Assyrians: From Bedr Khan to Saddam Hussein (Second Edition, Third Printing)
by Frederick A. Aprim | profile | writings | websiteBook Details
- Paperback: 410 pages
- Publisher: Xlibris (originally published on July 20, 2006)
Second Edition, Third Printing (March, 2016) 
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1425712991
- ISBN-13: 978-1425712990
- Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Book Description Throughout the Christian Era, the Assyrians have faced an immense tragedy through persecution, oppression, and massacres. The Assyrian tragedy in Mesopotamia continued intermittently during the Sassanid Persians (A.D. 226 - 637), Seljuk Turks invasion of the eleventh century, Mongols invasion in 1258, Tamerlane's destruction that began in 1394, the Saffavid Persians in early sixteenth century and during the rule of the Ottoman Turks since the middle of the sixteenth century. Throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Turks and Kurds committed numerous massacres against the Assyrian Christians in their secluded mountains of northern Mesopotamia and in Tur Abdin region in modern southeastern Turkey. As the Ottoman Empire entered WWI, it declared jihad (holy war) against its Christian subjects. Backed by Kurds, the Turkish army invaded northwestern Persia (Iran) and committed further atrocities against the Assyrian refugees who fled the Ottoman territories and against Assyrians of Persia as well. The jihad transformed into an ethnic genocide against the Assyrians that was perpetrated by the Turkish state and Kurdish warlords. This genocide continues to this very day due to the policies of the Kurds in northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, and northeastern Syria. The Assyrians lost two-thirds of their population and most of their homelands in northern Mesopotamia during WWI alone. Since the creation of the modern Middle Eastern states after the partition of the Ottoman Empire post WWI, the Assyrians have faced and continue to face a systematic Arabization, Turkification, and Kurdification policies by Pan-Arab governments, Pan-Turkish governments, and by Kurdish political parties. Hundreds of thousands of Assyrians have fled their homelands seeking shelter in Europe, United States, and Australia. Furthermore, the rise of fundamentalism in the Middle East is posing another serious threat to the survival of the remaining Assyrians and to other Christian communities in the Middle East. Book Table of Contents
Background and Introduction 11
Chapter One: The Massacres of the Nineteenth Century - A Prelude to Genocide 19
The Massacres of Bedr Khan Beg (1843-1848) 26
The Massacres and Persecutions of 1895 33
The Coming of the CUP to Power in Turkey 37
The Genocide: Documentation and Definition 38
Chapter Two: The Destruction of the Assyrians and their Homeland 48
The Assyrians on the Brink of the Great War 48
The Assyrian Exodus from the Hakkari Mountains 51
Mar Benyamin Shimun Meets the Grand Duke and More Russian Promises 55
The first Russian Retreat from Azerbaijan and the Assyrian Exodus to Russia 56
The Remaining Assyrians in Urmia 62
Atrocities at Gulpashan 63
The Russian Promise 65
The Diyar Bakir and Tur 'Abdin regions 65
Massacre in Kharput 66
The Destruction in Diyar Bakir and Tur 'Abdin Regions 68
The Second Russian Withdrawal from Urmia and the British Promise 80
The Massacre of the Assyrians in Khoi 85
The Massacre of the Assyrians in the French Mission 88
The Massacre of the Assyrians in the American Mission 90
A Desperate Appeal from an Assyrian 93
Chapter Three: A Change in the Course of the Assyrians' Modern History 97
The Assassination of Patriarch Mar Benyamin Shimun 97
The Assyrian War Song 101
The Exodus from Urmia to Saen Qal'aa and Hamadan 102
The Arrival at Baquba Refugee Camp - Mesopotamia 109
The Transfer to Mindan Camp near Mosul 114
The Assyro-Chaldean Protectorate in Jazira, Syria 117
Chapter Four: The Assyrians in the Midst of International Treaties and the League of Nations 121
The Sykes-Picot Agreement (April 26 - October 23, 1916) 121
The 1919 Paris Peace Conference 124
The League of Nations 127
Post Paris Peace Conference 128
In San Remo and the Treaty of Sévres 132
Treaty of Lausanne 135
The Constantinople Conference 141
The Settlement Problem Continues 143
The Permanent Court of International Justice (The Hague) 145
The Assyrian Case Continues 146
The Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of Alliance of 1930 150
