ASSYRIAN DIASPORA

Since World War I, the 'Assyrian diaspora' has steadily increased so that there are now more Assyrians living in western and eastern European countries (including Australia) and North America, 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 Turks' 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. Codeswitiching Worldwide II, by Rodolfo Jacobson [1]

Contents
Current number of Assyrians in all countries
Historic Census
Former Soviet Union
USSR Census
Russia
Armenia
Georgia
Ukraine
Kazakhstan
Near East
Lebanon
Israel, Palestine, Jordan
The Americas
Argentina
Canada
United States
Europe
Belgium
France
Greece
Netherlands
Sweden
Pacific
Australia
New Zealand
Homeland Statistics
Syria
References
Bibliography

Current number of Assyrians in all countries


Rank Country Centres of Assyrian population № of Assyrians Further info
1Baghdad, Nineveh plains, Dohuk800,000+Assyrians in Iraq
2Damascus qamishli al hassakeh500,000Assyrians in Syria
390,000Assyrians in Germany
4Michigan, Illinois, California83,000 (2000 Census)Assyrians in the United States
580,000Assyrians in Sweden
6Amman77,000
724,000 (2001 Census)Assyrians in Australia
815,000Assyrians in France
9 14,000 (2002 Census)Assyrians in Russia
10Urmia, Tehran 10,000Assyrians in Iran
11Peristeri, Athens8,000
128,000
13Windsor, Hamilton, Toronto7,000 (2001 Census)Assyrians in Canada
145,000
15Tur Abdin, Istanbul, Hakkâri5,000Assyrians in Turkey
165,000Assyrians in the Netherlands
17 5,000
183,500 (2001 Census)Assyrians in Armenia
193,500
20 3,300 (2002 Census)Assyrians in Georgia
213,200 (2001 Census)
221,700 (2006 Census)

Historic Census


Former Soviet Union

History[1]


Assyrians in Russia protesting Iraq Church bombings in 2006

Assyrians came to Russia and the Soviet Union in three main waves: The first wave was after the Treaty of Turkmenchay 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 World War I.
The third wave came after World War II, 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. From 1937 to 1959, the Assyrian population in USSR grew by 587.3%[2]
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)[3]

★ 1919 refugee status:
:8,000 - 7,000 "Assyro-Chaldean" refugees in Tbilissi[4]
:2,000 Assyrians in Yerevan[4]
:15,000 Assyrians from Hakkari, 10,000 from Urmia and Salmas in the Russian region of Rostov[6]

★ 1926 census: 9,808 Assyrians (''Aisor'')[4]

★ 1959 census: 21,083 Assyrians[8]

★ 1970 census: 24,294 Assyrians[9]

★ 1979 census: 25,170 Assyrians[10]

★ 1989 census: 26,289 Assyrians[8]
Russia


★ 1989 census: 9,600 Assyrians, of whom 4,742 spoke Assyrian; 1,738 in the Krasnodar region[1]

★ 2002 census: 13,649 Assyrians (ассирийцы)[13]
Armenia


★ 1926 census:[9] 21,215 Assyrians

★ 1989 (Soviet) census:[15] 5,963 Assyrians

★ 2001 census:[16] 3,409 Assyrians (3rd minority ethnic group after Yazidis and Russians): 524 urban, 2,485 rural
Georgia


★ 1926 census: 2,904 Assyrians[9]

★ 1989 census: 6,206 AssyriansEurominority - Assyrians in Georgia

★ 2002 census: 3,299 AssyriansEurominority - Assyrians in Georgia
Ukraine


★ 2001 census: 3,143[18]
Kazakhstan


★ 2005 estimates: 540[19]


★ 270 in Almaty

Near East


Lebanon

'estimates on December 31, 1944, by province (Muhafazat)'[20]
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[21] 1944 estimates[20] 1954 estimates[21]
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

Israel, Palestine, Jordan

The Americas


Argentina


★ August 1919: 2,000 Assyro-Chaldeans refugees, most of all young people[24]
Canada

2001 Census: Assyrian - 6,980
United States


★ 1990 census: 46,099 Assyrians[25]


★ 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"[26]


★ Unemployment: 9.1%

★ 2000 census: 82,355 Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac[27]


★ 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%)



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 Park, Illinois: 1,035 (0.8%)


★ Syriac language: 46,932[28]

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, the Christian Democrat Ibrahim Erkan, originally from Turkey -, Brussels and Etterbeek), Liège and in Mechelen. Since the October 8, 2006 municipal elections they've got two more councilmen, in Etterbeek, the Liberal Sandrine Es (whose family came from Turkey) and the Christian Democrat Ibrahim Hanna (originally from Syria's Khabur region). The Christian Democrat candidate in Mechelen, Melikan Kucam, was not elected. The Flemish writer August Thiry wrote the book ''Mechelen aan de Tigris'' (Mechelen on Tigris) about the Assyrian refugees from the village of Hassana in SE Turkey, district of Silopi. Melikan Kucam was one of them.
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.[29] Today, the vast majority of Assyrians live in Peristeri, a suburb of Athens, and they number about 2,000.[30]
There are five Assyrian Christian marriages recorded at St. Pauls Anglican Church in Athens in 1924-25 (the transcripts can be viewed on St. Pauls Anglican Church website), thus indicating the beginning of the appearance of refugees at that time. The absence of further marriages at St. Pauls possibly indicates the arrival of a Nestorian clergyman in Athens shortly after 1925.
Netherlands

