Hideous Echoes

by Ashoordin Ashoormaram. Skokie, Illinois USA.

Posted: Monday, December 15, 2008 at 11:02 AM CT

Related Information The Untold Holocaust Assyria and Assyrians Since the 2003 U.S. Intervention of Iraq 1937: The Assyrians: A Debt of Honour 1935: League of Nations — The Settlement of the Assyrians, a Work of Humanity and Appeasement

What is ‘Seyfo’, and how it took place?  Why it happened?
What are its effects today?

The place was too small to hold all the living victims for the work of execution. They were brought in-groups, and each new group compelled to stand up over the heap of the still bleeding bodies, and was shot to death in the same manner. The fearful place became literally a human slaughterhouse, receiving its speechless victim, in-groups of ten and twenty at a time, for execution. The procession of the victims was led by two green turbaned Sayids [the highest religious order in Islam], one with an open book in his hand, reading from it aloud the passages pertaining to the holy war, and the other carrying a large bladed knife, the emblem of execution. When the procession arrived at the place appointed, the executioners began by cutting first the fingers of their victims, join by joint, till the two hands were entirely amputated. Then their throats were half cut, so as to prolong their torture of dying. And while struggling in the agony of death, the victims were kicked and clubbed by heavy poles the murderers carried. Many of them, while still laboring under the pain of death, were thrown into ditches and buried before their souls had expired. Some of the younger and goodly looking women, together with a few little girls of attractive appearance, who pleaded to be killed, against their will were forced into Islam’s harems. Others were subjected to such fiendish insults that I couldn’t possibly describe. Death, however, came to their rescue, and saved them from the vile passions of the demons. The victims of this massacre totaled 2,770 refugees (Aprim, 86-87).

The mentioned anecdote above took place in Khoi, Iran which lies to the northwest of Lake Urmia on February 1918 by Turks and Kurds who were employed by Ottoman Empire. During this period of time, Persia which had been ruled by a weak state known as Ghajar did not have complete authority over northwestern territories, e.g. Azerbaijan. However, Russia for many years had occupied these territories, but the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 had caused them to withdraw entirely from Azerbaijan. So, at the end of the World War I, the Ottoman Empire could fill the vacuum of power in this part of Persia, but it was on the expense of Christians (Assyrians and Armenians). In addition to Islamic fundamental movements under the Sultans, Turks’ emperors, the European definition of nationalism had reached the Ottoman Empire by that time. In accordance to this new Turkish national movement, every one had to be Turk. As the result of this Pan-Turkism, while Turkey was fighting against allies, the death sentence of the non-Muslim population was written and the jihad (holy war) against the Christians was proclaimed. According to Frederick A. Aprim, “Two-thirds of the Assyrians in southeast Turkey and Persia perished between 1914 and 1918. For this reason, the Assyrians commemorate April 24, 1915, as Seyfo or Saypa, the ‘Year of the Sword’.” (39). Unfortunately, up to this time, Turkey has been denying her ignominious acts and, as a result, the history is repeating again and again in a new manner in Iraq against Assyrians. Therefore, humanity in general, and the United Nations in particular, should put pressure on Turkey in order to recognize the Genocide 1915 as a dark page of her history and take responsibility of her acts during this period because only under such circumstances all peoples around the world would be guaranteed against any other genocides.

