and massacre by the Ottomans authorities against their Christian (Greek, Armenians, Assyrians) subjects. The crux of the matter is that the Assyrians were not responsible in any way or deserving of such a fate. This is the real bottom line and the real reason we are all here today. According to historical analysis, it might be said that among the various motives that the Ottoman authorities had to commit such various and stupefying atrocities were: first, the new, national ideology and identity of the Turks; second, the dramatic territorial loss of Ottoman Empire: Bulgaria in 1908, Bosnia, Herzegovina which in 1908 were annexed to Austria, Libya in 1911 by Italy, and the Balkan states in 1914.Such losses not only eliminated large territories and their subjects, but also shook to its foundations the multinational and multi-religious character of the Empire.Accordingly, the Young Turk regarded the Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians not only as foreigners, but also as distrustful and unwanted people who could only be dealt with through dissolution and extermination. The Young Turk’s distrust of non-Turks was such that Young Turk could not imagine a future Turkey which had as its national base any ethnic or cultural entity not purely their own, in fact mirroring an attitude later manifested fully by Hitler and Turkey’s World War I ally, Germany. It was no surprise, therefore, for Adolf Hilter to justify the massacres committed by the Young Turk, stating in August 1939 as follows: “Who, after all, speaks today of the extermination of the Armenians?”[5]The eruption of a fanatic, nationalistic ideology in both Turkey and Germany led their leaders to be convinced of the necessity of destroying the people they had defined as the target. In Turkey, in WWI, the victims were the Greeks, Armenians, and the Assyrians of all their denominations. For the same reason of confronting a fanatic, nationalistic ideology, the Assyrian survivors of WWI had to suffer another Genocide in 1933 in SEMELE and countless incidences, which reduced them to dispersion and annihilation.
While the evidence abounds in a huge corpus of documents, the U.S. Major General James G. Harborad, the chief of a Fact-Finding Mission to Anatolia, reported in 1919 as follows:
Massacres and deportations were organized in the spring of 1915 under a definite system, the soldiers going from town to town. The official reports of the Turkish Government show 1,100,000 as having been deported. Young men were first summoned to the government building in each village and then marched out and killed. The women, the old men, and children were, after a few days, deported to what Talaat pasha called “agricultural colonies,” from the high, cool, breeze-swept plateau of Armenia to the malarial flats of the Euphrates and the burning sands of Syria and Arabia. Mutilation, violation, torture and death ..the most colossal crime of all the ages.[6]
Our people, with no means to defend themselves, received the biggest blow. No course of action was safe, not one. Those who tried to flee from their historical territories, such as Hikkari, could not save themselves.[7] Neither could those who chose to remain under the Ottoman role escape their horrific destiny. Realizing their pending fate, the terrified Christians made every effort possible to appease their Ottoman masters, whether through distancing themselves from other Christian denominations, namely, the Armenians and Nestorians (as they were called by the Ottomans), or showing neutrality and loyalty in a variety of more subtle ways. For example, the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox church wrote a telegram to the grand vizier, condemning the “Armenian disturbances,” and thanking “his Majesty for the protection he has ever accorded to it, as also to our Mussulman compatriots.” Finally, the Patriarch begged, “under these circumstances, we can but appeal to the Sovereign, our sole refuge, to protect us in his mercy.”[8] It should be clear from such a communication that the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch felt forced to demonstrate a reproach of a Christian group in order to stake a claim for his own survival.
Few days later, on December 20, 1916, in the New York Times reported: “Syrian Patriarch Slain: Murdered in His Residence in [Mardin] by Band of Turks”[9]
Meanwhile, the language of “the holy war,” Jihad, aroused Muslims against their powerless Christian neighbors.Between the so-called “acts of mobs,” and direct orders of the Ottoman authorities, one third of the Assyrian nation, people of various denominations, were killed. The rest remained “a hostage people,” subjected to all sorts of humiliations, dispersion and annihilation.[10] The following Syriac Patriarch, I. Ephrem, reported (and I quote): “the ‘rumor’ was that the Armenians had rebelled; in reality the mobs were calling for extermination of “all the Christians.”[11]
Thus, the Assyrians of the East had no choice but to try to broker their fate with the Russians. By doing so, they lost one third of their people and gained another ally with imperial pretensions who exacted from them more than they returned. On the other hand, the Assyrians of the West Syriac Churches, who until the end remained loyal to the Ottoman authorities, the only course of action left open to them, were humiliated, dispersed and also lost one third of its people. Finally, when Syria was under the French mandate, the Turks granted “permission … to all Christians” to leave Turkey, creating another flight of refugees. Assyrian Christians (of East and West Syriac Churches) in large numbers fled their land, bringing to an end their centuries old history in Hikkari, Tur Abdin, Mardin, Urfa, Adana and others. The vast majority of them were helpless victims, and innocent of all political ambitions.
