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JULY  9, 2017

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

Hour 1 WE THE PEOPLE RADIO Hour 2 WE THE PEOPLE RADIO

"The Assyrian American National Federation"

Today's guests: Bruce Moran - 'NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR' & Martin Youmaran

Security Solutions Technology, LLC is a Veteran Owned (and SDVOSB) Company that provides federal government consulting, IT professional services, security assessments, cybersecurity, geospatial, program and life cycle management, change management, logistics, and financial consulting. We provide a performance and results-based culture in any organization.

About Martin Youmaran

AANF is a 501C-3 Non-Profit Organizationhttp://www.aanf.org/

Pride and glory in the ancient dignity of our ancestors entail the assumption of certain obligations towards the remnant of our race, the numerous unrelated and disconnected associations, no matter how great or useful individually, cannot fulfill such obligations. The essential nature of the Assyrian American National Federation, Inc. is to assure functional unity among Assyrian organizations.

Established 1933

Established in 1933 by the Assyrian community of the United States, the Assyrian American National Federation, Inc. (AANF) is a Federation of Assyrian Associations in the United States. AANF is a 501C-3 Non-Profit Organization.

 

Our Mission

The Assyrian American National Federation strives to unite the Assyrian Nation by protecting and promoting the progression of Assyrian culture, education, religion and humanitarian rights.

 

Origin

AANF had its birth in the fateful year of 1933, inspired by the merciless massacres of the Assyrians in Iraq. On October 19, 1933, the National Emergency Committee called a General Mass Meeting at West New York, New Jersey, where by resolution; the Committee was authorized to call a General Convention of Delegates to be held in Yonkers, New York.

 
 
What our Insignia Means
 
In 1936, the Federation adopted its insignia produced on the cover of this book, symbolic of the purposes and ideals of the Federation, bearing the following interpretations:
 
Circular Outline:  The circular outline of the insignia designates perpetuity, the three stars along the border represent the three stars on the flag and designate the three principal component sectional groups of Assyrians.
 
Colors: The purple, white and red colors are the colors of the flag-denoting loyalty, purity and determination respectively — the red also being reminiscent of the sacrificial blood shed by the Assyrian patriots and Christian martyrs.
 
Winged Lion: The five-legged-winged lion; with a bearded man’s head, is the ancient Assyrian coat-of-arms; the chain on which the lion of stands designates unity and the linking of the several Assyrian factions into one strong bond.
 
Bruce Moran, National Security Advisor

Bruce J. Moran is a senior National Security Advisor who focuses on strategic planning for National Security issues. As a consultant, he works with public officials, U.S. Government committees, departments, agencies, think tanks, and corporations. He works on special national security projects and defines clear "hands on" working solutions for Crisis Preparedness and Crisis Readiness scenarios. He has in-depth experience in foreign policy, security operations & Hi-Tech systems (connectivity, interoperability, and interfacing) such as SMART* Fusion protocols and applications. He consults with the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Commerce, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, House Committee On Foreign Affairs, Joint Economic Committee, Senate/House Committees on Banking/Finance, Senate Permanent Committee On investigations and the Senate Select Committee On Intelligence. (Bruce is the resident humorist, much like Hawkeye Pierce was in the MASH series we all know and love. Oh, and I didn't have a real picture of him.)
 


 

IRAQ FOREIGN POLICY INITIATIVE

STABILIZATION & RECONCILIATION EFFORTS

IRAQ - SAFE ZONES – NINEVEH PLAINS

 

DISPLACED IRAQIS BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE:

 

What has not been fully identified as a result of the Syrian War and the rise of ISIS was the larger impact that played out with the estimated 3.2* million Iraqis who have been displaced. The United Nations, European Union and the United States did not dutifully plan a comprehensive CRISIS READINESS / CRISIS PREPAREDNESS program with a SAFE ZONE(S) to help ordinary people. Our worldwide leaders did not recognize the larger ramifications by not immediately helping the destitute people who suffered the severe consequences of the Syrian war and the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq. ISIS took the main stage plundering its way through Syria and Iraq setting up the Caliphate State drawing Islamic Jihadist terrorist fighters from around the world. ISIS’s appeal did not diminished but flourished (2014) with its brutal, appalling and inhumane (genocide) acts creating chaos and mayhem everywhere, strong arm ruling by intimidating, suppressing and barbarically torturing the Iraqi people, targeting minorities, while extorting (ZAKAT) from all business operations.

