Assyrians in Iran
ܐܬܘܪܝܐ ܕܐܝܼܪܵܢ ( Neo-Aramaic and Persian | |
---|---|
Religion | |
Syriac Christianity |
Assyrians in Iran (
They share a common history and ethnic identity, rooted in shared linguistic, cultural and religious traditions, with
The Assyrian community in Iran numbered approximately 200,000 prior to the
The Iranian capital, Tehran, is home to the majority of Iranian Assyrians; however, approximately 15,000 Assyrians reside in northern Iran, in Urmia and various Assyrian villages in the surrounding area.[2] To note among the Assyrian diaspora, the Assyrians residing in California and Russia tend to be originally from Iran.[7]
The
In 2010, it was estimated that there were only around 5,000 Assyrians left in the historical center of the city of Urmia.[9]
History
The Assyrian presence in Iran goes back 4,000 years to ancient times, and
After the fall of Assyria between 612 and 599 BC, after decades of civil war, followed by an attack by an alliance of former subject peoples; the
There were about 200,000 Assyrians in Iran at the time of the 1976 census.[11] Many emigrated after the revolution in 1979, but at least 50,000 were estimated to be still in Iran in 1987.
In 1900, Assyrians numbered over 76,000 in northwestern Iran, constituting over a quarter of the Azerbaijan province's population and were the largest non-Muslim majority in Urmia. Of the 300 villages around Urmia, 60 were exclusively Assyrians and 60 were mixed villages with Assyrian, Armenian, and Azeri communities. Nevertheless, there were over 115 documented Assyrian villages to the west of Lake Urmia prior to 1918.[10]
During the
The Ottomans already implemented massacres of several Assyrian tribes from 1843 to 1845, with the motive of taking over their ancestral lands and making them part of the Ottoman Empire. These tribes were particularly the Tiyari, Tkhuma, Jilu and Baz, who all refused Ottoman command. According to British councils, 10,000 Assyrians were massacred already during this time alone. Women and children were taken while Assyrian leaders were cast out from Ottoman forces. Assyrians felt forced to convert to for example Catholicism or Russian Orthodoxy to receive help from the Russian, French or British. [13]
In 1914 alone, they attacked dozens of villages and drove off all the inhabitants of the district of Gawar. The Assyrians defended themselves and for a time successfully repelled further attacks under the leadership of Agha Petros, seizing control of much of the Urmia region and defeating Ottoman forces and their Kurdish and Arab allies in the process. However, lack of ammunition and supplies, due mainly to the withdrawal of Russia from the war, and the collapse of allied Armenian forces led to their downfall. Massively outnumbered, surrounded, undersupplied and cut off, the Assyrians suffered terrible massacres. These included Assyrian deportations close to the Ottoman-Persian border in January 1915, as well as the invasion of several Assyrian tribes located in the Hakkari mountains. This area already suffered numerous massacres in the 1840s. [13]
By the summer of 1918 almost all surviving Assyrians had fled to Tehran or to existing Assyrian communities or refugee camps in Iraq such as Baqubah. Local Kurds and Arabs and took the opportunity of the last phases of World War I to rob Assyrian homes, murder civilians and leave those remaining destitute. The critical murder that sowed panic in the Assyrian community came when Kurdish militias, under Agha Ismail Simko, assassinated the Patriarch, Shimun XIX Benyamin, on March 3, 1918, under the pretext of inviting him to negotiations, although the Assyrian leader Malik Khoshaba exacted revenge upon Simko by attacking and sacking his citadel, forcing the Kurdish leader to flee for his life.[11]
Religious communities
Most Assyrians in Iran are followers of the Assyrian Church of the East, with a minority of 3,900 following the Chaldean Catholic Church.[14] Some also follow Protestant denominations such as the Assyrian Evangelical Church, Assyrian Pentecostal Church and possibly Russian Orthodoxy due to a Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Urmia during the 1900s.
Distribution
- Urmia (Syriac: ܐܘܪܡܝܐ):
- Abajalu, Abdulkandi, Adeh (ܥܕܐ), Aliabad, Aliawach, Alikumi, Alqayeh, Anhar, Ardishai, Armutaghaj, Babarud, Badelbu, Badiki, Balanush, Balu, Borashan, Chamaki, Chamashajan, Charagushi, Charbakhsh (چهاربخش (ارومیه) [fa]), Darbarut, Digala (دیگاله [fa]), Dizataka, Diszgeri, Gawilan, Geogtapa, Lower Gniza, Upper Gniza, Gulpashin/Gulpashan, Gowzgavand, Hesar Babaganja, Ikiaghaj, Iryawa, Jamlawa, Khanishan, Kosi, Lulpa, Mushawa, Nazlu, Piqabaklu, Qala, Qara-Aghaj, Qarajalu, Qaragoz, Qasemlu, Qezel Ashuq, Qurtapa, Saatlu, Sainabad, Sangar, Saralan, Sardarud, Shirabad (ܫܝܪܐܒܕ), Sir, Sopurghan, Taka, Tarmani, Tazakand, Urmia, Vazirabad, Yaghmiralu, Yengija, Zumalan (ܙܘܡܠܢ).
