Das Land Mesopotamien wurde Zeuge der  fortschrittlichen Zivilisation und Kultur, welche unser Volk geschaffen hat. Gleichzeitig wurde es jedoch auch Zeuge wie Massaker und Völkermorden über ihn gekommen sind. Das Land Bethnahrin, das mit dem Blut der unschuldigen Märtyrer des Assyrer-Aramäer-Chaldäer-Suryoye Volkes so sehr ertränkt wurde, so dass sich die Erde mit diesem Blut rot färbte.

Zeitalter hindurch, nachdem seine letzten Imperien von Assur und Babil, die seine grossen Stützen/Rückgrat waren, ist unser Volk durch die Angriffe und Unterdrückung der herrschenden zum Opferlamm gegenüber den Regierenden, welche das Land Bethnahrin beherrschten, geworden.  Jede Macht, die aufgetaucht ist, hat uns ausgeraubt, jeder Herrscher der gekommen ist hat uns unterdrückt, jedes Reich, das über uns herrschte, hat an uns Massaker und Völkermorde begangen. Und auf Grund dieser Massaker und Völkermorde hat sich die Zahl unseres Volkes von  vielen Millionen  auf so sehr verringert, dass es heute am Aussterben ist.

Besonders die Völkermorde in den letzten zweihundert Jahren haben unser Volk aus den Wurzeln hinaus entrissen. Ausser diesen grossen und bekannten Völkermorde , hat unser Volk viele unzählbare regionale Massaker erlitten. Unser Assyrer-Suryoye Volk  hat sich  unter schwersten Umständen am Leben erhalten und seine Identität bis heute beibehalten. Aber wenn man die politischen, militärischen und ökonomischen Verhältnisse jener Zeit nicht verstehen und analysieren kann, so kann man dem heutigen Leben keinen Sinn zuordnen/beimessen.

Nach den Kenntnissen und den uns vorliegenden Informationen aus den Dokumenten, wird überliefert, dass es im 17. Jahrhundert 72.000 Nestorianisch-Chaldäische Familien, 700 Syrisch-Katholische Familien und 30.000  Suryoye Familien im irakischen Teil Bethnahrins gegeben hat. Alles in allem machen es zusammengezählt 102.700 Assyrer-Suryoye Familien.

Nach dem Massaker des 15. Dezember des Jahres 1895, welches sich in Omid und Urhoy sowie den näheren Umgebungen ereignet hatte, lebten 35.000 Familien im Tur-Abdin, Beth Zabday und in Mardin, 20.000 Familien in Omid und in 17 der umliegenden Dörfer, 40.000 Familien in Urhoy,  Antakya und Umgebung sowie 20.000 Assyrer-Suryoye im Hakkari. Desweiteren gibt der russische Professor Leyan, nachdem er die Türkei bereist hatte, bekannt, dass es im Jahre 1915 vor Beginn der Massaker 941.000 Assyrer-Suryoye innerhalb der Grenzen des Osmanischen Reiches gegeben hat.

Die Zahl der bei den bekannten Massaker und Völkermorden der letzen 150 Jahren umgekommenen Assyrer-Suryoye sind wie folgt bekannt:

Bei den von Bedir Khan begangenen Massaker in den Jahren 1843 bis 1845 waren bis zu 50.000, beim Massaker 1850 bis zu 100.000, bei den Massaker in Omid und Urhoy des Jahres mehr als 20.000, beim Massaker 1909 waren 3.000 und beim grössten Völkermord der Jahre 1915 bis 1918 wurden 500.000 Assyrer-Suryoye, abgeschlachtet und massakriert worden. Infolge dieser Völkermorde ist unser Volk zu Hunderttausenden geflüchtet

Vieler dieser Völkermorde wurden in Folge der Ausrufung der heiligen Kriege durch die Osmanische Herrschaft begangen und auch die Kurden, denen man Versprechen machte, wurden für diese Sache gewonnen und in Aktion gesetzt. Die Hamidiya Einheiten in der osmanischen Armee, welche von den Kurdischen Feudalherrschaften gebildet wurden, sind ein Beispiel dafür. Ziel der Festsetzung dieser Hamidiya Einheiten war es im einen im positiven Sinne die vorherrschende islamischen Politik innerhalb der Grenzen des Osmanischen Reiches fester zu etablieren und im anderen sich negativ auf die christlichen Völker, welche dabei waren sich zu organisieren und auf eigene Beine zu stehen, zu wirken. Um das Fortschreiten und all das, was daraus folgen könnte, aufzuhalten, mussten die christlichen Völker, wie wir Assyrer-Suryoye, das Armenische Volk und das griechische Pontus Volk entweder vernichtet oder zumindest mit Gewalt zum Islam bekehrt werden wie auch ihren Einfluss auf das gesellschaftliche Leben zu verringern. Die Hamidiya Einheiten waren es schliesslich, welche den Plan des Massakers von 1915 in die Tat umsetzten und somit den grössten praktischen Teil zur Ermordung beitrugen.