The first approach of this work is getting some background and relevant history about Seyfo because without having some important and firsthand statistics, and a brief history of the tragedy, we cannot simply comprehend the issue. According to AINA (Assyrian International News Agency), Sabri Atman, founder of the Seyfo Center argues, “33% of the Turkish population was Christian. Today in Turkey, the total number of Christian people only amounts 0.1% of the population. What happened to these people? What happened to the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks? Where are they? Where did they disappear to?” (AINA, 1). The opening story is just one of many tragedies that occurred in early 20th century for Assyrians. After a huge administrative crisis all over the empire, finally, the Committee for Union and Progress (the CUP-also known as the Young Turks) through intimidation, manipulation, and violence won the 1912 election. The Ottoman Empire officially entered World War I in early November 1914 after signing a secret agreement with Germany in August of the same year. In order to Turkifying the Empire after declaration of jihad, the holy war against the Christians, by Enver Pasha on 4 November 1914, the total ethnic cleansing of Christians from Turkey began, and this genocide lasted 10 years until establishing the Republic of Turkey by Kemal Ataturk in 1924. In his famous book entitled The Church of the East, Christoph Baumer mentions that two million Christians including Armenians, Syrian Orthodox, Chaldeans and Nestorians were sent into hell (261). In fact, those so-called “Syrian Orthodox, Chaldeans and Nestorians” are different religious sects of Assyrian nation as a whole which in itself implies that Assyrians at that time were not well-organized as their neighbors, Armenians.

First of all, many may have heard of Armenian Genocide of 1915, and they might wonder that what it has to do with Assyrians. It’s important to know that in early 20th century, unlike Armenians, “Assyrians used to live in rural areas and their modes of living consisted of agriculture and animal husbandry. Political and intellectual leaders were scarce. In a way, their external recognition was mostly dependent on the Assyrian language they spoke…They had no advocates in the country or abroad.” (Warda, 9). Therefore, lack of organizational and structural institutions in Assyrian communities in Ottoman Empire contributed to other significant factors leading to Assyrian massacres. The main reason for this lack was due to varying religious sects amongst them because western missionaries including Russians, French, British and Americans were competing against each other gaining more members from this non-educated society. Second, people may think that these massacres took place without any planned scenarios, but a prologue of Genocide 1915 was, in fact, the Western-inspired reforms of Sultan Mahmud II known as tanzimat, which according to Frederick A. Aprim, “were a series of laws promulgated between 1839 and 1876 to centralize the administration, among other things.” (25). These circumstances, altogether, caused ending the Assyrian independence on October 1841 in Hakkari, Turkey forever by destroying their villages and slaughter over 20,000 inhabitants by Kurdish warlord Bedr Khan Beg between 1843-1848. And, once more, over 35,000 of their counterparts in DiarBakir, Turkey were murdered by Hamidiya Cavalry, a Kurdish institution made by Sultan Abdul Hamid on November 1895.

Assyrians unwillingly had to enter the Great War on the side of Russia, France, and Great Britain, believing in the promises of the Allies. As mentioned earlier, the western missionaries had a significant role in changing the Assyrian-Kurdish relations, and the future policies of Ottoman Empire in dealing with Assyrians. In declaring war against Turkey, in fact, the Allies had realized the importance of stimulation uprisings among the ethnic minorities in the Balkan and in the Mesopotamia among the Arabs, Armenians, Kurds, and the Assyrians. On one hand, Patriarch Mar Benyamin Shimun had received two massages from Turks and Germans, requesting the neutrality of his nation in the coming War. On the other hand, the extermination of Assyrians’ villages in Hakkari had already begun.  In such a harsh moment, in spring 1915, finally Patriarch accepted the Allies’ request. On October 10, 1915, The New York Times  , cited the speech of Cherif Pasha, the Turkish Minister to Sweden, as following: “To be sure, the state of mind of the Unionists was not revealed to the civilized world until they had openly taken sides with Germany; but for more than six years I have been exposing them in the Mecheroutiette ( his newspaper, published first in Constantine and then in Paris) and in different journals and reviews, warning France and England of the plot against them and against certain nationalities within the Ottoman borders,…”(1). This means that Assyrians’ decision to enter the War had nothing to do with their so called revolts against Turks, and in fact, the scenario was already written down. Many Turks now claim that their policies were dependent on Assyrians’ own decision, denying the fact that they had it planned beforehand.

