The Assyrians - Questions and Answers, FAQ about Assyrians

the_dave

New member
This topic will be used as the "FAQ" thread about Assyrians since most of the questions and answers from this book are actually FAQ.


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I know that many of you have seen the book I posted on the forum a while ago, "Assyrierna - Fr?gor och Svar" http://assyriskadolabani.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/assyrierna-fragor-och-svar.pdf that was published in Sweden only in Swedish. Many requested it in English but unfortunately there is no English version of it yet, and if they decide to do an English version of it, its probably going to take a while until it gets published. If they do translate it at all...

Anyway, I know that Many of you probably know a lot about this since much of it is basic stuff for many of us here. But I think that there are many that would like to read it anyway, and that there are many more that don't know enough that need to know more about our history and most importantly our current situation today.
Therefore I am going to translate the whole book to English and post it here on Assyrian voice, so that it can be read internationally.

I just want to give special thanks to the writers of this great book and the way it is made, its just so perfect and simple, filled with basic facts, for people that do not have that much knowledge about Assyrians and our situation. The book is easy to understand for pretty much any reader.


                                                    The Assyrians - Questions and Answers
                                                              Written by: Svante Lundgren & Afram Barryakoub

                                                            Copyright 2010 Svante Lundgren & Afram Barryakoub
                                                                        Graphic form & cover Munir Gultekin
                                                                                  Pressed 2010 in Sweden
                                                                                        First Edition



Translation from Swedish to English, by the_dave @ Assyrianvoice.net


                                                                                        Preface
There is a need for a simple description of the Assyrians in Swedish. The number of Assyrians in Sweden is high and they reach the news topics more and more. Much is about the football advancements and the deportation threats of Assyrian refugees from Iraq, about significant Assyrians in culture, journalistic and politics. And just recently, about the decision that took place in the Swedish parliament to recognize the a genocide on Assyrians.

Many want to know more about what kind of people the Assyrians are. Where do they come from? why are they so many in Sweden? And last but not least: What is the difference between An Assyrian and a Syrian (Aramean)? This book wants to answer all of these questions, and some more. It has the form of questions and short answers. The ones that want to deepen their study in this subject will be referred to the literature and the websites that have been mentioned in the bibliography.

We want to give our special thanks to the Assyrian national association, Assyrian women's association, Assyrian youth association and the Assyrian youth district in Stockholm metro that, through their generous support, have made this publishing possible. The responsibility of the content is our own. We hope that this document will be read and used in a way that will improve the knowledge of who the Assyrians are.


                                                                                          Origin
1. Where and when does the Assyrians first appear in history?
The Assyrians are among the worlds oldest ethnic groups. They originate from northern Mesopotamia, around the river Tigris. Their traditional residence area is today divided between the states; Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Around 4000 years ago the Assyrian identity started to evolve and become one with this area. The Assyrians created one of the worlds earliest empires. Their name Assyrians, or ashuraye in their own language, originates from the name of their ancient God they worshiped as the highest God - Ashur. Therefore An ashuraya literally meant, one that worships the God Ashur.

2. What characterized the the Assyrian nation?
Around year 1400 BC. The Assyrian nation began to expand and became a powerful empire. When it was at its height around 700 BC., it consisted of major areas in the middle east. It stretched all the way from Egypt to western Turkey. Just as today's USA, the Assyrian empire was built on the principle of including and assimilating other ethnic groups into the empire. Through migration of the population and other methods, the Assyrian kings tried to merge the different tribes and tried to make them citizens of Assyria. To become an Assyrian, you simply just had to worship the Assyrian gods and obey the king.

3. When and how did the Assyrian empire fall?
The Assyrian capitol Nineveh, that probably was the biggest city at its time, fell year 612 BC. Three years later the Assyrians lost their last battle for their empire, against a coalition of armies, mostly consisted of Babylonians and Medes. This rendered an end to the once so powerful nation, the big Assyrian cities were sacked and the new power that took over, laid  heavy taxes to the Assyrian cities. The factors behind the fall are believed to be caused by internal splitting within the Assyrian people, which made them vulnerable to attacks.

4. What happened to the Assyrians after the fall of the empire?
"Your people have been scattered over the mountains and there is no one to gather them" written by the prophet Nahum (3:18) after the fall of the Assyrian empire. Today there are many scientific evidence that support Nahums statement and that shows that the Assyrians continued to live in northern Mesopotamia, but under other rulers (Babylonians, Persians, Greeks). Archaeological finds shows us that the life on the countryside continued just like before, even the cities returned later to the normal.


