OUR GREAT ASSYRIA
Assyria is the first military empire in the history of mankind, the greatest state of Mesopotamia, stretching from the Caspian Sea to Egypt, from the Persian Gulf to the Caucasus, which was the peak of development and fusion of cultures of the civilizations of the Ancient East of Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria itself. The central cities of Assyria differed from the cities of neighboring countries by their magnificent architecture, clear urban-building system, the presence of water supply and sewerage systems, powerful defensive fortifications. In the cities of Assyria, there were schools, institutes, libraries, banks, the first in history trade, credit, military, diplomatic and even marriage agreements were concluded, which were secured on the basis of a developed legislative system dating back to the period of Hammurabi's reign. The first information about Assyria dates back to 2500 BC, and the earliest evidence of settlements on the site of the first and sacred capital of Assyria, Ashur, dates back to the 5th millennium BC. Throughout almost the entire history of Assyria, it had to wage defensive wars against neighboring states and tribes that outnumbered them in population, and only after the military reforms of Shamshi-Adad in the 13th century BC Assyria turned into a conquering state that existed until the 7th century BC, when as a result of
internal strife and the alliance of Babylon with Media, which ended with the capture of the Assyrian cities Ashur (614 BC), Kalhu (613 BC), Nineveh (612 BC) and the battle of the last regiments of the Assyrian army at Harran in (609 BC) ceased to exist. After the fall of Assyria, the Assyrian people continued to remain on their lands, where they live to this day, experiencing cruel oppression, pressure from the ruling peoples and elites.
URMIA
Urmia, Salamas, modern Iran, (Khosrava, Tek-Ardeshai, Mar Sargis, Ada, etc.)
northeastern stronghold of the Assyrian Empire. After the defeat of Urartu in 712 BC,
it completely became part of the Assyrian Empire and was populated by Assyrians, where they live to this day, although the number of Assyrians sharply decreased after the First World War, the genocide and the Islamic revolution of 1978. During the First World War, the Assyrians of Urmia, together with the Assyrians-mountain dwellers of Hakkari, Russian servicemen and local Armenians from 1915 to 1918, held the Caucasian front on the Persian section, holding it from the Turks, Kurds and Persians.
HAKKARI
Hakkari, Van region of modern Turkey (Upper and Lower Tyari, Tkhuma, Jilu, Ishtazen, Baz, Tal, Diz and others) is a region representing the northern outpost of the Assyrian Empire, known from the annals of the Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II. It was inhabited by Assyrians from the 2nd millennium BC until the 1st World War,
when, as a result of the Kurdish-Turkish genocide and the betrayal
of the Entente world powers, the surviving Assyrians were forced to
leave the region and move to Persian Urmia, and then after the collapse of the Caucasian front to Iraq and Syria.
In Hakkari, the village of Kudshanis, there was a residence of the Assyrian patriarchs. The region
had acquired independence and was governed by the patriarch and local maliks.
The last person in Qudshanis, the Patriarch of the Church of the East, the head of the national liberation movement, Benjamin Mar-Shimun, was treacherously killed by the Kurds during peace negotiations in 1918.
Khabur and Gozarto (Hasakeh, Tel Tamr, villages on the Khabur River, Qamishli, Nisibin, etc.) Region
Assyria since ancient times, the western redoubt of the Assyrian Empire, one of the
agricultural regions of the country, as evidenced by archaeological excavations and
discovery of traces of large settlements and traces of agriculture. The region was turned into
a desert, the Khabur River was practically dry until the newly settled Assyrians at the beginning
of the 20th century from 1918-1933 turned the region of modern Syria into a flourishing oasis and
the mainagricultural granary of the country. The Assyrians of Qamishli put up serious resistance
to ISIS and Kurdish extremists, and thanks to their efforts, the governmentforces of Syria managed to maintain control over the region. In 2015, ISIS militants attacked Assyrian villages on the Khabur River. As a result of the attack, dozens of local residents were killed and about 300 people were taken captive. At the moment, the region is on the verge of a complete exodus of Assyrians, and their place is being taken by refugees from Arabs and Kurds from neighboring Gozarto regions of Syria.
KHABUR
AND
GOZARTO
Tur-Abdin, (Mardin, Midyat, Diyarbakir, Urfa, Izla, etc.) A region in the territory of modern Turkey, known from cuneiform sources as a northwestern fortified region of the Assyrian Empire with the regional center of Tushan.
Assyrians have lived in the region since ancient times to the present day, but due to Kurdish, Arab and Turkish expansion and the policy of artificial demographic changes, genocide and Turkish-Kurdish confrontation, the number of indigenous people has decreased to 5,000 people. Until 1915, the region was home to the residence of the Patriarchs of the Syriac Orthodox Church, who, as a result of persecution, moved the residence to Syria, where it remains to this day. Recently, there has been a tendency for Assyrians to return to the region.
TUR-ABDIN
NINEVEH
Nineveh, Mosul, the regional center of the Nineveh province, the Nineveh Plain (Bahdeda,
Alqosh, Bakhtma, Nahla, Akra, Teleskof, Batnaya, Sharafiya, etc.) from ancient times inhabited by Assyrians region of Mesopotamia. Today, the only region where Assyrians of various confessional denominations of Christianity (Chaldean Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, followers of the Assyrian Church of the East) live compactly. Since 2003, after the fall of the Hussein regime, the rampant extremism, the capture of Mosul and the Nineveh Plain by ISIS terrorists with the connivance of government troops and the Kurdish Peshmerga, tens of thousands of Assyrians left their native places.