Naturally, deciding to join the Allies’ frontiers was a good excuse for Turks against Assyrians which later turned to be the main reason of exodus from the Hakkari Mountains. As Frederick A. Aprim states in his fame book entitled Assyrians: from Bedr Khan to Saddam Hussein, the Russians sent a secret letter to Patriarch, asking Assyrians’ help in order to stop the retreat of the Turkish Army at Azerbaijan frontier. However, at the same time some massacres were taking place at Albaq and Gawar in eastern Turkey, but the main reason that this request favored Assyrians was that Russians as the representative of Allies had promised to restore Assyrians’ homeland in future. Disappointed from Russians’ arrival, Patriarch had several conferences with the Maliks-Assyrian heads of tribes- in order to find a better solution for the severe circumstances. Unfortunately, there was no other choice than giving up living at their homeland, Hakkari, for several millennia. Here, mentioning one point is worthwhile. While struggling to find a better choice, Patriarch received a telegram from the Mosul governor, saying that the Patriarch younger brother, Hurmiz would be executed if the Patriarch joined the Allies. Mar Shimun’s famous statement to him was: “Hurmiz is my brother but my people are my brothers and sisters too. I would rather lose one brother than my whole people.” As a result of this threat, Aprim argues, “In the summer of 1915, almost 40,000 Assyrian refugees made it to Persian frontiers and were distributed in Khoi, Salamas, and Urmia.”(54). Assyrians disappointedly fled into Iran and later so-called Iraq, losing their ancestral lands in Hakkari which they would never see again.

Settlement in Azerbaijan, Iran, was neither the first, nor the last exodus for the unfortunate Assyrians. Reinforced by Germans, Turks could surmount Russians in their eastern frontiers, entering to the Azerbaijan which was the shelter for thousands refugees. Christoph Baumer mentions that Turks drove the Russians out of Van and waged fierce battles against the mountain Nestorians (262). As the orders were given to the Russians to evacuate Azerbaijan in January 1915, Kurds employed by Turks, did the most horrifying acts of the century against unprotected Assyrian refugees. Of these barbarisms, the most historical is the massacre of Khoi which is mentioned in the opening of this essay. As a result, many Assyrians followed the Russian Army to Russia in order to escape from such a savagery. This undesirable migration took seven days to get to the Russia’s borders. During this exodus, according to my grandfather (whose father was among this population), as many parents got tired of the insufferable journey, they had to decide whether they should carry their babies. Imagine how hard their situation was!

Many may ask that what happened to those who didn’t follow Russian Army to Russia. The answer would be nothing better. Indeed, those Assyrians who refused to join the Russian Army in order to escape from the bloodshed encountered the most horrible atrocities done by Turks and Kurds. Most of remaining Assyrians found shelter in French and American missionaries in Urmia. As Aprim states, “With the lack of proper sanitation, typhus spread quickly, and the tolls of victims reached some eighty a day. Dr. Packard, an American missionary, did whatever possible in such a chaotic situation.” (63). It’s obvious that since Americans were not yet involved in the First World War, officially, they really had some sense of humanitarian acts for this ill-fated nation; however, they betrayed Mar Dinkha, a bishop of the Assyrian Church, on the expense of rescuing all other refugees. But the fortunes soon turned. Turks and Kurds, encouraged by German agents, successfully entered these missionaries, and killed as many refugees as possible in the most disgusting manners that our sense of human being cannot simply get it. Those who didn’t have the chance to reach these missionaries were massacred beforehand. Of this period’s episodes, the most memorable is the atrocities at Gulpashan, a small town which lies to the eastern suburbs of Urmia, on the night of February 24, 1915.