                                                                                    Christianity
5. When did the Assyrians become Christians?
Christianity was spread out among Assyrians very early, they were among the first people to become Christians, even today there are Assyrian churches and cloisters that date back to 4th century AD. The churches were often built on top of the old Gods temples. According to an Assyrian tradition, the apostle  Judas Taddeus was of great importance when it came to christification of the people in northern Mesopotamia. In the early years, the Christian Assyrians were heavily persecuted by the Persians that reigned in northern Mesopotamia.

6. How did Christianity affect the Assyrian identity?
Christianity did have a big impact on the self-perception of the Assyrians. As an assyrian, an ashuraya, they were worshipers of the God Ashur. With Christianity, a process began where the Assyrians took a distance from the ancient beliefs, which at this time was seen as pagan by the Christian Assyrians. Because of this the word assyrian in its new form "suraye" got a new meaning; "Christian". The ethnic consciousness was during the many coming hundreds of years gone, until a point where you only saw yourself as a Christian. A similar process took place within other ethnic groups as well, for example the Greeks.

7. What distribution did the Assyrian Christianity have?
The Assyrian church of the east was a strong missionary church, that spread Christianity to many Asian countries. This church had the Year 800 AD. over 230 dioceses and 27 metropolitan bishops from Yemen to China. When the Muslim Arabs conquered the Assyrian core area in Mesopotamia, during the 7th century, it greatly weakened the missionary work of the church. The Turkish-Mongol warlord, Timur Lenks's ravages during the 14th century, ended the majority of the Assyrian church of the east in Asia. Basically, the church only survived in the Assyrian homelands, in northern Mesopotamia. The Assyrian Christianity never recovered fully from the Mongol attacks.

8. What is the difference between Assyrian Christianity and European Christianity?
During the 5th century, some church meetings made decisions upon the theological questions, which concentrated in how the divine and human body of Christ did behave to each other. The Assyrian Christianity did not accept all decisions that the meetings decided on. Therefore, the Assyrian church was condemned, being accused of heresy. Because of this the Assyrian church had very little contact, for many centuries, with the European churches. And because of this the Assyrian church began, to an certain extend, develop its own direction. Today there is a cooperation and dialogue between the churches and old differences are settled and have partially grown together.

9. What churches do the Assyrians belong to?
The superpowers came to divide the Assyrians into east and west Assyrians. The east Assyrians, lived under the control of the Persian empire. The west Assyrians were under the control of the byzantine empire. This is the cause that created two different Assyrian churches. One for the west Assyrians and one for the east Assyrians. The east church is officially called "Assyrian church of the east". But is in Europe most known as the Nestorian church. The west Assyrian church was once again the "Syriac Orthodox Church" where its followers have sometimes been called Jacobites. During the medieval ages, a portion of both churches broke lose from its original form and allied itself with the pope in Rome. This is how the, Syriac catholic church (west) and the Chaldean catholic church (east) developed, where both actually belong to the catholic church family. Since the 1800 there is also a portion of Assyrian protestant churches, even if they are relatively small.     

Added 11/10-2010


                                                                                        Identity
10. How did the modern Assyrian movement start?
Just like Greeks, Armenians and many other ethnic groups, the Assyrians also started to take interest in their past before Christianity, with the resurgence of nationalism in the early 1800 AD. Archaeological findings of ancient Assyrian palaces did speed up this process among the Assyrian elite, that started to realize that we in fact did have a history that is far older then Christianity. The awakening of nationalism was spread out with the help from books and magazines, and from this did the Assyrian movement start and grow.

11. Why do some call themselves "Syriacs" (syrianer in swedish)?   
Some Assyrians are very religious and are strongly influenced by the old testament, which portrays the assyrians as the enemy of God. That is way they took distance from the Assyrian movement and the term, instead they came up with the name "syriacs/syrianer". The syriacs/syrianerna say that it is not necessary for our ethnic group to have a ethnic identity, it is enough with the Christian identity.

12. Why do some call themselves "Arameans"?
Some syriacs/syrianer, that are less religious, choose to affirm another ethnic identity. They say that their people originates from the old arameans, another ethnic group that lived scattered in ancient middle east. Their main argument is that their ethnic group as a whole speak a language that has much of its origin in the old Aramaic language.

