Syria's Assyrians Threatened By Extremists, by Tareq al-Abed, Al Monitor
Demographically-speaking, the period between 1915 and 1923 constituted the peak of displacement of Assyrians along with Armenians from the north of Al-Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) to the center of the country (Syria). Then, there was similar Kurdish displacement. Sources indicated that the Assyrians were persecuted during the French occupation after they refused to convert to Catholicism. The sources also indicated that they were displaced again after they fought with the Kurds in Amouda in Hasakah province in 1937.
"The number of Assyrians in Syria is estimated at 400,000, and they are distributed between Hasakah, Qamishli, Malikiya and Aleppo, which accommodates most of them. Assyrians are less present in Damascus and Saidnaya, and 350,000 Assyrians live abroad.
"According to information, Assyrians built churches wherever they settled, while preserving their own prayer and music rituals. This clearly appears in the Assyrian neighborhood in Aleppo, where displaced Assyrians from the Turkish Urfa region reside, and in Qamishli and Hasakah, where Assyrian hymns, prayers and traditions live on."
RSS Feed