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Assyrians in Armenia
Ethnic group in Armenia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Assyrians in Armenia (Syriac: ܣܘܪ̈ܝܐ ܕܐܪܡܢܝܐ, Armenian: Ասորիները Հայաստանում, romanized: Asorinery Hayastanum), or Armenian Assyrians, are Assyrian people or people of Assyrian descent living in the Republic of Armenia. Genetically distinct from the Armenian population,[3] they make up the country's third largest ethnic minority, after Yazidis and Russians.
According to the 2022 Armenian census, there are 2,755 Assyrians living in Armenia,[4] and Armenia is home to some of the last surviving Assyrian communities in the Caucasus. The majority of Assyrians living in the country are originally from Urmia, and continue to refer to themselves as Urmijenāye to designate their place of origin.[5]
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History
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Ancient history
The Assyrian–Armenian interrelations and interactions history numbers many centuries, both in pre-Christian and post-Christian era.[6] According to the legend, the Armenian patriarch Hayk defeated the evil Assyrian ruler Bel in an epic battle, in order to win his people's freedom. He named this territory Hayastan, and the Armenians are still using this name. This legend is a part of Armenia's rich and storied history, where Armenian heroes fought against evil invaders and conquerors for their freedom. There is also the story of the Armenian king Ara the Beautiful who refused Assyrian Queen Semiramis’s offer to a marriage and become king of the world.[7] Semiramis outraged by Ara's refusal, wages a war against Armenia and demands Ara's capture alive.
Prior to their acceptance of Christianity, Armenians and Assyrians were considered to be bitter foes, engaging in conflict during the Urartu–Assyria War.[8] The conflict resulted in an Assyrian victory, and Urartu became a client state of ancient Assyria. Both states shares aspects of their culture such as writing and artwork.[7] Armenians also had a prominent presence in Edessa and made contacts with Assyrians in areas where the Syriac Orthodox Church had episcopal sees such as Adana and Anazarbus.[9] Armenians traditionally called Assyrians "Asori" (Armenian: ասորի), and many Armenian Christian figures were of Assyrian origins.[6]
Modern history
Today's Assyrian population in Armenia are mostly descendants of settlers who arrived in the early nineteenth century during the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828), when thousands of refugees fled their homeland in the areas around Urmia in Persia.[10][11][12][13] Like with Assyrians in Azerbaijan, emigration was influenced by the Russian Empire after the treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay, when they annexed territories held by Qajar Iran.[14][15][16] A total of 20 families settled in the now-abandoned town of Gelaysor, marking the first instance of Assyrian emigration to the country as well as emigration creating an Assyrian diaspora.[17] Under Russian influence, Assyrian immigrants adopted Orthodox Christianity and had their last names Russified.[10][18][19]
In the beginning of the 20th century, a new wave of immigration occurred from what is today Southeastern Turkey, specifically the Hakkari region, due to the Assyrian genocide.[13] As many Armenians fled Anatolia for what is today Armenia, many Assyrians followed as well, citing it as the only "Christian haven" in the region (although many also fled to Georgia). There were seven Assyrian villages in the country during this time, and the population reached 2,500 before World War I.[16]
In the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, Assyrians were primarily educated in Russian language schools and their language was latinized.[20] Despite introduction of the language, Russification policies caused schools to be closed in the 1930s.[21] Gelaysor had been abandoned by the 1940s after Stalinist repression and Soviet deportations,[19] and some of the population had resettled in other villages.[22] Starting in the 1970s, the Armenian SSR began to reintroduce Assyrian language into village schools, and after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a linguistic and cultural revival began to take place as Assyrians wanted greater understanding of their roots.[23][21] Amid the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, Assyrians in Azerbaijan would flee to Russia and Armenia, as well as the Republic of Artsakh.[24]
On the eve of the Eastern al-Hasakah offensive and attacks on Assyrian villages in Syria in 2015, Gagik Yeganyan of the Armenian State Migration Service stated that Armenia was willing to accept Assyrian refugees fleeing the country.[25]
In 2020, amid the Second Nagorno-Karabakh war, many Assyrians from Armenia volunteered to fight or provide assistance to the Armed Forces of Armenia for the defense of Artsakh against Azerbaijan.[26] Five Assyrian soldiers had been killed by November of 2020, with six additional servicemen wounded and two who were missing in action.[27] Anahit Khosroeva, a genocide scholar of Assyrian descent from Armenia, estimated that more than 100 Assyrians were fighting for Armenia. AssyriaTV, a station based in Europe, arrived to Armenia to report the war as well as talk to the Assyrian families who lost their sons in the war.[28] During the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh as part of the larger Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, PM Zemfira Mirzoyeva testified how Artsakh's Assyrian community had been unable to leave the region due to the actions of the Azerbaijani government.[29]
In 2022, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East Awa III met with Karekin II of the Armenian Apostolic Church where both emphasized the positive relations between Assyrians and Armenians.[30] Awa III consecrated the Church of the Assyrian community of Armenia during his visit. In 2025, the Assyrian World Conference was held in Yerevan,[31] with Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan emphasizing the importance of Assyrians to Armenian society.[32]
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Discrimination
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In 2004, Assyrian residents of Dimitrov alleged that they were discriminated against due to their non-Armenian origin, as they had failed to receive local aid from government authorities.[33] The Armenian government was quick to deny the allegations, and Hranush Kharatyan stated that discontent with the Dimitrov village chief was high even among ethnic Armenians for the same reasons.