 *http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/tag/internally-displaced-persons/

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BOTTOM LINE: SAFE ZONE(S) IN IRAQ NEEDED ASAP. Ordinary people left the Nineveh Plain region.  Assyrians fled as refugees (Jordan, Turkey, Iran, et al) and as displaced people relocated in Iraq (mostly in Kurdistan).  The decision makers from all international, regional and local political spectrums did not take correct measures to protect and defend the ordinary people, especially the Iraq minorities.

 

The Urgent Need For Appropriate “Safe Zones” In Iraq

https://providencemag.com/2017/06/the-urgent-need-for-appropriate-safe-zones-in-iraq/

Baroness Caroline Cox and Ewelina U. Ochab | June 15, 2017

 

“Most people fled the Nineveh Plains in mid-2014, just hours before Daesh (ISIS) arrived in their villages and towns. Buildings were destroyed; properties, shops, medical centers, and churches were all looted. Today, months after the areas have been taken back from Daesh (ISIS), many people are still not returning…”

 

“Many people who fled Daesh (ISIS) want to return to their homes in the Nineveh Plains. They also have a right to do so because the right to return is protected under the Iraqi Constitution (and international law). However, the right to return means nothing if that right is not adequately respected and protected. People will have to return to the rubble left after Daesh (ISIS). Moreover, they cannot return if there is no protection from Daesh (ISIS) or any other terrorist groups that may come after them…”

 

“The proposal to develop safe zones to protect minorities from the Daesh (ISIS) atrocities is commendable as religious minorities in Iraq were specifically targeted for destruction by Daesh (ISIS). They now require urgent assistance, including security. Without security, any assistance will not be sustainable—as it may only be a matter of time before another extremist group will target post-conflict vulnerable communities.”

 

SECURING NORTHERN IRAQ – NINEVEH PLAINS REGION – SAFE ZONES

CLEARING OUT REMNANTS OF ISIS/DAESH IN NINEVEH PLAINS

- ESTABLISHING SAFE ZONES  -

- ROBUST RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR SECURITY -

- TRANSITION TO VILLAGES, TOWNS & RURAL AREAS -

 

A strong and united Iraq which quickly moves to implement a cohesive CRISIS READINESS – CRISIS PREPAREDNESS PROGRAM with a SAFE ZONE(S) (for transition [holding] area) signals to the U.N. Security Council and world leaders that Iraq Officials are initiating a sound and practical National Security framework to stop terrorism which the international community can immediately support. It further demonstrates Iraq leaders will work

 to effectively deal with the ever-present dangers existing with ISIS’ Jihad terrorists who are being defeated in Mosul and the Nineveh Plains Region as Iraqi forces dismantle the Iraq’s Caliphate State.

SAFE ZONES = INTEGRATED 24/7 HUMANITARIAN EFFORTS MUST BE FORTHCOMING

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/countryregion/iraq?source=ADD170U0U01&utm_source=AdWords&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=GooglePaid&utm_content=nonbrand&gclid=CLL5oN7H1tQCFUuAaQodvccKhg

 

ASSYRIAN CHRISTIANS LIVING IN WORN TORN LIMBO,

PRAYING AGAINST GENOCIDE

The Federalist September 28, 2016 by Alexandria Hudson

“Amman, Jordan — On June 10, 2014, Batool* was in her classroom in Mosul, Iraq, preparing for the school week when she received word: Bad people—barbarians looking for Christians to kill—were coming…Batool immediately went home to pack up her life…-  she was midway through a PhD in biology—she knew she was likely saying a permanent farewell to the only home she had ever known.”

