Did the Syrian government ever persecute Assyrians?

Etain

Etain

Member
I have not been able to find any evidence, so please let me know.
It seems the treatment by Saddam's government was a mixed bag as he later more or less abandoned secularism after the Gulf War.
But Syria does not and did not have a state religion and is very staunchly secular. The Syrian government has done what it could to protect Christians it seems.
 
Assyrians of Syria did not experience what those of Iraq or Turkey experienced in our modern/contemporary history.
From what I know, Assyrians of Syria had access to more liberty (work in public administration for example) than those of Turkey for example.
But again as a religious minority and ethnic one, they suffered Arabization and of course harassment from their muslim neighbors.
They did not have right to teach our language and many activists were held prisoners by the Regime, most recent example is: Gabriel Moushe.
And there were others but I don't remember, mainly from ADO (Assyrian Democratic Movement) and SUP (Syriac Union Party).
You have a list just here:

Syrian Christian political detainees (2011 ? 2015)
On Friday, May 20, 2011, immediately after the end of a peaceful
demonstration against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in
Qamishli, thirteen members (including four leaders) of the Assyrian
Democratic Organization (ADO) were arrested at the organization
headquarters and detained in the criminal security branch in Hasaka.
4
The detainees include: 1) Malak Yacoub 65, dentist and deputy head of
the ADO politburo; 2) Gabro Romanus 58, secondary school teacher
and ADO politburo member; 3) Eng. Karam Dolli 43, employee in the
Agricultural Bank and ADO politburo member; 4) Samir Ibrahim 58,
ENT doctor and member of the ADO Central Committee; 5) Jacob
Gharibo 48, businessman; 6) Barsoum yousef 39, lawyer; 7) Kaurih
Shabo 48, teacher; 8) George Odisho 27, university student; 9) Hanna
Isaac 42, businessman; 10) Gandhi Safar 31, graduate student; 11) Fahd
Youssef 32, university student; 12) David Habib Korkis 31, university
student; 13) Hanna Senharib Shabo 29, graduate student.
The Syrian authorities also arrested two Assyrian university students by
the names of Samuel Joseph Saume (22 years) and George Abdul
Masih Behno (23 years), in Aleppo on November 30, 2011. They were
released on December 13, 2011 on bail.
Click to expand...
But of course, between the "rebels"/Crazy Allah snackbar and Bashar (a Doctor, who studied in England if I'm correct, who put his country first etc...)...
Note that the ADO and SUP are against Bashar, ADO "work" (or try) with the "free&liberal opposition" and SUP(MFS & Sutoro) work with the Kurds.
While in other hand, Sootoro/GPF work with Bashar and other NDF, SSNP, etc.
In the diaspora, I think that most Assyrians from Syria support Bashar...
-------------
Bashar were protecting Christians as long as these Christians were Arab Christians. Syria is an Arab state, the Syrian Army is called the Syrian Arab Army (SAA)...
But today, the situation is changing, and the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church has revendicate our rights in Damas and reaffirmed that we're the indigenous people of Syria, that we gave our name to Syria and that we want the right to teach our language etc.
 
Shahin said:
Assyrians of Syria did not experience what those of Iraq or Turkey experienced in our modern/contemporary history.
From what I know, Assyrians of Syria had access to more liberty (work in public administration for example) than those of Turkey for example.
But again as a religious minority and ethnic one, they suffered Arabization and of course harassment from their muslim neighbors.
They did not have right to teach our language and many activists were held prisoners by the Regime, most recent example is: Gabriel Moushe.
And there were others but I don't remember, mainly from ADO (Assyrian Democratic Movement) and SUP (Syriac Union Party).
You have a list just here:
But of course, between the "rebels"/Crazy Allah snackbar and Bashar (a Doctor, who studied in England if I'm correct, who put his country first etc...)...
Note that the ADO and SUP are against Bashar, ADO "work" (or try) with the "free&liberal opposition" and SUP(MFS & Sutoro) work with the Kurds.
While in other hand, Sootoro/GPF work with Bashar and other NDF, SSNP, etc.
In the diaspora, I think that most Assyrians from Syria support Bashar...
-------------
Bashar were protecting Christians as long as these Christians were Arab Christians. Syria is an Arab state, the Syrian Army is called the Syrian Arab Army (SAA)...
But today, the situation is changing, and the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church has revendicate our rights in Damas and reaffirmed that we're the indigenous people of Syria, that we gave our name to Syria and that we want the right to teach our language etc.
Click to expand...
Nice info. Good find.
 
Shahin said:
Assyrians of Syria did not experience what those of Iraq or Turkey experienced in our modern/contemporary history.
From what I know, Assyrians of Syria had access to more liberty (work in public administration for example) than those of Turkey for example.
But again as a religious minority and ethnic one, they suffered Arabization and of course harassment from their muslim neighbors.
They did not have right to teach our language and many activists were held prisoners by the Regime, most recent example is: Gabriel Moushe.
And there were others but I don't remember, mainly from ADO (Assyrian Democratic Movement) and SUP (Syriac Union Party).
You have a list just here:
But of course, between the "rebels"/Crazy Allah snackbar and Bashar (a Doctor, who studied in England if I'm correct, who put his country first etc...)...
Note that the ADO and SUP are against Bashar, ADO "work" (or try) with the "free&liberal opposition" and SUP(MFS & Sutoro) work with the Kurds.
While in other hand, Sootoro/GPF work with Bashar and other NDF, SSNP, etc.
In the diaspora, I think that most Assyrians from Syria support Bashar...
-------------
Bashar were protecting Christians as long as these Christians were Arab Christians. Syria is an Arab state, the Syrian Army is called the Syrian Arab Army (SAA)...
But today, the situation is changing, and the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church has revendicate our rights in Damas and reaffirmed that we're the indigenous people of Syria, that we gave our name to Syria and that we want the right to teach our language etc.
Click to expand...

I do believe it became an Arab Republic once Jamel AbdulNasser of Egypt came out and caused this whole modern "arabisation" to occur. They added Syrian "Arab" Republic during that time.
 
Googoo said:
I do believe it became an Arab Republic once Jamel AbdulNasser of Egypt came out and caused this whole modern "arabisation" to occur. They added Syrian "Arab" Republic during that time.
Click to expand...
It's ironic countries like Egypt ,Iraq and Syria,with rich pre-Arabic heritages that many of the populace still prides themselves in,were the ones to embrace Arabism as much as they did.
It ended up getting to the point where they would claim the Babylonian kings and whatnot were "great Arabs".
 
yes, Syria's government has persecuted Assyrians...

I believe at one point, it didn't even allow us to celebrate Assyrian new years or set up Assyrian language courses...
 
Googoo said:
I do believe it became an Arab Republic once Jamel AbdulNasser of Egypt came out and caused this whole modern "arabisation" to occur. They added Syrian "Arab" Republic during that time.
Click to expand...

I also have been told by some Assyrians that Nasser fucked up Syria and the minorities with its pan-Arabism.
 
Shahin said:
I also have been told by some Assyrians that Nasser ****ed up Syria and the minorities with its pan-Arabism.
Click to expand...

The purpose of Pan-Arabism, in the view of Arabs, was to promote stability by having all citizens believe in a common nationalistic ideology.

Ironically enough, nearly many Arab countries had their own version of Pan-Arabist ideologies and neither one would capitulate to the other.

Even though Assyrians are somewhat divided, Arabs are just as divided if not more.
 
Shahin said:
I also have been told by some Assyrians that Nasser ****ed up Syria and the minorities with its pan-Arabism.
Click to expand...

He messed up Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Baathists were inspired by him to make their countries arabized.
 
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