Up to this point, the narration was about Nestorian Assyrians who fled their homeland, Hakkari in Eastern Turkey, and took refuge in Azerbaijan of Iran, but this is not the whole story. As mentioned earlier, Assyrians are divided into three main different religious sects: Orthodox, Chaldean, and Nestorian. Historically, Nestorians used to live in the Hakkari Mountains; this is why they usually are called mountaineers. But, most of Assyrian communities of Ottoman Empire were Syrian Orthodox Church which used to live in Southern part of today’s Turkey e.g. Tur Abdin and Diar Bakir. In fact, this society was massacred before Hakkari because the terrain of this part of country was plains and flatlands; it was much easier for Turks and Kurds to reach. According to Christoph Baumer, “the massacres began in the cities of Amidya, Mardin and Midyat, and then proceeded into Nisibis, Jazireh and Seert, where the famous Church historian and archbishop Addai Scher was murdered and the library, filled with ancient manuscripts, went up in flames.” (262). In this calamity, Assyrians lost 620, 000 persons in the same manner with their Nestorian counterparts in Hakkari who could not flee into Iran on time, but in a much larger number. Those who had the chance of escaping from the “Dark States” fled into Syria which later became a French colony. Here, mentioning a point is worthwhile. The other reason that we can blame Turks on the account of oppressed Assyrians of Ottoman Empire is the fact that, however, Nestorians had to be armed in the face of Pan-Turkism unwillingly, but Syrian Orthodox - and Chaldean-Assyrians did not even decide to do so. What would be today’s Turkey’s response to this part of Assyrian nation which was truly unarmed loyal citizens?

The circumstances for Assyrian nation got worse after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia. By that turning point of humanity’s history, Toynbee, the author of The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1916, states that the Muslim world considered Russia an aggressor state. So, Bolsheviks decided to change this image in the Asian community by withdrawing their forces from Azerbaijan, Iran. (Aprim, 80). Since Russians were the truly supporters of Assyrians, this decision turned to be another severe tragedy for this ill-fated small nation because the Russian Czar was dethroned. However, Assyrians could help themselves by dint of some ordnance leftover from Russian army for almost 6 months in Urmia, but an unpredictable event changed all the hope to disappointment; Mar Benyamin Shimun was assassinated on March 16, 1918. His assassination, in details, has almost been in all Assyrians’ minds ever since; every Nestorian Assyrian believed in him as his/her national leader. Frederick A. Aprim mentions, “Therefore, on July 18, 1918, over 80,000 Assyrians, including many Armenians, fled the city through the only open road, south, towards the town of Saen Qal’aa, hoping to join Agha Potros and the Assyrian Force.” (85). It implies that Turks took advantage of Russian withdrawal from Azerbaijan, and raided the whole region in order to exterminate the refugee Christians. The massacres of the Assyrians in the French and American missions respectively on July 31, 1918 and May 24, 1919 are famous among all other barbarisms.

In fact, Mar Shimun’s assassination was targeted to annihilate the leadership of the nation. It’s important to know that Nestorian Assyrians had many tribes which were ruled by Maliks, the head of tribes. And, all Maliks were followers of Patriarch. British officers had contact with Mar Shimun since his nation was a small but considerable member of Allies during First World War. As soon as they recognized that the War was going to end because of a revolution in Russia, Britain’s so-called ally, they became aware of Assyrians’ wills which was getting their own autonomy in Azerbaijan, Iran under brilliant leadership of Patriarch. They had reasons for this awareness which the most important one was “transforming to a state, and being a satellite of the future Russia under control of Bolsheviks”. For this reason, Britain accompanied by her Persian hireling government set a meeting between Ismail Agha Simko, A local Kurdish warlord, and Mar Benyamin Shimun, Assyrian Patriarch, in order to find a so-called “union” amongst Kurds and Assyrians. Behind this decision was the evil thought of Britain to destroy Assyrian dream forever. And, she could accomplish that because, as Aprim argues, “The assassination changed the course of Assyrian history since it had serious political ramifications.” (97). This means that Assyrians lost their political union within themselves by having problematic issues between their tribal Maliks and the military leader, Agha Potros because as it is mentioned in history, Agha Potros wanted to keep his nation in the Azerbaijan region in spite of Britain’s will, but Maliks were interested in obeying British policies. This caused the nation to lose its solidarity.