 

“That night, her house was marked with an “N” for “Nazarene” (ن in Arabic), signifying that she follows Jesus of Nazareth. It’s not dissimilar from the Star of David Jews were obligated to wear in 1930s Germany. The next day, ISIS sent Batool’s sister a threatening note telling her convert to Islam, pay the “jizya”—a tax on non-Muslims— or be executed. It was time for them to leave… ”

http://thefederalist.com/2016/09/28/assyrian-christians-live-war-torn-limbo-praying-genocide/

 

 

 

 

TRANSITIONING FROM THE SAFE ZONES TO TOWNS, VILLAGES AND RURAL AREAS:

 

Refugees and displaced peoples are returning to their lands in Iraq. Iraq needs a secure and fully operational SAFE ZONE initiative ASAP.  Assyrian Christians and other minorities need to see their own people (locals), like the NPU, securing the Nineveh Plains to build trust and enable return. It is critical to provide necessary military and police education, training and supplies (including arms) in the Nineveh Plains region to the local inhabitants to reestablish Law & Order and to secure refugees and displaced people returning to their homes and villages. The local military and police force should fully represent the local people. This action will enable the local inhabitants to build intelligence networks with the NPU to monitor roaming ISIS remnants, extremists, criminals and new emerging threats.

 

THE NINEVAH PLAINS PEOPLE NEED TO BE RECOGNIZED AND FULLY REPRESENTED IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NINEVAH PLAINS PROVINCE:

 

H E Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi congratulates the Chaldean Assyrian brothers on the occasion of the Assyrian New Year. Media Office Of The Prime Minister April 1, 2017.

 

“His excellency Prime Minister Dr. Haider Al-Abadi congratulated the Assyrian Chaldean (Catholic) brothers on the occasion of the Assyrian Babylonian New Year (Akitu), stressing the pride in the culture and intellectual diversity of Mesopotamia, calling for the necessity for preserving it…”

 

The government of Iraq (GoI) issued a mandate on November 21, 2014 allowing the indigenous people of the Nineveh Plains to begin the process of establishing a province. As the “Consent Of The Governed” is being established in the Nineveh Plains, the Assyrian Christians, Yazidis, Shabaks and other minorities will need proper representation and given a direct voice in GoI decision making process for SAFE ZONES, humanitarian efforts, safety and security funding, and the general welfare (inter-agency IoG  appropriations) for the Nineveh Plains.

 

IRAQI  MINORITIES MOVE FORWARD WITH AUTOMOUS PLAN

http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/rafedin-minorities-iraq-nineveh-plain-autonomy.html

 

The proposal is the most complete vision the minorities have yet put forward as an alliance, with the aim of extracting themselves from the Arab-Kurdish struggle for their areas and to prevent a repetition of the catastrophic killing and displacement they suffered when the Islamic State (IS) invaded Ninevah province and raided the areas where they live.

 

The minorities have previously put forward plans focused specifically on setting up a province for the minorities on the Ninevah plains. That province would stretch across areas disputed between Arabs and Kurds but that are considered the homeland of several Iraqi minorities: the Ninevah plains (home to several minorities, particularly Christians and Shabak), Tal Afar (majority Turkmens) and Sinjar (the main home of the Yazidis).


Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/rafedin-minorities-iraq-nineveh-plain-autonomy.html#ixzz4mKLCdMRA


Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/rafedin-minorities-iraq-nineveh-plain-autonomy.html#ixzz4mKKwfUfN

 

 

Some Assyrian History

Arab Islamic Conquest (630–780)

Centuries of constant warfare between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Empire left both empires exhausted, depleted, and battle-fatigued, which meant that when the Muslim Arabscame to invade the region during the 600s from the Arabian peninsula- The empires could do little to resist it. Therefore, after the early Islamic conquests in the seventh century, Assyria was dissolved as a political entity, although the native population still regarded the region as Assyria. Under Arab rule, Mesopotamia as a whole underwent a gradual process of Arabisation and Islamification, and the region saw a large influx of non indigenous Arabs, KurdsIranian, and Turkic peoples.