Das bitterste und traurigste Genozid, welches in die Geschichte unseres Volkes einging, war jenes des Jahres 1915. Dieses Massaker, welches  grosse und tiefe Wunden im Gedächtnis unseres Volkes hinterlassen hat, wurde durch Erzählungen und die Geschichten, durch die  Gedichten und schriftlichen Überlieferungen wurde auch in die Gedächtnissen unserer Jugend lebendig gemacht. Es ist undenkbar das jemand dieses an unser Volk begangenes Massaker  vergiesst.

Im Monat Juli des Jahres  1914 begann der 1. Weltkrieg. Nachdem sich dieser Weltkrieg ausweitete, hatte die Weltgeschichte eines der blutigsten Völkermorde durchlebt. Aus Angst, die östlichen Gebiete ihres Reiches an die dort ansässigen christlichen Völker, wie unser Assyrer-Suryoye Volk und das Armenische Volk, zu verlieren, begann das Osmanische Reich ihre Vernichtungspläne in die Tat umzusetzen. Mit der Umsetzung dieses Vorhaben wollte sie auch ihr turanistisches Gedankengut weitervermitteln. Dieser Gedanke sah es vor die Turkvölker in Asien mit den in Anatolien lebenden Türken zu vereinen. Jedoch stellten die christlichen Völker, welche im Osten des Osmanischen Reiches ansässig waren, für die Ziele der  Turanisten ein Stolperstein dar. Der erste Weltkrieg war dann auch eine willkommene Möglichkeit, um dieses Problem aus dem Weg zu schaffen. Für dieses Massaker, das vom Kalifat der Moslems, welche die Herrschaft über das Osmanische Reich inne hatte, feierlich verkündet wurde, wurden die Christen allgemein zu Vaterlandsverrätern erklärt sowie ihre Ermordung als heilig und ehrenhaft für alle Moslems propagiert.

Genau zu der Zeit, an der dieser Krieg zunehmend schlimmer wurde, ist aufgrund des  Befehls von Cemal, Taalat und Enver Pascha, welche zu jener Zeit die politischen Führer des Osmanischen Reiches waren, mit dem Völkermord an die dort lebenden Christen begonnen worden. Das Deutsche Reich war ein Bündnis mit dem Osmanischen Reich eingegangen, damit die dem Osmanischen Herrschaft untertänigen Christen nicht die Russen, Briten und Franzosen helfen und unterstützen sollten. Das Deutsche Reich hatte den Völkermord gebilligt und seine Augen vor dem Gemetzel verschlossen und auf blind getan.

Als das Massaker in Gang gesetzt wurde, war unser Assyrer-Suryoye Volk nicht organisiert. Die herrschenden Despoten kreisten  wie die Wespen um unser Volk, mit dem Ziel es bis hin zu den Wurzeln auszurotten. Viele Assyrer-Suryoye wurden auf eine Art geschlachtet, als seien sie der Menschheit und der Menschlichkeit unwürdig. Viele wurden enthauptet, jene die sich in den Kirchen versteckten wurden kurzerhand verbrannt. Frauen und Mütter wurden vergewaltigt. Mädchen und Kinder wurden wie Beute geraubt und entführt. Die skrupellosen und blutdürstigen Ausbeuter kannten keine Grenzen, keine Hemmschwelle. Mord, Hängen, Vergewaltigungen, Plünderungen, Raub, Verrat und Blutvergießen....

”Die Geistlichen, welchen sie die Nasen durchbohrten und so angekettet durch die wurden durch die Straßen von Omid und Midyat geschleift; Kirchen und Klöster wurden willkürlich in Brand gesteckt; Frauen wurden von Dutzenden Männer vergewaltigt; den schwangeren Frauen wurde der Bauch aufgeschlitzt und deren Föten zuerst an den Speerspitzen gespießt und danach auf die Mauern geschleudert; die Jungen Mädchen sprangen von  Bergen und Schluchten, um dem Feind nicht in die Hände zu fallen; wer kann dieses vergessen?  Wer setzt sich nicht ein, deren Tod zu sühnen? Wer ist Manns genug ihnen die verdiente Ehre zu verweigern? Welcher Waise schwört nicht vor ihnen? Mit diesen Worten beschrieb der Mönch Ishaho des Klosters Mar Evgin den Völkermord und das Gemetzel, welches unserem Volk widerfahren ist: weiter fügte er an:” Gott möge so etwas über unseren Feinden nicht zukommen lassen.

Bei diesem Massaker, welches sich vom Frühling bis zum Herbst des Jahres 1915 hinzog, wurden mehr als 500.000 Assyrer-Suryoye erbarmungslos ermordet. Viele Zehntausende waren verdammt ein Leben in den Flüchtlingslagern zu führen, wiederum Zehntausende waren gezwungen ihre Heimat zu verlassen. Dutzende Städte des Assyrer-Suryoye Volkes wurden zerstört und hunderte Dörfer, Kirchen und Klöster in Ruinen verwandelt. Das Hab und Gut wurde gewaltsam entrissen.  Bis hin zu den Toten, die auf den Wegen, Straßen und Gassen lagen, hatte man bestohlen.

