Assyrians and Syriacs in Turkey

Assyrians/Syriacs in Turkey

Map of Syriac settlements in their homeland, Tur Abdin
Total population
28,000 - 50,000 (likely more due to refugees from Syria and Iraq)
Regions with significant populations
Mainly Southeastern Anatolia Region
Languages
Turkish, Turoyo dialect of Neo-Aramaic
Religion
Majority Syriac Orthodox; minority Syriac Catholic, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, Assyrian Evangelical Church
Related ethnic groups
Mhallami people

Assyrians/Syriacs in Turkey are an indigenous Semitic-speaking ethnic group and minority of Turkey (and also northern Iraq and northeast Syria) with a presence in the region dating to as far back as the 25th century BC, making them the oldest ethnic group in the nation. Some regions of what is now south eastern Turkey were an integral part of Mesopotamia from the 25th century BC to the 7th century AD, including its final capital, Harran.

They are Eastern Aramaic speaking Christians, with most being members of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, Assyrian Evangelical Church, or Ancient Church of the East.

The Syriacs were once a large ethnic minority in the Ottoman Empire, living in the Hakkari, Sirnak and Mardin provinces, but, following the Seyfo Genocide, most were murdered or forced to emigrate to join fellow Syriacs in northern Iraq, northeast Syria, and northwest Iran. Now, they live in small numbers in eastern Turkey and Istanbul.

The Ottoman Empire had an elaborate system of administering the non-Muslim "People of the Book." That is, they made allowances for accepted monotheists with a scriptural tradition and distinguished them from people they defined as pagans. (Buddhists and Hindus as well as some African groups were the ones with which they came in contact.) As People of the Book (or dhimmi), Jews, Christians and Mandaeans (in some cases Zoroastrians) received second-class treatment but were tolerated.