Assyrian Holocaust

Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, religious, political, or ethnic group.  The word, from the Greek genos, meaning “race,” “nation,” or “tribe,” and the Latin cide, meaning “killing,” originated from the tragic events in the Middle East during the end of the Ottoman empire from 1910 to 1933, which called for a legal concept to describe the deliberate destruction of large groups.

Holocaust is defined as the deliberate and systematic destruction by fire of a racial, religious, political, or ethnic group.  The word derives from the Greek holos, meaning “whole” and kaustos, meaning “burnt”.  Long before the Jewish Holocaust of World War II, Turks and Kurds systematically forced Assyrians into wells filled with kerosene oil and burned them to death, including burning the churches where Christian Assyrians had taken refuge.

From 1843 to 1945, the Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Persians committed genocides against the Assyrian nation and other Christian peoples in Asia Minor [Middle East].  These international human rights violations were crimes against humanity and served as examples for future atrocities of this manner against the Jewish people in Europe.  In these genocides, 750,000 indigenous Christian Assyrians living in their ancestral homelands (known today as the republics of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran), including 1½ million Christian Armenians and 300,000 Hellenes were burned, slaughtered, and shot systematically.  Defenseless men, women, children, and the elderly became victims of these genocides.

Assyria, the land of the indigenous Assyrians ["Our Smallest Ally"], was partitioned after World War I by the victorious Allies, and is currently under occupation by Kurds, Turks, Arabs and Persians.

The Assyrians are a stateless people and continue to be religiously and ethnically persecuted in the Middle East due to Islamic fundamentalism, Arabization and Kurdification policies, leading to land expropriations and forced emigration to the West.
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 Survivors and Eyewitnesses

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Younan Namato Younan

 
Räkhé "Rachel" Maksüd

 
Shmuel Baboo

 
Rose Sargis

Sh. Yosip Bassoo

† 1917: Ben S. Benjamin - The Story of a Survivor
† 1916: Urmia, Salmas, and Hakkiari : Fuller Statement by Mr. Paul Shimmon
† 1916: Azerbaijan: Statement by Mr. M. Philips Price, War Correspondent For Various British and American Newspapers on the Caucasian Front
† 1916: Urmia District : Report on the Distribution of Relief, Covering The Period 1st June to 31st December, 1915
† 1916: Second Exodus From Urmia : Narrative of the Wife of the Rev. David Jacob, of Urmia
† 1916: Bohtan: Letter from the Rev. E. W. McDowell, of the Urmia Mission Station
† 1916: Hakkiari: Refugees From Hakkiari: Letter From Surma, the Sister of Mar Shimun, to Mrs. D. S. Margoliouth, of Oxford.
† 1916: Statement by Rev. R. M. Labaree
† 1916: Letter from a missionary written from Urmia in January
† 1915: Letter from Ashur S. Yousouf in Prison
† 1915: First Exodus From Urmi: Narrative of Mr. J. D. Barnard
† 1915: The Second Exodus from Urmia: Letter from Mr. Rugo A. Muller (Treasurer of the American Mission Station at Urmia)
† 1915: Hakkiari: A Letter From a Relative of Mar Shimun, the Patriarch
† 1915: Hakkiari: Refugees from the Hakkiari District: A Series of Extracts From Letters by Members of the American Mission Station at Urmia
† 1915: Hakkiari: Further Statement by Mr. Paul Shimmon
† 1915: Urmia: Rev. Father Dakras' Eyewitness Account of Burning Massacres
† 1915: Urmia, Salmas and Hakkiari : Statement by Mr. Paul Shimmon
† 1915: The Letter of Rev. E.T. Allen of Urmia, Describing the Massacre at Ismail Agha's Kala
† 1915: Urmia: Extracts From the Annual Report (For the Year 1915) Presented by the Medical Department at Urmia
† 1915: Urmia: Narrative of Dr. Jacob Sargis
† 1915: Urmia: Letter From the Rev. Y. M. Nisan to the Rev. F. N. Heazell
† 1915: Urmia: Letter from Mrs. J. P. Cochran to Friends in the United States
† 1915: Urmia During the Turco-Kurdish Occupation: The Diary of a Missionary
† 1915: Tabriz: Letter From The REV. F. N. Jessup
† 1915: Salmas: Letter of Rev. Labaree to the Presbyterian Missions Board, New York
† 1915: Urmia: Letter of Rev. Labaree to the Presbyterian Missions Board, New York
† 1915: Urmia: Letter from Rev. Labaree to Mr. Speer
† 1915: Letter of Rev. Labaree to His Mother
† 1915: First Exodus From Urmia
† 1915: Urmia : Statement By The Rev. William A. Shedd, D.D., of The American (Presbyterian) Mission Station at Urmia ; Communicated by The Board of Foreign Missions of The Presbyterian Church in The U.S.A.
† 1915: Letter from Mr. Rugo A. Muller (Treasurer of the American Mission Station at Urmia), May 26.
† 1915: Urmia: Asly Moorhatzh (David)
† 1914: Mrs. Suria David - Gulpashan, Urmia.
† 1850-1914: Mereyam Basmajy: A Story of a Great Lady

Historical timeline from 1915 to the 1958 Iraqi Revolution detailing the plight and suffering of the Assyrians Resources:  Forums | Media Posters | Interview Guide | Information Do you have any documents, photos, or other related information?  Please email them. Please record our elders' eyewitness accounts during the Assyrian Holocaust.

