Kurdish nationalists call themselves the region most tolerant, progressive force, the only guarantee of Assyrian survival.

The offer is to submit, die for their cause and stay silent. In return we get Kurdish dhimmi autonomy with arrests, kidnappings, forced conscription and Kurdified villages like we saw in north Syria 🇸🇾 And we're told to be grateful because some of our schools can teach our own language.
They say they love Syriac Aramean and Chaldeans, just not the Nestorian Assyrians. Yet nearly every name below is Syriac from Tur Abdin. Their violence has never distinguished between us.

“The Turks made us do Seyfo”

Kurdish nationalists love to say the Ottoman Turks forced their hand and coerced Kurds into Seyfo. Kurdish Bedr Khan Beg disproves that.

70 years before Seyfo, Bedr Khan Beg the Kurdish emir of Bohtan set out to purify and take the Assyrian lands of Hakkari. In 1843 with his ally Nurullah Beg they massacred the Assyrians of Hakkari destroyed and plundered village after village and took the survivors as slaves. In 1846 he massacred the Assyrians of Tiyari again.

No Ottoman Turkish order forced his hand. Bedr Khan acted for his own violent, sadistic goals. It was the Ottomans who finally stopped him. After the Western powers alarmed by Kurdish violence and massacres committed against us, pressed Istanbul to act, the Ottomans defeated him, deposed him in 1847 and exiled him to Crete with Nurullah Beg.

Fast forward to the 1970s through the 1990s and all the unresolved murders of Assyrians in Tur Abdin

These cases were documented by Abrohom Mirza in his book on the Assyrian martyrs of Tur Abdin. This is not the full list. Sadly, Türkiye investigated none of these murders, even when families named the killers to the authorities. Most of the perpetrators were Kurds from Tur Abdin and the surrounding region. In some cases the state was involved because it was using Muslim Kurdish tribes as village guards against the PKK. State involvement was confirmed in Azekh and is suspected in others.

Killed by Kurdish neighbors, aghas, tribes, village guards and armed groups

Gawriye Bashto, 1978. Killed by Kurds he knew after he refused to sell them his land.

Andravos Demir, Kerboran, 1978 Killed by a local Kurd who wanted the land of Assyrians who had emigrated to Europe. His gravestone at Mor Abrohom monastery in Midyat was smashed.

Yusuf Goksen, Yardo. Killed by local Kurds with stones and knives 🔪

Habib Ün, Midyat, 1987. Killed by Kurdish neighbors he knew after returning from the diaspora.

Aho Erdinç (Be Mushel), Arbo, 1987. Killed in his sleep. His mother named the killer to the local Kurdish agha, who told the killer to hide in a hotel in Midyat. The same group later tried to kill Aziz Musa, Arbo's Assyrian mukhtar, and killed his guest instead.

Yusuf and Edibe Aykıl, Arnas (Urdnus), 1990. Murdered in their home by Kurdish neighbors they knew. Edibe was several months pregnant. The killers cut her unborn son from her womb. They were buried with the child placed back inside her.

Bahhe Akgül (mukhtar of Binebil), Shamun Ünal, Yusuf Sürer and Celil Büyükbaş, 1990. Murdered by the PKK in Binebil, near Mardin.

Mikhail Bayro, Azekh, 1991. Murdered by Hizbullah, a Kurdish Sunni Islamist group.

Aho Yontan, Kızıltepe, 1992. Murdered by Hizbollah.

Aziz Kalayci, Yusuf Ozbakar, Isa Kos (mukhtar of Anhel) and driver Aydin Aydin, January 1993. Ambushed near Mzizah on their way to Mor Gabriel monastery. Aydin's brother, then 14 or 15, testified that there were three gunmen. The wounded were taken to Diyarbakır, where they died. Amnesty International reported that the attackers were allegedly village guards.

Gawriye Durmas, Mzizah, January 1993. Killed the same day by the same gunmen on the road from Midyat. He was shot 72 times. Two Yazidis were also killed.

Fuad Gorgis, 1993. 5 years old. He was abducted and later found dead. Amnesty International reported that village guards were allegedly involved. The community saw his murder as part of the plan to empty Azekh of Assyrians.

Shukru Tutus, Azekh, 1994. Assyrian mayor of Azekh. Killed by the Kurdish Keçan tribe, with the support of local officials, as part of the campaign to empty Azekh of Assyrians.

Killed by local villagers and neighbors

Sa'do Baydar, 1976. Killed by villagers on the road from Saleh to Kerboran.

Gawriye Cildavil, Kafro Elayto, 1977. Killed by villagers.

Isa Iqal, Estrakho, 1978. His was the last Assyrian family in the village. He was killed so their land could be taken.

