Assyrians in Iran
 |
|||
| Assyrians producing butter in Persia | |||
| Total population | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 50,000[1] | |||
| Regions with significant populations | |||
|
|||
| Languages | |||
| Religion | |||
|
Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Protestant |
Assyrians in Iran (Persian: آشوریان در ایران) was a thriving community, but was diminished from around 200,000 prior to the Islamic Revolution in Iran to a mere 50,000.
In addition to Assyrian communities found in major urban centers such as Tehran, there are also Assyrian villages in the area of Urmia in northern Iran. [2]
Assyrians are a Semitic people who speak Syriac an Aramaic dialect and are Eastern Rite Christians. They are the descendants of the ancient Mesopotamians.
Assyrians are entitled to one reserved seat in the Iranian Parliament, that was procured by George Malek-Yonan. The seat is currently occupied by Yonathan Betkolia (elected in 2000, reelected in 2004).
Contents |
[edit] History
There were about 200,000 Assyrians in Iran at the time of the 1976 census.[2] Many emigrated after the revolution in 1979, but at least 50,000 were estimated still to be living in Iran in 1987.
Assyrians have a long history in Iran. During the Neo Assyrian Empire (911-608 BC), much of western Iran (including Media, Persia, Elam and Gutium) was subject to Assyria. After the fall of the Assyrian Empire, Assyria was ruled by Persia from 539 BC. Assyrians have possibly existed in north western Iran for many thousands of years.
The traditional home of the Assyrians in Iran is along the western shore of Lake Urmia from the Salamas area to the Urmia plain.[2]. During World War I, Ottoman forces and Kurdish tribes along the Iranian-Turkish border stepped up attacks on the Assyrians both in the mountains and on the rich plains. In 1914 alone they attacked dozens of villages and drove off all the inhabitants of the district of Gawar. The Assyrians armed themselves, and for a time successfully repelled further attacks under the leadership of Agha Petros, and were successful enough to seize control of much of the Urmia region, defeating Ottoman Forces and their Kurdish and Azeri allies. However lack of ammunition and supplies, due mainly to the withdrawal of Russia from the war, and the collapse of allied Armenian forces led to their downfall. Massively outnumbered, surrounded, undersupplied and cut off, the Assyrians suffered terrible massacres. By the summer of 1918 virtually the entire remaining Assyrian population that survived the pillage and murder inflicted on them. fled the area. Local Kurds and Turks (Azari) took the opportunity of the last phases of World War I that had pitted Russian and Ottoman armies against each other, to rob Assyrian homes, carry off young women, and leave those remaining destitute. The critical murder that sowed panic in the Assyrian community came when Kurdish militias, under Agha Ismail Simko, assassinated the Patriarch, Mar Benyamin Shimon, on March 3, 1918 under the pretext of inviting him to negotiations.[2] The Assyrians led a force to avenge this act, however despite defeating a Kurdish force, Simko escaped.
[edit] Religious communities
- Assyrian Church of the East
- Assyrian Church of the East's Holy Synod
- Chaldean Church of Babylon
- Assyrian Evangelical Church
- Assyrian Pentecostal Church
[edit] Churches
- Holy Mary (Mart Maryam) Church - Urmia - 1st c.
- St. Cyriacus (Mar Kuryakus) Church - Urmia - 18th c.
- Holy Mary (Mart Maryam) Church - Urmia - CharBakhsh - 5th c.
- Holy Gabriel (Mar Gabriel) Church - Urmia - Ordushahi - 19th c.
- St. Shalita (Mar Shalita) Church - Urmia - Shirabad - 19th c.
- St. Joseph (Mar Yozef) Church - Urmia - Shirabad - 1897
- St. Sarkis (Mar Sargiz) Church - 5 km SW of Urmia - Seir - 5th c.
- Holy Zion (Mar Sehyon) Church - 8 km E of Urmia - Golpashan
- St. George (Mar Gevargiz) Church - 8 km E of Urmia - Golpashan - 1905
- Holy Mary (Mart Maryam) Church - 8 km E of Urmia - Golpashan
- Sts. Peter-Paul (Mar Petros-Paulos) Church - 10 km E of Urmia - 8th c. - believed to be built by Bukhtishu
- Holy Mary (Mart Maryam) Church - 32 km E of Urmia - Mavana
- St. Daniel (Mar Danial) Church - 25 km N of Urmia - Nazlu River - 5th c. - destroyed in World War I, rebuilt
- St. John (Mar Yokhnah) Church - 45 km N of Urmia - Jamalabad - 5th c.
