Timeline of Brutality

A Brief History of the
Assyrians in Iraq since 1900

1828

Treaty of Turkmanchai concludes Perso-Russian War.
Whole Assyrian villages move north into Russian
territory.

1834

American Rev. Justin Perkins arrives in Urmia to
begin work among Assyrians.

1842

Archbishop of Canterbury's mission to the Church of
the East in Hakkari.

1847

Bedir Khan's Kurdish troops massacre Assyrians in
Hakkari, especially the Tiyari.

1849

First newspaper in Iran, the Assyrian language
Zahrira d’Bahra.

June 1895

Massacre of Assyrians in Ottoman (Turkish) towns and
villages.

1898

Russian mission arrives in Urmia, Iran.

12 April 1903

Mar Benyamin Shimmun is consecrated as the 117th
Patriarch of the Church of the East.

1908

The Ottoman government declares Turkish as the only
language allowed in schools.

1909

Germans and British officials discuss control of the
Baghdad Railroad.

1911

Russian troops enter northwest Iran.

1914

British forces in Basra move to protect oil
pipelines in Iran from Ottoman/German capture.

June 1914

World War I begins.

30 October 1914

Bashkala massacre of 50 Gawarnai Assyrians by Muslim
mob.

4 November 1914

Fatwa for Jihad declared in Istanbul against
Christians.

March 1915

Turks arrest Mar Shimmun’s brother, Hormiz, who was
then murdered.

April 1915

Year of the Sword/Sypa/Sayfo. Order from the
Committee on Union and Progress to rid eastern Turkey of
Christians. Ottoman Assyrians flee to Russia,Iran,
Aleppo and Jerusalem in wake of the genocide. Local
Muslims attack and kill Bishop Mar Dinkha and 60 men in
Golpashan. 700,000 Assyrians, 1.5 Million Armenians,
& 300,000 Pontic Greeks perish between 1915 and
1919.

1916

The Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain, France,
and Russia to divide Ottoman Empire after WWI. Hussain
is proclaimed king of Arabs.

1917

Russian revolution leads to dissolution of Russian
military in Iran.

1918

Enver Pasha's troops enter Iran as all Assyrians
join to defend themselves. Combined local Muslim &
Turkish troops capture Urmia.

16 March 1918

Kurdish chief, Simko, assassinates Mar Benyamin
Shimmun in Salamas, Iran. Pillage of Assyrian villages
in Iran and attempt to cleanse area of Christians
begins. British truck fleeing Assyrians to refugee
camps.

15 April 1918

Mar Polous Shimmun is consecrated as the 118th
Patriarch of the Church of the East in Urmia,
Iran.

October 1918

Ottoman Empire disintegrates.

1919

Treaty of Sevres to end WWI between Allies and
Turkey. League of Nations is formed. British use
Assyrian refugees to enforce occupation of Mesopotamia.
Assyrians denied representation at Paris Peace
Conference due to British. Under French protection, the
Assyrian Protectorate in Jazirah (Khabour area of Syria)
forms under Malik Kambar d-Malik Warda of Jelu.

1920

Mar Polous Shimmun passes away in the Bakuba refugee
camp in Iraq.

10 June 1920

Treaty of Sevres is signed by Turkey. Provides for
Kurds, Arabs, Armenians but not Assyrians. Formation of
Mesopotamia as British mandate. Assyrians return to
Hakkari but accept draft into British Levies to guard
Mosul from Turks on promise of homeland.

20 June 1920

Mar Shimmun Ishaya, 13, is consecrated as the
119th Patriarch of the Church of the East.

24 July 1920

French forces occupy Damascus. The French
Mandate over Syria begins.

10 August 1920

Treaty of Sevres: France receives Syrian Mandate
& Britain receives Palestine Mandate.

1921

Patriarchal family with British refuse French-backed
offer to move Assyrians to Jazira, Syria. British use
Assyrian Levies to guard Kirkuk oil fields. Kurdish
Iraqi revolt under Sheikh Mahmud.

