About Russia
Nations of Russia
The Assyrians
Assyrians in Russia are to be found mainly in the cities of Moscow, St.Petersburg, Rostov-na-Donu, and in Krasnodarsky Krai.
Language: Assyrian (neo-sirian, neo-arameic, sirian); other lang. from the region (Armenian, Arab, Persian)
Religion: Christians (Most of them Nestorian, but Jacobites in Turkey, some Chaldeans).
Diaspora: Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Siberia, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon.
The Assyrians believe themselves to be direct descendants of the Assyrian empire in the Middle East 2500-612 BC, in Northern Mesopotamia (Now Iraq). It was initially subject to Sumer, and intermittently to Babylon. The Assyrians adopted in the main the Sumerian religion and structure of society. At its greatest extent the empire included Egypt and streched from the Eastern Mediterrean coast to the head of the Persian Gulf.
From around the year 100, Christianity became a factor strengthening the ethnicity of the Assyrians. The Nestorian church became leading among the Assyrians under the Arab kalifate (from the 7th c.). During the conquests of Timur in the 14th c., the Assyrians were nearly eliminated, as they rejected Islam. The survivors had fled to the mountains of Kurdistan. From the 16th c. the majority of the Assyrians lived on the territory of the Ottoman empire.
In the 19th c., the Assyrians found themselves in the epi-centre of the international conflicts and power-struggles in the Middle East, where European powers tried to exploit the fact the Assyrians and some other groups were Christian. This was not popular with the Turkish authotorities and resulted in repression and pogroms. Around the First World War some 500,000 Assyrians were killed by Turks and Kurds, and many fled to other countries.
Assyrians came to Russia and the Soviet Union in three main waves: The first wavw was after the Treaty of Turkmanchai in 1828, that delineated a border between Russia and Persia. Many Assyrians found themselves suddenly under Russian sovereignty and thousands of relatives crossed the border to join them. The second wave was a result of the repression and violence during and after World War 1. The third wave came after World War 2, when Moscow unsuccessfully had tried to establish a satellite state in Iranian Kurdistan. Soviet troops withdrew in 1946, and left the Assyrians exposed to exactly the same kind of retaliation that they had suffered from the Turks 30 years earlier. Again, many Assyrians found refuge in the Soviet Union, this time mainly in the cities.
Soviet power in the thirties repressed the Assyruians' religion and persecuted religious and other leaders.
In recent years, the Assyrians have tended to assimilate with Armenians, but their cultural and ethnic identity, strengthened through centuries of hardships, found new expression under Glasnost.
NATIONS OF RUSSIA
The Adygy I
The Aguls I
The Akhvakhs I
The Aleuts I
The Altaians I
The Andians nations I
The Andins I
The Archins I
The Armenians I
The Aserbaijanians I
The Assyrians I
The Avars I
The Baghulals I
The Balkarians I
The Baraba Tatars I
The Bashkirs I
The Besermians I
The Bezhtians I
The Botlikhs I
The Bulgarians I
The Buryats I
The Byelorussians I
The Chamalals I
The Chechens I
The Cherkess I
The Chukchis I
The Chuvashs I
The Cossacks I
The Crimean Tatars I
The Dargins I
The Didos I
The Dolgans I
The Enets I
The Eskimos I
The Estonians I
The Evenks I
The Evens I
The Finns I
The Gagauz I
The Georgians I
The Germans I
The Ginukhs I
The Godoberins I
The Greeks I
The Gypsies I
The Hunzibs I
The Ingush I
The Itelmens I
The Izhorians I
The Jews I
The Kabards I
The Kalmyks I
The Karachay I
The Karatas I
The Karelians I
The Kazakhs I
The Kets I
The Khakass I
The Khants I
The Khvarshis I
The Komi-Permyaks I
The Komis I
The Koreans I
The Koryaks I
The Kumuks I
The Kyrgyz I
The Laks I
The Latvians I
The Lezgins I
The Lithuanians I
The Mansis I
The Maris I
The Moldovans I
The Mordvins I
The Mountain Jews I
The Nanais I
The Negidals I
The Nenets I
The Nganasans I
The Nivkhs I
The Nogays I
The Orochis I
The Oroks I
The Ossetians I
The Permyak Komis I
The Poles I
The Russians I
The Rutuls I
The Saams I
The Selkups I
The Shors I
The Small Nations of North I
The Tabasarans I
The Tajiks I
The Tatars I
The Tats I
The Teleuts I
The Tofalars I
The Tsakhurs I
The Turkmens I
The Tyva I
The Udeghes I
The Udmurts I
The Ukrainians I
The Ulchis I
The Uzbeks I
The Veps I
The Vods I
The Yakuts I
The Yukaghirs I
|