Assyrians in the League of Nations Again 152
Opinion of the Permanent Mandates Commission - September 24, 1932 154
Chapter Five: The Path to the 1933 Simmel Massacre 159
The Iraq Levy 159
The Assyrian Levy 160
Testimonies about the Assyrians' Service in Iraq 162
The Mosul Incident of 1923 163
The Kirkuk Incident of 1924 164
Setting the Stage for the Simmel Massacre 165
The Detention of the Patriarch 168
Iraqi Government Press Campaign against the Assyrians 168
The Dashtazi Settlement (Z-plan) Forced on the Assyrian Leaders 171
Assyrians Cross from Iraq into Syria 173
The Simmel Massacre - the Documentation 175
Beyond Simmel 180
The Deportation of the Patriarch 182
Was the Massacre of Simmel a Genocide? 183
An Appeal by the Patriarch 183
Mar Eshai Shimun in Geneva with Yusuf Malek, October 1933 186
The Fate of Those Responsible for the Simmel Massacre 187
Chapter Six: After the Massacre - Between Iraq and Syria 191
The Ghab and Khabor (Khabur) Settlement Schemes 191
My Family During These Difficult Times 198
The 1941 Coup d' état 203
The Assyrians Save Iraq from Nazi Germany 204
The End of Rashid 'Ali al-Gaylani 210
What Happened to the British Promises? 210
The Assyrian Case in San Francisco, May 7, 1945 211
Britain Restores Old Order 213
Beyond World War II 214
Chapter Seven: The Assyrians and the Final Exodus 219
Murder, Persecution and Harassment of Assyrians 219
The Issue of "Taba'aiya" in Iraq 222
Iraq-Iran War (1980-1988) 226
The Anfal Campaign 231
Human Rights Violations Against the Assyrians 236
The Impact of the 1990 Gulf War on the Assyrians 243
An Assyrian Family's Experience 246
The Refugee Camps 249
Silopi Refugee Camp 253
The Assyrian Refugees in Jordan 255
Further Persecutions and Human Rights Abuses Against Assyrians 256
The Impact of the 2003 "Liberation of Iraq" on Assyrians 267
Persecution Against Assyrians in Iran, Syria and Turkey 269
Chapter Eight: The Kurds and Assyria 283
The Kurds: A Historical Background 283
Kurds Usurp Assyrian lands - Figures and Historical Accounts 288
Assyria or Kurdistan 293
Changing the Demography of Assyria 295
Kurds and Iraq in Modern Times 301
Paris Peace Agreement 304
Ankara Peace Process 306
Revising History and Other Thoughts 307
Chapter Nine: Common and Notable Assyrians Affected by the Ongoing Genocide 310
Iskharya Dinkha Sheikhamar 310
Katie Eshoo 313
Tamara Shmuel Warda 315
Isa Zhako 317
Maria Sargis Badal 319
Elisha Peera Aghassi 321
Pidosiya Badal David 322
Shmouel Rouel d' Gawar 325
Giwargis Yonathan 329
Younan Namato Younan 331
Hannah Yohannan Yohannan 333
Sherein Sayad Isaac 338
Mary, Juen, and William Yohannan 342
Bato Paul Elias 345
Little Wahida 350
Hazno Hanneko 352
Nancy Abraham Muishil 355
Chapter Ten: Final Thoughts 358
Bibliography 365
Index 375
Appendix 381
Book Review After the establishment of Islam as a state religion in the Fertile Crescent by the 8th century, the ferocious attacks by the Timurids, plundering the region as they descended from Central Asia in the 14th century, drove many Christian Aramaic speakers who did not convert to Islam into the mountains of the Taurus, Hakkari, and the Zagros for shelter. Others remained in their ancestral villages on the Mosul (Nineveh) Plain only to face heavy pressure to assimilate into Arab culture. The greatest catastrophe to visit the Assyrians in the modern period was the genocide committed against them, as Christians, during the Great War. From the Assyrian renaissance experienced when, miraculously, they became the objects of Western Christian missionary educational and medical efforts, the Assyrians fell into near oblivion. Shunned by the Allies at the treaties that ended WWI, Assyrians drifted into Diaspora, destructive denominationalism, and fierce assimilation tendencies as exercised by chauvinistic Arab, Persian and Turkish state entities. Today they face the growing clout of their old enemies and neighbors, the Kurds, another Muslim ethnic group that threatens to control power, demand assimilation, and offer to engulf Assyrians as the price for continuing to live in the ancient Assyrian homeland. As half of the world's last Aramaic-speaking population has arrived in unwanted Diaspora, some voices are making an impact, including that of Frederick Aprim. Eden Naby, PhDEden Naby, PhD
Afghanistan: Mullah, Marx and Mujahid (Westview, 2002)
The Assyrian Experience (Harvard College Library, 1999)
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