27 August 1921

The British install Faisal as king of Iraq.

1923

Mesopotamia officially becomes "Iraq". Treaty of
Lausanne leaves Mosul issue for League of Nations to
settle.

1924

League of Nations assigns most of oil rich Mosul
velayat to Iraq.

1925

Kurdish uprising against Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The
constitution of 1925 guarantees all minorities in Iraq
equality before the law, including civil and political
rights, and rights to practice their language and
religion.

1926

Turkey agrees to Mosul award after initial
protest.

1927

British agree to Iraq membership in League of
Nations in 5 years (1932).

1932

Assyrian Levies resign en masse as homeland is
denied Patriarch at Geneva to state Assyrian case before
the Permanent Mandates Commission. Baghdad does not
allow him to return. Iraq admitted into the League of
Nations on condition of guarantees for the protection of
minorities.

30 May 1932

Iraq is declared a kingdom.

3 October 1932

Iraq is admitted to the League of Nations.

20 June 1933

Iraqi government expels Mar Shimmun Ishaya to
Cyprus.

4-11 August 1933

The Massacre at Simel: General Bakr Sidqi, against
the wishes of Faisal, massacres over 3,000 Assyrians in
North Iraq.

8 September 1933

King Faisal dies. His son Ghazi supports army’s
action against Assyrians.

1935

League of Nations decides to settle Assyrians in
Ghab region of Syria.

11 August 1937

Bakr Sidqi is assassinated by army officers.

1939

World War II begins.

1940

At start of WWII Britain musters able bodied
Assyrians into Levies.

1941

Habbaniya Assyrians give Allies first victory in
WWII.

June 1941

180 Jews, including women and children, are
massacred in Baghdad.

1942

Assyrian area of Jazira incorporated into
Syria.

7 May 1945

Mar Shimmun Ishaya presents “The Assyrian National
Petition” at the World Security Conference in San
Francisco.

1946

Patriarch protests to United Nations the lack of
protection in Iran. 70 Assyrian villages pillaged in
Iraq.

1955

The Assyrian Levy troops in Iraq are dismantled and
released from duty unconditionally. Only a very few
pro-Iraqi government Assyrians are given the opportunity
to transfer to the Iraqi army.

1957

The Assyrian Democratic Organization (Takasta) is
founded in Syria.

1958

Republic replaces Iraqi monarchy. Renewed promise of
minority rights for Assyrians.

1 July 1958

“Free Officers” overthrow the monarchy in a coup.
Brigadier Qassem takes control as prime minister and
commander in chief.

24 July 1958

Michel Aflaq, a Christian thinker and founder of the
Baath Party, arrives in Baghdad from Syria.

September 1961

The Iraqi army launches attacks against the Kurds
and Assyrians in the north.
1963 First Baathist
military coup.

8 February 1963

Baathists overthrow Qassim and the first Baathist
regime is installed. Aref becomes president.

1964

The Iraqi government favors the breakup of the
Church of the East. The “Ancient” Church of the East is
headed by a new patriarch installed in Baghdad.

June 1967

The Six-Day War.

1967

The Assyrian Universal Alliance is founded in
Tehran, Iran.

10 April 1968

The first congress of the AUA held in Pau,
France.

17 July 1968

Aref’s regime is defeated and a new Baathist regime
takes control under al-Bakr. Saddam Hussein becomes
deputy chairman of the Revolutionary Command
Council.

1970

Depopulation, deportation, and arabization of
Assyrians. Mar Shimmun Ishaya, Patriarch of the church
of the East, is invited to Baghdad in move to recruit
Assyrians against Kurds.

11 March 1970

Fighting between the Iraqi army and the Kurds stops
after a Manifesto on Kurdish Autonomy is published. A
new constitution recognizes the cultural rights of the
Christians minorities in Iraq. No political rights are
recognized.

24 April 1970

Mar Shimmun Ishaya visits the Iraqi president in
Baghdad.

