The Lethbridge Herald,
August 18, 1933

The Simele massacre (Assyrian: ܦܪܡܬܐ ܕܣܡܠܐ: Premta d-Simele) was the first of many massacres committed by the Iraqi government during the systematic targeting of Assyrian Christians of Northern Iraq in August of 1933. Lethbridge Herald is the leading paper in the Lethbridge, Alberta, area with an average weekday circulation of 18185 in the six-month period ending Events 293 BC - The oldest known Roman temple to Venus is founded starting the institution of Vinalia Rustica. Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Simele or Sumail ( Assyrian: syr ܣܡܠܐ Arabic, سميل) is a town located in the Iraqi province of See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Iraq topics. The Assyrians are an Ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. Syriac Christianity is a culturally and linguistically distinctive community within Eastern Christianity. Iraqi Kurdistan Region ( Kurdish: هه رێمى كوردستان Herêmi Kurdistan, Arabic:إقليم كردستان العراق, Iqlĩm Kurdistãn The term is used to describe not only the massacre of Simele, but also the killing spree that continued among 63 Assyrian villages in the Dohuk and Mosul districts that led to the deaths of an estimated 3,000 innocent Assyrians. Dahuk (also Dohuk or Duhok) is one of the Governorates of Iraq. Ninawa ( Arabic: نینوى Kurdish: Neynewa, Aramaic: ܢܝܢܘܐ Nîněwâ) is a governorate ^[1][2] The Assyrian people at the time were emerging from one of the darkest periods of their history, for, during the Assyrian genocide at the end of the World War I, an estimated two-thirds of their population was massacred by Ottoman Turks and Kurds. The Assyrians are an Ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. The Assyrian Genocide (also known as Sayfo or Seyfo; Aramaic: ܩܛܠܐ ܕܥܡܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ or ܣܝܦܐ World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The Ottoman Turks were the subdivision of the Ottoman Muslim Millet that dominated the ruling class of the Ottoman Empire. ^[3]

The term 'genocide' was coined by direct influence of this massacre. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group ^[4]

Iraqi independence and crisis

Throughout the crisis, beginning in the late spring of 1933, the American representative in Iraq, Paul Knabenshue, described public animosity towards the Assyrians was at 'fever heat. ' ^[5] With Iraqi independence, the new Assyrian spiritual-temporal leader, Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII, demanded the Assyrians be given autonomy within Iraq, seeking support from Britain. Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII (born February 28, 1908, in Qochanis in modern-day Turkey, died November 6, 1975 in San José The Assyrian homeland or Assyria ( Assyrian: ܐܬܘܪ or Beth Nahrain refers to a geographic and cultural region in the The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located He pressed his case before the League of Nations in 1932. The League of Nations was an International organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920 His followers planned to resign from the Assyrian levies (a levie under the command of the British, that served British interest), and to re-group as a militia and concentrate in the north, creating a de facto Assyrian enclave. The Assyrian Levies were a most noteworthy feature of Iraq, and especially of northern Iraq during the years of the mandate and no account of In June 1933, the Patriarch was invited to Baghdad for negotiations with Hikmat Sulayman’s government and was detained there after refusing to relinquish temporal authority. Baghdad (بغداد) is the Capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate, with which it is also coterminous Hikmat Sulayman (1889&ndash1964 (حكمت سليمان was prime minister of Iraq from October 30, 1936 to August 12, Mar Shimun would eventually be exiled to Cyprus, thus forcing the head of the Assyrian Church of the East to be located in Chicago to this day. Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía The Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East (ܥܕܬܐ ܩܕܝܫܬܐ ܘܫܠܝܚܝܬܐ ܩܬܘܠܝܩܝ ܕܡܕܢܚܐ ܕܐܬܘܪ̈ܝܐ ‘Ittā Qaddishtā wa-Shlikhāitā Qattoliqi Chicago (ʃɪˈkɑːgoʊ is the largest City by population in the state of Illinois and the American Midwest of the United States. ^[6]

Massacre and looting

The targeted villages in the Simele and Zakho districts

In early August of 1933, more than 1,000 Assyrians who had been refused asylum in Syria crossed the border to return to their villages in Northern Iraq. Syria ( سوريّة or) officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic ar الجمهورية العربية السورية The French, who at the time were controlling Syria, had notified the Iraqis that the Assyrians were not armed; but while the Iraqi soldiers were disarming those whose arms had been returned, shots were fired resulting in 30 Iraqi and Assyrian casualties. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Anti-Assyrian and Anti-British xenophobia, apparent throughout the crisis, accelerated. Xenophobia is an intense and/or irrational dislike and sometimes fear of people from other countries ^[5] Reports circulated of Assyrian mutilation of Iraqi soldiers (later proven to be false). In Baghdad, the government panicked, fearing disaster as the Assyrians presented a formidable fighting force that could provoke a general uprising in the north. The government unleashed Kurdish irregulars who killed some 120 inhabitants of two Assyrian villages in the week of August 2 to August 9 (with most of the massacre occurring on August 7). Events 338 BC - A Macedonian army led by Philip II defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes in the Events 48 BC - Caesar's civil war: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus Events 322 BC - Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon following the death of Alexander the Great. Then on August 11, Kurdish general Bakr Sidqi (who had clashed with Assyrians before) led a march to what was then one of the most heavily inhabited Assyrian area in Iraq, the Simele district. Events 2492 BC - Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation Bakr Sidqi (بكر صدقي an Iraqi Nationalist and General of Kurdish descent was born 1890 in Kirkuk and assassinated on August Simele or Sumail ( Assyrian: syr ܣܡܠܐ Arabic, سميل) is a town located in the Iraqi province of

The Assyrian population of the district of Simele was indiscriminately massacred; men women, and children. In one room alone, eighty one Assyrians of Baz tribe were massacred. ^[7] Religious leaders were prime targets; eight Assyrian priests were killed during the massacre, including one beheaded and another burned alive. A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites in particular rites of sacrifice to and propitiation of a deity or deities ^[8] Girls were raped and women violated and made to march naked before the army commanders. ^[7] Holy books were used as fuel for burning girls. Children were run over by military cars. Pregnant women were bayoneted. Children were flung in the air and pierced with bayonets.

