The Unseen Struggle: Assyrians in Northern Iraq

The Assyrians, a native group from the Middle East, are under threat. Over the past 200 years, they have faced severe persecution and forced migration due to targeted violence on their ancestral lands. This is a story that doesn't get much attention, but it's crucial to understand. One of the main issues is the ongoing oppression of Assyrians by Kurds. This isn't a new problem. During the Assyrian genocide by the Ottomans between 1915 and 1918, many Kurdish tribes supported the Ottoman campaigns against Assyrians, Armenians, and other Christians. The effects of these genocidal campaigns are still felt today, but in more subtle ways due to Kurdish actions. Land is a big part of this issue. As Kurds face persecution from Turkey and Iran, their actions against Assyrians have become more aggressive, including taking over Assyrian lands. This has led to the "Kurdification" of Assyria, where Kurdish influence is growing at the expense of Assyrian identity and presence in their historic regions. Take the Nahla Valley in northern Iraq, for example. It's historically an Assyrian Christian area, but now only eight Assyrian villages remain. The valley had 23 Assyrian villages, but many were ethnically cleansed. Land theft by Kurds is an ongoing issue here. The Assyrian Aid Society of Iraq has documented many cases of land grabs by Kurds over the past few decades. For instance, in 1963, the Zibari Clan, a prominent Kurdish tribe, took 13. 5 acres of land from the village of Cham Rabatkeh. Later, in 1991, entire Assyrian villages like Qarawola, Yousif Ava, and Shwadin were taken over by neighboring Kurdish tribes.

This land grab continues today. In 2020, 117 Assyrian families in the Nahla Valley lost access to 75 percent of their lands after the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) reversed a law meant to protect Assyrian ownership. The KRG's security organization, the Asayish, often targets Assyrians, forcing them to sign fake land concessions. The KRG's actions go beyond land grabs. They also build infrastructure projects in Assyrian regions, like the Bakrman Dam, which puts many Assyrian villages at risk of being destroyed. Organizations like Save The Tigris have reported multiple dam failures in the Kurdistan region, and the federal Iraqi government has not approved these dams. The struggle to keep Assyrian language and heritage alive is also at a critical point. In 2018, Kurdish authorities in Syria shut down private Assyrian schools in Qamishli because the curriculum didn't promote Kurdish nationalist ideology. This erasure of Assyrian identity is happening in both Iraq and Syria. The world's focus is often on the Kurds, with narratives about their progressive governing systems and alliance with the West against ISIS. However, this focus often overlooks the Assyrians, who are slowly being forced off their ancestral lands. As the Assyrian population in the Middle East continues to drop, it's important to address this ongoing ethnic cleansing.

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