1972

Assyrians petition for autonomous region in Dohuk
(Nohadra) Province when Baghdad grants Kurds option of
autonomy in Arbil and Sulaimaniya.

16 April 1972

Baghdad offers "Syriac speaking" not "Assyrians"
limited cultural rights. Decree #251 grants the
“Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syrian” groups the right to
teach their own language at school provided that 25
percent of the children in a class are Christian.

March 1974

All-out war between the Iraqi army and the Kurds in
the North begins. The Shah of Iran begins support of the
Kurdish insurgents.

1974

The Baath regime nationalizes all schools in Iraq,
including the Catholic schools. Priests and nuns are
forced to swear the oath of allegiance to the
regime.

1974

The Bet Nahrain organization is established in
California.

6 March 1975

The Algiers Agreement: Iraq accepts Iran’s
territorial demands and in return Iran stops his support
for the Kurds. The Kurdish resistance fails as the lines
of supply are cut off.

6 November 1975

Mar Shimmun, Patriarch of the Church of the East, is
assassinated in San Jose, California.

17 October 1976

Mar Dinkha IV is consecrated as the 120th Patriarch
of the Church of the East in London.

1976-77

Over 200 Assyrian villages are razed in northern
Iraq by government.

1977

"Assyrian" omitted from the Iraqi census.

1978

Special secret instructions issued to prevent
departure of Assyrians.

19 October 1978

Iraqi government orders the imprisonment of the
Assyrian singers and songwriters. This continues until
10 November 1978. The artists were beaten and tortured
while in prison. Among these were Mr. David Easha, Mr.
Sammy Yaqu, and Mr. Albert Oscar.

1979

Churches destroyed deliberately to remove Assyrian
heritage. In an attempt to divide Assyrians, Baghdad
disperses millions to churches.

16 January 1979

The Shah leaves Iran.

February 1979

The Islamic Revolution ends the Pahlavi Dynasty in
Iran.

12 April 1979

The Assyrian Democratic Movement (Zowaa) is founded
in Iraq.

June 1979

Saddam Hussein becomes president of Iraq. Al-Bakr is
placed under house arrest.

August 1979

Up to 500 top Baathi officials are executed.

22 September 1980

Saddam Hussein launches war against Iran.

1981

The Iraqi government adopts measures to nationalize
the properties of the Christian churches and convert the
priests into state employees. The government eventually
backs down. Deterioration of Assyrian schools, church
and culture.

1982

Iran-Iraq war sees many Assyrian men drafted and
dead in front lines.

1984

The National Assembly (Iraqi Parliament)
includes only 4 Christians among 250 members.

Late 1984

Dozens of Assyrian nationalists and members of the
Assyrian Democratic Movement (Zowaa) are imprisoned and
tortured by the Iraqi authorities.

1985

Members of Assyrian political parties are hunted,
executed, or disappear.

3 February 1985

Three members of the Assyrian Democratic Movement
are hanged in Baghdad without trial: Yousip Toma Hermis,
Youbert Benyamin Shlimon & Youkhana Esho Jajo.
Sixteen other ADM members have been murdered
since.

April 1987

Iraqi troops burn and bulldoze homes in the Assyrian
village of Bakhtoma.

August 1988

The Iran-Iraq War ends. Government’s official death
toll of the Assyrians from the Iraqi side: 4,250.
Assyrian count: 44,000.

24 September 1988

Iraqi troops commence the Anfal Campaign against the
Assyrian and Kurdish populations in North Iraq. Some 250
Christians disappeared during Anfal and its immediate
aftermath.

1988-89

Archeological excavations unearth tombs of royal
Assyrian women and gold objects 1991 Gulf War to
liberate Kuwait from Iraqi invasion. In Northern No-Fly
Zone, Kurds implement policies to displace Assyrian
villagers. 52 Assyrian villages seized by Kurds. Kurds
begin to identify Assyrians as "Christian Kurds".

1990

The Iraqi government survey indicates that 20
percent of the teachers in schools and universities are
Christian.