Back in the city of Dohuk, 600 Assyrians were killed by Sidqi's men. ^[7]

In the end, around 65 Assyrian villages were targeted in the Mosul and Dohuk districts. ^[9][10]

Today, most of these villages are inhabited by Kurds. The main campaign lasted until August 16, but violent raids on Assyrians were being reported up to the end of the month. Events 1384 - The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China, Emperor Dong hears a case of a couple who tore paper money bills while fighting The Assyrians are an Ethnic group whose origins lie in what is today Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria. After the campaign, Badr Sidqi was invited to Baghdad for a victory rally. ^[11] The campaign resulted in one third of the Assyrian population of Iraq fleeing to Syria. ^[12]

Aftermath

Church Of Martyrs - named after the massacre stands today in the town of Simele.

Immediately after the massacre and the shutting down of the Assyrian uprising, the Iraqi government demanded a conscription bill. Non-Assyrian Iraqi tribesmen offered to serve in the Iraqi army, to counter the Assyrians. In late August, the government of Mosul demanded that the central government ‘ruthlessly’ stamp out the rebellion, and that it eliminate all foreign influence in Iraqi affairs, and that the government take immediate steps to enact a law for compulsory military service. For the village in Azerbaijan see Mosul Azerbaijan. Mosul (الموصل Al Mūṣul, Kurdish: Mosul/Ninawa, Musul The next week, 49 Kurdish tribal chieftains joined in a pro-conscription telegram to the government, expressing thanks for punishing the ‘Assyrian insurgents’^[5], stating that a "nation can be proud of itself only through its power, and since evidence of this power is the army,"^[5] they requested compulsory military service. Rashid Ali presented the bill to the parliament. His government fell before it was legislated and Jamil Midfai’s government enacted conscription in January 1934. ^[13]

From the nationalists’ point of view, the Assyrian levies were British proxies, to be used by their ‘masters’ to destroy the new Iraqi state whose independence the British had consistently opposed. The British allowed their Assyrian auxiliary troops to retain their arms and granted them special duty and privileges: guarding military air installations and receiving higher pay than the Iraqi Arab recruits. Under British protection, the Assyrians did not become Iraqi citizens after independence. The nationalists believed the British were hoping for the Assyrians to destroy Iraq’s internal cohesion by becoming independent and by inciting others such as the Kurds to follow their example.

The massacre would eventually lead to 15,000 Assyrians leaving the Nineveh Plains for neighboring French Mandate of Syria, and create 35 new villages on the banks of the Khabur river. The French Mandate of Syria was a League of Nations Mandate created after the First World War and the Partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The Khabur River (also Habur Habor Kebar Chebar Chaboras; Aramaic: ܚܒܘܪ, Kurdish: Çemê Xabûr, Turkish: Habur ^[14]

Cultural impact and legacy

August in Syriac with the number 7 is often the symbol chosen by Assyrian organizations. See Syriac (disambiguation for other uses Syriac (syr ܠܫܢܐ ܣܘܪܝܝܐ leššānā Suryāyā) is an Eastern Aramaic language

August 7 officially became known as Martyrs Day or National Day of Mourning by the Assyrian community in memory for the Simele massacre, as it was declared so by the Assyrian Universal Alliance in 1970. Events 322 BC - Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon following the death of Alexander the Great. Assyrian Universal Alliance ( Assyrian: ܚܘܝܕܐ ܬܒ̣ܝܠܝܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ Arabic: الاتحاد الأشوري العالمي Persian ^[15] In 2004, the Syrian government banned an Assyrian political organization from commemorating the event, and threatened arrests if any were to break the ban. Politics of Syria takes place in a framework of a parliamentary Republic, whereby the power is in the hands of the President of Syria and the ruling ^[16]

Many Assyrian music artists such as Shlimon Bet Shmuel have written songs about the event^[17]. Assyrian music is divided into three main sections or periods Thousands of poems and stories have been written about the incident, including one by the Armenian-American William Saroyan, titled "Seventy Thousand Assyrians", written in 1934;

…We're washed up as a race, we're through, it's all over, why should I learn to read the (Assyrian) language? We have no writers, we have no news — well, there is a little news: once in a while the English encourage the Arabs to massacre us, that is all. An Armenian-American is an American whose ancestors hail either wholly or partly from Armenia. William Saroyan ( August 31, 1908 - May 18 1981) was an Armenian American Author. It's an old story, we know all about it.

– ^[18][19]

The Simele massacre inspired Raphael Lemkin to create the concept of "Genocide". Raphael Lemkin ( June 24, 1900 – August 28, 1959) was a Lawyer of Polish - Jewish descent Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group ^[20] In 1933, Lemkin made a presentation to the Legal Council of the League of Nations conference on international criminal law in Madrid, for which he prepared an essay on the Crime of Barbarity as a crime against international law. The League of Nations was an International organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920 Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. The concept of the crime, which later evolved into the idea of genocide, was based mostly on the Simele massacre. ^[21][22]

References

External links

• Assyrian Martyrs Day