However, the indigenous Assyrian population of northern Mesopotamia resisted this process, retaining their language, religion, culture and identity.

Under the Arab Islamic empires, the Christian Assyrians were classed as dhimmis, second-class citizens that had certain restrictions imposed upon them. Assyrians were thus excluded from specific duties and occupations reserved for Muslims, did not enjoy the same or equal political rights as Muslims, their word was not equal to that of a Muslim in legal and civil matters without a Muslim witness, they were subject to payment of a special tax (jizyah) and they were banned from spreading their religion further in Muslim ruled lands. However, personal matters such as marriage and divorce were governed by the cultural laws of the Assyrians.[75][76]

For those reasons, and even during the Sassanian period before Islamic rule, The Assyrian Church of the East formed a church structure that spread Nestorian Christianity to as far away as China, in order to proselytize away from Muslim ruled regions In Iran and their homeland in Mesopotamia, with evidence of their massive church structure being the Nestorian Stele, an artifact found in China which documented over 100 years of Christian history in China from 600–781 AD.[77] Assyrian Christians maintained relations with fellow Christians in Armenia and Georgia throughout the Middle Ages. In the 12th century AD, Assyrian priests interceded on behalf of persecuted Arab Muslims in Georgia.[78] The Assyrian Church structure thrived during the period of 600–1300, and is regarded as a golden age for Assyrians.

Mongol Empire (1200–1300)

The first signs of trouble for the Assyrians started in the 13th century, when the Mongols first invaded the Near East after the fall of Baghdad in 1258 to Hulagu Khan.[79] Assyrians at first did very well under Mongol rule, as the Shamanist Mongols were sympathetic to them, with Assyrian priests having traveled to Mongolia centuries before. The Mongols in fact spent most of their time oppressing Muslims and Jews, outlawing the practice of circumcision and halal butchery, as they found them repulsive and violent.[80] Therefore, as one of the only groups in the region looked at in a good light, Assyrians were given special privileges and powers, with Hülegü even appointing an Assyrian Christian[disambiguation needed] governor to Erbil (Arbela), and allowing the Syriac Orthodox Church to build a church there.[81]

However, the Mongol rulers in the Near East eventually converted to Islam. Sustained persecutions of Christians throughout the entirety of the Ilkhanate began in earnest in 1295 under the rule of Oïrat amir Nauruz, which affected the indigenous Assyrian Christians greatly.[82]During the reign of the Ilkhan Öljeitü, the Assyrian Christian inhabitants of Erbil seized control of the citadel and much of the city in rebellion against the Muslims. In spring 1310, the Mongol Malik (governor) of the region attempted to seize it from them with the help of the Kurds and Arabs, but was defeated. After his defeat he decided to siege the city. The Assyrians held out for three months, but the citadel was at last taken by Ilkhanate troops and Arab, Turkic and Kurdish tribesmen on July 1, 1310. The defenders of the citadel fought to the last man, and many of the Assyrian inhabitants of the lower town were subsequently massacred.[83][84]

Regardless of these hardships, the Assyrian people remained numerically dominant in the north of Mesopotamia as late as the 14th century AD, and the city of Assur functioned as their religious and cultural capital. However, in the mid-14th century the Muslim Turk ruler Tamurlaneconducted a religiously motivated massacre of the indigenous Assyrian Christians, and worked tirelessly to destroy the vast Assyrian Church structure established throughout the Far East, destroying the entire structure of the church with the exception of the St Thomas Christians of the Malabar Coast in India, whom number 10 million or so in modern times.[85] After Timurs campaign, The Assyrian Cultural and religious capital of Assur was completely destroyed, thousands of Assyrians were massacred, the vast church structure of the Assyrian Church of the East was decimated, and the Assyrian population was from that point on reduced to a small minority living within Muslim dominated lands.[86]

Breakup of the Assyrian Church (1500–1780)

Around 100 years after the massacres by Timur, a religious schism known as the Schism of 1552 occurred among the Assyrians of northern Mesopotamia, when a large number of followers of the Assyrian Church of the East in Amid elected a rival Patriarch named Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa after becoming dissatisfied with the leadership of the Assyrian Church, at this point based in Alqosh. Due to a need for an ordination by a metropolitan bishop, Sulaqa went into communion with the Roman Catholic Church after at first failing to gain acceptance within the Syriac Orthodox Church. Rome named this new church The Church of Assyria and Mosuland its first leader Patriarch of the East Assyrians in 1553 AD.

