THE GENOCIDE OF ASSYRIANS — THEN AND NOW
By Ashur Giwargis
Assyrian International News Agency
AINA (press release)
Oct 10 2011
(AINA) — The massacres of World War I against the Assyrians, Greeks
and Armenians, in what’s known today as Turkey, did not suddenly
and mysteriously appear out of nowhere. These events were links in
the chain of human history that were founded on the contradictory
religious and cultural mores that dominated the Ottoman character
for hundreds of years.
Since Sultan Osman I, in the 14th century, as well as his sons, Orkhan
Ghazi, and Murad III, the Assyrians, the Armenians and the Greeks were
pursued as the Byzantine culture was destroyed and forcibly replaced by
Islam. Over centuries the Christians, who are the indigenous people
of what is today known as Turkey, were subjected to oppression,
killing and Islamization according to “legislation by God” — as the
Ottomans believed.
Turks argue that Assyrian collaborated with Russia before WW1. But
history tells us that the Turks themselves were the ones who first
allowed foreigners in, through the Treaty of the Capitulations in 1535
between the French King Francis I and Sultan Suleiman I (Suleiman
the magnificent). According to this treaty, the French enjoyed the
right to “protect” Christians living in the Ottoman territories. This
is how a segment Armenians became Roman Catholic, and a segment of
Assyrians became Roman Catholic.
After allowing the Roman Catholic missions to enter Assyria and
Armenia, the British Anglican missions were allowed in next.
Based on this historical fact, the Ottoman Empire is the one who
collaborated with foreigners and consented to their presence in
that territory.
Sultan Selim I brought the Kurds from Isfahan in the 16th century
and settled them in the Assyrian highlands on the Iranian borders
to fight the Shiite Safavids.1 The Ottoman Empire began using these
Kurdish tribes over the centuries to kill the Christian Assyrians and
Armenians systematically. This forced the Christians under the Ottoman
domination to ask for help from their neighbouring Christian countries,
especially Russia, (the most powerful Christian nation at the time),
and begged to be saved from the Islamic persecution in the region,
after the Ottoman government neglected their pleas repeatedly.
In 1853, Frederick Engels used these facts as an example in his
letter to Karl Marx: “What is this status quo? For the Christian
subjects of the Porte, it means simply the maintenance for ever’
and a day, of Turkish oppression over them. As long as they are
oppressed by Turkish rule, the head of the Greek Church, the ruler
of sixty millions of Greek Christians, be he in other respects what
he may, is their natural liberator and protector. Thus it is, that
ten millions of Greek Christians in European Turkey, are forced to
appeal to Russian aid, by that very diplomatic scheme, invented in
order to prevent Russian encroachment. “2
Engels’ statement was affirmed 15 years later in a letter, dated
May 14th, 1868, from the Assyrian Patriarch Mar Rouil Shimon to the
Russian king Michael. In this letter the Patriarch states:”… We are
a poor nation, my people have not enough grain to provide themselves
with bread … The Kurds have forcibly taken many of our Churches and
convents, they constantly abduct our virgins, brides , and women,
forcing them to turn Moslems … The Turks are worse, they do not
protect us, demand military taxes, poll tax, also the Kurds take our
money for they consider us as “Zirr Kurr” (slaves – being Christians
.. .)… Now, such being our condition, we beseech your mightiness,
for the sake of Jesus, His Baptism, and cross. Either to free us from
such a state or to procure us a remedy… May God preserve you, Amen.”3
This was the religious background of the hatred against Assyrians, but
the greatest scandal took place as Turkish nationalism was introduced
to the Ottoman Sultanate in 1908-1909, where loud calls from Turkish
officials demanded the ethnic cleansing of all nationalities, in
order to preserve the Turkish nationality. One such voice was that of
the Turkish official, Dr. Nazim Manzar, (a leader of the Young Turks
Movement) who said: “If it wasn’t for foreign diplomatic intervention,
we would have unified all nationalities within the Turkish one
creating one culture because we want the Turkish component to live
on this land without any other.”4 Indeed, This opportunity presented
itself in 1914 when chaos ensued and WWI began.
At the beginning of WWI in the summer of 1914, the Kurdish tribes,
which were settled in Assyria and Armenia, and which formed a Kurdish
cavalry force in the Ottoman army known as the “Hamidian Cavalry”
(named after Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and backed by other Turkish
battalions) headed to the Assyrian plain villages in the east of
what is today known as Turkey as well as the Assyrian villages in
Tur Abdin and Hakkari in the south-east, and the Salamas to Margawar
plain in western Iran (all in all 115 Assyrian villages on the Turkish
borders), and proceeded to kill thousands of Assyrians, burn and raze
their cities, towns, villages, ancient monasteries and churches and
kidnap women and girls under the banner of Jihad.
