The Fall season of 2020 marks the 87th anniversary of the Simmele massacre of Assyrians in Iraq. It’s likely that you have not heard of this event, but it is an important part of history to countless people in the Middle East and to me as well.
In 1933, the Iraqi military strategically and systematically marched into more than 100 towns and villages of northern Iraq and mercilessly took the life of virtually everyone in sight. Scholars estimate about 6,000 innocent people lost their lives in this horrifying attack, and tens of thousands more were forcibly run out of their homes. Many of them travelled into Syria to settle, with little to no possessions of their own.
No doubt, this was a significant moment in the history of the Assyrian people – a courageous people who have endured incredible amounts of persecution and displacement many times in their history. After all, the Assyrian people originally called the Hakkar mountains of Turkey “home” before being driven out by the Turkish government during the genocide of 1915. Once expelled from Turkey, they were moved just south into northern Iraq under the protection of the British Mandate. This protection only lasted from 1929 until 1932, when the British quickly ended their protection, which they relied upon as Christians and minorities in the region.
When British protection was coming to an end, an agreement with the Iraqis was made to protect the independence of the Assyrian people, but this agreement did not last long once Iraq was granted independence in the Fall of 1932. Within a year, the Iraqi military invaded the villages of the Assyrian people, slaughtering thousands and driving out the rest of the inhabitants. Those who survived, tens of thousands of them, fled across the border into Syria.
This is just one milestone in the history of the Assyrian people, but it is also an all-too-common theme we have been forced to endure time and time again. We remember events like this to educate ourselves on our history, but we also wish to use this reminder as we continue to fight for our future and the hope that one day there will be peace to the Middle East.
~Nadia Cavner
www.nadiacavner.com
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