13. Why do some call themselves "Chaldeans"?
Some Assyrians, that are members of the east Assyrian catholic church aka the Chaldean church, have because of similar religious reasons as the syricas/syrianer, chosen to take a distance from their Assyrian identity and instead call themselves Chaldeans. The word Chaldean comes from a profession in ancient Mesopotamia, these "Chaldeans" were specialists in deciphering stars and to predicting things. The name reoccurs several times in the bible, and because of this it started to serve as a name for the new church that some Assyrians created when they choose to enter the catholic church some 500 years ago. 

14. How has the Assyrian name changed?
Archaeological finds have shown how the the Assyrians original name ashuraye took a new shape to the modern name suryaye or suryoye. The language has evolved in such a way that the letter A was dropped: Assur become shortened to sur and the plural form of ashuraye become that way suraye. This changing can be noticed even in the western dialect and because of that there is the form suroye. The last 100 years, an extra Y has been used more often and created the forms Suryaye and Suryoye. The changes have been slow and have their origins from the natural language changes that occurs in many languages.

15. Why can't the Aramean's claims be right?
The Assyrians have as an ethnic group never called their language, country, themselves or any of their church, Aramaic. Archeology and science of history also show that the old Arameans did originate from core areas around the city of Damascus, in nowadays Syria, around a thousand kilometers from the Assyrian core area in northern Mesopotamia. The Assyrians did however begin to use the Aramaic language, but this was a process that took place when the Assyrian empire still existed. The main reason to this was that the Aramaic language's Phoenician letters were much more easier to use than the Assyrian cuneiform script. The reason was therefore not that the Assyrians changed into Arameans.

16. Since when is the Assyrian identity recognized in the west?
There have been claims that the English archaeologist A.H Layard, was the first to regard the Christians in northern Mesopotamia as the descendent's of the ancient Assyrians. This is not true though. There are texts from western missionaries from the 1600-hundreds and even earlier that show that the Christians in northern Mesopotamia were regarded as Assyrians in the western world. Layard archaeological excavations during the 1800s, did however spread these ideas more widely, and gave them a new urgency.

17. What does the Assyrian movement say about their origin?
The Assyrian movement says that today's Assyrians have both Assyrian and Aramean but also other elements in their history. This has been acknowledged by the Assyrian movement from the start, and that they have seen the different elements as a richness instead of a problem. Today's Assyrians consider themselves as heirs to the old Mesopotamian culture where different ethnic groups lived during different periods.

18. What does it matter what the people call themselves?
Even if the ethnic group has different ethnic and cultural elements, they still have been known as, and called themselves Assyrians, they did keep their Assyrian elements, for example their specific residence area in northern Mesopotamia. This is why the Assyrian movement holds on to the ethnic group's name that has survived many thousands of years, because that it also creates an identity for the coming generations.     

Added 12/10-2010


                                                                    The Assyrians and Sweden
19. When did the first Assyrians come to Sweden?
The first wave of Assyrians, 205 people, came year 1967 as quota refugees with the guidance of the UN. They came from Lebanon, were they earlier moved to. During the coming years, several thousand of other Assyrians moved to Sweden. The majority of the Assyrians in Sweden are west Assyrians, they come from Assyria that is to the west of Tigris, the majority of them belong to the Syriac orthodox church.

20. Why did they leave Assyria?
War, oppression and discrimination where some factors that forced the Assyrians to leave their homes. The Cyprus crisis of 1974, when Turkey occupied the northern parts of the island, lead to new persecutions against the Assyrians in south eastern Turkey. The Assyrians were regarded as allies to the Christian in the west. The civil war in Lebanon also forced many Assyrians, that had just moved there, too move again.

21. Why did so many settle in S?dert?lje (Stockholm)?
Companies like Astra and Scania were in need of a greater work force to their factories in Sodertalje, that is why the newly arrived Assyrians were attracted to the area. The Assyrians usually have big families and in a new country where much is new to them, it is reassuring to have the relatives close too you. When some Assyrian relatives came to Sodertalje a natural process began that would attract the other Assyrians to the same city as well. Later, when Sodertalje became the central residence area of Assyrians in Sweden, this effect would increase, and more Assyrians would move to the area. Sweden estimates that 25 000 out of Sodert?ljes 80 000 citizens are Assyrian, i.e. more than a fourth of the city.