Assyrians in Holland protesting for the recognition of the Assyrian genocide

The first Assyrians came to the Netherlands in the 1970s; most of them were Western Assyrians from Turkey. Today the number of Assyrians is estimated to be between the 25,000 and 35,000 and mainly live in the east of the country, in the province of Overijssel, in such cities as Enschede, Hengelo, Almelo and Borne.
Sweden

Main articles: Assyrians in 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.[31]
As with other Northern European countries, there is a dividing line in Sweden between the Aramaic speaking Christians. While the vast majority consider themselves Assyrian, there is a sizeable minority who refer to themselves as Syriac (Syrianska in Swedish.) They are mostly members of the Syriac Orthodox Church, but its important to note that not all Syriac Orthodox members idenity with being Syriac only, as the majority of those who call themselves Assyrian are Syraic Orthodox as well.[32]
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 TV which broadcast in the Assyrian language is also based in Sweden.
Between 2005 and 2006, there was an Assyrian minister in the Swedish government, Ibrahim Baylan.

Pacific


Australia


★ 1996 census: 11,931 who spoke Assyrian (no ethnicity census in 1996) http://www.swsahs.nsw.gov.au/areaser/Startts/services/comm-assyrian.asp
:
★ 9,595 in New South Wales
:
★ 2,177 in Victoria (Australia)
:
★ 7,500 originally from Iraq and 4,000 originally from Iran.
:
★ 27% are Chaldean Catholic

★ 2001 Census: 23,367
:
★ 18,667 Assyrians[33]
::45.9% Catholic, 49.0 Orthodox
:
★ 4,700 Iraqi Christian[34]
::74.3% Catholic, 24.0% Orthodox
New Zealand


★ 1991 census: 315Statistics New Zealand - 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings - Ethnic Groups

★ 1996 census: 807Statistics New Zealand - 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings - Ethnic Groups

★ 2001 Census: 1,176Statistics New Zealand - 2001 Census of Population and Dwellings - Ethnic Groups


★ 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

★ 2006 census: 1,683 [35]

Homeland Statistics


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% were "Iraqi Christians."

References



1. Assyrians, Center for Russian Studies, NUPI - Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
2. An Ethnic History of Russia: pre-revolutionary times to the present By Tatiana Mastyugina, Lev Perepelkin, Vitaly Naumkin [3]
3. Youri Bromlei et al., Processus ethniques en U.R.S.S., Editions du Progrès, 1977
4. Eden Naby, “Les Assyriens d'Union soviétique,” Cahiers du Monde russe, 16/3-4. 1975
5. Eden Naby, “Les Assyriens d'Union soviétique,” Cahiers du Monde russe, 16/3-4. 1975
6. A. Chatelet (Supérieur de la mission catholique de Téhéran), Question assyro-chaldéenne, Quartier général - Bureau de la Marine, Constantinople, 31 août 1919
7. Eden Naby, “Les Assyriens d'Union soviétique,” Cahiers du Monde russe, 16/3-4. 1975
8. An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires, By James Stuart Olson, Lee Brigance Pappas, Nicholas Charles
9. Eden Naby 1975
10. Annuaire démographique des Nations-Unies 1983, Département des affaires économiques et sociales internationales, New York, 1985
11. An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires, By James Stuart Olson, Lee Brigance Pappas, Nicholas Charles
12. Assyrians, Center for Russian Studies, NUPI - Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
13. 2002 census
14. Eden Naby 1975
15. Armenian Helsinki Committee - Reflections over Annual Report on International Religious Freedom: Armenia
16. 2001 Armenian Census - De Jure Population (Urban, Rural) by Age and Ethnicity
17. Eden Naby 1975
18. All-Ukriane population census 2001
19. Assyrian cultural center in Kazakhstan
20. Albert H. Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World, London: Oxford University Press, 1947
21. Kenneth C. Bruss, Lebanon - Area and population, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1963
22. Albert H. Hourani, Minorities in the Arab World, London: Oxford University Press, 1947
23. Kenneth C. Bruss, Lebanon - Area and population, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1963
24. Chatelet 1919
25. U.S. Bureau of the Census - Selected Characteristics for Persons of Assyrian Ancestry: 1990
26. 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
27. US Census, QT-P13. Ancestry: 2000
28. U.S. Census 2000, Language Spoken at Home for the Foreign-Born Population 5 Years and Over: 1980 to 2000
29. Zinda Magazine - May 10, 1999 - The Assyrian Union of Greece
30. Ethnologue report for Greece
31. Swedish Minister for Development Co-operation, Migration and Asylum Policy, Migration 2002, June 2002
32. Dan Lundberg, ''Christians from the Middle East'', A virtual Assyria
33. Australian Census Analytic Program: Australians' Ancestries, 2001
34. http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/free.nsf/Lookup/C41A78D7568811B9CA256E9D0077CA12/$File/20540_2001%20(corrigendum).pdf
35. New Zealand 2006 census


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

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