August 1990

Iraqi forces attack Kuwait. The United Nations call
for Iraq to withdraw.

17 January 1991

Persian Gulf War I: A U.S.-led coalition of 39
countries begins bombing of Iraq.

1991

During the rebellion in Basra the Christian quarters
are attacked. Baathi government begins massive
deportation of Arabs to the Kurdish-controlled areas,
particularly the oil city of Kirkuk. North Iraq becomes
a de facto autonomous zone under United Nations
protection. Assyrian schools and media are established
and the villages are reconstructed.

6 April 1991

Iraq agrees to a formal cease-fire.

1992

Elections held for Parliament of North Iraq but
warlordism prevails.

1992

A group of Assyrian intellectuals warn about the
“Kurdification” of the other ethnic minorities in North
Iraq. In Dohuk, Nachir Barazani – a KDP leader –
confiscates a great number of fertile Assyrian lands by
intimidation and terrorizing the land-owners.

May 1992

Mr. Francis Yusuf Shabo, a Chaldean-Assyrian, and
four other Assyrians are elected to the 105-member
Kurdish parliament in North Iraq.

1993

Policy of intimidation of Assyrians in North Iraq.
Islamic Movement of Kurdistan assassination squad
targets Assyrians. Abduction of Assyrian girls by Kurds
becomes part of terrorizing policy.

31 May 1993

Mr. Francis Shabo is gunned down at his home in
Dohuk (Nohadra). No suspects have since been
apprehended.

14 June 1993

Mr. Lazar Mikho (Abu Nasir), an Assyrian from
Mangesh and a member of the ICP Central Committee and
Iraqi Kurdistan Front’s Finance Committee is shot by
armed assailants at his home in Dohuk (Nohadra). No
substantial investigation has been carried out to
date.

1994

Common Christological Declaration between the Church
of the East and the Roman Catholic Church.

February 1995

Amnesty International lists sixteen Assyrian victims
of political assassinations in northern Iraq.

6 March 1995

Mr. Edward Khoshaba of Aqla is tied up by Kurdish
attackers and butchered into several pieces. None of his
murderers have been brought to justice.

July 1995

Growth of Islamic extremists and terrorizing of
Assyrians.

1996

Attempt to Kurdify school curricula in northern Iraq
harms Assyrians. Violence against Christian religious
structures increases.

January 1996

The Shrine of Mar Sbar Odisho in the courtyard of
Mar Gewargis is desecrated in Dohuk.

13 January 1996

Wasan Mishael, a 16-year-old Assyrian girl, is
kidnapped at gun-point from her home. She is forced to
denounce her religion and marry one of her
kidnappers.

20 January 1996

Janet Oshana, a 13-year-old Assyrian from the
village of Mulla-Urab near Zakho by the Kurdish man
named Khorshid Othman Kalash. The young girl has yet not
been returned to the custody of her parents.

28 September 1996

Armed PKK members abduct 15-year old Ahlam Patrus
Nissan from her village. The Assyrian girl was carried
off and never allowed to speak to anyone afterwards. As
with other kidnapping incidences, Ahlam was forced to
convert to Islam and marry her kidnapper.

October 1996

Six Assyrians from Baghdad, employed at the
Presidential Palace of Saddam Hussein, are arrested on
suspicion of attempt to poison Saddam Hussein. They are:
Gewargis Hormiz Oraha, Yousip Adam, Khamo Amira, Kora
Odisho, Shimon Khoshaba al-Hozi, Petros Elia Toma, and
William Matti Barkho.

1997

In Baghdad Assyrians are targeted for rape,
abduction and murder. Violence against Assyrians in
North & Baghdad goes unpunished.