22. How did Sweden respond the new Assyrians?
Many Assyrians remember that secular Sweden, with its freedom of religion, did have a difficult time to comprehend that the Assyrians were persecuted in the middle east just because they were Christians. The Assyrians did appreciate the freedom that Sweden gave them and many individual swedes showed great hospitality when they helped and guided the newly arrived Assyrians. Not to forget the different Swedish churches, that did much to help the Assyrians. Some few incidents, where tension between Assyrians and swedes, did take place (most famous, is a fight in Sodertalje between Assyrians and Swedish greasers, in June 1977), but as a whole the Assyrians did adapt very good in their new country.
                     
Added 13/10-2010


                                                                          Assyrian life in Sweden
23. What Assyrian organizations are there in Sweden?
In the middle east the Assyrians could rarely create organization and work freely in them. In Sweden they got the possibility to do so. More than 50 local Assyrian organizations were started in Sweden. Assyrian democratic organization did play a major role during the establishment of these organizations. The different churches of the Assyrians have built or bought their own church buildings. On national level the Assyrians are represented by the Assyrian national association, Assyrian women's association and the Assyrian youth association. There are also two satellite channels that are being aired from Sodertalje. The most famous Assyrian organization is however the football team Assyriska FF in Sodertalje, that sometimes is referred to as the Assyrian national team. Lately, an Assyrian aid society was created in Sweden, with a economic collective account, its called "Assyrier utan gr?nser" (Assyrians without borders).

24. Why did parallel Syriac organizations form?
Because of that the Syriacs (Syrianer) did not want to associate with the Assyrian identity, they started to form their own, almost identical, organization structures. The Syriacs were to skeptic towards the secular organizations and said that a churchly organization is enough. Later they did however begin to create similar organizations as the  Assyrians. Today there are Syriac local associations, a national and youth association and several football teams, and more.

25. Why has the Syriac orthodox church been divided in Sweden?
Even though the secular organizations were divided between the Assyrian and Syriacs, the Syriac orthodox church was whole for a long time. However in mid the 90s it also became divided. The reasons behind this were many, but the name question was used as a cover-up. This is why the Syriac orthodox church in Sweden is divided in two different communities with both having their own bishops with their seat in Sodertalje. Both communities are however part of the same universal Syriac orthodox church with their highest leader, the patriarch, who has his seat in Damascus.

26. What famous Assyrian people are there in Sweden?
With the exception from the Assyrian football players, the best basket player during the 90s, Nina Baresso. The multi awarded journalist and writer Nuri Kino. The politician Ibrahim Baylan, who was the former school minister (2004-2006) and is now the social democrats vice president, another member of the parliament is Yilmaz Kerimo. The journalists Rakel Chukri and Abraham Staifo are also well known. And the singers Ninsun Poli and Ninos Denkha with his artist name "Prince of Assyria". And many more.                       

Added 14/10-2010


                                                                    The Assyrians in the world
27. How many Assyrians are there in the world?
There are no reliable statistics on the numbers of Assyrians in the world, because their ethnicity has not been registered by the states in the middle east. Its not even possible to know exactly how many they are in countries like Sweden, because they are not registered as Assyrians but what country they came from. They Assyrians themselves, estimate that they are between 2 million to 4 million in the world.

28. In which countries does most Assyrians live?
Iraq is still the country with most Assyrians. It is estimated that at least half a million still live there. In the neighboring states of Iraq Iran, Turkey and Syria the Assyrians have decreased significantly this is due to emigration. In the diaspora, the most Assyrian populated state is the US, the number there is estimated between 200 000 and 300 000. There are many Assyrians in Australia, Germany and Sweden as well. In Sweden they are estimated to over 100 000 people.

29. Does the Assyrian name conflict exist in other countries as well?
Yes, but the term "Syrianer" does only exist in Sweden. In other countries Syriacs or Arameans is often used by those who don't want to call themselves Assyrians.

30. How is the situation for the Assyrians in Assyria?
The instable situation in the middle east and the increasing islamisation, continues to push the emigration of Assyrians from Syria, Iraq and Iran. Only in Turkey has the emigration subsided, but there the Assyrians are now low in numbers. The Iraq war has forced many Assyrians to flee the land. Overall the situation continues to look bad for the Assyrians in the middle east.