Was ist aus den 153.000 Assyrer-Suryoye, welche in Hakkari und Umgebung lebten, geworden, wo sind sie? Was ist aus Sivas und den 25.000 Assyrer-Suryoye geworden? Wo sind die Sechzigtausend, welche in Omid ihr Zuhause hatten, geblieben? Wo sind sie hin, die Achtundneunzigtausend, welche in Van lebten? Und wo sind die 250.000 Assyrer-Suryoye, die in der Region der Berge der Knechte Gottes ”Tur-Abdin”, was ist aus ihnen geworden?

Dieses Massaker fegte wie ein Wirbelsturm über das Assyrer-Suryoye Volk hinweg. Sein Rückrad wurde gebrochen und mit einem Bein in das Grab der Geschichte gelegt. Unser Assyrer-Suryoye Volk konnte trotz der Unbarmherzigkeit und Blutrünstigkeit der Angreifer an einigen Orten großen Widerstand leisten, das unser Geschichte gerecht ist, und sich damit am Leben halten: Hewardo, Hah, Bsorino und Mor Malke sind einige dieser genannten Orte.

Über diesen Völkermord, das an unser Volk begangen wurde, ist Jahre lang nicht mehr gesprochen worden. Das Osmanische Reich wurde nicht angeklagt und belangt, so das sie als Türkei ihr Dasein weiterführt. Von dieser Tatsache ermutigt, fährt die Republik der Türkei mit ihrer Politik der Unterdrückung und Vernichtung gegenüber dem Assyrer-Suryoye Volk fort. In den letzten 10 Jahren wurden bis zu 45 ausgewählten Personen unseres Volkes von der Hand  der unsichtbaren und paramilitärischen Einheiten des Staates  ermordet. Und diese Morde sind weder die Ersten noch sind sie die Letzten.

Für was floß das Blut der Kinder und Alten in den Straßen und Gassen;  warum wurde  Müttern und Schwangeren der Bauch aufgerissen und der Fötus an die Wand geschleudert sowie  ihre unschuldigen Kinder massakriert; Weshalb wurden die Mädchen und jungen Frauen gewaltsam entführt; Warum wurden die leblosen Leiber der Märtyrer auf die Wege und Straßen geworfen, so daß sie Nahrung für die Vögel des Himmels wurde; warum all dies?? Nicht weil sie Revolutionäre jedoch aber weil sie Chaldäer waren. Und nicht weil sie in der ”Mtakasto” waren, jedoch aber weil sie  Aramäer waren. Nicht weil sie vom ”Zawco” waren, jedoch aber weil sie Suryoye waren, wurden sie ermordet. Nicht weil wir von den Revolutionären, der Mtakasto oder Zawco sind, müssen wir all diesen Märtyrern gedenken, sondern weil wir Assyrer-Aramäer-Chaldäer-Suryoye sind, gerade deswegen müssen wir die Märtyrer ehren.  Kurz gesagt, gerade weil wir Menschen sind, müssen wir diesen Märtyrern gedenken.

Die Möglichkeit am Leben zu bleiben ist durch den nationalen Befreiungskampf in den Bergen Bethnahrins und in den Städten Europas von der Patriotischen Revolutionären Organisation Bethnahrin gegeben worden. Das Einnehmen einer Stellung und Aufgabe im Nationalen Befreiungskampf ist für all die eine Pflicht und Aufgabe, die sagen: ”Wir sind Menschen  haben Rechte und wollen am Leben bleiben.”

Jugend von Bethnahrin, werde dir bewußt, das daß Weiterleben als Volk vom Erlangen seiner Rechte abhängt. Es ist abhängig vom nationalen Befreiungskampf und den Kampf und die Mühe den Du gibst. Dann können wir sagen: ”Das Assyrer-Suryoye Volk wird nicht mehr sterben, es wird nicht mehr sein Haupt vor den anderen Völkern beugen und seinen Platz in den Reihen der Völker annehmen.

Du, Jugend von Bethnahrin, wirst das Erbe des Widerstandes antreten, welche die geehrten Märtyrer und Helden wie: Gello Sabo, Marika d`Be Keco, Meshud Mzizahi, Semhune Hanne Haydo, Hanna Maqdisi Camune und Isoh Hanne hinterlassen haben sowie das was sich die Hazhoye gegenseitig geschworen und gesagt hatten: ” Lieber sterben wir einen heldenhaften Tod, als das wir unehrenhaft sterben.” Jugend von Bethnahrin, DU wirst dieses Erbe antreten!

Patriotic Revolutionary Organisation of Bethnahrin (PROB)

For English translation Click Here

(ZNDA: Tehran)  The government of Iran reports that today there are 176 churches, 21 synagogues, and 36 temples operating in Iran.  Based on the 1989 census, most of the Christian churches, totalling 85, are in West Azarbaijan province (Urmia).  The number of churches in Tehran, the capital of Iran, is said to be 34. In Isfahan there are 19 churches and in East Azarbaijan (Tabriz) 12.  Khorasan (Mashhad) has 3 churches, Mazandaran (southern Caspian region) has 2 and the only church in Fars (central Iran) is in the provincial capital of Shiraz.  The remaining Iranian provinces have 21 churches between them.  According to this report the rights of the religious minorities are fully protected by the constitution of the Islamic Republic and the Christians, including the Assyrians,  have their elected representation in the Majlis (Parliament).

