Assyrian Democratic Organization ADO
Creator of Sargon Book Publishing in Sweden
Chamoun danho
A Writer from Syria
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The Assyrian torments in southeast Turkey (mountains of Hakkari, Turabdin Nsibin, Omid, Mardin ?Merde? and Urhoy “?Edessa”) did not end once the racial cleansing campaigns against them during the years 1914-1918 had stopped.
The Assyrians did not know peace and tranquility even when Turkey became a secular state in 1924 under Kamal Ataturk and modern Kurdish parties replacing the Kurdish “Aghas” and feudalists began to spring out. Turkey did not acknowledge the racial cleansing campaigns, which forced thousands of Assyrians out of their historical homelands and did not admit in its constitution their historical presence in northern Mesopotamia. Yet instead, Turkey went on giving Turkish names to most of the Assyrian villages in south east Turkey in an attempt to wipe out all remaining aspects of the Assyrian culture.
Turkey prohibited as well teaching or speaking the ancient Syriac (the Assyrians? language) and formed, just like the Hamidite troops which were created by the Sultan Abdul Hamid in 1890, Kurdish militias named as “Guards of the villages” to strike the Assyrians and the Armenians. By creating these militias, Turkey’s objective was obvious and twofold; to sow dissension among the Kurds themselves and to expel the remaining Assyrians population out of south east Turkey. When the Kurdish Labors Party (PKK) started to gain grounds after declaring armed conflict against the Turkish government in 1984, this liberal party put tremendous pressure on the Assyrians and Kurdish villages so they would provide money, refuge, food and clothing for its members. When the Assyrians responded to these demands in fear of vengeance and slaughters, Turkish tanks and military troopers would come to destroy these villages and burn their lands and crops as a punishment for supporting the Kurdish rebels, for example the incidents that took place during the 1990s in the villages of Hassana, Midon, Dayro du Slibo, Deiro d Qoubo and others.
The same happened the other way around, for example the incident that took place in the Assyrian village of Bnaybeel when the PKK assassinated in 1990 four of the village’s socialites after accusing them of helping the Turkish government whereas the truth reveals that these four men stood firmly against the destructive departure of the Assyrians from Tur-Abdin. Thus, the real purpose for killing those men was to terrorize the villagers and force them to opt for departure as a solution for safety. What is more irritating is that the ?Kurdish Hezbollah? has also taken his share of horrific assassinations that targeted the Assyrians educated elite along with innocent people and children, presenting unconvincing religious reasons, which has nothing to do with Islam. All these harassments and assaults led to the expelling of more than 150 thousand Assyrians from Tur-Abdin Mountains since the breakout of the Kurdish Labor Party revolution against the Turkish government not to mention the 1924 mass departure of the Assyrians from the city of ?Urhoy? (Edessa) to escape the Kurdish and Turkish tyranny.
The departed Assyrians built in Aleppo next to their fellow citizens the Christian Assyrians and the Muslims their own neighborhood, which was named after them and still exist till today ?Hay Al-Surian? (The Assyrian Neighborhood). Along with pain, bitterness and tormenting memories of their homeland, the Assyrians who were expelled out of Turkey carried the racial cleansing files to European parliaments of Sweden, Germany and Netherlands. Recently, the Swiss parliament voted over a proposition to acknowledge the racial cleansing committed by the Turks in collaboration with the Kurdish tribes but it failed to pass by only two votes.
Today, Assyrian parties and organizations in Europe are sparing no efforts to prevent Turkey’s adherence to the European Union until it acknowledges the horrible racial cleansing campaigns committed against the Assyrians while stressing on the necessity that Turkey should respect human rights and tangibly acknowledge the national and religious diversity of the Turkish society
This Article Also Appeared in Al-Quds Al-Arabi Newspaper on 5- 5- 2002 – Issue No. 3960