Soon after coming back Sulaqa was assassinated by supporters of the rival patriarch in Alqosh, but was able to form a new church structure and line of succession known as the Shimun Line prior to his death. This group of Assyrians eventually broke off ties with Rome, moved en masse to the Hakkari Mountains, and returned to the Assyrian church they once adhered to prior to the Schism of 1552, while still operating independently from the original Assyrian Church structure based in Alqosh.

A decade or so before the Shimun line broke off ties with Rome, another faction within the Assyrian Church entered into communion with Rome known as the Josephite line, and upon the Shimun line leaving, inherited the now vacant Church of Assyria and Mosul', which was renamed the "Chaldean Catholic Church" by The Vatican in 1683. This is now believed to be due to an error by the Roman Catholic Church which already had a history of labelling eastern Christians (including Cypriots) as Chaldeans, but due to that error, some of their followers became known as Chaldean Catholics or Chaldo-Assyrians, despite having absolutely no ethnic, historical, linguistic, cultural or geographic connections whatsoever to the by now long extinct Chaldean tribe of south east Mesopotamia. However, these appellations appear to have only emerged relatively recently, as in the late 19th century, Hormuzd Rassam, himself a member of the Chaldean Catholic Church, states that church members were using the ethnic term Assyrian and the theological term Nestorian to describe themselves.[87][88]

Later on in the 1830s the original Assyrian Church of the East structure in Alqosh combined with the Catholic one, creating the modern Chaldean Catholic Church structure, which is ironic considering that the only remaining ethnic Assyrian Church to practice the Assyrian Church of the East denomination was the first one to split from the Assyrian Church of the East back in 1552. There was also another Nestorian Denomination known as the Ancient Church of the East, which split from the Assyrian Church of the East due to reforms passed under the rule of Shimun XXIII Eshai in the 1960s, but with the election of Gewargis III in 2015 the churches had a reconciliation, and reunited.

In addition to the Eastern Rite Churches, The Syriac Orthodox Church also has a large number of ethnically Assyrian Adherents, who are known sometimes as Syriacs, the term 'Syriac' being etymologically derived from 'Assyrian'. The Syriac Orthodox Church has 5 million adherents across the globe, but is based in Damascus. However, since the 11th century it was based in the Saffron Monastery of Tur Abdin, and prior to that it was based in Antioch. Like the Nestorian churches, schisms also occurred within the Syriac Orthodox Church. In 1626 Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries began to proselytize among the Syriac Orthodox faithful at Aleppo, forming a larger pro-catholic movement within the Syriac Orthodox Church. So in 1662, when the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate had fallen vacant, the Catholic party was able to elect one of its own, Andrew Akijan as Patriarch of the Syriac Church. This provoked a split in the community, and after Akijan’s death in 1677 two opposing patriarchs were elected, with one of those becoming the first Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church. This line of succession died out quickly, however, but in 1782 with the election of Michael Jarweh as Patriarch the Ignatius line has been the head of the Syriac Catholic Church since then, and also has its base in Damascus.