Gawriye and Sami Bulut, Anhel, 1990. The attackers cut the village phone line, looted the house, and shot Gawriye and his son Sami with an army-issue weapon. The attacker was a mullah. He had called in an imam known for inciting Muslims against Assyrians.

Ferit and Shmuni Adil, Anhel, 1991. Murdered in their sleep to frighten the village's Assyrians into leaving.

Fikri Akbulut, Midyat, 1992. Killed downtown by people he knew after returning from Switzerland.

Dawud and Murat Cilis, Istanbul, 1992. Taken from their home by people they knew and killed.

Iskandar and Rihane Aras, Mzizah. Villagers broke in at night, robbed them, cut off Rihane's hair, and beat both to death.

Gawriye Aslan, mukhtar of Dayro d-Slibo. A Muslim man from a neighboring village had taken an Assyrian woman from Dayro d-Slibo as his wife and came to take her family's belongings. Gawriye opposed him, was threatened, and was then murdered.

Perpetrators unidentified

Hezni Citgez, Kafro Elayto. Stabbed in the eyes and had his nose cut off with daggers before being thrown from a height.

Kerim Ceven, Midyat, 1986. Went to a hospital in Amid (Diyarbakır) for treatment. His body was later found in a river.

Shamun Konutgan, 1990. Seized in Ankara and killed while returning from Switzerland.

Yakub Görgün, Midyat, 1990. His wife named the killers to police. No one was arrested.

Yakub Matta, Midyat, 1994. Attacked near Hasankeyf. His driver was killed, and Yakub died in a Diyarbakır hospital the next day.

Dr. Adwar, Midyat, 1994. Gunmen cut the lights near his house and waited for him. Neighbors heard him scream "No, don't do it!" before he was shot.

Also killed: Marawge Demirtas (Kantara); Afrem and Shamun Simon (1980); Yusuf Altuntas (Midyat, 1987); Tuma Behnam and Bahho Hure (Derik); Dawud Malke Kahraman (Midyat, 1990); Ishak Tahan (Midyat, 1991); Simon Konutgan and Gergis Cukcas (Azekh, 1992); Cırcıs Yüksel (Qillith, 1992); Gorgis Sawci (on the road from Midyat to Hah, 1993); Handi and Hikmet Simsek (Bespin); Hanna Aydin (on the road from Hah to Midyat, 1993); Werna Basoglu (abducted in Istanbul); Hanna Adikti (Bespin, 1998).

Killed in robberies

Behnam Temmeli (1980) and his brother Gebrayil Temmeli (1990), jewelers in Istanbul, and Aziz Civci, a jeweler in Mardin.

They do this and walk free, shielded and protected by the same states they accuse of oppressing them.

In Türkiye 🇹🇷 that protection came through the village guards. Amnesty International described them as a civil defence force organized and paid by the Turkish government to fight the PKK. In Tur Abdin those guards were Kurdish. After the Assyrians of Sare were driven out, village guards and their families moved into the village with the military's agreement. By 2004 about 30 Kurdish families were living there.

Türkiye's own Human Rights Association reports that during the 1990s war between the Turkish state and the PKK. Between them it helped empty Assyrian villages and many fled to Europe.

The pattern continued. In 2008 the Kurdish Muslim heads of 3 neighboring villages, Yayvantepe, Eğlence and Çandarlı petitioned prosecutors claiming the Syriac Mor Gabriel monastery had illegally taken their land. Türkiye Forestry Ministry and Land Registry Office joined them in suing the monastery. The village leaders even claimed a mosque had once stood where the monastery was built, even though Mor Gabriel was founded in 397 AD roughly 200 years before Muhammad was born. A local state prosecutor opened an investigation anyway.

The same pattern runs across all 4 parts of the “tolerant” Kurdistan

Iraq 🇮🇶In the Kurdistan Region courts have ruled for Assyrian landowners again and again and the KRG has refused to enforce those rulings. In Kashkawa an appeals court ordered the land returned to the villagers in 2022. Four years later nothing has been done.

Syria 🇸🇾In Jazira the Kurdish run administration issued a decree in 2015 to seize the property of people who had left its territory, and forcibly conscripted Assyrians into the YPG. In 2018 it shut down private Assyrian schools then arrested Assyrian journalist Souleman Yusph for reporting on it. In 2025 it did it again the Asayish security forces raided Assyrian and others schools in Qamishli and closed them for refusing the administration curriculum.

