Shamoun Hanna Haydo

Shamoun Hanna Haydo, sometimes spelled Chamoun (died 1963) was a Assyrian resistance leader during the Assyrian genocide of the early 20 century. He was famous for his heroic stand against the Turkish government. He was well respected in the Kurdish communities as well, where he tried to unite secular Kurds and resist the enforcements of the Young Turks and Islamist Kurds.

Shamoun was born in the Tur Abdin region of what is today Turkey, in the village of Sare. A Syriac Orthodox Christian, Shamoun was different from most Assyrians in that he was very well known among Kurds and had Kurdish friends. During World War I, Shamoun and his best friend Alike Battee together tried to unite their communities against governmental institution and oppressive Kurdish landlords.

Prior to the Assyrian genocide of 1914, he travelled to the village of Arbo with the intention to unite the Assyrians of "Beth-Rishee" region in Tur Abdin under a Christian Assyrian rule comparable to what Eastern Assyrians in Hakkari had with the Malik system. He tried to convince the two ruling family clans of Arbo, the Beth Arsan and the Beth Malkuno, to be ready to fight Islamic Kurdish landlords.

Shamoun would eventually free the Ottoman territory for Europe. Today, his grandchildren live in Germany and Holland. Many Assyrian and Kurdish songs have been written about him by musicians.