The Patriarch’s assassination was crucial to the nation’s wandering state. Just before this scenario, the nation was about to gain its esteem and glory after 2,500 years dispersion, on the basis of its organized forces. But, all in a sudden, Russia’s withdrawal from Azerbaijan, and eliminating the leadership of the nation by British government altered nation’s destiny. There was only one choice for remaining Assyrians: following British policy word by word, and moving toward her will, maybe some day, they can fulfill Assyrians’ old dream of having their own autonomy in their homeland, Mesopotamia, which later was called Iraq in 1921. Those 80,000 Assyrians who fled Urmia in 1918 passing through Hamadan, Iran, towards Baquba in Iraq, according to Aprim, had a long deadly journey. (103). The purpose of this journey was not simply getting rid of an autonomous Assyrian state in Northwestern Iran; rather, British took advantage of Assyrians first in building the road connecting Hamadan, Iran, and Khanaqin, Iraq, passing through Kermanshah, and second in recruiting brave mountaineers in order to clean the borders of the future Iraq from malcontent local Kurds of the region in today’s so-called Kurdistan. The reason for doing so was that the British government knew that the War was ending, and soon, the Ottoman Empire would be collapsing. Therefore, they could take advantage of this fact to occupy the Mesopotamia, once Ottoman’s territory, by Assyrian mountaineers in order to own its natural sources, mostly its oil without having any difficulties with displeasures in the region. Thus, Assyrians lost their integration, based on the patriarch’s leadership, on the expense of being Britain’s guardians for the future Iraq without any knowledge of its evil plans.

So far, Assyrians had lost their two major areas in Turkey e.g. Tur Abdin in south and Hakkari in southeast for ever. Also, they had been exterminated near to extinction in Urmia in northwest of Iran. Many might ask:  if they contributed to the side of Allies, despite of losing their ancestral territories, what they received as a grant from them. The answer would be simply: nothing but some other massacres in the future. In the following passages we want to study the treasons of Allies, mainly Great Britain, in spite of their promises to preserve an Assyrian Autonomous in the Middle East after ending the Great War and collapsing of Ottoman Empire. After losing their spiritual leader, Mar Benyamin Shimun who also used to hold a national leader position, all their hopes centered on accepting General Agha Potros as their national leader. 50,000 Assyrians began to arrive to the Baquba Refugee Camp in November 1918. Over there, British officers wanted Assyrians to sign an enrolment form, whereby, according to Aprim, “the men agreed to obey all lawful military commands from those placed in authority over them and to proceed wherever desired in connection with the repatriation of their own people.” (110). Many Assyrians started to sign the requested form without having any idea about the scenario behind it because they had sent Lady Surma, Patriarch’s sister, to England to address the Paris Peace Conference. In Hamadan, Iran, before departing toward Baquba, Agha Potros had organized an Assyrian Force with the British help which, according to the mentioned article, should be put under the command of a British officer. Agha Potros prevented Assyrians to enlist in the force; therefore, the British officers exiled him to Baghdad. Right at this point, many people criticized him for betraying British policies; therefore, the Great Britain lost her interest in Assyrian question.  But, the fact was something else. On one hand, Agha Potros had planned to gather all the Assyrians of Russia and Urmia with the refugees who were settled in Baquba, all together, to attack Urmia and regain it from Persia and Ottoman Empire as was promised by tsarist Russian government. On the other hand, there were considerable revolts amongst some Arab tribes in the Southern Mesopotamia, and Kurd tribes in the Northern Mesopotamia which were challenging for Britain to occupy it easily in order to exploit its rich oil sources. So, it was a good reason to use the mountaineers to solve their problem with these revolts. With considering these facts, we can now have a better understanding of the evil thoughts of Britain because they succeeded in creating a schism within the Assyrian Force; the opposing side affected by British desire argued that they should wait until the return of Surma from her mission and decide what to do from there. This was the first disloyalty of Britain over Assyrian question because it totally changed the course of the Assyrians’ modern history, resulting in losing their last hope to regain Urmia region.