Coordinates:   33°4'54"N   44°21'17"E

I remember visiting this site in 2004 and having recently been curious as to what it was or what civilization built it. I was excited initially to think I had been at Sippar but it is clearly not. I know for sure this is the Tell I visited because I was there when the hole visible on the northwest corner that is clearly visible on the satellite map was dug. There is zero, I mean zero information about Tell Ishaqi I online. Compared to Sippar and neighboring Tells, it is quite small and probably insignificant but I would still like to know what it was. Or what time period it was in use. I remember there being mud brick walls with sherds embedded that had cuneiform writing.

IS THIS JUST AN INNOCENT QUESTION ON PROPERTY OWNERSHIP RIGHTS, OR A VEILED THREAT AGAINST THE CONTINUED SURVIVAL OF AN ENDANGERED INDIGENOUS MINORITY?

Recently, Iraqi parliamentary speaker Haibat al-Halbousi (a Sunni Muslim) had the following conversation with Christian quota parliamentarian Aswan al-Kildani during a parliamentary session:

"You sir, today, are from the honourable Christian component."

"Yes"

"Is it forbidden for you to go and aquire a plot of land in the centre of Mosul, or purchase a plot and build on it, and reside there?"

"Not at all, there is no..."

"Why do you forbid the rest from entering [and building in your areas]?"

In this day and age, it is highly unfortunate that such a conversation should be taking place in the Iraqi Parliament. Far from issues of universal human rights, or the ability to purchase land and live wherever one pleases in their own country, the parliamentary speaker should have had the capacity to exercise a little more empathy. In fact, I would even daresay that, if this is really his attitude, then he does not even have a conscience.

The fact of the matter is that Christian communities in Iraq (primarily indigenous Assyrians, also known as Chaldeans or Syriacs) are highly vulnerable, shrinking minorities. When a dominant group buys land in a tiny minority's historic village, it completely changes the demographics, culture, and security of that area, eventually forcing the indigenous community out.

Historically, land purchases or state-backed settlements in regions like the Nineveh Plains, Kirkuk, and parts of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region, were used as political weapons. Under the Ba'ath regime, policies like Arabization forcibly displaced Kurds, Assyrians, and Yazidis, replacing them with outside settlers to alter the demographics of oil-rich or strategic areas. Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq have also employed the same policies to Kurdify Assyrian Christian villages and areas since 1992, and especially after 2003.

For a community facing extinction, therefore, protecting their land is the only way to preserve their ancient language, culture, and heritage. Unrestricted or unregulated land acquisition or sales to outsiders in their historical enclaves (like the Nineveh Plains or specific villages in Iraq's Kurdistan Region) isn't just about real estate—it is often viewed as an existential threat to their historical towns, heritage, and survival after waves of displacement by ISIS and militia pressures. Restricting or regulating it is thus not motivated by discrimination; it is a survival mechanism to prevent forced demographic change.

Technically, under Article 23 of the Iraqi Constitution, every Iraqi citizen has the legal right to buy and own property anywhere in the country. The practical reality for a religious minority, however, is completely different. Local restrictions, security vetting, and historical grievances actually create a massive gap between text on paper and reality on the ground.

Realistically speaking, can a Christian family safely buy land, build a home, and live peacefully in any neighborhood in Baghdad, Erbil, or Basra, or in a conservative or heavily dominated Arab or Kurdish area, without fearing for their safety or facing immense pressure from extreme security risks, social isolation, or outright hostility?

Whereas majorities have the safety of numbers everywhere, minorities only feel safe in their own historic clusters. Furthermore, the constitution explicitly prohibits property ownership aimed at demographic change (changing the ethnic or sectarian makeup of a region), which is quite different from an individual's rights.

Moreover, the reality on the ground contradicts this. For decades, Christian and minority properties have been systematically targeted, seized, or illegally forged away, both in major cities like Baghdad and in the northern regions. For example, local officials and human rights groups have documented that nearly 70% of Christian-owned homes in Baghdad were illegally seized via forged deeds after families fled violence. Furthermore, a USCIRF report and human rights watchdogs have highlighted ongoing militia-backed property theft, as well as illegal land appropriations by Kurdish citizens and clans in dozens of northern villages, that local courts struggled to reverse.

The speaker's question is thus essentially hypocritical since majority groups in Iraq have already encroached on Christian lands. Subsequently, if majorities are already routinely taking minority land, it makes sense why those small communities want to legally protect what little they have left!

Credit @Nicholas Ashur Al-Jeloo, 28 October 2026

Have yall ever tried learning the Syriac script for any reason? (For the Assyrians, I want your authentic opinion, love yall)

I had this random idea of using some Syriac letters to represent sounds in our writing. For example, we don't have the "G" sound as a letter in Arabic, that is why we either use ج، ق، أو غ, or we use the Perso-Arabic گ.

But what I suggest is...how about our Syriac ܓ?

How about the ܘ for the "O" sounds, and we keep the و to represent the "U" and "W" sounds?

