Search

This article brings a fresh perspective to the causal mechanism of coalition-building among diasporas pursuing genocide recognition, particularly horizontal alliances between the Armenian, Assyrian, and Kurdish diasporas. Why, how, and how durably do diasporas build coalitions to address past atrocities? Building coalitions for genocide recognition requires three important factors: a common adversary, a host-land, conducive to proliferation of transitional justice claims, and a single contentious issue on which diasporas can focus. Coalitions based on common experiences of victimhood and identity can elicit long-term cooperation and high-level involvement, as among Armenians and Assyrians. Coalitions primarily based on strategic interests to pressure a common adversary, without common experience, show less organizational involvement, as among Armenians and Kurds. The article discusses diaspora mobilizations around the 2015 Armenian genocide centennial and Turkey's EU accession with a wider sociospatial perspective of political processes related to Armenia, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ethnobotanical field study focusing on traditional wild vegetables was conducted in 22 villages of Central Kurdistan among three ethno-religious groups: Yazidis, Christian Assyrians, and (Sunni) Muslim Kurds. Through 91 interviews with elderly informants, we recorded the folk uses of 54 identified botanical taxa. We also observed important differences among these three groups in the use of wild vegetables that reflect the historical prevalence of pastoralism versus horticulture among Kurds and Assyrians, respectively. The preservation of the peaceful co-existence of different cultural and religious groups in the study area is crucial for the maintenance of the rich wild plant food local heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the refugees and refugee settlement in Syria during the French mandate period of 1920 through 1939, including their impact on the development of a Syrian national border. An overview of the refugees to Syria, including Kurds from Turkey (or Anatolia), Assyrians from Iraq and Armenians from Turkey, is provided. Syrian Arab nationalists' attitudes towards the French's policy on refugees, including in regard to Syrian sovereignty under the League of Nations, are discussed.

The idea of our project is to present archaeological and historical knowledge in a user-friendly and non-professional way to all generations of Iraq's population. The game is based more on facts than on fantasy despite of being a popular board game. The manual and the playing cards will be in Arabic and Kurdish. The Assyrian Empire will be the first series. Other periods, such as the Early Dynastic in South Mesopotamia, will follow. Complex information should be explained through the actions in the game to give a better understanding of settlement and society development in the Ancient Near East. By combining education with entertainment we hope to raise awareness and interest and also help the locals to connect to the archaeological sites and artefacts and to take responsibility for their own cultural heritage. We plan to start with students at schools and universities, but also hope that the game will find a place in museums and book fairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the questions of insurgency and 'military necessity' as a reason for moving the bulk of the Armenian population from the eastern provinces of the Ottoman Empire in the second half of 1915. It looks at precedent and parallel cases of 'relocations' in military history and follows the course of the war as it was fought by the Ottoman government from late 1914, on the battle front and behind the lines, until the Van uprising of April, 1915, which precipitated the decision to 'relocate' the Armenian civilian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The historical study of ethnic and religious minorities in the Near East presents as an endless task for years ahead. This paper offers a tour d’horizon of key minority issues from ca. 1300 B.C. to the present while plotting the way minorities―whether defeated, put under serious constraint, tolerated or marginalised―have been conceptualised in the historical record. Looking at history this way opens up the richness and importance of ‘minority studies’, and allows for reflection on the history of interpretations of the ‘suppressed other’ over the centuries. The contribution approaches Zaza ethno-religiosity as a brief test case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As is known, the racist worldview rising in Europe, particularly in Germany of the 1930s, affected also the socio-political realities in Turkey, and became in effect a part of the official policy of the country. Many theories of obvious Turkist nature, such as Güneş Dil Teorisi (Sun Language Theory), were even shaped by the government and introduced into the university programmes. In this framework, the ancient Near Eastern states were declared Turkish, and the idea about the primordial presence of the Turks in Anatolia and Mesopotamia became a sort of axiom or absolute truth. From anthropological perspective, thousands of Armenian and Greek graves were opened and examined for the purpose of determining the real Turkish type; the skulls taken from these graves were compared with those of the contemporary Turks. The racist ideology defeated in Europe as a result of World War II, was correspondingly overthrown in Turkey too; even some sanctions were imposed to its defenders. However, since the 1980s, the similar ideas have been brought to the agenda again via the project of 'the re-discovery of the proto-Turks in Anatolia'. Moreover, some Turkish academics have argued that the non-Muslim and non-Turk peoples, such as the Pontus Greeks, the Armenians, and the Assyrians are, indeed, of Turkic origin. This paper examines the recent publications by several Turkish authors who vehemently advocate the above summarised views, which, at the same time, are shared and embraced by a clear majority of the academics studying identity and ethnicity issues in Turkey. The introductory part of the paper discusses the theoretical aspects of ethnicity-again with a focus on the relevant literature published in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the historical geography of Media relative to the question whether the Assyrians had been at Ecbatana. The discussion presents the views of I. M. Diakonoff's on the matter. It mentions that the history of Babylonia, Assyria and other countries of the Ancient Near East has long been restored on the basis of cuneiform texts, which allows to reconstruct the most probable sequence and to verify chronology. Aside from the cuneiform texts, the history of Medes is also considered.

To evaluate the utility of mtDNA control region data for the purposes of forensic DNA testing in Iraq, a sample of 182 subjects (128 Arab Muslims, 15 Kurd Muslims, 22 Assyrian Christians and 17 Mandaean Arabs) was tested. High numbers of singleton haplotypes were observed among Arabs, Kurds and Assyrians, but fewer were found in Mandaeans. High molecular diversity and low random match probabilities confirmed the value of control region data in the investigation of maternal genetic lineages among the Iraqi population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents an abstract of the study 'Patterns of Human Y Chromosome Diversity Within and Among Armenians, Kurds and Assyrians, Inferred from Six STR Polymorphisms,' by L. Yepiskoposyan, M.E. Weale, N. Hovhannisyan, A. Khudoyan, N. Bradman and M. Thomas.

The article offers a report relating to the Iraqi Kurdistan. The section reports on the effort of the U.S. to unite various ethnic groups in northern Iraq, not only the Kurds, but also the Turks, Assyrians, and others. According to State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns, northern Iraq is going to be a busy place for the next couple of months; it's going to be an area where there will be lots of outside involvement in a very beneficial way. He expects that such general effort to try to help the Turkmens and Kurds and Assyrians and other will continue.