From 1937 to 1959, the Assyrian population in the Soviet Union grew by 587.3 percent.[33]
Former Soviet Union
History
Assyrians came to
Russia and the
Soviet Union in three large waves. The first wave was after the
Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828, that delineated a border between
Russia and
Persia. The second was as a result of the Assyrian genocide during and after
World War I; the third was after
World War II, when the Soviet Union unsuccessfully tried to establish a satellite state in Iran.
Soviet troops withdrew in 1946, and left the Assyrians (who supported the coup) exposed to retaliation identical to that received from the
Turks 30 years earlier. Soviet authorities persecuted Assyrian religious and community leaders in the same way that they persecuted Russians who remained members of the
Russian Orthodox Church.
According to the
Joshua Project, there are about 3,000 Assyrians in Uruguay.[29]
Argentina
Next to Uruguay, in
Argentina the
Syriac Orthodox Church counts with a Patriarchal Vicar.[56] However, the actual number of Assyrians/Syriacs is hard to know because the Argentine Census does not ask for ethnicity. Furthermore, their assimilation rate is very high, as it happens with other Middle Eastern communities settled in the country. There is Assyrian/Syriac presence in
Buenos Aires,
La Plata,
Córdoba,
Salta and
Frías.[57][58] In the past, intellectuals like
Farid Nazha went into exile in Argentina. Although 2,000 Assyrians/Syriacs are listed in Argentina, the actual number may be lower.[30]
Assyrians arrived in
Belgium primarily as refugees from the
Turkish towns of
Midyat and
Mardin in
Tur Abdin. Most belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church, but some belong to the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Their three main settlements are in the
Brussels municipalities of
Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (where their municipal councilman, Christian Democrat Ibrahim Erkan, is originally from Turkey) and
Etterbeek,
Liège and
Mechelen.
Two more councilmen were elected in Etterbeek on October 8, 2006: the Liberal Sandrine Es (whose family is from Turkey) and the Christian Democrat Ibrahim Hanna (from Syria's Khabur region). Flemish author August Thiry wrote Mechelen aan de Tigris (Mechelen on the Tigris) about Assyrian refugees from Hassana in the southeastern Turkish district of
Silopi. Municipal candidate Melikan Kucam is one of them. In the
October 14, 2012 municipal elections, Kucam was elected in Mechelen as a member of the
Flemisch nationalistsN-VA.
An estimated 20,000 Assyrians live in
France, primarily concentrated in the northern French suburbs of
Sarcelles (where several thousand Chaldean Catholics live) and in
Gonesse and
Villiers-le-Bel. They are from several villages in southeastern
Turkey.[59][60]
Since they were persecuted throughout the 20th century, many Assyrians arrived from Turkey seeking a better life. The first large wave arrived during the 1960s and 1970s as part of the gastarbeiter (guest worker) economic program. Germany was seeking immigrant workers (largely from Turkey) and many Assyrians, seeing opportunities for freedom and success, applied for visas. Assyrians began working in restaurants or in construction, and many began operating their own shops. The first Assyrian immigrants in Germany organized by forming culture clubs and building churches. The second wave came in the 1980s and 1990s as refugees from the
Kurdish–Turkish conflict.
The first Assyrian migrants arrived in
Greece in 1934, and settled in
Makronisos (today uninhabited),
Keratsini,
Pireus,
Egaleo and
Kalamata.[62] The vast majority of Assyrians (about 2,000) live in
Peristeri, a suburb of
Athens.[63] There are five Christian Assyrian marriages recorded at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Athens in 1924–25 (the transcripts can be viewed on St. Paul's Anglican Church website), indicating the arrival of refugees at that time.
The first Assyrians came to the
Netherlands in the 1970s, primarily from Turkey and observing the
West Syriac Rite. The number of Assyrians in the country is estimated at 25,000 to 35,000. They primarily live in the eastern Netherlands, in
Enschede,
Hengelo,
Oldenzaal and
Borne in the province of
Overijssel.
In the late 1970s, about 12,000 Assyrians from
Turkey,
Iran,
Iraq and
Syria emigrated to
Sweden. Although they considered themselves persecuted for religious and ethnic reasons, they were not recognized as refugees. Those who had lived in Sweden for a longer period received residence permits for humanitarian reasons.[64]
Södertälje is considered the unofficial Assyrian capital of Europe because of the city's high percentage of Assyrians.[citation needed] The Assyrian TV channels
Suryoyo Sat and
Suroyo TV are based in
Södertälje. From 2005 to 2006 and since 2014, the Assyrian
Ibrahim Baylan has been a minister in the Swedish government.
About 8,000 Assyrians live in the
United Kingdom, primarily in
London and
Manchester. The first Assyrians arrived during the 1850s, most immigration began in the 1950s.[59]
^Minahan, James (2002). Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 206.
ISBN9780313321092. The Assyrians, although closely assiociated with their Christian religion, are divided among a number of Christian sects. The largest denominations are the Chaldean Catholic Church with about 45% of the Assyrian population, the Syriac Orthodox with 26%, the Assyrian Church of the East with 19%, the free Orthodox Church of Antioch or Syriac Catholic Church with 4%, and various Protestant sects with a combined 6%.
^Shoup, John A. (2018), "Syria", The History of Syria,
ABC-CLIO, p. 6,
ISBN978-1440858352, Syria has several other ethnic groups, the Kurds... they make up an estimated 9 percent...Turkomen comprise around 4-5 percent. of the total population. The rest of the ethnic mix of Syria is made of Assyrians (about 4 percent), Armenians (about 2 percent), and Circassians (about 1 percent).
^SIL EthnologueArchived 2012-10-18 at the
Wayback Machine "Turoyo [tru] 3,000 in Turkey (1994 Hezy Mutzafi). Ethnic population: 50,000 to 70,000 (1994). Hértevin [hrt] 1,000 (1999 H. Mutzafi). Originally Siirt Province. They have left their villages, most emigrating to the West, but some may still be in Turkey." See also
Christianity in Turkey.
^Youri Bromlei et al., Processus ethniques en U.R.S.S., Editions du Progrès, 1977
^
abcEden Naby, "Les Assyriens d'Union soviétique," Cahiers du Monde russe, 16/3-4. 1975
^A. Chatelet (Supérieur de la mission catholique de Téhéran), Question assyro-chaldéenne, Quartier général - Bureau de la Marine, Constantinople, 31 août 1919
^
abAn Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires, by James Stuart Olson, Lee Brigance Pappas, Nicholas Charles
^"2000 Michigan Census". Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2017.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link)
^"2000 California Census". Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2017.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link)
^"2000 Illinois Census". Archived from the original on February 10, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2017.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link)
^Kinarah: Twentieth Anniversary of Assyrian Australian Association 1989, Assyrian Australian Association,
Edensor Park.
^Community Relations Commission For a Multicultural NSW 2004, Cultural Harmony. The Next Decade 2002-2012 (White Paper), New South Wales Government, Sydney South.
Eden Naby, The Iranian Frontier Nationalities: The Kurds, the Assyrians, the Baluch and the Turkmens, in: McCagg and Silver (eds) Soviet Asian Ethnic Frontiers, New York, Pergamon Press, 1979
Ethno-linguistic group(s) indigenous to the
Middle East with various additional/alternate self-identifications, such as Syriacs, Arameans, or Chaldeans