Assyrians in Armenia

Assyrians in Armenia (Lang-hy|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 [ [http://docs.armstat.am/census/pdfs/51.pdf 2001 Armenian Census - De Jure Population (Urban, Rural) by Age and Ethnicity] ] , and Armenia is home to some of the last surviving Assyrian communities. [ [http://www.tacentral.com/people.asp?story_no=5 Tour Armenia: Assyrians] ] 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 emigrated to Russian areas (Kazan, Moscow) with significant Assyrian populations.

History

Assyrians and Armenians have had contacts since ancient times, as the Kingdom of Urartu was the regional rival of 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. [Joseph Yacoub, La question assyro-chaldéenne, les Puissances européennes et la SDN (1908-1938), 4 vol., thèse Lyon, 1985, p.156] 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.

Current situation

The Assyrians have managed to both integrate with Armenian society and maintain their own ethnic identity, as there are classes teaching the Aramaic 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 Marz. 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.http://www.betnahrain.am/]

References

ee also

*Armenian-Assyrian relations
*Assyrian people
*Assyrian diaspora
*Assyrian genocide

External links

* [http://www.atour.am/index.htm Assyrian Association of Armenia]
* [http://www.nineveh.com/Assyrian%20Woman%20in%20the%20Days%20of%20Mourning.htm Nineveh: Assyrian Woman in the Days of Mourning]
* [http://www.aina.org/ata/20071105133120.htm Three Essential Issues Facing Assyrians in Armenia]
* [http://www.tacentral.com/people.asp?story_no=5 http://www.tacentral.com/people.asp?story_no=5]