With special thanks to ZENDA reporter, Matay Arsan, Amsterdam-Holland

(ZNDA: Amsterdam)  A series of political rallies and protests organized by the Patriotic Revolutionary Organization of BethNahrin (PROB) took place in central Europe last week on the remembrance of the Massacre of 1915 (Seyfo:  the Year of the Sword).  In Downtown Sodertelja and Stockholm, Sweden (the march from Norra Bann Torget to Mynttorget, Riksdagen "The Swedish Parliament") the hungerstrikes and the demonstrations began on 17 April and ended on 24 April.   Several groups and individuals visited the 40 Assyrian hungerstrikers.   Some of these visitors included:

• The Council/Board of the churches of Sweden and Scandinavia who offered the blessings of the Syrian-Orthodox Bishop Ablahad
• The Assyrian Federation of Swden
• The Syriac Federation of Sweden which showed its support and solidarity in its speeches
• Syrian-Orthodox priests who visited and blessed the hungerstrikers.  Among them were:
  • Abuna Qashisho Gabriel of the "Mor Yaqub d Nsibin"- Church of Sodertalje
  • Abuna Qashisho Yusuf, also of the Syrian-Orthodox church
• Assyrian radio station "QOLO" which interviewed the hungerstrikers
• The Assyrian member of the Swedish Parliament, Yilmaz Kerimo
• Swedish officials and the Swedish media
• Serbian individuals and representatives, showed their solidarity

To the many individuals and organizations that had offered their support by sending faxes and the Swedish media, the hungerstrikers read a press-release and explained the "injustice being committed against the Assyrian-Suryoyo nation."  They thanked the Swedish media and officials for their attention.

In Stockholm, approximately 2000 Assyrians demonstrated waved the Assyrian flags and banners reading: "The Martyrs will Never Die", "Long Live the Solidarity among the Peoples/Nations", and "Stop Massacring the Assyrian-Suryoyo people".  The demonstrations ended with speeches and Assyrian music and dances.  A two-minute silence for the souls of the martyrs were declared at each demonstration.

In Switzerland the Hungerstrike began on 18 April and ended on the 24th.  There were 35 Assyrian hungerstrikers in whose protests the Swiss media were extremely interested.  The Swiss TV and radio covered the Hungerstrike, since similarly last year, the PROB members occupied a church to draw attention to their demands.  Many individuals visited the hungerstrikers and the socialist organizations offered messages of support.

Elsewhere, forty Assyrian hungerstrikers, all members of the PROB, met at Rudolf-PLatz in Koln, Germany and began their Hungerstrike on 18 April and ended on the 24th.  German representatives of the Christian parties including the CDU visited and showed their solidarity and sympathy. The hungerstrikers read their press-releases and offered the German political parties a document about the Massacre of 1915. The representatives of the German political parties promised to discuss the situation of the Assyrian people in their assemblies.  The Assyrian representatives who visited and offered their support for the hungerstrikes in Germany included:

• Assyrian singers : S. Nahroyo and G. Issa
• Turkish socialists and representatives of the Kurdish organizations who spoke against the perpetrators of the massacre and the continued injustice committed against the minorities in the Middle East
• Serbian representatives who offered "support and solidarity with [their] Orthodox and ancient true Christian brothers"
• The Commission of Catholic Churches, representing 22 German Catholic churches; invited the PROB to present more information about the Assyrian Christian nation
• The Armenian bishop and Reverent Miron who visited and blessed the hungerstrikers

On Saturday, buses carrying well over one thousand Assyrians, including a ZENDA reporter, traveling from Holland, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and Austria reached the city of Bonn in Germany and began demonstrating through the streets.   They were led by the hungerstrikers dressed in white shirts. They walked over the Kennedy Bridge to the center of Bonn and assembled at the "Markt-Platz und Rathaus".  The Assyrian demonstrators gave speeches in Assyrian, German and Turkish.  After a two-minute silence the crowd listened to the speeches given by Assyrians and non-Assyrians.  A series of messages of support from ZENDA Magazine, the Assyrian associations from Iran, Europe, in particular Serbia were read.  The German observers were then treated to the Assyrian folkloric dances and music until the demonstrations ended at 6:00 PM.

For more information contact:
Özcan Sen 0708-149483
Yakup Özgun 0708-518464
Fax:  08-55076096

(ZNAH: London)  On 14 April the Vatican issued a statement warning that it will close the doors of its churches in Israel if the latter approves the building of a mosque on disputed land in Nazareth. PLO executive committee secretary Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) claimed that the Vatican statement has re-inflamed the crisis. Abu Mazen also pointed out that the Pope cannot issue papal decrees from Italy forbidding the building of a mosque on the Shihab al-Din lands. Head of the Islamic movement in Israel, Ibrahim Sarsour, described the Vatican threat as blatant interference in Islamic-Christian relations and
the solid cultural coexistence between the two faiths.