31. Why are the Assyrians being persecuted in Iraq?
Arabic islamists want to create a pure Muslim country and try therefore to chase all the non-Muslims out of the country. Terrible abuses have occurred when churches have been bombed, priests have been killed, and Christians have been forced to convert to Islam or leave their homes. It is estimated that at least half of the Assyrians of Iraq have left the country since 2003, most of them to the neighboring countries Jordan and Syria. The ruling Kurdish factions in northern Iraq have illegally confiscated much of the Assyrian owned land. With these methods the Kurds are trying to kurdify all of northern Iraq and make it impossible for the Assyrians to create their own territory.


                                                                                The Genocide
32. What is the Assyrian genocide "Seyfo"
During or just after World War I, the majority of the Christians in Ottoman Turkey were killed or expelled. The largest Christian groups were the Armenians, the Greeks and the Assyrians. What happened to the Armenians is most known and that is why it is called the Armenian genocide. But it was actually three parallel genocides that took place against three ethnic groups, the Armenians the Assyrians and the Assyrians. The Assyrians use the word Seyfo to this. Seyfo means "sword" and will be the worst year of the genocide, 1915, has been called the "year of the sword"

33. What are the reasons behind the genocide?
The Ottoman empire had earlier been big and powerful. During the 19th century however, it started to slowly fall apart. The Christian nations in Balkan broke free from the empire, the Arabs in north Africa revolted and did the same. The earlier multi religious and ethnic heterogenic empire became geographically smaller and ethnically more uniformed. At the same time there was a fear that the European great powers would divide and conquer what was left of the Ottoman empire. Turkish leaders saw that the only chance to save what was left of the empire was to make it completely uniformed, i.e. Muslim and Turkish. The Christian non-Turkish minorities were an obstacle to this plan, that is why it was decided that they had to be eliminated. It was done in two ways: Many were killed, and a huge number of what was left were expelled. It was decided that the Muslim minorities, especially the Kurds, were to be assimilated. The Christians were seen impossible to Turkeyfy, but it was thought that it was possible with the Muslim minorities. It later turned out to be wrong, that you could force assimilate them and make them turks.

34. Who carried out the genocide?
In 1908 a new party took power in Turkey. The so called "young turks" party wanted to promote development and reforms to make the country more modern and more European, but the party was also driven by a strong Turkish nationalism.
A small number o leaders within the young turks decided to take care of the "Armenian question". The turks blamed the Armenians and said that they were a security threat against the empire, where some of the Armenian nationalist were demanding an independence or self rule. And that the Armenians were working with the Russians, that the turks were at war with. The actions against the Armenians would later also go out over the Assyrians and the Greeks. The old method was also applied, where they wanted the hostility against non-Muslims to grow. When world war 1 started, the turks called a jihad against all the enemies of Islam. That got many Muslims to participate or at least approve the assaults against the Christians. The ottoman army supervised the deportation of the Christians. In many places, the Kurds attacked the deported Christians. The Kurds were promised to keep the loot that they came over. Some of the Kurdish tribes actively participated in the killings.
In addition, a special militia was recruited to handle the "inner security", which practically meant to eliminate the Christians in the empire. The special organization, Teshkilat-i-Maksusa, consisted of 30 000 men, many of them criminals, that had been realised from the prisons and given a weeks training.

35. What effects did the genocide have and how many died?
The result of the genocide was that the Assyrians became extremely weakened in the area where they had lived for many generations. Some Assyrian villages were completely taken over by turks or Kurds, in others villages, the Assyrians tried to start over again after the war, with varying degrees of success. You can say that the young turks succeeded with what they had planned. After the genocide and the population exchange with Greece in 1923 , there were very few Christians left in the country. The country had practically become Muslim. It is estimated that there were over 700 000 Assyrians in the ottoman empire and Persia year 1914. Out of these, at least 300 000 were executed. The Assyrians estimate that at least 500 000 of their people were murdered. It is not impossible that this statement is correct, but the scientists and historians are careful and keep the number somewhat lower. That this was an outright genocide and that it had devastating consequences to the Assyrian people is absolutely clear.

