Assyrian diaspora

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Since World War I, the Assyrian diaspora has steadily increased so that there are now more Assyrians living in western countries (including Australia) than in the Middle East. At the turn of the century the Christian population in the Ottoman Empire had numbered about 5,000,000. When the massacres finally ended in 1923, about 20,000 Greeks, 10,000 Armenians and 30,000 Assyrians remained. The Civil War in Lebanon, the coming into power of the Islamic republic of Iran, the Ba'thist dictatorship in Iraq and the present-day unrest in Iraq pushed even more Assyrians on the roads of exile.

Contents 1 Former Soviet Union 1.1 History <ref>Assyrians, Center for Russian Studies, NUPI - Norwegian Institute of International Affairs </ref> 1.2 USSR Census 1.3 Russia 1.4 Armenia 1.5 Georgia 1.6 Ukraine 1.7 Kazakhstan 1.8 Bibliography 2 Near East 2.1 Lebanon 2.2 Turkey 2.3 Israel, Palestine, Jordan 3 The Americas 3.1 Argentina 3.2 Canada 3.3 United States 4 Europe 4.1 Belgium 4.2 France 4.3 Greece 4.4 Netherlands 4.5 Sweden 5 Pacific 5.1 Australia 5.2 New Zealand 6 Homeland Statistics 6.1 Iran 6.2 Syria 7 References

Former Soviet Union

History <ref>Assyrians, Center for Russian Studies, NUPI - Norwegian Institute of International Affairs </ref>

Assyrians came to Russia and the Soviet Union in three main waves: The first wave was after the Treaty of Turkmanchai in 1828, that delineated a border between Russia and Persia. Many Assyrians found themselves suddenly under Russian sovereignty and thousands of relatives crossed the border to join them.

The second wave was a result of the repression and violence during and after WWI.

The third wave came after WWII, when Moscow unsuccessfully tried to establish a satellite state in Iranian Kurdistan. Soviet troops withdrew in 1946, and left the Assyrians exposed to exactly the same kind of retaliation that they had suffered from the Turks 30 years earlier. Again, many Assyrians found refuge in the Soviet Union, this time mainly in the cities.

Soviet power in the thirties repressed the Assyrians' religion and persecuted religious and other leaders.

In recent years, the Assyrians have tended to assimilate with Armenians, but their cultural and ethnic identity, strengthened through centuries of hardships, found new expression under Glasnost.

USSR Census

• 1897 census: 5,300 "Syrio-Chaldeans" (by language) <ref>Youri Bromlei et al., Processus ethniques en U.R.S.S., Editions du Progrès, 1977</ref>

• 1919 refugee status:

8,000 - 7,000 "Assyro-Chaldean" refugees in Tbilissi<ref>Eden Naby, “Les Assyriens d'Union soviétique,” Cahiers du Monde russe, 16/3-4. 1975</ref>

2,000 Assyrians in Yerevan<ref>Eden Naby, “Les Assyriens d'Union soviétique,” Cahiers du Monde russe, 16/3-4. 1975</ref>

15,000 Assyrians from Hakkari, 10,000 from Urmia and Salmas in the Russian region of Rostov <ref>A. Chatelet (Supérieur de la mission catholique de Téhéran), Question assyro-chaldéenne, Quartier général - Bureau de la Marine, Constantinople, 31 août 1919</ref>

• 1926 census: 9,808 Assyrians (Aisor) <ref>Eden Naby, “Les Assyriens d'Union soviétique,” Cahiers du Monde russe, 16/3-4. 1975</ref>
• 1970 census: 24,294 Assyrians <ref>Eden Naby 1975</ref>
• 1979 census: 25,170 Assyrians <ref>Annuaire démographique des Nations-Unies 1983, Département des affaires économiques et sociales internationales, New York, 1985</ref>

Russia

• 1989 census: 9,600 Assyrians, of whom 4,742 spoke Assyrian; 1,738 in the Krasnodar region <ref>Assyrians, Center for Russian Studies, NUPI - Norwegian Institute of International Affairs </ref>

