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17 Failed Identity and the Assyrian Genocide David Gaunt The suffering of the Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syrian Christians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I is one of the least known genocides of modern times. If it is known at all it usually goes under the collective name of Assyrian genocide, which will be used here. A major reason for this obscurity is the failure of these religiously heterogeneous ethnic groups to agree on a common cultural and national identity. This resulted in a multiplicity of local experiences and selective memories. The story of the Assyrian genocide dissolves into a number of specific minor narratives framed by local contexts, most of which pale in comparison with the grand drama of the Armenian genocide, but were no less deadly for the populations involved. The declining Ottoman Empire found Oriental Christians that for centuries were split into antagonistic churches which had been locked into denigrating one another . Each cult had a strong exclusive in-group identity that militated against the very idea of a multilayered pan-Assyrian identity. Many outside observers considered these Christians curious, insignificant cultural relics, whereas the fate of the vigorous Armenian community loomed as a great concern in international diplomacy. One aspect of this invisibility is that the narratives of the Assyrian genocide build on testimonies of survivors whose perception was limited to local issues such as the struggle with nomadic tribes for agricultural land and the religious fanaticism of local Muslim sects. In the final analysis the Assyrians had no clear idea why they were being annihilated. In particular, they recognized only the local dimensions of their suffering and had no understanding of the overall policies and interests of the Young Turk government. Two themes will be addressed in this chapter. The first concerns how the Assyrians got caught up in a state-orchestrated genocide that targeted Armenians. The second is about why the Assyrian genocide is still relatively unknown. Both are linked to the disputed nature of national identity and to the Assyrians’ distant settlement in economically 318 David Gaunt marginal borderlands. Some compensated for their impotence by seeking protection from Kurdish tribes, which of course only further complicated matters of cultural diversity and political loyalties. Confessional and Political Heterogeneity The historical origins of the Assyrian peoples are clouded. Historically they1 lived in northern Mesopotamia or Kurdistan. They formed an unstable ethnic puzzle along the presentday frontiers of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. All of them share a legacy from the ancient Assyrian Empire, but not all call themselves Assyrians. Basic divisions among them date to wars between the Roman Empire and Persia. An eastern group grew inside Persia and a western group evolved inside the Byzantine Empire. This ancient division nurtured permanent religious and linguistic sectarianism, which became expressed in mutual exclusivity and fierce theological conflicts. A main feature of the Assyrian peoples is their early adherence to Christianity. A loose church organization spread from Antioch and imprinted its special version of Christian theology . After the Roman Empire accepted Christianity, a process of unification began. Key standpoints essential to the Antioch theology were deemed heretical. Rejecting the new Roman creed, the newly designated heretics simply created their own churches. They could only survive as isolated enclaves in the marginal tracts of northern Mesopotamia. Easterners , particularly those who belong to the Nestorian church, freely call themselves Assyrians.2 The Chaldeans agree to the term Assyro-Chaldeans. But the large western group, led by the Syrian Orthodox Church, reject Assyrian as a meaningful identity and insist on being called Syrians or Syriacs.3 The theocratic Ottoman state conserved Assyrian religious differences by officially distinguishing the Nasturiler (Nestorians) from the Keldaniler (Chaldeans) and the Süryaniler (Syrian Orthodox). None of these churches had more than a few hundred thousand adherents by the early twentieth century.4 For administrative reasons the non-Muslims were formed into separate millets (Turkish for nation) and were represented by the highest religious leaders, appointees of the sultan. The millet leader was also responsible for collecting the taxes from his community. Originally, the Ottomans recognized three non-Muslim millets: the Jewish, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian.5 For centuries the Syrian Orthodox and Nestorian Assyrians were associated with the Armenian millet, while the Chaldeans as Catholics had no millet to belong to until much later. In the course of the nineteenth century, the Sultan established new millets for the minor religions. Up to 1882 the Syrian Orthodox had been part of the large Armenian...

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