In 2021, Assyrians in Armenia protested against a decision by the Armenian government to have their towns governed by one mayor.[34] Nikademus Youkhanaev, a priest of the Assyrian Church of the East in Armenia, stated that the decision would cause problems regarding the erosion of Assyrian culture and identity in Armenia.
The Azerbaijani Center for International Relations Analysis states that from 2015-2018, no grants were given to the Assyrian community through the "Support to National Minorities" program, and that Assyrian schools are inadequate in teaching history and language; these sentiments have also been echoed by community leaders.[35][36] In 2019, a dispute broke out over the ownership of a church in Dimitrov, with attempts to solve the dispute by the village head being unsuccessful.[37] Irana Gasparyan, an Assyrian community leader in Armenia, alleges that Assyrians face invisible discrimination in preserving culture and the Armenian workforce.[38][39]
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Culture
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Assyrians in Armenia today mostly belong to Assyrian Church of the East, receiving their first ACOE priest in 2003, but may also attend the Russian Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic churches.[23] They mostly work in the fields of gardening, agriculture[5][21] and viniculture. The Assyrian community in the country has mostly acclimated to the environment, siding with Armenian causes and even married into mixed-Armenian families.[40][12][41] Generally, positive relations are maintained between the two groups in the country and in both the Armenian and Assyrian diasporas.[7]
The Assyrian community in Armenia receives an annual message of congratulations on the occasion of Kha b-Nisan (Assyrian New Year) on April 1st.[42][43][44][45] Other ACOE-specific holidays are also observed,[22] and general facets of Assyrian culture such as Khigga, cuisine, and music are also expressed.[22]
In 2003, the community established the "Assyrian Center BetNahrain", a club that promotes the studying and dissemination of the Assyrian language, culture, history and traditions, to the general public.[46] In 2024, the Assyrian Church of the East Relief Organization opened the "NINWEH" community center in Verin Dvin.[47] There is also an Assyrian Association, 'Atour', in the Armenian capital of Yerevan.[48][49] Assyrian culture has begun a revival process in the country, with greater language/culture education and religious initiatives taking place across Assyrian communities in the country.[5] The Armenian government offers finances and support to Assyrians in the country for programs related to the language, including radio hours.[50] However, according to Razmik Khosroev, the Armenian government is not doing a sufficient job in allocating cultural development programs for Assyrians as no sufficient policy exists for minorities in the state, and concerns of Armenianization/cultural preservation remain.[36]
In 2012, a memorial to the Assyrian genocide was enacted in Yerevan and unveiled in a ceremony with Armenian government representatives and Assyrians from the country.[51] The memorial contains inscriptions in Armenian, Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, and Russian, and memorial ceremonies are commemorated annually on Assyrian Martyrs Day.[52] Three years later, the National Assembly of Armenia officially recognized the Assyrian genocide alongside the Greek genocide.[53] Annually on April 24th, the Assyrian community commemorates Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day at the Tsitsernakaberd memorial complex.[54][55]
Education
There are four public schools that are providing instructions in Assyrian Neo-Aramaic. Each village inhabited by Assyrians has instructions fully in the language, with additional lessons on culture and history at schools.[56] They are usually taught in a multilingual environment and can speak Armenian and Russian as well. Many Assyrians in Armenia desire Russian-language education after learning Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, with more stating fluency in Russian in the 2011 census.[57]
- The Secondary School of Verin Dvin village (250 students in 2008)
- The Secondary School of Arzni village (114 students in 2008)
- The Secondary School of Dimitrov village (68 students in 2008)
- Alexander Pushkin no. 8 secondary School of Yerevan (8 students in 2008)
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Demographics
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There were 6,000 Assyrians in Armenia before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, but because of Armenia's struggling economy during the 1990s, the population has since been cut by half, as many have emigrated to Russia or Ukraine.[19][58]
The Assyrian population in Armenia is mainly rural. Out of 3,409 Assyrians in Armenia in 2001, 2,885 (84.6%) lived in rural settlements while 524 (15.4%) were urban.[59] In the 2022 census, 347 Assyrians lived in cities while the remainder lived in villages.[4] According to the Council of Europe European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, there were four rural settlements in the country with a significant Assyrian population:
- Arzni in Kotayk Province - Assyrians and Armenians
- Verin Dvin, Ararat Province - Assyrians and Armenians. The town has a functioning church (Mar-Tuma) and the Marez Chapel,[60][58] and 80% of the town's population is ethnically Assyrian.
- Dimitrov, Ararat Province - Assyrians and Armenians. 25% of the town's population is ethnically Assyrian.[50]
- Nor Artagers in Armavir Province - Assyrians, Armenians and Yezidis. 256 Assyrians live in the village.[61]
Verin Dvin has the largest Assyrian population anywhere in the country. Aside from rural settlements, Assyrians also live in the Armenian capital of Yerevan and formerly in the Republic of Artsakh.[62] During the 2015 census for the Republic of Artsakh, 16 Assyrians were recorded as having lived there, while the overwhelming majority of the population were ethnic Armenians.[63]
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Notable people
- Lina Yakubova (1976 – 2011), documentary film maker and producer
Gallery
Assyrian genocide memorial in Yerevan
St. Kirill Assyrian church in Dimitrov
1938 photo of a young Assyrian in Arzni carrying grass
See also
References
Bibliography
External links
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