36. Were there no eyewitnesses to the genocide?
There were many eyewitnesses. Even though many were killed, many also survived. Some of them have written their experiences but most of them have been passing the stories through the families. During the 1980s and 1990s many survivors lived here in Sweden and were interview by scientist and historians that recorded their testimonies. There were also western diplomats and missionaries where the Assyrians were murdered, that later told and wrote about the what they saw. Shortly after the end of the world war, some of the people responsible for the genocide were faced trial in a Turkish court. Their testimonies are of great value to the documentations of the genocide.       
             
Added 15/10-2010

37. Why is Turkey denying the Genocide?
It is difficult so say exactly what motives Turkey has for denying the genocide. Much is about national pride. An image was created of how the republic of Turkey was born, that in shortness is: The great powers of Europe wanted to end the ottoman empire and divide it to each other, the Christians of the empire betrayed their country and sided with the great powers. But Atat?rk came and saved the country from falling. In this story the Christian bandits had an important role as traitors to the country and as fifth columns. What happened to them can therefore bee seen as fully justified by the Turks. In addition, the official view of Turkey is that that Christians still continue their campaign against Turkey, by exaggerating their suffering and call it a genocide. After having invested so much prestige and money to this claim and view, it is hard for Turkey to do the opposite and admit that a genocide took place against the Christians. That would mean that Turkey would have to confess that they were wrong all the time and that Turkey would have to radically revise the story of how the Turkish republic was created.

38. Why is it so important that Seyfo must be recognized?
Many believe that you should not get stuck in the past, instead look forward. But a recognition from Turkey is important because of at least these reasons:
- For the sake of the truth. There is a value in our opinion that the world and history is correct.
- For the sake of the victims. It is important to remember and honor the dead as it happened in reality i.e. as victims of a genocide, and not imagine or believe that they were victims of an internal conflict or civil war, etc.
- For the sake of the survivors. The second, third, and fourth generation that still live today may not have any peace until the genocide is recognized. It is as if the genocide continues and that the victims will continue to be abused and assaulted as long as their suffering is being denied or trivialized.
- For the sake of Turkey. If Turkey is to become a democratic country that respects the rights of the minorities, it will have to start taking responsibility for its history. Many believe that it is more important for Turkey today to do good minority politics rather than give statements about its history. This is linked, a correct image of what happened to the minorities of the country in 1914-1923 is a foundation today for a better treatment of them.


                                                                                  Assyria
39. Can you speak of an Assyria today?
There is no Assyrian sate or an Assyrian military rule in the historical area that belongs to the Assyrians. That is why you can't speak of Assyria in that sense. However, the area of south eastern Turkey, north eastern Syria, northern Iraq and western Iran, is Assyria to the Assyrians. When the Assyrians say that they come from Assyria, they mean that they come from an area that has been Assyria to them since ancient times. The Assyrians are therefore stateless because they don't have their own state. However they are not without a country, the country of Assyria does exist, but not an Assyrian state.

40. Do the Assyrians seek their own state?
Many Assyrians want to have a self ruled state in Assyria, but because that this seems quite politically impossible today, most of them are focused on surviving as an minority in the states in which Assyria is divided. Right now the discussions is about the creation of an Assyrian area with some self rule in the Nineveh plains, in northern Iraq. Where the Assyrians are a majority. The constitution of Iraq allows the creation of administrative areas but the political will in Iraq is still lacking so far.

Translation complete.           


                                                                              Bibliography

Stefan Andersson: Assyrierna. En bok om pr?ster och lek?m?n, om politik och diplomati kring den assyriska invandringen till Sverige. Tidens f?rlag 1983

Afram Barryakoub: Brokig historia. En bok om assyrierna fr?n forntid till nutid. Arjovi F?rlag 2008

G?ran Gunner & Sven Halvardson (red.): Jag beh?ver r?tter och vingar ? om assyrisk/syriansk identitet i Sverige. Norma 2005

Svante Lundgren: I sv?rdet tid. Det osmanska folkmordet p? kristna minoriteter. Sahlgrens f?rlag 2009


                                                                                  Internet
Assyriska Riksf?rbundet: www.assyriskariksf?rbundet.se

Assyriska Ungdomsf?rbundet: www.auf.nu

Assyriska Kvinnof?rbundet: www.assyrianwomen.com

Assyriska FF: www.assyriska.se

Assyrier Utan Gr?nser: www.assyrierutangranser.com

Tidskriften Huj?d?: www.hujada.com

Sajt om assyrisk identitet: www.assyrianidentity.info (m?ngspr?kig, inneh?ller ocks? svenskt material)

Sajt om folkmordet: www.seyfocenter.se (m?ngspr?kig, inneh?lller ocks? svenskt material)

Assyriska Demokratiska Organisationen: www.ado-sverige.org

Added 16/10-2010


I hope you enjoy...
 