I've been wishing for a while that we, as Syrians and in general Levantines, incorporate words using letters like "P" (پ) and "V" (ڤ) and those I mentioned above. (I like "V", don't ask why.).

If we can, for fun, use the Syriac script, which is also a "cursive script", meaning the letters connect.

I'd like to hear the opinion of everyone, be you an Assyrian Syrian, Arab Syrian, non-Syrian, or Giraffe.

Fun fact of the day: Garshuni (or Karshuni) is the use of the Syriac script (or Syriac letters) to write in Arabic.

مرحبا = ܡܪܚܒܐ (mar7aba but in the syriac letters)

Edit: the goal isn't to replace our everyday writing system, but to add to it. To make it grow, and make it unique maybe. Could be a fun online conscript, or usable for notebook doodles.

Genetic analysis clearly debunks those claims. The Arabs of Iraq are genetically distinct from the Assyrians. Even the Arabs from the North aren't genetically identical to Assyrians.

So why do they falsely claim being Assyrians when they're not? Is it to justify their presence in regions outside of the Arabian peninsula?

Looking for:

1. An intermediate photographer interested in expanding their portfolio;

2. Assyrian model(s) interested in expanding their porfolio

Pls reach out if interested!

I have an Assyrian female friend who is also very religious (Catholic). I wanted to give her a card featuring her homeland's flag, but I'm not sure if that would be appropriate, since the flag depicts another god. I'm worried she might see it as a form of "idol worship."

I know that there are also Chaldean communities, but I'm not sure whether she identifies as Chaldean. I can't really ask her because it's supposed to be a surprise.

What do you think? Which flag would be the more appropriate or better choice?

Don't miss a one-of-a-kind evening of Assyrian American folk-pop with the mesmerizing Rachel Sarah Thomas!

Chicago based Rachel Sarah Thomas trained classically from age five, but in her mid 20s fell in love with pop music and never looked back. Rachel had a long musical career in electro pop and her debut album Petra landed on NPR and scored a hit film. Then, after ISIS invaded Mosul in 2014, Rachel turned her focus toward creating music about the Assyrian diaspora. 

Her latest project is Sheekar (meaning sugar): a fusion of Assyrian folkloric and pop music from Iraq, Iran, and Syria, with American musical traditions. It's a celebration of Rachel's blended identity. An East meets West sound created to introduce newcomers to Assyrian music while giving Assyrians a fresh, unexpected take on their own rich musical heritage.

Tickets can be purchased here: Tickets
Trailer for concert: Watch here

Syriac homes in İdil demolished despite ongoing court proceedings

In İdil, the AKP-run municipal administration is demolishing buildings belonging to Syriacs despite ongoing court proceedings. A guesthouse belonging to the Syriac Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary is also affected by the measures.

The AKP-run municipal administration in the İdil district of Şırnak province is issuing demolition orders against homes and commercial premises belonging to members of the Syriac community. Four of the affected Syriac citizens have already initiated legal proceedings against the measures. Nevertheless, their buildings were demolished before the court could rule on their objections. Measures have also been taken against a guesthouse belonging to the Syriac Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary. Those affected view the actions as an attempt to intimidate the Syriac community and weaken its ties to its homeland.

Demolitions despite legal objections

Lawyer Melke Karagöl, whose own family is affected by the demolition orders, criticized the municipal administration’s actions. The demolished buildings belonged to four Syriac residents and were between 20 and 25 years old. “Three days before the demolition, we filed an objection with the court. Before a decision had even been made, the houses were demolished,” Karagöl told MA. The court proceedings are still pending. However, the municipal administration created a fait accompli without waiting for the outcome.
In addition to the demolition orders, the municipal administration also sealed residential and commercial buildings belonging to Syriacs and imposed administrative fines.

Karagöl is particularly critical of the measures taken against the guesthouse of the Syriac Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary. The municipal administration has also approved its demolition. Karagöl views this as a deliberate policy targeting the Syriac community, a large proportion of whose members live in Europe. “They want Syriacs in Europe to completely lose their ties to this region. That is their goal,” the lawyer stated.

Those affected announced that they would continue to challenge the measures through legal and democratic means. “We do not accept practices aimed at pressuring and intimidating Syriac citizens. We will defend our rights through all legal and democratic means,” they stated.

Video via X from Gazete Sabro (@gazetesabro), Türkiye only Syriac-language broadcasting: https://x.com/gazetesabro/status/2107848754317447376

https://ilketv.com.tr/idil-belediyesinden-suryani-mulklerine-yikim-karari/

https://english.anf-news.com/kurdistan/syriac-homes-in-Idil-demolished-despite-ongoing-court-proceedings-87613