10 February 1997

Mr. Lazar Matti and his son, Mr. Havel Lazar are
dragged out of prison by a vigilante group of 200 armed
Kurds and brutally killed in Shaqlawa. Mr. Mati’s
daughter was forcibly kidnapped by a Kurd named Mohammad
Babakir. The Kurdish kidnapper was found dead a day
before the killing of Mr. Matti and his son. A Kurdish
mullah had demanded the savage killing of the
“Christian” and the burning of his home. The killing was
later condemned by the Kurdistan Democratic Party
leader, Massoud Barazani.

23 February 1997

The KDP announces that Mr. Francis Hariri survived
an assassination attempt during his trip to the
provincial headquarters in Arbil. Mr. Francis Hariri is
an Assyrian from northern Iraq and the governor of the
province of Abril. Two of his bodyguards as well as five
civilian bystanders were reportedly wounded. The KDP
accuses Mr. Kosrat Rasool, allegedly a PUK political
officer.

March 1997

Amnesty International writes to the Iraqi government
seeking the whereabouts of 6 Assyrians arrested in
October 1996.

12 April 1997

Yousif John Yacoub, 35, is brutally stabbed to death
in his home in Baghdad, Iraq. Mr. Yacoub’s neighbors
witness the attack and notify the police, who arrive
prior to Mr. Yacoub’s death. The police keep Mr. Yacoub
in his home for questioning while he bleeds until his
death. Mr. Yacoub’s relatives hear about the incident
one day later and arrive at his home only to find out
that the police has ransacked the place and removed
valuables or evidence. Two weeks later, Mr. Ammed
Shurta, a high ranking police officer and member of the
ruling Ba’ath party, along with his wife and children,
occupy Mr. Yacoub’s house.

23 May 1997

Kamal Kiriakos Ablahad, an Assyrian employed at the
residence of Jamal Al-Tikriti, the son-in-law of Saddam
Hussein, is shot. Mr. Ablahad’s kidneys are removed for
organ transplantation in the hospital. The medical
examiner’s report declares the death a suicide.

June 1997

Uday, the son of Saddam Hussein, shoots and kills
Asil Salman Mansour. The Assyrian girl is last seen
walking home when she was stopped by a “presidential”
vehicle and was forced into the vehicle by Uday’s
bodyguards. Ms. Mansour was taken to the Presidential
Complex at Al Jadiriya where Uday tries to have sex with
the girl but fails. In a subsequent fit of rage, he
shoots and kills the girl.

27 July 1997

A sixty-two-year old Assyrian member of the Chaldean
Catholic Church, Polus Younan, is stabbed to death in
his house by three armed men who demand information
regarding the family’s money and savings. His wife,
Medina Shinoel, survives the attack and reports her
account to the police. The attackers strike Ms. Shinoel
with the butt end of their rifles until most of her
teeth are broken. Then they slash Ms. Shinoel’s
16-year-old son, deaf and mute Mattai, until he begins
to slowly lose consciousness.

13 December 1997

Fighters from the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK)
ambush seven unarmed Assyrian civilians from Mangesh,
Duhok. Those killed include Slewo Khoshaba, Samir Esho,
Majid Shimon, Akhran Hermiz, Salem Yousif, Najid Mikho,
Wardia Yousif.

February 1998

Two members of the Assyrian community, Lazar Mati
and his son Havel Lazar, are deliberately killed by a
group of armed men, who storm the KDP-controlled Asayish
Prison in Shaqlawa where the two men had been detained.
No investigation is known to have been carried out into
the killings.

December 1998

An explosion targets an Assyrian convent in the Al
Mal’ab district of Arbil.

9 December 1998

Mrs. Nasreen Hana Shaba, born in 1963, and her young
daughter Larsa born in 1995 are killed when a bomb
explodes in their home. The bomb is planted by unknown
assailants in the home of Mr. Najat Toma, located in the
district of Terawa in Arbil. No one claims
responsibility for this act of terrorism against the
Assyrian community of northern Iraq.

6 January 1999

A bomb is planted at the front doorsteps of Fr.
Zomaya Yousip in the 7th of Nisan area of Arbil. No
casualties are reported but the home sustains extensive
damage.