The Reaction of the World
The world (the victorious World War I allies) reacted to these holocaustic events with a unified and categorical denunciation of what they determined was criminal massacres. They roundly condemned the Ottoman authorities. Various encouraging statements were issued by the allied nations affirming their support of the Assyrians and Armenians. The American president, Woodrow Wilson, took this to a practical level by delineating fourteen humanitarian principles in the Sevres treaty of 1920. One of these clearly and unambiguously stated that it was the obligation of Turkey to protect the rights of its ethnic minorities and to promote their progress and independence. While Turkey signed the treaty, ostensibly bowing to the terms, the new nationalistic Turkish movement, led by Mustafa Kemal gained momentum and supported by the incipient Soviet Union, created a counter-government at Ankara in the spring of 1920, challenged the treaty and virtually cancelled it.[12] The rise of Mustafa Kemal was followed by various shifts in the political balances in the region. At this stage, the allies were exhausted from their effort against the Germans and its allies, who, we must not forget, included Turkey. This fact should be mentioned because it shows a similarity of feeling towards nationalism and ethnic purity, which was later to erupt so effectively and tragically in World War II. In any event, at this point the allies were feeling the need to look homeward for the post-war cleanup, and possibly did not see Turkey, with its newly shrunken borders, as any kind of threat, either to its internal constituents or anyone else.As such, they conceded, though unwillingly, to Mustafa Kemal. A new treaty was signed in Lausanne in 1923, in which no real obligation toward ethnic minorities was acknowledged.As an outcome of this treaty, the Allies recognized the new frontiers of Turkey, including southern boundary that left a string of cities from Aintab to Urfa, Mardin, Tur Abdin, and Hakkari within new Turkey.[13]
Assyrians in the Aftermath of Genocide
Turkey’s national policy and its priorities did not serve any group except ethnic Turks with no regard whatsoever to their victims, confirming Hitler’s statement: “who, after all, speaks, today, of the extermination of Armenians.”[14] But regardless of contemporary circumstances, the crime of genocide does not expire over time like a penalty in a game of football. The right to exist, the right to live and work and not be harassed on a daily basis for one’s religious beliefs and ethnic background, and the right to have a name and a modicum of protection and civil rights, is stressed and guaranteed in international law. And if in the past the policies of the international communities were totally focused on the balance in the Cold War at the expense of small, oppressed people; now the Cold War is over, and the process of settling these issues begin. But this right means nothing if one does not lives up to it, and appropriately claims it. Thus the Assyrians have to face two challenges: an internal one and a broader based external one. Internally, we need to have our own vision, mission and civilized goal. Our claim will not and cannot be taken seriously by either our partners or by the international community if we cannot rise to this most basic challenge of unity and consistent vision. Externally, as a civilized people, we need to effect an approach which leverages the power of logic and international law for reclaiming our rights. Our most peaceful and logic case is and will continue to be the real test for the credibility of the International Community, U.N. and the whole New World Order, including our partner Turkey for making justice. For the sake of justice, and even for antiquity’s sake, for the sake of the remnant people who created one of the earliest civilization in the world), for the sake of setting our case as an exemplar case pursuing only logic, law and peaceful means for restoring its rights, we appeal to justice.Otherwise, what kind of credibility is this when the victim cannot acquire his justice unless he becomes strong enough to impose his case, and sometime to impose it by force, and virtually, he makes his case “a problem” to the world? Only at that time, the International Community, U.N., and the intended countries move towards solving that “problem”? Such kind of equation between the victim and the International Community with its International Law is just a ridiculous scandal!On our part, thanks be to God, we cannot violently threaten anybody. But, as a civilized people, our only way to pursue our justice will be through peaceful and legal means.