Courtesy of al-Hayat al-Jadida newspaper

"Thank you for the article about the Assyrian in Finland.  Could you please appeal to our intellectual all over the world to write each about the country which he live in. This will help the concerned researchers to have more accurate information about our people in Diaspora, than any other source.
Best regard and keep up the good work."

Hirmis Aboona
Canada

Am eqoro w'hubo b'Othuroyutho,

Sargon Donabed
Massachusetts

Unfortunately, during the last couple of weeks a policy and a staff change took place at al-Muntada magazine. This change resulted in the ouster of the Assyrian nationalist line as represented by Mr. Hirmis Aboona and Mr. Ghassan Hanna in favor of a more leftist and Marxist direction for the magazine. Mr. Fuad Manna, the owner of al-Muntada has informed our US Chaldean Bishop Mar Orahem Orahem that Mr. Hanna's and Mr. Aboona's articles are no more welcome to be published in al-Muntada. That the
magazine prefers a more Iraqi leftist direction over the Assyrian/Chaldean nationalist line.  Mar Orahem does not support this change of policy.

While this is a setback to the nationalist elements in Detroit area, it is by no means a statement of a slow down in our committment to continue to educate our Chaldean/Assyrian people of our heritage, culture and national rights.

In that direction, a group of us (with the support of those concerned in the Chaldean community) are working on producing an alternative magazine that could serve as the mouth piece for all the nationalists in our Assyrian/Chaldean community.

Ghassan Hanna
California

The land of Mesopotamia has witnessed the establishment a civilization and culture that our people produced.  At the same time however it became also witness to the many massacres and genocides committed against our nation. The color of this land is red as the earth is soaked with the blood of the innocent martyrs of the Assyrian-Aramean-Chaldean-Suryoye People.

For centuries after their last great empires of Assyria and Babylon, our people became the sacrificial lambs for the new rulers of Bet-Nahrain. Every power that surfaced raided us, every ruler that came oppressed us, and every empire that ruled over us massacred our people.  Because of such massacres and genocides the number of our people is reduced to where we now live under the threat of extinction.

The genocides in the last two hundred years have pulled out our people from their roots.  In addition to the massive and better known acts of genocides, our people have also suffered many unrecorded regional atrocities. To this day our Assyrian-Suryoye people have kept themselves and their identity alive under these unbearable circumstances.  If one does not comprehend and analyze the political, military and economic conditions of that time, today's situation would make no sense.

With the knowledge and the information we have on hand it is believed that in the Iraqi part of Bet-Nahrain, in the 17th century, 72,000 Nestorian-Chaldean families, 700 Syrian-Catholic families and 30,000 Suryoye families existed.   This adds up to more than 102,700 Assyrian-Suryoye families in Iraq.

After the Omid & Urhai (Urhoy or Edessa) Massacre of 15 December 1895,  35,000 families were living in Tur-Abdin, Beth Zabday and Mardin, 20,000 families in Omid and in 17 of the surrounding villages, 40,000 families in Urhai, Antakya and surroundings and 20,000 Assyrian-Suryoye in Hakkari.
Furthermore, the Russian professor Leyan claims that after traveling through Turkey in 1915 before the beginning of the massacre,  941,000 Assyrian-Suryoye were living inside the borders of the Ottoman empire.

The number of the Assyrian-Suryoye killed in the known massacres and genocides of the last 150 years are as follows:

Massacres of 1843 to 1845 committed by Bedir Khan         more than   50,000
Massacre of 1850                                                             more than 100,000
Massacre in Omid and Urhoy                                            more than   20,000
Massacre of 1909                                                                                3,000
Genocides of 1915-1918                                                   more than 500,000

Because of these genocides hundreds of thousands of our people fled.  Many of these genocides were committed as a result of the proclamation of the holy wars by the Ottoman rulers.   The Kurds also participated in these crimes as they were made promises by the Ottoman rulers.  An example of such collaboration were the Hamidiya units in the Ottoman army formed by the Kurdish feudals. The aim of the formation of the Hamidiya units was to strengthen the Islamic policies inside the borders of the Ottoman empire on one hand and to act against the Christian peoples, who in turn had just begun organizing themselves and standing on their own feet.

To stop this progress and stabilization among the Christian peoples and to reduce our influence, we the Assyrian-Suryoye, the  Armenian people and the Greek Pontus people were either to be destroyed or converted by force to Islam. The Hamidiya units put the Massacre of 1915 into action and greatly contributed to this criminal act.

The most bitter and woeful genocide in the annals of our people's history is that of the year 1915. This massacre has left deep and massive wounds in the memory of our people.  It  has been kept alive in the memory of our youth by tales and stories, poems and written records.  It is now unthinkable that one can ever forget this massacre committed against our people.

