Assyrian national question

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The Assyrian National Question refers to the political question of the Assyrians as a Mesopotamian national ethnic group .

history

The national question of the indigenous people of Mesopotamia went through several phases in its development:

  1. The phase of the emergence of modern national thoughts and the development of a new national feeling in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. A national movement emerged within the framework of pan-Mesopotamist ideas.
  2. The phase from the years before the First World War to the founding of the new nation states of the Middle East (cf. Peace Treaty of Sèvres ). At this time, national goals were formed to achieve independence and to avert a dreaded genocide .
  3. The phase from 1919 to the Kuwait War in 1990.
  4. The phase since the Kuwait War.

In the first phase the basis for the realization of a national concept for the Syrian Christians was created. The awakening of a non-denominational national consciousness played a major role. The focus was on the conception of Syrian Christianity and its particular creed. But also the original home of Mesopotamia as the historical home of all Syrian Christians ( Assyrians / Arameans also called Chaldo-Assyrians ) was taken up. A nationalism related to Mesopotamia developed beyond the interests of the church. Both in the Middle East and in the Assyrian diaspora, especially in the United States , the trend consolidated. Emigrated thought leaders such as Farid Nazha , Gabriel Ibrahim Some and Naum Faiq emerged.

In the second phase , Assyrism was not taken into account in the formation of the new states. The ideas passed from the social, cultural and political field of the denominations concerned to a common nationality . For the national cause of the Assyrians, the existence should be preserved and a common identity as an ethnically independent people in Mesopotamia should be found. So it became the domestic political problem of the Ottoman Empire.

In the third phase , persecution by the Iraqi dictatorship was to be feared. This was reflected from 1919 in the demand for recognition of the Assyrian genocide from 1915-18. Returning home with the desire for a state of their own became a political hope for a significant part of the Assyrians. The developments in Iraq were not suitable for finding a place of their own and strengthened the nationalist orientation of the movement.

In the fourth phase since 1990, most of the political organizations of the Assyrians and other Syrian-Christian denominations were re-established. But their functionaries often lack the practical political experience to reach political agreements and form coalitions with other forces. Because of their weakness, they mostly avoid direct political confrontations and seek compromises in order to secure their existence in this way.

In 2006 and 2007, an internationally recognized security zone to protect against violence, persecution and displacement is primarily required. An important aspect of the Assyrian national question is to achieve human rights. For this purpose, an Assyrian world organization consisting of all Assyrian organizations, cultural and ecclesiastical groups is strived for, in order to bring together the groups that are scattered and isolated around the world into one force. The failure would presumably strengthen the Assyrian emigration from Mesopotamia, and in the long term the Assyrian nation-building would break off or be completely prevented.

See also

literature

  • Gabriele Yonan: Assyrians today: culture, language, national movement of the Aramaic-speaking Christians in the Middle East. Persecution and exile . Preliminary remark by Tilman Zülch. pogrom, Hamburg and Vienna 1978.
  • Michel Chevalier: Les montagnards chrétiens du Hakkâri et du Kurdistan septentrional . Dépt. de Géographie de l'Univ. de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris 1985. ISBN 2-901165-13-3
  • James Farwell Coakley: The Church of the East and the Church of England . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1992. ISBN 0-19-826744-4 .
  • P. and M. Sluglett: Iraq since 1958 - From revolution to dictatorship . Frankfurt 1991
  • Gabriele Yonan: A Forgotten Holocaust. The annihilation of the Christian Assyrians in Turkey . Society for Threatened Peoples, 1989, ISBN 3-922197-25-6

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