Assyrians in Armenia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Assyrians in Armenia (Armenian: Ասորիներ, Asoriner) make up the country's third largest ethnic minority, after Yazidis and Russians. According to the 2001 census, there are 3,409 Assyrians living in Armenia[1], and Armenia is home to some of the last surviving Assyrian communities.[2] There were 6,000 Assyrians in Armenia before the break up of USSR, but because of Armenia's struggling economy, the population has been cut by half, as many have fled to Russian areas (Kazan, Moscow) with significant Assyrian populations.
Contents |
[edit] History
Assyrians were living in what is today the Republic of Armenia during ancient times, as the Kingdom of Urartu was under the Assyrian empire from 825 BC to 617 BC. Today's Assyrian population in Armenia are descendants of settlers who came starting in the early nineteenth century during the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828), when thousands refugees fled their homeland in the areas around Urmia in Persia. In the beginning of the 20th century, many came from what is today Southeastern Turkey, specifically the Hakkari region, where it was common to have Assyrians and Armenians living in the same villages. Assyrians, like their Armenian neighbors, suffered during a genocide by the Ottoman Turks, in which an estimated 275,000 Assyrians perished.[3] 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. Throughout history, relations between the Assyrians and Armenian majority have tended to be friendly, as both groups have practiced Christianity since ancient times and have suffered through Islamic persecution.
[edit] Current situation
The Assyrians have managed to both integrate with Armenian society and maintain their own ethnic identity, as there are classes teaching the Assyrian language. Most Assyrians are fluent in Armenian and Russian as well. Assyrians in Armenia today mostly belong to Assyrian Church of the East, but there is a small community belonging to the Chaldean Catholic Church as well. They mostly work in the fields of gardening, agriculture and viniculture. There are big Assyrian communities in the region of Verin Dvin, Arzni and Dmitrov of the Ararat district. There is a Assyrian Youth Center in the Armenian capital, Yerevan. Mixed marriages between Assyrians and Armenians are becoming more common today, where as Assyrians were strictly self-isolated in the two centuries before.
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.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ 2001 Armenian Census - De Jure Population (Urban, Rural) by Age and Ethnicity
- ^ Tour Armenia: Assyrians
- ^ Joseph Yacoub, La question assyro-chaldéenne, les Puissances européennes et la SDN (1908-1938), 4 vol., thèse Lyon, 1985, p.156
- ^ http://www.betnahrain.am/