The second failure of Assyrian autonomy was due to Britain’s sabotage in the French’s sympathy towards Assyrians. The Assyrian refugees of Russia had already established an organized political party for the first time in the Assyrian history under brilliant doctrines of Fraidon Aturaya. Malik Qambar d’Jilu and Dr. Fraidon Aturaya, according to Aprim, “had contacted the Russian authorities and succeeded to raise and train an Assyrian army in order to be sent back to Urmia to assist the Assyrians there.” (117). By means of Russian Bolsheviks’ authorities, Malik Qambar d’Jilu had a meeting with General Gouraud on July 7, 1920 at Beirut, Lebanon to get assistance from France to establish a new autonomy in the region. As can be inferred from the letter dated July 8, 1920, French General had promised autonomy for Assyro-Chaldean people on behalf of his majestic country, requesting Malik Qambar to going back to Russia and enlisting as many Assyrians as possible to establish an Assyrian army. However, many people enrolled in the Army in 1920, but all a sudden, the French High Command in Syria decided to alter the name of the army from Assyro-Chaldean Battalion to the French Foreign Legion which caused the resignation of Malik Qambar d’Jilu from his post as Commander of the Assyrian army in 1922, and once more, the disintegration of The Assyro-Chaldean Protectorate in Jazira, Syria. The history tells us that the sole reason of failure was, obviously, Britain’s evil policies. However, there was some religious reason behind that, but the best explanation is given by Frederick A. Aprim. He states that Britain had caused a division amongst Assyrian elites. She wanted to maintain the Assyrian Levy under her control for punishing rebels in the future Iraq. But, existence of a self-rule for Assyrians in Jazira, Syria under protection of France would contradict with their own Assyrian army in Mesopotamia because many of its members would exist from the Levy, and therefore, would join to their own national army backed by France, and, later would cause jeopardy for British’s interests in Mesopotamia. (119). No one has ever been able to understand this scenario because England had signed a secret agreement with France to change her policies. And, the only visible output of this agreement was deportation of Agha Potros to France for the rest of his life. Later, due to his struggle for his nation despite of being far away of it, Agha Potros was murdered mysteriously in France on February 2, 1932. Thus, the second struggle for gaining the right of owning the homeland was slipped up by Britain.

After losing Hakkari, Tur Abdin, and Urmia, accompanied by Bolsheviks revolution in Russia, and collapsing of Ottoman Empire, many times, Assyrians tried to get their autonomy in the region by relying on Allies’ help, mainly Britain who was considered as a faithful friend to them. Along with the two mentioned events, there were others which proved Assyrians no longer can trust British policies. On June 22, 1919, New York Times concluded that Paris Peace Conference was all about the fate of Ottoman Empire in which “…to students of history is a proof of justice in the world, slow but sure, that indexes nations as well as men.” (1). It means that the collapsing of the Empire was predicted, and there was a so-called hope for all people living in her territories. Here, mentioning the reasons of failure of the 1919 Paris Peace Conference is worthwhile. In this conference, the British forced the Assyrian delegates of Iran to leave Paris and prevented them from participation in the conference because according to Aprim, “Great Britain feared that the presence of a group that she could not control, not having much authority in Iran, would jeopardize its domination.” (125). The friendship ties between Britain and the US under the Woodrow Wilson presidential period in the time, interfered the Assyrian questions represented by the US delegates, causing them returning empty handed. The most frustrating one was the delay of Assyrian delegation form Iraq which was not informed until the end of the conference in July 21. Many experts believe that the Cairo Conference on March 12, 1921 was the basis of today’s Middle East’s geography and politics because immediately after the collapsing of Ottoman Empire, the winners of the Great War decided to establish the future map of Middle East including Turkey, Syria, and Iraq without even recalling the worthy services of Assyrian nation as their ‘small Ally’. The main concern of Britain was establishing the today’s border of Turkey and Iraq. Both sides were aware of the rich oil sources in Mosul Vilayet, so both had claims on the Mosul region, today’s Northern Iraq which is so-called ‘Kurdistan’. They had so many arguments on the issue as if Assyrians were outsiders. Treaty of Sevres on August 10, 1920, Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923, The Constantinople Conference on May 19, 1924, and finally the Permanent Court of International Justice (The Hague) on December 8, 1925 are worthwhile to mention. The essence of these disputes between the new Republic of Turkey and Great Britain was all about the controlling of the new Iraq’s oil fields in Mosul, and not protecting Assyrians or Kurds in the region. In fact, Mosul Territory which was the last hope to be the final dream of an Assyrian autonomy in so-called Iraq, had been hold by Britain on behalf of Hakkari in Turkey; it was the only reason that Turkey gave in because she never knew that Britain was not going to give it to Assyrians. Only future could show it clearly. The question that had never been answered by British government up to date is: Where were the British and its moral obligation when Assyrians were slaughtered in 1933 in Iraq, and what happened to the promised protection?