- St. John (Mar Yokhnah) Church - 24 km N of Urmia - Adeh - 1901
- St. Sabrisho (Mar Sabrisho) Church - 30 km N of Urmia - Mushiabad - 1880
- St. George (Mar Gevargiz) Church - 35 km N of Urmia - Sepurghan - 1830
- St. John (Mar Yokhnah) Church - 40 km N of Urmia - Gavilan - 5th c.
- St. John (Mar Yokhnah) Church - 40 km N of Urmia - Gavilan - 19th c.
- St. Thomas (Mar Toma) Church - 30 km W of Urmia - Balulan - 7th c.
- St. Cyriacus (Mar Kuryakus) Church - Salmas - Kohneshahr - 12th c.
- St. James (Mar Yakob) Church - Salmas - Kohneshahr - 19th c.
- St. Khinah (Mar Khinah) Church - Salmas - Sarna
- Holy Mary (Mart Maryam) Church - Salmas - Savera
- Vank - 2 km S of Salmas - Khosrowabad - 5th c. - The Holy Cross of Jerusalem was kept here for a while.
- St. Sarkis (Mar Sargiz) Church - 2 km S of Salmas - Khosrowabad - 1869
- St. George (Mar Gevargiz) Church - 2 km S of Salmas - Khosrowabad - 1845
- Church - 12 km SW of Salmas - Akhtekhaneh - 1890
- St. Sarkis (Mar Sargiz) Church - 2 km S of Salmas - Khosrowabad - 1869
- Holy Mary (Mart Maryam) Church - Sehna
- St. George (Mar Gevargiz) Church - Teheran (Bagh-e-Shah) - 1962
- Holy Mary (Mart Maryam) Church - Teheran (Sarbaz St.) - 1978
- St. Joseph (Mar Yozef) Church - Teheran (Forsat St.) - 1950
- Holy Virgin Church - Teheran (Appadana St.)
- Chaldean Catholic Chapel - Eslamshahr Catholic Cemetery - 1967
- St. Thomas (Mar Toma) Church - Teheran (Amirabad) - 1967
- Assyrian Brotherhood Church - Teheran (ShahrAra St.)
[edit] Famous Assyrians from Iran
- Andre Agassi - Assyrian-Armenian Tennis player
- Ramona Amiri, Miss World Canada 2005
- Mike Agassi, Olympic boxer and father of Andre Agassi
- George Malek-Yonan, procured a seat in the Iranian Parliament for Assyrians
- Rosie Malek Yonan, actor, author and activist
- Evan Agassi, music artist
- Bukhtishu family - Famous physicians in the Middle Ages
- The following are Assyrians from the Sanaya region
- Mar Youhannan Semaan Issayi, Archbishop of Assyro-Chaldean Metropolitan Tehran
- Dr. Estiphan Panoussi, Professor, Researcher , Linguist
- Albert Bavi, General Manager of Power & Water, Tehran Division
- Paul Caldani, Composer, Writer, Music Researcher
- Dr. Younan Nowzaradan,M.D., F.A.C.S. General and Vascular surgeon,specializing in laparoscopic roux-en-Y gastric bypass.
- Dr. Philip Nowzaradan, M.D. A Family Doctor, Clinical Assistant Professor of Family Medicine
- Fred Khachik, Chemist ,Research scientist,professor .
- Cyrus Adari , M.D., Researcher.
- Villard Salibi, Designer, Artist
- Henry Oshana Shirabadi,Teacher of physics.
[edit] See also
- Armenian-Iranians
- Christians in Iran
- Ethnic minorities in Iran
- List of Assyrian settlements
- Religious minorities in Iran
- Official Website of the Assyro-Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Iran
[edit] Bibliography
- Eden Naby, “The Assyrians of Iran: Reunification of a ‘Millat,’ 1906-1914” International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 8. (1977) pp. 237–249
- Eden Naby, “The Iranian Frontier Nationalities: The Kurds, the Assyrians, the Baluch and the Turkmens,”Soviet Asian Ethnic Frontiers, ed.by McCagg and Silver (New York, Pergamon Press, 1979).
- Eden Naby, “Christian Assyrian Architecture of Iran,” News – Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions (Spring 1998) vol. 5, no. 2, p. 7, 10.
- Eden Naby, "Ishtar: Documenting the Crisis in the Assyrian Iranian Community," MERIA 10/4 (2006)http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2006/issue4/Naby.pdf
[edit] References
|
|||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||
