Seyfo: The Assyrian Genocide in International LawPosted: Tuesday, September 30, 2025 at 09:09 PM UT
ContentsBook Details
Book Description (Preface)This work will be concerned with the issue of the Assyrian Genocide in International Law. Many works have already been carried out on the Assyrian Genocide of 1915 from a historical and factual perspective, but very few have been dedicated to assessing the Assyrian Genocide in International Law from a legal perspective, which this work intends to do. The view propounded and proved throughout this work is that the acts of 1915 did indeed constitute genocide as is now defined and proscribed by international law. The work will proceed by way of an introduction that attempts to explain why it is dedicated to the issue of the Assyrian Genocide solely, and not to that of the Armenian and Greek Genocide generally, which took place concurrently with that of the Assyrians. Some of the possible legal problems and impediments vis-à-vis the Assyrian Genocide are also briefly touched upon, leaving them for further discussion in subsequent chapters, together with a concise summary of how the legal issues concerning the Assyrian Genocide will be approached. The second chapter attempts to put the Assyrian Genocide into context by giving a very brief account of the history of the Assyrian people up to the 20th century, and how the relationship of the Assyrians and the Ottoman Turks was affected by developments in the Ottoman Empire. This chapter is essential in order for the reader to fully comprehend the Assyrian Genocide. The main bulk of this work will be found in chapter three, which discusses the Assyrian Genocide in International Law. The chapter will be separated into three sections: firstly, how genocide came to be regarded as a crime prohibited under international law; the next two sections will deal with the two elements of the crime of genocide, the actus reus and the mens rea, and will prove that these two elements were possessed by the perpetrators of the Assyrian Genocide. Having substantiated claims that the Assyrians were the victims of genocide in 1915 in chapter three, the following chapter will discuss the sensitive issues of Turkish state responsibility and what obligations Turkey now has towards the Assyrians so that reparations may be rendered to the Assyrians as a result of damages inflicted upon them during the genocide. The book shall then conclude by reasserting the view propagated throughout this work: that the acts committed against the Assyrians by the Young Turk regime in 1915 constituted genocide as proscribed by international law, and that international law requires all States, whether or not a party to the Genocide Convention, to undertake measures to prevent a future Assyrian Genocide, and how this may be achieved. Ninos Warda |
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