The First World War began in the month of July 1914. As its intensity increased, history began experiencing one of its bloodiest genocides. Due to the fear of losing the eastern flanks of their empire to the Christian people living in those regions, including our Assyrian-Suryoye people and the Armenians, the Ottomans initiated their destruction plans.  In this way they also began spreading their Turanian ideaolgy. The goal of this ideology was to unite the Turkish people in Central Asia with the Turks living in Anatolia (modern Turkey). The Christian peoples who lived in the eastern regions of the Ottoman empire were an obstacle to the objectives of the Turanianists. The First World War was therefore welcomed as an opportunity to remove this obstacle. The Massacre of 1915 began with the Moslem Khalifat, reigning over the Ottoman empire, declaring all Christians as traitors of the land and their murder as a holy and honorable act for all Moslems.

As the severity of the war increased, Cemal, Taalat and Enver Pasha, the political leaders of the Ottoman empire, began the genocide of the Christians. The Germans formed an alliance with the Ottomans in order to prevent the Christians, living in the Ottoman empire, from helping and supporting the Russians, British and French. Germany approved of the genocide and closed her eyes to the bloodbath.

When the massacre began, our Assyrian-Suryoye people were not organized. The reigning despots attacked our people from all sides with the goal to exterminate them from their roots. Many Assyrians-Suryoye were slaughtered as they were thought unworthy of humanity. Many of them were decapitated; those who hid in the churches were burnt without any mercy. Women and mothers were robbed and kidnapped. These merciless and bloody atrocities had no boundaries, no inhibition: murders, hangings, rapes, plunder, robbing, betrayal and bloodshed...

"The clergies, whose noses they pierced and linked in this way, were dragged through the streets of Omid and Midyat; churches and monasteries were set on fire without exception; women were raped by dozens of men; they opened the abdomens of the pregnant women and speared their unborn on the top of the spear and then hurled them against the walls; the young girls jumped from the mountains and gorges in order to save themselves from the enemy; who can forget this all? Who doesn't stand up for expiating their death? Who is quite capable of refusing them their gained honor? Which orphan doesn't swear for them?”  With these words the monk Ishaho of the Mar Augin Monastery described the genocide committed against our people. Further he added: "God shouldn't even let this happen to our enemies”.

In this massacre, which continued from the spring until the autumn of the year 1915, more than 500,000 Assyrian-Suryoye were killed without mercy. Tens of thousands were condemned to live in refugee camps, tens of thousands were forced to leave their homeland. Dozen cities of the Assyrian-Suryoye nation were destroyed and hundreds of villages, churches and monasteries were turned into ruins. Their possessions were taken from them by force.  Even the dead people, who laid on the roads, streets and alleys were robbed.

Where are the  153,000 Assyrian-Suryoye who lived in Hakkari and the surroundings? What happened to Sivas and the 25,000 Assyrian-Suryoye?  Where are the 60,000 who had their homes in Omid? Where did they go, the 80,000 who lived in Van?  And where are the 250,000 Assyrian-Suryoye, who lived around Tur-Abdin "the Mountains of the servants of God"?  What happened to them?

This massacre swept over the Assyrian-Suryoye nation like a tornado. Our backs broken, we were held with one leg and thrown into the graveyard of history.  Yet our Assyrian-Suryoye nation resisted despite of the merciless and the bloodthirsty aggressors.  We survived in those some places:  Aynwardo, Hah, Beth-Sorino and Mar Malke.

For many years nobody discussed this genocide. The Ottoman empire was not accused and questioned about it.  This continued until Turkey was formed.  Encouraged by this ignorance, the Turkish Republic has continued with its policy of suppression and annihilation of the Assyrian-Suryoye nation.  During the last ten years alone, 45 well-known persons of our nation were killed by the hand of the invisible and paramilitary units of the State. These murders are neither the first nor will be the last.

For what did the blood of the children and the aged flow in the streets and the alleys? Why were the abdomen of the mothers and pregnant women slit open and the unborn hurled against the walls as well as their innocent children killed? Why were the girls and young women kidnapped by force? Why were the dead bodies of the martyrs thrown on the roads and streets, so that they would become food for the birds of the sky?  Why all this?

Not because they were Revolutionaries but because they were Chaldaens. Not because they were in the "Mtakasto", but because  they were Aramaens.  Not because they were from  "Zawaa", rather for they were Suryoye.  These were the reasons for their killing.  We should not remember all those martyrs because we are members of the Revolutionaries, the Mtakasto or Zawaa.  No... simply because we are Assyrian-Aramaen-Chaldaen-Suryoye.  This is why we must honor those martyrs.  We are human beings and we must think of those martyrs.

The national struggle for liberation in the mountains of Bet-Nahrain and in the cities of Europe by the Patriotic Revolutionary Organization of Bethnahrin offer us another opportunity to stay alive. To recognize the responsibility and to play a role in the national struggle for liberation is a duty for those who say: "We are human beings and have rights and want to stay alive."

The youth of Bet-Nahrain, know that the survival of our people depends on the struggle and the victory for our rights. It depends on your struggle for national liberation, your fight and your efforts.  Then we can say: "The Assyrian-Suyoye people will not die any longer; they no longer will bow their heads for other people and will take their place in the list of the peoples”.