Modern history[edit]

Ottoman Empire (1900–1928)[edit]

 
The burning of bodies of Christian Assyrian women during the Assyrian Genocide

After these splits, the Assyrians suffered a number of religiously and ethnically motivated massacres throughout the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries,[89] such as the Massacres of Badr Khan which resulted in the massacre of over 10,000 Assyrians in the 1840s,[90] culminating in the large scale Hamidian massacres of unarmed men, women and children by Turks and Kurdsin the 1890s at the hands of the Ottoman Empire and its associated (largely Kurdish and Arab) militias, which greatly reduced their numbers, particularly in southeastern Turkey where over 25,000 Assyrians were murdered.[91] The Adana massacre of 1909 largely aimed at Armenian Christians also accounted for the murder of some 1,500 Assyrians.[92]

The Assyrians suffered a further catastrophic series of events during World War I in the form of the religiously and ethnically motivated Assyrian Genocide at the hands of the Ottomans and their Kurdish and Arab allies from 1915 to 1918.[93][94][95][96] Some sources claim that the highest number of Assyrians killed during the period was 750,000, while a 1922 Assyrian assessment set it at 275,000. The Assyrian Genocide ran largely in conjunction with the similarly ethno-religiously motivated Armenian GenocideGreek Genocide and Great Famine of Mount Lebanon.

In reaction against Ottoman cruelty, the Assyrians took up arms, and an Assyrian war of independence was fought during World War I which took place in what is today south eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, north western Iran and north eastern Syria. For a time, the Assyrians fought successfully against overwhelming numbers, scoring a number of victories against the Ottomans and Kurds, and also hostile Arab and Iranian groups. However, due to the collapse of the Russian Empire—due to the Russian Revolution—and the similar collapse of the Armenian Defense, the Assyrians were left without allies. As a result, The Assyrians were vastly outnumbered, outgunned, surrounded, cut off, and without supplies. The only option they had was to flee the region into northwest Iran and fight their way, with around 50,000 civilians in tow, to British train lines going to Mandatory Iraq. The sizable Assyrian presence in south eastern Anatolia which had endured for over four millennia was thus reduced to no more than 15,000 by the end of World War I, and by 1924 many of those who remained were forcibly expelled in a display of ethnic cleansing by the Turkish government, with many leaving and later founding villages in the Sapna and Nahla valleys in the Dohuk Governorate of Iraq.

In 1920 the Assyrian settlements in Mindan and Baquba were attacked by Iraqi Arabs, but the Assyrian tribesmen displayed their military prowess by successfully defeating and driving off the Arab forces.[97] The Assyrians also sided with the British during the Iraqi revolt against the British.

The Assyrian Levies were founded by the British in 1922, with ancient Assyrian military rankings, such as Rab-shakeh, Rab-talia and Turtanu, being revived for the first time in millennia for this force. The Assyrians were prized by the British rulers for their fighting qualities, loyalty, bravery and discipline, and were used to help the British put down insurrections among the Arabs, Kurds and Turcoman, guard the borders with Iran and Turkey, and protect British military installations. During the 1920s Assyrian levies saw action in effectively defeating Arab and Kurdish forces during anti-British rebellions in Iraq.[97][98][99]

Simele Massacre and World War II (1930–1950)

Map of Assyrian populated areas

After Iraq was granted independence by the British in 1933, the Assyrians suffered the Simele Massacre, where thousands of unarmed villagers (men, women and children) were slaughtered by joint Arab-Kurdish forces of the Iraqi Army. The massacres of civilians followed a clash between armed Assyrian tribesmen and the Iraqi army, where the Iraqi forces suffered a defeat after trying to disarm the Assyrians, whom they feared would attempt to secede from Iraq. Armed Assyrian Levies were prevented by the British from going to the aid of these civilians, and the British government then whitewashed the massacres at the League of Nations.

Despite these betrayals, the Assyrians were allied with the British during World War II, with eleven Assyrian companies seeing action in Palestine/Israel and another four serving in GreeceCyprus and Albania. Assyrians played a major role in the victory over Arab-Iraqi forces at the Battle of Habbaniya and elsewhere in 1941, when the Iraqi government decided to join World War II on the side of Nazi Germany. The British presence in Iraq lasted until 1955, and Assyrian Levies remained attached to British forces until this time, after which they were disarmed and disbanded.