- Margawar:
- Targawar (Syriac: ܬܪܓܘܪ):
- Sumay Baradust:
- Salmas (Syriac: ܣܵܠܵܡܵܣ)::
Churches
- Holy Mary (Mart Maryam) Church – Urmia
- St. Mary's Cathedral - Urmia
- St. Cyriacus Church - Urmia
- St. Daniel Church (fa) - Adeh
- St. John Church - Adeh - 1901
- Sts. Peter and Paul Church - Kelisakandi
- St. George Church (fa) - Sopurghan
- St. Peter Church (fa) - Qarabagh
- St. Sarkis Church - Sir
- St. George Church (fa) - Gulpashan
- St. John Church - Gawilan
- Holy Mary Church (fa) – Mavana
- St. Thomas Church - Balowlan
- Assyrian Pentecostal Church – Kermanshah – 1955
- St. Joseph (Mar Yozep) Church – Tehran (Forsat St.) – 1950
- St. Thomas (Mar Toma) Church (fa) – Tehran (Amirabad) – 1967
Famous Assyrians from Iran
- Hannibal Alkhas, poet and visual artist
- Andre Agassi, Assyrian-Armenian tennis player
- Evin Agassi, music artist
- and father of Andre Agassi
- Ramona Amiri, Miss World Canada 2005
- Ashurbanipal Babilla, actor, theatre director, playwright and visual artist
- MLSplayer
- Patrick Bet-David, entrepreneur, author and YouTuber
- George Bit Atanus, designed the current Assyrian flag in 1968.
- Bukhtishu family, famous physicians in the Middle Ages
- Beneil Dariush, MMA fighter
- Jack Douglas, television personality
- Eprime Eshag, Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford
- Alexander L. George, Graham H. Stuart Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Stanford University
- Mar Youhannan Semaan Issayi, Archbishop of Assyro-Chaldean Metropolitan Tehran
- George Malek-Yonan, procured a seat in the Iranian Parliament for Assyrians
- Rosie Malek-Yonan, actress, author and activist
- Younan Nowzaradan, Assyrian-American physician and television personality (My 600-lb Life)
- Andrew David Urshan, evangelist and author
See also
- Christians in Iran
- Ethnic minorities in Iran
- List of Assyrian settlements
- Religious minorities in Iran
- Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Urmia
- Da'tid Bahrana
- Urmia Orthodokseta
Notes
- ^ "Iran". U.S. Department of State 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom: Iran.
- ^ a b c Hooglund (2008), pp. 100–101.
- ^ "Iran: Assyrian Policy Institute". Assyrian Policy Institute. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
- ^ "ASSYRIANS IN IRAN i. The Assyrian community ( – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
- ^ Hooglund (2008), pp. 100–101, 295.
- ^ "Iran". United States Department of State. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
- ISBN 9780786451333.
- ^ Hooglund (2008), pp. 128–129.
- ^ Nicholas al-Jeloo, Evidence in Stone and Wood: The Assyrian/Syriac History and Heritage of the Urmia Region in Iran. Parole de l'Orient 35 (2010), pp. 1-15.
- ^ a b "Settling Into Diaspora: A History of Urmia Assyrians in the United States" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2015-01-07.
- ^ a b c Iran A Country Study By Federal Research Division - Page 128
- ^ David Gaunt, "The Assyrian Genocide of 1915", Assyrian Genocide Research Center, 2009
- ^ a b c Travis, Hannibal (2011). "The Assyrian Genocide, a Tale of Oblivion and Denial". Forgotten Genocides: Oblivion, Denial and Memory. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 125.
- ^ As of 2014, when combining the populations of all the Iranian diocese together, there are 3,900 followers http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/rite/dch2.html
- ^ Yonan, Gabriele. "Assyrer_heute_Kultur_Sprache_Nationalbew". Academia.edu (in German).
References
- ISBN 978-0-8444-1187-3. Retrieved 13 October 2013.
Bibliography
- Eden Naby, “The Assyrians of Iran: Reunification of a ‘Millat,’ 1906-1914" International Journal of Middle East Studies, 8. (1977) pp. 237–249
- Eden Naby, “The Iranian Frontier Nationalities: The Kurds, the Assyrians, the Baluch and the Turkmens,”Soviet Asian Ethnic Frontiers, ed.by McCagg and Silver (New York, Pergamon Press, 1979).
- Eden Naby, “Christian Assyrian Architecture of Iran,” News – Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions (Spring 1998) vol. 5, no. 2, p. 7, 10.
- Eden Naby, "Ishtar: Documenting the Crisis in the Assyrian Iranian Community," MERIA 10/4 (2006)https://web.archive.org/web/20090124055153/http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2006/issue4/Naby.pdf