Assyrian nationalism

The Assyrian national movement describes a moving of Christian intellectuals political movement in Syria and Mesopotamia, which aims at enlightening, ethnically and culturally justified demonstrative national identification and preservation Nations.

It is intended for the preservation of national integrity of this people and against the assimilation of the people in the Islamic and Arab environment of Nahostens.

Objectives and development

In the Department of Anthropology at the University of Leipzig this Assyrian movement is equated with the Assyrismus. With it should establish itself with the appeal to ancient traditions and current circumstances, a reorganization of the pan- Mesopotamian ideas values ​​and a Umwandelung in the social, cultural and political construction of Christian Syro- Mesopotamian society. This movement is called by some Assyrian thinkers as " Assyrian Liberation Movement ". That based on the resistance to the genocide as well as the later attempts establishing an Assyrian state in the Ursiedlungsgebieten the Syrian Christians in the areas of Tur Abdin, Urmia, Hakkari, the Mosul - level and the Syrian Dschesireh.

In her mind values ​​is believed to an ethnic group as the descendants of the ancient Mesopotamian and Syrian merged into each other peoples. She believes in a common origin of the indigenous peoples of Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. These reasons on the Syro- Mesopotamian empires of the Sumerians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, Assyrians, Syrians and Phoenicians of antiquity. It justifies this origin on the membership of a historic home. But also to the common history, common ailments and common customs. This connectedness is expressed in the common Syriac language is also assumed a common cultural heritage, resulting also from a shared Christian tradition. The populations in which the Assyrian national movement is active, include the following churches: The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and the whole East, the Syrian Catholic Church of Antioch and the whole East, the Syriac Maronite Church of Antioch, the Old Holy Apostolic Church of the East ( under Patriarch Mar Addai II ), the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Melktische ( Greek Catholic ) Church of Antioch, the Rum Orthodox Church of Antioch and many Protestant congregations in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.

The spiritual core of this national movement was a synthesis of a sense of belonging, a national consciousness and a merry - liberal patriotism of country Mesopotamia. Concepts such as nation and fatherland were made literary and musical tangible. Sometimes these mixed with a Christian religious upbringing. This national movement is strongly influenced by the genocide of the Assyrians, and all the suffering, massacres and deportation suffered under which this people.

The Assyrian national movement is not an institutional movement. But she aims with their thoughts on solving the Assyrian National Question. In it, the pan- mesopotamistische thought found its special expression. It has triggered a yearning for this nation: the establishment of an independent state.

The development of the national movement fell in the various denominations - because of the different expression of national identity and the different levels of development in the countries of the Nahostens and the Diaspora in which the Assyrians lived - each different. The calls for unity of the people were loud, but could limit the impact of confessionalism in the Syrian Christians limited.

Organizations

The national movement is sometimes shortened in the work of some political organizations and associations. Some Assyrian intellectuals see them as topsoil of the Assyrian national movement in the mid-20th century and as a reaction to the policies of the existing political parties and directions of Nahostens.

The political organizations played an important role in the spread of national consciousness, but they are only a part of many social institutions of the Assyrians. They were important foundations for the establishment of the national movement, however, have failed to provide a unified political and administrative project.

Thus, by its own account was the foundation of the " Assyrian Democratic Organization " (ADO ) in Syria, a Coronation of the establishment of the national movement across denominational in the Syriac Christians in Mesopotamia. The foundation of the "Assyrian National Alliance" ( AUA) in Iran could offer many Assyrians in Mesopotamia and in the Diaspora an institutional organization that has been an important step in establishing an Assyrian lobbies for the pursuit of national goals. The establishment of other political organizations later as the " Assyrian Democratic Movement " (ADM) in Iraq and Shuraya in Lebanon, countries progress in a politicized national movement could be specific. This could also crystallize the political vision of this nation in all its denominations.

The foundation of the "Assyrian American Federation " as a non-denominational umbrella organization of US-based clubs and associations was not just a lobbying establishment, but a collection of scattered in the U.S. associations and clubs in an influential Institute for the representation of the people.

Furthermore, the establishment of associations Assyrian Associations in Sweden and Central Europe, the national movement in Europe could offer a home. They are a platform for national besinnten intellectuals and artists, which these institutions sometimes asked an opportunity for development and growth.

Stark was also present, the influence of missionaries in certain areas and especially in Iran where later the Assyrian Universal Alliance (long -time chairman, the U.S. former Senator John Namrud ) was founded. In this country, in 1840 the first newspaper was published in the Syrian language.

The Aramaic flow should be a part of the development of the national movement. Is not entirely clear just what degree the influence of flow - but not always clearly detectable directions may be attributed to the current national movement. The Assyrian nation after the imagination of their national movement, was, with all its cultural properties for thousands of years. You want the further development of the ancient peoples of the Syro- Mesopotamian space and its high culture. The Aramäisierung on the linguistic level was already thousands of years ago in the Assyrian and Babylonian times. She was accompanied by a political and cultural and religious Assyrisierung Babylonisierung ( Chaldäerisierung ) and Syriansieung ( Christianity ).