Finally, it is time to discuss the impacts of Seyfo in today’s Assyrian communities. While the western societies were in the late stage of industrialization, pretending to maintain human rights in all aspects of peoples’ history, right over their neighborhood, Turks and Kurds in the Ottoman Empire were massacring Assyrians in the Hakkari and Tur Abdin regions in the period of 1843-1848. No single western society prevented those atrocities; in stead, they were evangelizing the so-called ‘True Christianity’. While fighting against each other to exploit peoples’ natural resources, they were careless in the face of 1915 Genocide. Their silence caused two thirds of a nation to death, the nation which had been called ‘The Cradle of Civilization’. Even after their first evil fight ended in 1918, they were eye-witnesses of The 1933 Genocide of Simele in their own made-up Iraq under their own control; a massacre which destroyed the ‘New Born Assyrianism’. Today, hopelessness is the very fabric of Assyrians’ characteristic. William Saroyan in his fame short story entitled Seventy Thousand Assyrians explains the severity of this epidemic hopelessness in a sympathetic narration which took place in San Francisco in 1933 when he was at a beauty shop to get his hair cut by Badal, an Assyrian man. The following conversation went on:

William:  “We are hopeful. There is no Armenian living who does not still dream of an independent Armenia.” (739).

Badal:    “Dream? Well, that is something Assyrians cannot even dream anymore… (While sobbing)… There was a small paragraph in the paper… We’ll be wiped out before long… There is no more hope…We are trying to forget Assyria. My father still reads a paper that comes from New York, but he is an old man. He will be dead soon.” (740).

By the time that Badal narrated his feelings for William, no less that 100 years had been spent in struggling for surviving. After losing two-third of their population in the region by means of exterminations which uprooted their homeland in Tur Abdin, Hakkari, and Urmia, Assyrians also lost their greatest intellectual leaders such as Patriarch Mar Benyamin Shimun in 1918, Dr. Fraidon Aturaya in 1926, and General Agha Potros in 1932 all in mysterious ways. And just after all the mess, they encountered the most barbaric massacre in Simele in 1933. This is not the end of terror. According to Willy Fautré from Human Rights Without Frontiers Int., “Unfortunately, in the last decades, Ankara has chosen another way and has pursued its policy of extinction of the Christian communities in the south-east of the country through means of a cultural genocide.” (www.ado.org). This means that the remnants of 1915 Genocide are encountering a new way of terror which is causing them to leave Turkey even 90 years after the original genocide. In an interview with Sabri Atman, the founder and director of The Assyrian Seyfo Center, about the persistent effects of 1915 Genocide, I was told, “Generally is a lot of information about the Assyrian Genocide. But there is no study made, what I know, about the impacts of Seyfo on today’s Assyrian cultural, political and economical situation. I asked the same question before yesterday to Prof. David Gaunt, a Professor of History in Södertörn University of Stockholm, Sweden and his answer is the same. There is not research yet about this question. Assyrians market and riches is occupied by Turks and Kurds. The reason that the Assyrians’ identity and our political organization are so week is the Seyfo what I believe.”