News: Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News (AAHGN)

Armenia’s People-Power Revolution, Russia, and the Western Bloc Book Review: The Genocide of the Greeks in Turkey Lucine Kasbarian Reveals the Power of Political Cartoons in Changing Hearts, Minds and History Erasing Assyrians: How the KRG Abuses Human Rights, Undermines Democracy, and Conquers Minority Homelands Petition Launched to Include all Greeks in Genocide Recognitions Pro-Turkish Journalist Stephen Kinzer’s Assault on the Armenian Genocide and Armenians The Alexander Lapshin Case: Extradited and Imprisoned in Azerbaijan over Telling the Truth about Nagorno-Karabakh Richard Hoagland is the Wrong American for the Karabagh/Artsakh Talks A David & Goliath Story in Iraq: An Interview with Filmmaker David Ritter HAVRESC: Stand on Courage An Armenian American Group Caves in to the Anti-Defamation League Tehlirian’s Specter Returns: Germany’s Lower House Artfully Acknowledges and Regrets Armenian Genocide The Ambassador Who Said 'Genocide' and Lost His Job Nagorno-Karabakh: The April Fool’s War Cartoons Worth a Thousand Words A True Salt of the Earth: A Tribute to Watertown's Mayram Gulbahar Gigiyan Cinar The Pontian Genocide: The continuous cycle of violence and massacres Global Forum Against the Crime of Genocide - Yerevan Declaration I Remember and Demand. Recognise! Do not Keep Silent! ARPA Institute Presentation: Healing A Nation: Genocide Survivors and Their Generations by Dr. Maria Armoudian News: Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News Archives

2017: Erasing Assyrians: How the KRG Abuses Human Rights, Undermines Democracy, and Conquers Minority Homelands 2015-2007: Assyria Council of Europe: Report Papers 2010-2003: Assyrians face Persecution and Genocide 2008: No equal rights - Victims of injustice (fact-finding mission) 2008: Religious Cleansing in Iraq - Report of Working Visit 2008: Genocide of the Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire (video) 2003: Indigenous People in Distress 1958-1915: Assyria, the Province of Nineveh and the League of Nations 1947: The Middle East in the Post-War World - National and Religious Minorities: The Assyrians by David Perley, J.S.D. 1943: Whither Christian Missions?  Reflections on the works of a Missionary and On the Assyrian Case by David Perley, J.S.D. 1946: Australian and British Governments on Assyrian Christians - Mr. Garnett to Mr. Strahan. 1946: Australian and British Governments on Assyrian Christians - Reply of Mr. Strahan to Mr. Garnett. 1945: Assyrian National Petition presented at the United Nations 1937: The Assyrians: A Debt of Honour 1935: League of Nations — The Settlement of the Assyrians, a Work of Humanity and Appeasement 1934: ANNEMASSE: The Assyrian Tragedy 1933: The Simele Genocide 1933-1936: Israel State Archives: Assyrians 1924-25: The Hakkâri Massacres: Ethnic Cleansing by Turkey 1924-25 1923: Agha Petros and the Lausanne Telegraphs 1920-21: The struggle for a free Assyria: Documents on the Assyro-Chaldean Delegation's Political and Diplomatic Efforts, 1920-21 Vol. I 1920: Shall This Nation Die? by Joseph Naayem 1918: Our Smallest Ally: A Brief Account of the Assyrian Nation during the Great War by Dr. William A. Wigram 1916: Death of a Nation by Abraham Yohannan 1916: The Pitiful Plight of the Assyrian Christians by William Rockwell 1915: Sayfo and Resistance against Kurds and Turks in Ayn-Wardo in 1915, in Turabdin, northern Assyria. (west Syriac text) 1915: Righteous Muslims during the Genocide of 1915 1915: The Deportation of the Assyrians in Ottoman Documents 1915: Ottoman Bystanders 1915: The Assyrian Genocide of 1915 1914-18: Biography of Raphael Khan: Great Assyrian Leader 1914-15: An Ottoman report related to incidents in Turco-Persian borders in 1914-15 1913-16: U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau's Story 1843-1919: The Public Record Office in Britain - Assyrians 1834-1847: Dr. Grant and the Mountain Nestorians by Laurie Thomas 1843: The Nestorians: Identity, Manners, Customs, and Ceremonies by Asahel Grant MD † 1831-1937 — Sayfo (Assyrian Genocide, in Arabic) Assyrian Villages and Monasteries The Assyrian Statehood: Yesterday’s Denial and Today’s Moral Obligation Assyrians after Assyria Assyrian Identity in Ancient Times and Today Who Are The Assyrians? Native Christians Massacred": The Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians during World War I The Assyrians in the Christian Asia Minor Holocaust Holy War Made in Germany: New Light on the Holocaust Against the Christian Assyrians during World War I Maintenance and Transformation of Ethnic Identity From Survival to Revival: In the Aftermath of the Assyrian Genocide Turkey: Author of Genocide - the Destruction of the Assyrian Nation Assyrians in Turkey: Disappearance of a Culture? Indigenous Peoples Under the Rule of Islam, Part II, III, IV, V, VI and VII ‘Lies in Turkish’: Turkish Denial of Genocide Assyrians in Turkey: Ethnic and Religious Recognition Revisited The Assyrian Genocide and Article 312 of the Turkish Penal Code: the case of an Assyrian Priest in Turkey (1) Negotiating Assyrian Identity in Iraq, 1919-1933 The Assyrian Christians' Dilemma in Iraq: Outlook and Solution The British Betrayal of the Assyrians (in Arabic) † 1919: The Assyrian Monument in Baquba, Iraq † 1915: Assyrian War Song Assyrian History Timeline: 1900's | 1800's  (historical documents, letters and articles)