On March 5, 1915, the Baku newspaper reported that 20 Assyrian villages
were completely destroyed while the bodies of women and children laid
in the streets with marks of daggers and cleavers on them. On March
15, 1915, the Tbilisi newspaper described the Kurdish tribes’ attacks,
led by Turkish officers, as “barbaric.” These are just a few examples
of the headlines that made it in the newspapers of that era. At the
time these events were taking place, the Assyrians had not yet joined
the war. As the massacres continued against them, compounding all
this religious, national and social degeneration surrounding the
indigenous peoples of the Middle East, the Assyrians were finally
obliged to seek help from those who shared their religious beliefs,
as they obviously had no other recourse since the killers and looters
were either the ruling authorities or their gangs.
The Assyrian Patriarch Mar Binyamin Shimon (who was later assassinated
by a Kurd) declared that the Assyrians joined the war on Russia’s
side in self-defence and for liberation from the Ottoman occupation
and oppression. This decision was made during a meeting between the
Patriarch and tribal leaders in the Diz area on June 1, 19155
These facts are answers to those who claim that Assyrians collaborated
with Russians before the massacres. Additionally, hundreds of
thousands of Orthodox Assyrians were massacred in Tur Abdin area and
its surrounding townships6 even though they did not have any contact
with any foreign state in the first place.
Even after the Assyrian tribesmen were armed, Turkey and its Kurdish
recruits did not differentiate between civilian and military.
Genocides were repeated against the Assyrians in the Assyrian
highlands known as the Hakkari Mountains, as well as in the vicinity of
Urmia. One of the Assyrian death marches is described by the Russian
Victor Shklovski, who was the assistant Commissar of the Russian
Expeditionary Corps in Persia during WW1, mentioning in his memoirs
that after Russia withdrew from the war following the Bolshevik
revolution, a convoy of 253,000 Assyrians fled from the city of
Urmia, marching on foot in the summer of 1918, covering a distance
of 900 kilometers towards the Iranian mountains and plains heading
to Hamadan in the south where the British were settled. During that
journey 85,000 Assyrian women and children were killed by Turkish,
Kurdish and Iranian attacks while another 15,000 were killed as their
convoy headed to the north, towards Russia and Georgia7
Russian8, British9, American10 and even Turkish11 records confirm that
between 1914 and 1922, Turkey led its armies into the unarmed Assyrian,
Armenian and Greek villages and towns and committed ethnic cleansing
and deportation whereby nearly 750,000 Assyrians, (the equivalent of
three-fourths of the Assyrian nation at the time) were massacred.
This falls within the definition of Genocide as adopted by the United
Nations in 1948, since it covers ethnic cleansing in accordance with
the following specifications of the United Nations:
Mass murder Physical and spiritual damage to a group Mass starvation
with the intent of social destruction Transferring children forcibly
to other cultures and societies
The human and political results of the Genocide against the Assyrian
Nation were as follows:
Eradication of three-fourths of the Assyrian nation between the
years 1915–1922 Diseases and epidemics that killed 33,680 Assyrians
in British refugee camps in Iraq.12 Abduction of thousands of women
and children, who were taken to the homes of Muslims (Turks, Arabs,
Kurds, Iranians) never to be seen again Lack of understanding on
the part of the Iraqi state regarding the Assyrian rights due to its
Ottoman culture, which resulted in the Simmele massacre of in August,
1933 against the Assyrian people in 63 villages in North of Iraq The
exile of a large number of Assyrians to Syria and abroad after being
accused of “creating chaos” and despite the massacres against them
The price paid by the Assyrians for their religious and national
beliefs considerably reduced the Assyrian national numbers and
contributed significantly to the weakening of the Assyrian presence
in the Middle East.
Since the international community recognized the Genocide against
the Jews, as well as in Sudan and Yugoslavia, it can also recognize
the Genocide against the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks insofar as
the crimes against these peoples are not less than those committed
against others whom we have mentioned.
The reality seems disproportionate when it comes to recognizing the
genocide committed by Turkey against the Assyrians, the Armenians,
and the Greeks, except through the illegal political manoeuvring and
hindrances, since parliaments as legislative powers are recognizing
“Genocide” while governments or the executive authorities of a state
are always the ones denying it. For example, following the recognition
by the Swedish Parliament that the Turkish organized killings against
the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks as Genocides, the Swedish Foreign
Minister Carl Bildt expressed his regret at the Parliament’s decision
and voiced his concern regarding Turkey’s position.