The internal and external challenges may be one and the same in our modern days. Modern technology, computers and telecommunications and especially the Internet, have shrunken the world in a cold fusion of new ideas, startling pathways to success and revolutionary ways of achieving and disseminating information and therefore truth. We must not forget for one minute that at this crucial time we are facing the new, compacted world community in which our people are challenged with its reality:to be “contributors to the new civilization” or not to be. For us, this principle was our challenge throughout our long history; and previously, our people successfully proved their civilized contribution for themselves and for the people(s) they lived with. Moreover, they played the major role as connecting bridges and mediators among a number of civilizations: Greek/ Roman, Persian and Arab. Thus, our mission, today, would become our only identity and entity. We need to be aware that NOT living up to this challenge will spell our destruction and national death. This is because the power of the information highway can work as well in our favor, if we choose to harness it, as against us, if we simply ignored our mission and production; the quick result of it is “total assimilation.” Thus, we may face a different type of genocide/homocide, “hidden genocide: assimilation” leaving behind the precious legacy both of the historical and the living. Today, although the potential of our people lies scattered around the world, as a result of the genocide and its aftermath, we need to determine ways and means, in a unified manner, to turn such scattering into a blessing and productive power. There is in this a tremendous opportunity to make use of such decentralization, and it consists of the possibility to have not just the ears or sympathy of one city or nation, but literally to every corner in the world, and most importantly our partner, Turkey. As someone once said, “Defeat is only Victory Turned Inside Out.”How can we do this?
While many viable answers may be suggested, none will result from the outpouring of emotions or disorganized verbal and counter-effective “sniper attacks” at each other. We need to present ourselves as an example of a peaceful people, which insists on solving its problems peacefully and cooperatively and only through law and logic. I suggest that, in the interest of creating and maintaining national credibility, a professional, Assyrian, working committee(s) may be constituted, which should consist mostly of university scholars in various humanitarian specialties. The committee(s) must be inclusive to include all our branches and religious, linguistic affiliation. Such committee(s), through its constant conferences and promulgation of information, may handle, the critical issues that concern the future of our people. For example, the issue of the genocide would be imperative to be treated first by professionals in genocidal studies, International law, political science and other relevant humanitarian specialties. As specialists in this field know, there is much international legislation that favorably affect our national case. Among such legislature is: the 1948 International Proclamation for Human Rights, which recognizes the equality of all peoples, be they small or large in number; the Right of self-determination; the Right of Native Peoples; the law that the Crime of Genocide never expires; and the most recent one is the 1993 UN Resolution concerning linguistic, religious, or ethnic groups, who live as minorities in a certain country. The 1993 UN Resolution demands from those countries to legislate laws and ways to help protect, develop and revive the culture of their minorities. Its details are even more favorable and persuasive. Thus, a major and most sensitive role is upon the shoulders of the Assyrian professional Committee (of Genocidal Studies, International laws etc.): that is, to prepare a bill of legal case for the genocide of our parents and the rights of their children to live in peace in their extracted territories with guaranteed human, cultural and political rights. This bill needs to be presented to the UN and also directly to Turkey, which is showing its intention to resolve its old problems before 2004.
As we pursue in our aspiration, the committee may demand the UN, for instance, to provide a satellite T.V. channel running 24 hours a day for the Assyrian people as a means of constant connection among its scattered remnants around the world, which occurred as a result of the Genocide. Such a T.V. channel, if executed properly, would go a long way toward preventing the otherwise pending “hidden genocide: Assimilation.”
As another example, we have just finished Symposium Syriacum. Although there are many good things we can relate about it, the most conspicuous feature of the Symposium is that it consists chiefly of non-Assyrians, who have as their scholarly interest the ancient language and manuscripts of our forefathers. While we should be gratified and indebted to them for their achievements in keeping our ancient heritage and literature alive, it would have been more appropriate for the Assyrian “Syriac scholars” to initiate additional, constant conferences on relevant themes that serve our vision, mission and goal. Thus, a committee of Assyrian specialists in the “Syriac Studies” field should be created and follow up on this goal.
The suggestion of creating several working, professional committees [as pillars on which our nation can be erected] may include every vital aspect of the community life, such as genocide studies, education, economy, art, music, society, spirituality, sport ..etc. Each of these committees should be encouraged to intensify their own communications between each other, and they should have their own regular conferences. Furthermore, to demonstrate our willingness to treat others in the world community as we ourselves would like to be treated, the activities of these committees should be open to all interested peoples of all nations, creeds and races. Encouraging unbiased inter-community relations should be a primary objective, to the end that de-isolating ourselves as a people is a crucial component of our overall credibility and as such our world success.