Thanks Zawoyo.

OK guys, I am finished with the translation, I hope you enjoy the reading and I hope you might learn something new...

Khaya Ator!
 
Great Educational post.... very simple and Straight Foward.... Are we allowed to use it for our own use? or do we have to quote the References? ie a Lecture of some sort!!!


Only one point i Strongly disagree with and it seriously needs to be re-visited because it provides a false assumption that is far from the truth...


11. Why do some call themselves "Syriacs" (syrianer in swedish)?   
Some Assyrians are very religious and are strongly influenced by the old testament, which portrays the assyrians as the enemy of God. That is way they took distance from the Assyrian movement and the term, instead they came up with the name "syriacs/syrianer". The syriacs/syrianerna say that it is not necessary for our ethnic group to have a ethnic identity, it is enough with the Christian identity.



I am not sure how many religious Assyrians believe in this... i certainly havn't met any... it is a totally false assumption and probably is a result of not reading nor understanding the OT properly....
 
Senalco said:
Great Educational post.... very simple and Straight Foward.... Are we allowed to use it for our own use? or do we have to quote the References? ie a Lecture of some sort!!!


Only one point i Strongly disagree with and it seriously needs to be re-visited because it provides a false assumption that is far from the truth...


11. Why do some call themselves "Syriacs" (syrianer in swedish)?    
Some Assyrians are very religious and are strongly influenced by the old testament, which portrays the assyrians as the enemy of God. That is way they took distance from the Assyrian movement and the term, instead they came up with the name "syriacs/syrianer". The syriacs/syrianerna say that it is not necessary for our ethnic group to have a ethnic identity, it is enough with the Christian identity.



I am not sure how many religious Assyrians believe in this... i certainly havn't met any... it is a totally false assumption and probably is a result of not reading nor understanding the OT properly....
I was actually thinking the same, to use it to teach others a a bit. I think its OK to use it for our own use that way, I guess that was the writers idea. Well we can just be fair and credit them if we do use it it in lectures...

About number 11. I think it is specific for Sweden, he means the word "Syrian". When Assyrians first came to Sweden, the government designated them as Assyrians, many of the west Assyrians started to complain about that and said that they are "Syrianer" (Syrians) from their use Suryoye, (don't ask me why they where stuborn not to use assyrian, maybne they where not educated enough to understand that their is a point to use the Assyrian name, since it has fact base sources and so on) so the government started officially to use both "Assyrier and Syrianer". Also our language in Sweden is officially not called Assyriska, it is called Syriska, much of that because of the Syrianer and their unwillingness to agree with Assyriska. Why they prefer that name is odd for me, i just think that its stupid not to use Assyrian.

I have however met some people that mention this that he is referring to in 11, that they are not Assyrians, Assyrians where disliked by god and their empire fell because of gods anger. But i have only met very few. Most of the syrianer don't know about this i guess, at least not the younger generation, so they just keep on calling themselves Syrianer since they have been called so for over 30 years... I think it might come from the fact that many of their bishops and patriarchs call themselves "Syrianer" and that this is a "religious" term for the church...

One funny thing we Assyrians joke about these "syrianer" is that when you ask them what is your origin some reply "i am christian" haha

Anyway, so his answer to number 11 is not fully wrong. But maybe he did not take everything because it would make it complicated and not so straight on like he wanted the book...
 
I agree, his answer is not fully Wrong, however he has left out a very important piece of info....


God's anger towards the Assyrians will not be forever, for there is a very strong Prophecy in the OT that says that GOD will one day fully restore the Assyrian nation and they will be called " the Rod of God "...


that part is often ignored.... i am not sure why......
 
Senalco said:
I agree, his answer is not fully Wrong, however he has left out a very important piece of info....


God's anger towards the Assyrians will not be forever, for there is a very strong Prophecy in the OT that says that GOD will one day fully restore the Assyrian nation and they will be called " the Rod of God "...


that part is often ignored.... i am not sure why......
Yeah, that one in the OT is very important, don't know why many Assyrians ignore that, maybe because not many read the bible at all :D
 
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