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Question:
Why is the Assyrian nation a minority in its homeland Assyria, and what was the price that our Assyrian nation had to pay through centuries for the right of existence?
Answer:
With the long, painful, unforgettable and unforgivable history of continuous genocides and massacres one shouldn’t be surprised that the Assyrians (the indigenous people) are a minority today in their own homeland of what’s known today as Iraq and also as Assyrians living in Diaspora, in exile. The Assyrians however are a resilient people who were able to overcome the hideous atrocities which befell them in order to continue their path of demanding justice for the hundreds of thousands who perished before, during and after WWI, WWII, and the shameful 20th century massacre of Simel 1933- Iraq which was committed against the innocent civilian Assyrians at the hands of members in the Iraqi army lead by Bakr Sidqi (a Kurdish officer) under the watch of and with instigation from the British army and government. The heavy price of loss in innocent lives which the Assyrians had to pay came at a heavy cost also because the survivors and the next generations forever living with the horrible memories and the continuous hovering of the shadows of massacres and genocides which were intended to deprive the Assyrians of their lands where they would be able to preserve their distinctive identity, language, traditions and culture.
Today, the heaviest price is that the Assyrians have generations that are born in exile, in Diaspora and for them to grasp mentally the idea of an ancestral homeland they must and should be attached to the roots of a tangible land, which is Assyria.
Copyright © 2006 by Assyria National Assembly. All rights reserved.