• 2002 census: 13,649 Assyrians (ассирийско)<ref> 2002 census </ref>

Armenia

• 1926 census <ref>Eden Naby 1975</ref>: 21,215 Assyrians
• 1989 (Soviet) census <ref>Armenian Helsinki Committee - Reflections over Annual Report on International Religious Freedom: Armenia</ref>: 5,963 Assyrians
• 2001 census<ref>2001 Armenian Census - De Jure Population (Urban, Rural) by Age and Ethnicity</ref>: 3,409 Assyrians (3rd minority ethnic group after Yazidis and Russians): 524 urban, 2,485 rural

Georgia

• 1926 census: 2,904 Assyrians <ref>Eden Naby 1975</ref>

• 1989 census: 6,206 Assyrians <ref name=Eurominority>Eurominority - Assyrians in Georgia</ref>
• 2002 census: 3,299 Assyrians <ref name=Eurominority>Eurominority - Assyrians in Georgia</ref>

Ukraine

• 2001 census: 3,143 <ref>All-Ukriane population census 2001 </ref>

Kazakhstan

• 2005 estimates: 540 <ref>Assyrian cultural center in Kazakhstan</ref>
  • 270 in Almaty

Bibliography

• Eden Naby, “Les Assyriens d'Union soviétique,” Cahiers du Monde russe, 16/3-4. 1975
• Eden Naby, The Iranian Frontier Nationalities: The Kurds, the Assyrians, the Baluch and the Turkmens, in: McCagg and Silver (eds) Soviet Asian Ethnic Frontiers, New York, Pergamon Press, 1979
• Iraklii Chikhladze and Giga Chikhladze, The Yezidi Kurds and Assyrians of Georgia. The Problem of Diasporas and Integration into Contemporary Society, Journal of the Central Asia & the Caucasus (3 /21, 2003)
• Anna Saghabalian, Assyrians in Armenia, RFE/RL Armenian Service, Armenia Report, Thursday 13 August 1998
• Onnik Krikorian, The Assyrian Community in Armenia, The Armenian Weekly
• Assyrians in Armenia

Near East

Lebanon

estimates on December 31, 1944, by province (Muhafazat) <ref>Albert H. Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World, London: Oxford University Press, 1947</ref>

denomination	Beyrouth	Mount Lebanon	North Lebanon	South Lebanon	Biqa'	Total
Syriac Catholics	4,089	275	169	9	442	4,984
Syriac Orthodox	2,070	209	100	22	1,352	3,753
Chaldeans	974	120	1	10	225	1,330

1932 census and further estimates

denomination	1932 census <ref>Kenneth C. Bruss, Lebanon - Area and population, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1963</ref>	1944 estimates <ref>Albert H. Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World, London: Oxford University Press, 1947</ref>	1954 estimates <ref>Kenneth C. Bruss, Lebanon - Area and population, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1963</ref>
Syriac Catholics	2,675	4,984	..
Chaldeans	528	1,330	..
Syriac Orthodox	2,574	3,753	4,200
Assyrian "Nestorians"	800	1,200	1,400

Turkey

1914: Asiatic Turkey 863,000<ref>M.Y.A . Lilian, Assyrians Of The Van District, 1914</ref>

Israel, Palestine, Jordan

The Americas

Argentina

• August 1919: 2,000 Assyro-Chaldeans refugees, most of all young people <ref>Chatelet 1919</ref>

Canada

2001 Census: Assyrian - 6,980

United States

• 1990 census: 46,099 Assyrians <ref>U.S. Bureau of the Census - Selected Characteristics for Persons of Assyrian Ancestry: 1990</ref>
  • 19,066 born in the US
  • 16,783 arrived before 1980
  • 10,250 between 1980 and 1990.
  • 27,494 Syriac as the "Language Spoken at Home" <ref>U.S. Bureau of the Census, Language Spoken at Home for the Foreign-Born Population 5 Years and Over: 1980 and 1990, Internet Release date: March 9 1999</ref>

• • Unemployment: 9.1%
• 2000 census: 82,355 Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac <ref>US Census, QT-P13. Ancestry: 2000</ref>
  • 34,484 in Michigan
    • Sterling Heights, Michigan: 5,515 {4.4% of the city)
    • West Bloomfield, Michigan: 4,874 (7.5%)
    • Southfield, Michigan: 3,684 (4.7%)
    • Warren, Michigan: 2,625 (1.9%)
    • Farmington Hills, Michigan 2,499 (3.0%)
    • Troy, Michigan: 2,047 (2.5%)
    • Detroit, Michigan 1,963 (0.2%)
    • Oak Park, Michigan 1,864 (6.3%) (majority)
    • Madison Heights, Michigan: 1,428 (4.6%)
    • Orchard Lake Village, Michigan: 241 (10.9%)
  • 22,671 in California
  • 15,685 in Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois: 7,121 (0.2%)
    • Niles, Illinois: 3,410 (3.3%)
    • Maine, Illinois: 1,035 (0.8%)

