Assyrian people

Assyrians
Sūrāyē / Suryoye / ʾĀṯōrāyē/ ʾĀšōrāyē

Ethnic flag used by most Assyrians
World distribution of the Assyrian diaspora
Total population
3.3–5+ million[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Regions with significant populations
Assyrian homeland:	Numbers can vary
Iraq	142,000–200,000[8][9]
Syria	200,000–877,000 (pre-Syrian civil war)[10][11][12][13]
Turkey	25,000[14]
Iran	7,000–17,000[15]
Assyrian diaspora:	Numbers can vary
United States	600,000[16][17][18]
Sweden	150,000[19]
Germany	70,000–100,000[20][21]
Jordan	30,000–150,000[22][23]
Australia	61,000 (2020 est.)[24]
Lebanon	50,000[25]
Netherlands	25,000–35,000[26]
Canada	19,685[27]
France	16,000[28]
Russia	14,000[29]
Greece	6,000[30]
Armenia	2,769–6,000[31][32]
Austria	2,500–5,000[33][34]
United Kingdom	3,000–4,000[35]
Georgia	3,299[36][37]
Palestine	1,500–5,000[38][39]
Ukraine	3,143[40]
Italy	3,000[41]
New Zealand	1,497[42]
Israel	1,000[43]
Denmark	700[44]
Kazakhstan	350[45]
Languages
Neo-Aramaic languages (Suret, Turoyo), Classical Syriac (liturgical), Akkadian (in antiquity), Sumerian (in antiquity)
Religion
Predominantly Syriac Christianity Minority Protestantism, Islam and Judaism

Assyrians^[a] are an indigenous ethnic group native to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians descend directly from Ancient Mesopotamians such as ancient Assyrians and Babylonians.^[46][47] Modern Assyrians may culturally self-identify as Syriacs, Chaldeans, or Arameans for religious, geographic, and tribal identification.^[48][49]

Assyrians speak Akkadian-influenced Aramaic (Suret, Turoyo), one of the oldest continuously spoken and written languages in the world. Aramaic has influenced Hebrew, Arabic, and some parts of Mongolian and Uighur. Aramaic was the lingua franca of West Asia and the language Jesus spoke.^{[50][51][52][53]}

Assyrians are almost exclusively Christian,^[54] with most adhering to the East and West Syriac liturgical rites of Christianity.^[55][56] Both rites use Classical Syriac as their liturgical language. The Assyrians were among the early converts to Christianity, along with Jews, Arameans, Armenians, Greeks, and Nabataeans.

The ancestral indigenous lands that form the Assyrian homeland are those of ancient Mesopotamia and the Zab rivers, a region currently divided between modern-day Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, and northeastern Syria.^[57] A majority of modern Assyrians have migrated to other regions of the world, including North America, the Levant, Australia, Europe, Russia and the Caucasus. Emigration was triggered by genocidal events throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as religious persecution by Islamic extremists.

The emergence of the Islamic State and the occupation of a significant portion of the Assyrian homeland resulted in another major wave of Assyrian displacement due to events such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies, and the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011. Of the one million or more Iraqis who have fled Iraq since the occupation, nearly 40% were indigenous Assyrians, even though Assyrians accounted for only around 3% of the pre-war Iraqi population.^[58][59]

The Islamic State was driven out from the Assyrian villages in the Khabour River Valley and the areas surrounding the city of Al-Hasakah in Syria by 2015, and from the Nineveh Plains in Iraq by 2017. In 2014, the Nineveh Plain Protection Units was formed and many Assyrians joined the force to defend themselves. The organization later became part of Iraqi Armed forces and played a key role in liberating areas previously held by the Islamic State during the War in Iraq.^[60] In northern Syria, Assyrian groups have been taking part both politically and militarily in the Kurdish-dominated but multiethnic Syrian Democratic Forces (see Khabour Guards and Sutoro) and Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria.

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