In other words, the collective, cooperative efforts of these committees can plan and help execute their inclusive agenda, and would go a long way toward demonstrating the singularity of purpose and united front that the rest of the world will notice and appreciate. However, our institutions now, as they are, whether cultural, churches, arts or politics can and should still have their role separately and in cooperation with the committees. As a separate activity, the example of the convention of the AUA in 1998 was exemplary. At that convention, a Middle Eastern President, personally and publicly recognized our people as an ethnic and civilized people integral to the homeland. President M. Khatimi said, “Today, although the Assyrians are few in number in comparison with world population, they are present and active in our human society as well as an independent ethnic group and as the masters of a culture with a historical record, bearers of a rich civilization.”[15]
In conclusion, I would like to say that no matter how dire our situation may seem, the fact is that our ancestors and parents succeeded in the challenge of their time, and this truly means that we can succeed in ours: “to be contributors to the new civilization or not to be.” Otherwise, what! Shall our nation die, now, in this time of unprecedented possibilities and renewed world interest in native cultures and peoples, when our ancestors somehow scraped up their survival as actual slaves and servants with all the barbaric, uncivilized attitudes of empire-grasping masters as their added challenge? If for no other reason than for the respect we owe to the memory of their monumental achievement, and to ourselves as a nation, we likewise MUST prove our competence and pride; God willing.
[1] Yearbook of the United Nations, 1947-1948 (New York: The United Nations, 1949) 595-599.
[2] Yearbook of the United Nations, 1948-1949 (New York: The United Nations, 1950) 595ff.
[3] E. Southgate, Narrative of a Visit to the Syrian [Jacobite] Church of Mesopotamia (New York: Appleton, 1844) 87.
[4] Shah Kuvad..
[5] Louis Lochner, What About Germany? (New York: Dodd Mead, 1942) 2; Gerhard L. Weinberg, The Foreign policy of Hitler’s Germany: Starting World War II, 1937-1939 (Chicago/ London, 1980) 610-612; see also “Letters to the Editors,” New York Times (June 8, 1985) 16.
[6] U.S. Congress, Senate, 66th Cong., 2nd sess., Senate Document no. 266, Major General James G. Harbord, Conditions in the Near East: Report of the American Military Mission to Armenia (Washington, D.C.: G.P.O., 1920) 7.
[7] For details on the fleeing from Hikkari, see Abdul-Massih Saadi, “The Scythe of the Ottomans and the Decimation of the Assyrian Nation,” Journal of Assyrian Academic Society Vol. XII.2 (forthcoming).
[8] Echos d’Orient, 424, no. 187.Concerning the Patriarch, it was reported that he was collaborator with the Ottoman authorities who helped him elected as a Patriarch; See J. Joseph, Muslim-Christian Relations, 92-93.
[9]New York Times, Dec. 20, 1916.
[10] Two Documents in the Archive of the British Foreign Ministry; Cf. Y. Ibrahem, Mar Ignatius Ephrem (Damascus: 1996) 68-69.
[11] I. Ephrem Barsum, Tarikh Tur Abdin [in Syriac], translated into Arabic by B. Bahnam, (Lebanon: 1963) 366; Cf. I. Armalah, al-Qasara fi Nakabat al-Masara (np.: nd) 43.
[12] Kemal’s leadership sought an ally with the soviets over against “Great Britain and the common enemies in the West.”During the summer of 1920 the first shipment of Soviet gold reached Anatolia.See Richard Hovannisian, “Armenia and the Caucasus in the Genesis of the Soviet-Turkish Entente,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 4 (1973) 129-47.
[13] Great Britain, Foreign Office, British and Foreign State Papers, Vol. 117 (1923) 543-639.
[14] Louis Lochner, What About Germany? (New York: Dodd Mead, 1942) 2; Gerhard L. Weinberg, The Foreign policy of Hitler’s Germany: Starting World War II, 1937-1939 (Chicago/ London, 1980) 610-612; see also “Letters to the Editors,” New York Times (June 8, 1985) 16.
[15] M. Khatami, “Khatami’s speech to the XXII World Congress of the Assyrian Universal Alliance Tehran-Iran, Nov. 2, 1998,” Assyrian Star August (1999) 9-11.