(AINA) -- August 7 marks Assyrian Martyrs Day, a day to remember Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) who lost their lives in defense of their culture and way of life. On this day Assyrians remember the victims of the genocides perpetrated against their nation, such as the Turkish genocide of Assyrians, called Seyfo (sword) by Assyrians, which claimed the lives of 750,000 Assyrians (75%) between 1915 and 1918, as well as the lives of 1.5 million Armenians and 500,000 Pontic Greeks.
August 7th was chosen because of the massacre of Assyrians in August, 1933 in the north Iraq. The massacre was conducted by the Iraqi Army and Arab and Kurdish irregulars. 3000 Assyrians in the town of Simmele were massacred in a three day period.
The European Syriac Union has called on Iraq to officially recognize the massacre and to commemorate it every August 7th (AINA 8-7-2013).
The Simmele massacre of Assyrians in 1933, as well as the Turkish genocide of Christians in World War One, inspired Raphael Lemkin to coin the word "genocide" (AINA 1-16-2007).
Assyrian genocide monuments have been erected in Australia, America, Armenia, Wales, Belgium and France
The following are pictures of Assyrian Martyrs Day commemorations in Chicago, Yerevan and Fairfield.
Commemoration at the Assyrian Genocide Monument
Yerevan, Armenia
Commemoration at the Assyrian Genocide Monument
Fairfield, Australia
Commemoration at the Assyrian Genocide Monument
Ankawa, North Iraq
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