You, the youth of Bet-Nahrain, will inherit the struggle that the honored martyrs and heroes like Gello Shabo, Marika d’Be Keco, Meshud Mzizakhi, Semhune Hanne Haydo, Hanna Maqdisi Camune and Ishoh Hanne have left behind and like the Hazkhoye had sworn to one another:  "It is better to die a hero than to die with no honor.”

Youth of Bethnahrin, YOU shall inherit this!

Patriotic Revolutionary Organisation of Bethnahrin (PROB)

Translation by ZENDA Staff writer, Matay A. A. Arsan
Amsterdam, Holland

Last week ZENDA came across an impressively designed Assyrian personal page from Sweden by Aslan Akbas.  He writes:

 

Jag är assyrier och kommer från sydöstra Turkiet. Till Sverige flyttade jag -79, har två barn som är jättesöta.  Arbetar som Ingenjör på Kemisk apparat- och anläggningsteknik vid Chalmers tekniska högskola sedan -82.

Mina intressen är som ni kanske redan har märkt ganska varierande. Jag är mycket aktiv inom den assyriska föreningslivet, där det bedrivs olika aktiviteter så som dans,föreläsningar, studiecirklar, språkkurser, kulturella arrangemang mm. Dessutom sitter jag som ledamot i stadsdelsnämnden i Bergsjön från Socialdemokraternas sida.
 

To view "Aslans Hemsida" web page CLICK HERE.
Email your comments to aslan@mail1.tripnet.se
Sign Guestbook at:  Guestbook

BC (1300)

Assyrian king Adad-Nirari expands his kingdom to include Mardin in Tur-Abdin and the former Mittannian cities in present-day Turkey.  The Hittites who were the major power in Turkey remained neutral and allowed the entire Mittanian kingdom be overrun by Adad-Nirari.  The Assyrian king writes to the Hittite ruler, a major power-player in the region, about "brotherhood" to which he replies: "Why should I write to you about brotherhood?  Were you and I born of the same mother?"

The Might That Was Assyria, Saggs

The Ottoman Minister of War, Enver, and Minister of the Interior, Talaat, claim that the Ottoman Christians are supporting Russia and order the deportation of the Christians from eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire.  The deportations then resulted in the massacre of 1,500,000 million Armenians and Assyrians.  German and Austrian officers who were previously informed of such atrocities remained silent and ignored the reports of the massacres.

Germany & the Ottoman Empire, Trumpener

The Russians, on their return to Urmiyah and on their capture of Van in April 1915, made further attempts to induce the Assyrians to join them.  They promised arms and other material assistance.  Finally, though not without reluctance, the Mar Shimmun yielded to the pressure of the tribal maliks, who, infuriated by the massacres of Assyrians at Albaq, ardently desired to fight the Turks.  Some members of the patriarchal family, who favoured neutrality and who were suspected of treachery, were murdered in cold blood.

The Assyrians declared war on Turkey on May 10, 1915, and that was the beginning of their terrible odyssey.  The Turks, who brought in the Kurds to help, attacked them and burnt their villages in the valleys.  They endeavoured to exercise personal pressure on Mar Shimmun by threatening the life of Hormuzd, his brother, who at the beginning of the war was being educated in Constantinople (Istanbul) and was now in Mosul.  The governor of this town sent word to Mar Shimmun that if the Assyrians dared to rebel Hormuzd would be executed.  The Patriarch replied that he had to consider his people rather than his brother and Hormuzd was duly hanged at Mosul, as brutal a murder as any in the bloody annals of the Turks.

The Tragedy of the Assyrians, Stafford

May 1, 1847:  The Louvre Museum's exhibit of the Assyrian artifacts, unearthed during the French excavations in Nineveh, opens to public in Paris, France.

The Assyrian community in Armenia numbers under 5,000. It originated in Iran, from where it was displaced more than one hundred years ago. As a case study, it is interesting to compare this kind of diaspora community to those in the West. For example, Assyrians in Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine and Russia arrived in those countries some 5 generations ago; virtually all of their living descendants were born in those countries and they have never been back to the lands of their ancestors. Yet notwithstanding this physical alienation, their flame remains ardently lit, and they are wholly dedicated to the continuation of their ancestral culture. In contrast, the half-life of an Assyrian immigrant in a Western country (U.S., Canada, Australia, Western Europe) is about one generation, sometimes one and one-half generation. There are obvious reasons for this difference, although this is not the place to detail them.

About three months ago, there was a cry for help from a couple of Assyrian sisters in Armenia. According to their account, they lacked the wherewithal to continue Assyrian language instruction, an effort which had been carried out at great personal sacrifice for an extended period of time. The government of Armenia is near-bankrupt and it is in no position to provide assistance. Furthermore, government chauvinism disfavors the teaching of any language other than Armenian. As for the Assyrian community, it is best described as in economic shambles.