• • Syriac language: 46,932 <ref>U.S. Census 2000, Language Spoken at Home for the Foreign-Born Population 5 Years and Over: 1980 to 2000</ref>

Europe

Belgium

Assyrians in Belgium came mostly as refugees from the Turkish towns of Midyat and Mardin in Tur Abdin, most of them are Syriac Orthodox (Süryani), some Chaldean Catholics (Keldani). Their three main settlements are in Brussels (municipalities of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode - where they've got their only elected municipal councilman, Ibrahim Erkan -, Brussels and Etterbeek), Liège and in Mechelen.

France

There are believed to be some 15,000, mainly concentrated in the northern French suburbs of Sarcelles, Gonnesse and Villiers-le-Bel. They are drawn from the same few villages in what is now south west Turkey.

Greece

The first migrants of Assyrians in Greece came in 1934, and settled in the areas of Makronisos (today uninhabited), Keratsini (Pireus), Egaleo and Kalamata.<ref>Zinda Magazine - May 10, 1999 - The Assyrian Union of Greece</ref> Today, the vast majority of Assyrians live in Peristeri, a suburb of Athens, and they number about 2,000 <ref>Ethnologue report for Greece</ref>.

Netherlands

Sweden

In the latter part of the 1970s, about 12,000 Syrian Orthodox Assyrians from Lebanon, Turkey and Syria immigrated to Sweden. They considered themselves persecuted for religious reasons but were never acknowledged as refugees. Those who had already lived in Sweden for a longer period were finally granted residence permit for humanitarian reasons.<ref>Swedish Minister for Development Co-operation, Migration and Asylum Policy, Migration 2002, June 2002</ref>

The dividing line in Sweden between Syrians and Assyrians lies between the religiously defined group: Syrians, who are Syrian Orthodox Christians, and the politically or ethnically determined category: Assyrians, whose members belong to several different Christian beliefs (the majority are of course also Syrian Orthodox Christians) but whose religious affiliation is toned down.<ref>Dan Lundberg, Christians from the Middle East, A virtual Assyria</ref>

Södertälje in Sweden is often seen as the unofficial Assyrian capital of Europe due to the city's high percentage of Assyrians and the Swedish professional football (soccer) team Assyriska, which played in the top Swedish football league (Allsvenskan) in 2005, is often viewed as a substitute national team by the diaspora and has fans worldwide. The international Suroyo/Suraya TV which broadcast in the Assyrian/Syriac language is also based here.

Since 2005, there is an Assyrian minister in the Swedish government, Ibrahim Baylan.

Pacific

Australia

• 2001 Census: 18,667 Assyrians<ref>Australian Census Analytic Program: Australians' Ancestries, 2001</ref>

New Zealand

• 1991 census: 315 <ref name=NZ>Statistics New Zealand - 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings - Ethnic Groups</ref>

• 1996 census: 807 <ref name=NZ>Statistics New Zealand - 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings - Ethnic Groups</ref>
• 2001 Census: 1,176 <ref name=NZ>Statistics New Zealand - 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings - Ethnic Groups</ref>
  • 465 in Auckland Region
  • 690 in Wellington Region
  • "Unemployment rates highest for Somalis (37.2 percent) and Assyrians (40.0 percent)."
  • "The particular ethnic groups with the highest proportions affiliated to a Christian denomination were Assyrian (99.0 percent) and Filipino (95.1 percent)."
  • English spoken: 774, no English: 348; Number of Languages Spoken: 1: 225, 2: 405, 3: 423, 4: 63, 5: 3

Homeland Statistics

Iran

1986 Census: 32,000 <ref> Country-data.com - Iran - Appendix. Tables </ref>

Syria

• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on October 2005 reported that out of the 700,000 Iraqis who took refuge in Syria between October 2003 and March 2005, 36 percent were "Iraqi Christians."

References

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