1935: League of Nations — The Settlement of the Assyrians, a Work of Humanity and Appeasement Assyrians at the League of Nations (United Nations) Assyrian National Petition Microform Collections: United Nations and United States documents 1924: Straits Treaty 1923: The Treaty of Lausanne 1921: Trade Agreement Between His Brittanic Majesty's Government and the Government of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic 1920: The Treaty of Sèvres 1919: The King-Crane Commission Report 1919: The King-Crane Commission Report — Confidential Appendix 1919: The Peace Treaty of Versailles 1918: Report on War Guilt by the 'Commission on the Responsibility of the Authors of the War' 1917: Balfour Declaration 1916: The Sykes-Picot Agreement 1915: The Husain-McMahon Letters 1914: Treaty of Alliance between Germany and Turkey 1907: The Anglo-Russian Entente (concerning Persia)

London Times Articles New York Times Articles Newspapers and Periodicals

Assyrian Activism Forum History Forum

 Current Tragedies

To know your past, is to know yourself. This is the most awful calamity which has befallen the Nestorian people in the ninety years of our mission work among them. About 1,000 had been killed and 2,000 had died of disease or fear up to the middle of March (1915), just in Urmia itself, and the Nestorians here estimate that perhaps as many more died on the flight to Russia or have died since. This would mean a fifth or a sixth of the 30,000 Nestorians who live on the Urmia plain. Their prosperous villages have all been pillaged and most of them burned, and their churches destroyed. Of the survivors, half are refugees in great want in the Caucasus, the rest remain in Urmia in conditions of peril and fear and need which wring one's heart. — Rev. F. N. Jessup  Assyrian Holocaust | History Timeline

Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Assyrian History Timeline: 1900's | 1800's (historical documents, letters and articles)

To know your past... is to know yourself.

† 2010-2003 — Assyrians face Persecution and Genocide
† 1933: The Simele Genocide
† 1914-18: World War I - The Ottoman Turks, Kurds, Arabs, and Persians
† 1895: Kurds Attack Urfa
† 1860: Massacres in Lebanon
† 1842: Massacres by Kurdish Chief Badr Khan Bey
† 1840-1860: The Khilafah Massacres
† 1829: Kurdish Leader Rwandez attacks Alqush
† 1578: Kurdish Attack on Urmi
† 1369-1400: The Massacres of Timurlane & The Escape to Hakkari
† 1361: The Martyrdom of Mar Gregorius Bit Qinaya
† 1324: The Attack on Qaraqosh
† 1310: The Capture of Arbela
† 1297: The Capture of Amedia
† 1295: The Destruction of Churches by the Mongols
† 1289: The Attack of the Kurds
† 1285: The Arab & Kurdish Attack on Arbela
† 1268: Antioch Seized by the Sultan of Egypt
† 1261: The Coming of the Kurds
† 1258: Hulaku Khan Slaughters the Assyrians of Tikreet
† 1231: The Martyrdom of Mar Denosios bar Saliba II
† 987: The Destruction of Mart Maryam Church at Baghdad
† 852: The Persecution of Assyrians Under Caliph Mutawakkil
† 873: The Martyrdom of Hunayn Bar Iskhaq
† 884: The Attack on the Monastery of Dakil Ishu
† 737: The Persecution of Christians in Halab
† 762: The Islamic Caliphate Moves to Baghdad
7th Century: The Message of Prophet Mohammed
† 661: The Persecution of Christians by Ummayad Caliph Muawiyyah
† 686: Caliph Abd al-Malik Imprisons and Tortures the Patriarch
† 650: The Massacre of Monks at Ra's Ayn
† 615-628: The Massacres by Khusraw Parviz
† 519: Jewish Persecution of Christians in Yemen Continues
† 519: King Yusuf As'ar of Yemen Begins a Brutal Massacre of the Assyrians
† 448: The Massacre of Kirkuk
† 339: The Persecution Under King Shapur
† 107: Parthian king Xosroes Murders Second Bishop of Arbela