In the United States, the Genocide against Armenians was used as a
campaigning card for Barack Obama, whereby after the U.S. Congress
adopted the decision to recognize the Genocide, Obama expressed his
rejection and at the same time said that he did not regret using the
term “Genocide” during his elections campaign13
We find a much worse situation in Greece as the Greek Parliament
has refused to recognize the systematic crimes perpetrated by Turkey
against the Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians, as Genocide, and it is
even more disappointing that until now the proposal has been presented
four times to the Greek parliament and rejected each time to preserve
good relations between Greece and Turkey.
The international community’s neglect of this issue is in essence a
second Genocide, not to mention disrespectful towards the concepts
of humanity. This silence and indifference is dangerous as it is
perceived as a green signal by those who would perpetrate more
genocides against the weak and helpless people of the world, which
is exactly what is happening to the Christian Assyrians in Iraq whom
I present as an example.
The Assyrian people are still living amongst the degenerate factions
ruling Iraq, without any protection or international attention. More
than 500,000 Assyrians have fled Iraq since 2003, while only 300,000
had migrated during the 35-year reign of Saddam Hussein. All this is
taking place under the watchful eyes of the international community,
who has offered the Assyrians nothing short of deadly solutions, such
as forcing the Assyrian Nation to migrate and flee its historical
lands, obliterating its culture and dissolving it within the western
societies under the banner of “Saving the Christians of Iraq.”
The same policy which was followed before and during the massacres
of WWI is practiced today against the Assyrians throughout Iraq
and particularly under the Kurdish Occupation of Assyria, where
the Kurdish tribes use the policy of polite persecution by giving
fictitious religious rights while obliterating the national existence
of the land and people through the culture of Kurdification. Through
the schools of the Kurdish Occupation zone, generations of Assyrians
and others are moulded according to the curriculum of Kurdification.
In addition to the confiscation and occupation of Assyrian lands, the
Kurds invent new and impossible laws when the legitimate owners ask
for their lands. Throughout Iraq, Islamization and forced displacement
have reached an insolent state which confirms the religious and ethnic
cleansing of the Christian Assyrians, and this is all legislated
within the Iraqi constitution which instigates the Islamization14 of
Iraq and the Kurdification15 of its north, while it is void of any
principle of equality which federalism calls for, even though and
according to international declaration it is to uphold and protect
the indigenous people’s rights. The right of equality is the least
of what the Assyrians should get, being the indigenous people of Iraq
and in danger of extinction.
Based on the narrative of events and their consequences, and based
on the world moral obligation towards humanity, the Assyrian Nation
is very interested in historically holding accountable those who
committed crimes against humanity during World War I, and according
to international legislation, in order to avoid the repetition of
genocide, and intercept the degenerate currents and societies who may
neglect to realize that there is no room for committing such crimes
against humanity anywhere in the world again.
By Ashur Giwargis
Notes:
1 Prof. Meisami, Julie Scott, “Persian Historiography to the End of
the Twelfth Century”, Edinburgh University Press, 1999, p. 179
2 Engels, Fredrick. “What Is to Become of Turkey in Europe?”, New-York
Weekly Tribune, No. 607, April 30, 1853 vol XII 1853, p: 32
3 Prof. Joseph, John “The Nestorians and their Muslim Neighbors”,
New Jersey, 1961 Princeton University Press, P: 99.
4 Prof. Versessian. G, “The Massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman
empire”, Yerevan -1966, p: 364
5 K. Petrovitch Matviev, Al-Ashuriyyoun Wal Mas’ala L’Ashuriyya Fil
Asr L’Hadith (The Assyrians and the Assyrian Question in Modern Era),
Arabic Ed. From the original Russian, 1989 — p: 81
6 Prof. Gaunt, David, “Muslim–Christian relations in Eastern Anatolia
During WW1”, Gorgias Press, 2006.
7 Shklovski, Victor, “A sentimental Journey, memories of 1917-1922”
— Ed. 1924, Dalkey Archive Press, p: 109
8 Versessian, p: 246: Report of the spokesperson of the Russian army
in Caucasia, 24/02/1915.
9 London Times, 09/Oct/1915: “Urmia Massacres, Death of 12000 Nestorian
Christians”
10 New York Times, 11/Oct/1915: “Turkish Horrors in Persia”
11 Dr. Donef, Racho, The deportation of the Assyrians in Ottoman
documents — Letter from the Ottoman minister of Internal affaires
to the Mosul governor dated : 05/Dec/1915
12 A. Menashi, “The History of Assyria”, Tehran — 1962, p: 328
13 Agence France-Presse (AFP) – April 25, 2009.
14 The Iraqi constitution, Article 2-a
15 The Iraqi constitution, Article 143