Turkey's Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian Christians, which predominated in the region before its colonisation by Turkic Muslims, were subjected to a "staggered campaign of genocide" from 1894 to 1924, which reduced them from 20 per cent of the population to less than 2 per cent, according to Israeli researchers.
Approximately 300,000 Armenian and 25,000 Assyrian subjects of the Ottoman Empire were killed during the Hamidian massacres of 1895. It is estimated that 100,000 "Greeks" were also killed, although this may mainly refer to Armenian, Assyrian and Arabic members of the Greek Orthodox church rather than just ethnic Greeks per se.
When did Christianity first appear in China? Well, you may come across a much reasonable answer by examining the over 4,000 stone tablets at Xi'an Beilin Museum, or Stele Forest, located in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
(AINA) -- The Holy Cross Primary School in Wellington, New Zealand has begun teaching the Assyrian New Year (Akitu) to junior students as a subject through the Intensive Oral Language program to learn about the Assyrian culture, language and heritage. The school provides opportunities for children to learn about different cultures. The course on Akitu extends over two weeks.
Archbishop Bashar Warda, one of the leading voices on behalf of persecuted and displaced Christians in Iraq, released today an urgent statement regarding the retreat of U.S. personnel from key areas in the country. "We are gravely concerned regarding the recent draw down of the U.S. presence in Iraq," the archbishop said.
Christians in Iraq continue to be exposed to violent attacks and oppression at the hands of various armed groups. On May 13, assailants broke into an Assyrian Christian home and attacked two elderly women, a mother and daughter, in the Iraqi town of Bartella. The women were repeatedly stabbed with a knife and their gold and money were stolen. The two victims were then hospitalized in Mosul.
Baghdad -- Iraqi leaders and the powers-that-be must "put their political differences aside, and be the voice of moderation, national sovereignty and tolerance," writes Patriarch Card Louis Raphael Sako in a message on "minorities and migrations" sent to AsiaNews.
The borderlands between Turkey and Syria are dotted with small Syriac Christian churches. Last fall, bullets penetrated the wall of a church in the village of Tel Jihan in northeastern Syria, just four-hundred-fifty meters from the Turkish border. Locals told me it was not an isolated incident. Syriac Christians refer to themselves as "descendants of survivors.
THESSALONIKI, Greece -- In recent years, scholars have increasingly approached the destruction of Christians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire comparatively, exploring the continuities, similarities in the destruction of Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians from the late 19th century to the years following the Turkish Republic.
Rebel militias caused the death of at least four Christian teenagers (three girls and a boy) and their teacher on Sunday. Artillery and missiles fired by rebel militias on the Syrian town of Al-Sqaylabiyeh, in the governorate of Hama, mostly inhabited by Orthodox Christians, continued on Monday 13 May.
Fairfield, Australia -- Sweatshop Women: Volume One was officially launched at the 2019 Sydney Writers' Festival earlier this month. The book features short stories and poems by 22 culturally diverse women from western Sydney exploring issues of love, faith, home and history and is part of an ongoing push by Sweatshop to bring more stories from culturally and linguistically diverse communities to...
Nineveh police launched an investigation into a reported robbery on Tuesday in the northern Iraqi town of Bartella that ended with the severe beating of two elderly Christian women and robbery of a mother and daughter (AINA 2019-05-14).
(AINA) -- The Holy Cross Primary School in Wellington, New Zealand has begun teaching the Assyrian New Year (Akitu) to junior students as a subject through the Intensive Oral Language program to learn about the Assyrian culture, language and heritage. The school provides opportunities for children to learn about different cultures. The course on Akitu extends over two weeks.
Syria (AINA) -- Four Christian children and one woman were killed in a terrorist attack on the government controlled town of Suqaylabiyah, in the Hama province of Syria. The funeral service was held at the Syriac Orthodox Church. The names of the victims were Bashar, Angie, Suhel, Jessica and Hala. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Christian town.
(AINA) -- On May 4-5 the Salahaddin University in Erbil, Iraq and the French Institute of the Near East (IFPO) organized a workshop titled Christianity in Iraq at the turn of Islam. Its aim was to discuss important institutional changes for Christians in areas of the collapsed Persian Empire and retreated Byzantine Empire which were conquered by Muslims.
On January 2, 2018, Judge Goldsmith from the federal court in Michigan ordered the release of Assyrian (also known as Chaldean or Syriac) Christian detainees who had been held for deportation. In his decision, the judge cited that the country conditions in Iraq precluded the possibility of returning the refugees to their homes safely.
During the years of World War I 75% (750,000) of the Assyrian population in the Ottoman Empire was systematically murdered. That genocide of Assyrians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 is a fact, but it has largely been forgotten by the world.
(AINA) -- When speaking about the Ottoman Empire and Turkey today, it is not their contribution to civilization that comes to mind. Instead it is human rights violations, confiscation of land and property, genocide and genocide denials that are most frequently discussed in the public discourse. Today's Turkey is still far from being ruled by democratic principles.
When did Christianity first appear in China? Well, you may come across a much reasonable answer by examining the over 4,000 stone tablets at Xi'an Beilin Museum, or Stele Forest, located in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Fairfield, Australia -- Sweatshop Women: Volume One was officially launched at the 2019 Sydney Writers' Festival earlier this month. The book features short stories and poems by 22 culturally diverse women from western Sydney exploring issues of love, faith, home and history and is part of an ongoing push by Sweatshop to bring more stories from culturally and linguistically diverse communities to...