A further persecution of Assyrians took place in the Soviet Union in the late 1940s and early 1950s when thousands of Assyrians settled in Georgia, Armenia and southern Russia were forcibly deported from their homes in the dead of night by Stalin without warning or reason to Central Asia, with most being relocated to Kazakhstan, where a small minority still remain.[100]

Ba'athism (1966–2003)[edit]

 
 

The Flag of the Assyrian Nation(created and used since 1968)[101]

The period from the 1940s through to 1963 was a period of respite for the Assyrians in northern Iraq and north east Syria. The regime of Iraqi President Kassim in particular saw the Assyrians accepted into mainstream society. Many urban Assyrians became successful businessmen, a number of Assyrians moved south to cities such as BaghdadBasra and Nasiriyah to enhance their economic prospects, others were well represented in politics, the military, the arts and entertainment, Assyrian towns, villages, farmsteads and Assyrian quarters in major cities flourished undisturbed, and Assyrians came to excel and be over-represented in sports such as boxing, football, athletics, wrestling and swimming.

However, in 1963, the Ba'ath Party took power by force in Iraq, and came to power in Syria the same year. The Baathists, though secular, were Arab nationalists, and set about attempting to Arabize the many non-Arab peoples of Iraq and Syria, including the Assyrians. This policy included refusing to acknowledge the Assyrians as an ethnic group, banning the publication of written material in Eastern Aramaic, and banning its teaching in schools, together with an attempt to Arabize the ancient pre-Arab heritage of Mesopotamian civilisation.

The policies of the Baathists have also long been mirrored in Turkey, whose nationalist governments have refused to acknowledge the Assyrians as an ethnic group since the 1920s, and have attempted to Turkify the Assyrians by calling them "Semitic Turks" and forcing them to adopt Turkish names and language. In Baathist Syria too, the Assyrian (and Syriac-Aramean) Christians faced pressure to identify as "Arab Christians". In Iran, Assyrians continued to enjoy cultural, religious and ethnic rights, but due to the Islamic Revolution of 1979 their community has been diminished.

In the aftermath of the Iraq War of 2003, Assyrians became the targets of Islamist terrorist attacks and intimidation from both Sunni and Shia groups, as well as criminal kidnapping organisations; forcing many in southern and central Iraq to relocate to safer Assyrian regions in the north of the country or north east Syria.

Syrian Civil War (2012–present)

 

In recent years, Assyrians in northern Iraq and north east Syria have become the target of attacks amounting to genocide by Islamist militants like ISIL and Nusra Front. In 2014, ISIL attacked Assyrian towns and villages in the Assyrian homelands of northern Iraq and north east Syria, and Assyrians forced from their homes in cities such as Mosul had their houses and possessions stolen, both by ISIL and also by their own former Arab Muslim neighbours.[102]Assyrian Bronze Age and Iron Age monuments and archaeological sites, as well as numerous Assyrian churches and monasteries,[102] have been systematically vandalised and destroyed by ISIL. These include the ruins of NinevehKalhu (NimrudAssurDur-Sharrukin and Hatra).[103][104] ISIL destroyed a 3,000 year-old Ziggurat. ISIL destroyed Virgin Mary Church, in 2015 St. Markourkas Church was destroyed and the cemetery was bulldozed.  [105]

Assyrians in both Iraq and Syria [106][107][108] have responded by forming armed Assyrian militias to defend their territories,[109] and despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned have had success in driving ISIL from Assyrian towns and villages, and defending others from attack.[110][111] Armed Assyrian militias have also fought ISIL alongside armed groups of Kurds, Turcoman, Yezidis, Syriac-Aramean Christians, Shabaks, Armenian Christians, Kawilya, Mandeans, Circassians and Shia Muslim Arabs and Iranians. “Dewkh Nawsha”, translates to “the ones who sacrifiace”. The group was formed days after ISIL took over Mosul. The militia is made up of volunteers, who come from all over the Nineveh plain.  Dewkh Nawsha is supported by Assyrian Patriotic Party and are led by Wilson Khammu[105] It is estimated that nearly 60 percent of Iraqi Assyrians have fled.  Assyrians who have fled have ended up all over the world. 2009 U.S Census Bureau survey, reported that roughly 100,000 have relocated to the United States.[112]