When some of us received this plea, we turned to a handful of individuals who might be in a position to assist. One of these was Martin David of Modesto, California. By dint of his personal efforts, and with the graceful assistance of the Assyrian American Civic Club of Turlock (AACCOT), the cry heard from Armenia has been answered, and our language will continue to be taught to our youngsters. I wanted to say a brief word about Mr. David and about AACCOT.

Mr. David was born and raised in Iraq and he came to this country some thirty-one years ago. In a relatively short time, and without the benefit of a Western education, he achieved success as a general contractor and property developer. Although he is barely in his fifties, he has decided to curtail his work-for-profit in order to spend more time promoting his Assyrian heritage. I wanted to express my thanks to Mr. David for his dedication and for his effective shepherding of this particular project to its conclusion. As for AACCOT, it is an organization which has been a fixture in the Turlock-Modesto area for a number of decades. It has been involved over the years in a variety of activities, ranging from the sponsorship of a community basketball team in the fifties, to an active program of educational support in more recent times. The Club has sometimes been lampooned as little more than a social hangout for shikhani, zoorna and dawoola. But it deserves to be thanked for its current efforts.

Those who observe the conduct of Assyrian organizations often find them ponderously slow to act in situations which demand immediate attention. All too often,  these groups are peopled by self-centered individuals, filled with suspicion, and more interested in receiving public credit than in tackling difficult work. From what I have heard, the president of AACCOT, Mr. Ramin Odisho, is no such prima donna. The funding project for Assyrian-language classes in Armenia is hardly a budget-breaker but, for a variety of symbolic reasons, it is immensely important both to the Club and to our brethren in Armenia. The decisive actions of Mr. Odisho and the AACCOT governing board bodes well for our community. Each one of them, including Martin David, deserve our sincere thanks.

Francis Sarguis
California
 

The following is a letter written by Mr. Martin David to Mr. Ramin Odisho, president of the Assyrian American Civic Club of Turlock:

Dear Ramin,

I have just sent off to Armenia the $1,000 check issued by the Civil Club in support of the Assyrian-language instruction program in the Yerevan area.  Hopefully, provided we receive periodic accountings which are satisfactory, we will be able to dispatch additional installments to them, for a total of $3,500.

I know how significant this aid must be to our sisters and brothers over there. It is not only a substantial financial boost (given their economic situation), but it is also bound to be a meaningful psychological gesture. All too often, our fellow Assyrians in the more harried corners of the globe feel that they have been abandoned and forgotten. Surely it must be heart-warming for them to know that we appreciate their struggle and their patriotic efforts. Our financial grant sends this message to them very strongly.

I also want to say a word about the significance of this action for us here at home. By its quick and generous response, you and your board have shown that AACCOT stands for something beyond the routine and ordinary. In this particular case, the Club mobilized its endorsement and its appropriation in short order, for a cause which obviously all of us hold dear. On behalf of myself, and other Assyrian individuals who encouraged my faith in you, please accept my warm gratitude.

I also want to assure you once again that it is a matter of importance to me that you receive an adequate accounting of the use to which your funds have been placed. It is for this reason that I suggested an incremental disbursement of the $3,500.  I shall keep you posted from time to time. Hopefully, the outcome of this project will justify our faith and our trust.

Very gratefully,

Martin David
Modesto, California

AAC = Ancient Assyrian Church of the East
ACE = Assyrian Church of the East
CCC = Chaldean Catholic Church
COP = Coptic Church
MCC= Maronite Catholic Church
MSO = Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church
SCC = Syrian Catholic Church of Antioch
SKC = Syrian Knanaya Church
SOC = Syrian Orthodox Church

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The Directory of ZENDA News Sources
ZNAA (Assyrian Academic Society-Chicago)
ZNAD (Assyrian Democratic Organization)
ZNAF (Agence France-Presse)
ZNAH (Al-Ahram Newspaper, London)
ZNAL (Al-Hayat, London)
ZNAI  (Assyrian International News Agency)
ZNAK (American Kurdish
ZNAM (Archeology Magazine)
ZNAP (Associated Press International)
ZNBN (Bet-Nahrain Inc/ KBSV-TV "AssyriaVision")
ZNCN (ClariNews)
ZNIF (Iraq Foundation)
ZNDA (Zenda: zenda@ix.netcom.com)
ZNIN (Iraqi National Congress)
ZNLT (Los Angeles Times)
ZNMN (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNMS (Mar Shimun Magazine-Canada)
ZNMW (Mideast Newswire)
ZNNQ (Nabu Quarterly)
ZNNV (Nineveh Magazine)
ZNNY:  New York Times
ZNPR:  Palestinian Review
ZNQA (Qala Atouraya- Moscow)
ZNRF (Radio Free Iraq)
ZNRU (Reuters)
ZNSH (Shotapouta Newsletter)
ZNSJ (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNSM (Shufimafi Lebanese News)
ZNSO (Syrian Orthodox News "SOCNews")
ZNTD (Turkish Daily News)
ZNTM (Time Magazine)
ZNUP (United Press International)
ZNUS (US News & World Report)
ZNCW:  Catholic World News