June 1999

The body of Ms. Helena Aloun Sawa, a 21- year old
Assyrian woman from the village of Bash in the Nerwa of
Rakan region of Dohuk province, is found by a shepherd.
The decomposed body is partially exposed and appears to
have been partially eaten by scavenging wild animals.
Ms. Sawa is the daughter of Mr. Aloun Sawa, an Assyrian
member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), who had
been killed in 1991 by Iraqi government forces and was
recognized by the KDP as a martyr. Helena Sawa worked as
a housekeeper for a senior KDP leader. She disappeared
on May 5, 1999 and her body was found more than four
weeks later.

15 July 1999

Three Assyrian political parties declare joint
statement of unity: Assyrian Democratic Movement,
Assyrian Democratic Organization, and the Assyrian
Universal Alliance.

25 November 1999

In a warning published in the Kurdistan Observer,
the Iraqi Minister of Education threatens to punish
those Assyrians who establish and attend the Assyrian
language schools established in northern Iraq following
the Gulf War.

15 December 1999

Mr. Habib Yousif Dekhola, a 16-old Assyrian man of
the Chaldean Church and a lifelong resident of Ankawa,
is assassinated in Arbil.

August 2000

The Iraqi Directorate General of Intelligence
summons several Assyrians including intellectuals,
clerics, and activists, for interrogation in Mosul and
Baghdad. Security agents interrogates the Assyrians
regarding Bet Nahrain Magazine, a California based
Assyrian cultural journal.

18 February 2001

The Assyrian governor of the northern Iraqi province
of Arbil, Mr. Franso Hariri is assassinated in Arbil.

2001

Continued imprisonment, torture, and murders of
Assyrian landowners in KDP area. Murder of Chaldean
priest in Baghdad.

17 May 2001

Behdanani villagers and security forces from Ozman
and Naveshga surround and attack the Assyrian village of
Koso. There are reports of severe beatings requiring
hospitalization.
2002 Beheading of Sister Cecelia,
Chaldean nun, in Baghdad. "Accidental" auto death of
retired Bishop and nun. Threatening leaflets into
Christian homes in Baghdad. Assyrian representative
accepted into future of Iraq planning after much
pressure from Diaspora.

April 2002

The Oil Company of the North in the city of Kirkuk
forbids its Assyrian employees the use of the Assyrian
language and requires the use of Arabic. Officials in
the company threaten to fire, or reassign those who
refuse.

15 August 2002

Seventy-one-year old Sister Cecilia Moshi Hanna is
brutally attacked by three armed assailants and
repeatedly stabbed to death in her room in the Sacred
Heart of Jesus Monastery in Baghdad, Iraq. Sr. Cecilia
Moshi Hanna was a member of the Order of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus and had devoted her life to ministering
to the poor and ill.

18 September 2002

The Assyrian Democratic Movement joins the Iraqi
Opposition Groups in New York.

9 December 2002

The Assyrian Democratic Movement becomes eligible to
receive assistance under the Presidential Determination
No. 2003-05.

16 December 2002

All major Assyrian political parties in a show of
unity meet at the London Conference of the Iraqi
Opposition Groups. Mr. Yonadam Kanna of ADM and Mr.
Albert Yelda are selected as the Assyrian delegates in
the 65-member Followup Committee to meet in January
2003.

2003

Massoud Barazani's Kurdistan Democratic Party
creates a puppet Chaldean party to split
Assyrians.

26 February 2003

The Follow-up & Coordination Committee meets in
Salahadin, North Iraq. Members oppose a U.S.-led
military government after Saddam.

18 March 2003

Ankara Declaration: The ADM & 7 other Iraqi
Opposition Groups meet in Ankara, Turkey and agree to
put their forces under a U.S.-led command in the event
of war with Iraq.

19 March 2003

Persian Gulf War II: A U.S. & U.K. led coalition
of 35 countries begins bombing of Iraq.

9 April 2003

Baghdad falls. U.S. Administration declared end of
Saddam Hussein’s
regime.