I personally believe that wherever Assyrians live in the globe today, they don’t belong to that place whether they live in Middle East, Europe, or the United States of America. We as a nation have lost a knack for: homeland. On one hand, we are confronting the Islamic fundamentalism e.g. islamization, and cultural immersion and absorption into Arab societies in Mesopotamia, so-called Iraq, making us under social pressure. On the other hand, to escape from these unbearable situations, we come to the idea of mass emigration to the West, causing absorption into Western societies. But, all these catastrophes could not happen if, in my opinion, we have been living normally in our own country in Middle East, e.g. an Assyrian Republic. The reason number one that we don’t have such a right is that we have already lost two-third of our population during 1914-1918 so that we cannot claim to be a majority population anywhere within so-called Iraq. History and Humanities teach us that Mesopotamia once was the ‘Cradle of Civilization’, and that Mesopotamia is not simply today’s Iraq; rather; it is all the territories between Tigris and Euphrates all the way from Anatoly down to Persian Gulf. But, unfortunately, after Ottoman Empire collapsed, the Allies intentionally disintegrated it to three countries, e.g. Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. I believe that if this inhumane genocide did not happen, now, Assyrians like their so-called neighbor, Kurds, would have millions people despite of being separated into four countries because I think that a nation’s population is one of the significant factors through the process of gaining her rights. Ironically, today, we are accounted for 2nd degree citizens of all these four countries. It’s just unbelievable that in these countries, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Arabs think of us as some outsiders. To me, it is normal because they simply account for 99% of Middle East’s population, something resulted from 1915 Genocide.

However, Assyrians contributed to Allies’ side in the Great War, but they had been simply ignored up to now. In spite of struggling for their identity, they encountered the most insidiously acts of Great Britain. Probably, these acts have been causing Republic of Turkey to deny her barbarisms for almost 85 years after her establishment in 1924. However, some countries’ parliaments have ratified some laws against Turkey, but as long as it is not going to be a universal decision, Turkey would never accept her acts. And, if Turkey still denies it, there would be more awareness of repeating acts all around the world against all minorities and indigenous people. The best suggestion for further studies about Seyfo would be contacting The Seyfo Center, a non-governmental, international organization which has been doing research on the 1915 Genocide for almost a decade. And, the best act to prevent further genocides against humanity is contacting our advocates and representatives in Congress and Senate all around the world to pass a bill which condemns Turkey on her acts, and to demand the reparation for the future Assyrian state. Obviously, humanity would not like to see the founders of civilizations, disappearing from history.

Works Cited

• Aprim, Frederick A. ASSYRIANS: From Bedr Khan to Saddam Hussein Driving into Extinction the Last Aramaic Speakers (2nd edition). Verdugo City, California: Pearlida Publishing, 2007.
• Assyrian Democratic Organization. “Should Turkey be accepted in the European Union? (En)” 13 Feb. 2003.
• Atman, Sabri. Personal Interview. Nov 10, 2008
• Baumer, Christoph. The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. London, New York: I. B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2006. 252-263.
• Khan, Adnan R. “Genocide Denial: as the U.S. weighs recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide, Turks continue to resist. Why won’t Turkey own up to its past? (WORLD).” Maclean’s. 120.42 (Oct 29, 2007): 32(2). General Reference Center Gold. Gale. Niles West High School. 20 Sept. 2008.
• Saroyan, William. “Seventy Thousand Assyrians.” A Treasury of Short Stories. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1947. 734-740.
• Warda, Ninos. Seyfo; The Assyrian Genocide in International Law. Firodil Publishing House, 2005.
• “EU Conference Calls on Turkey to recognize Assyrian Genocide.” Assyrian International News  Agency: News and Analysis of Assyrian and Assyrian-Related Issues Worldwide 3 April 2007.
• “Pleas for Armenia by Germany Futile.” The New York Times 10 Oct. 1915.
• Reid, Stephen. “Writing a Research Paper.” The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writer (8th edition). New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2007. 657-744.
• “The Christians in the crossfire.” Kurdish Life. 51 (Summer 2004): 20(3). Academic OneFile. Gale. Oakton Community College. 18 Sept. 2008.
• “Turkish Statesman Denounces Atrocities.” The New York Times 10 Oct. 1915.
• “Unscrambling Turkish Empire.” The New York Times 22 June 1919.
  
  

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