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ÐThe Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Identity of Modern AssyriansÑ EDWARD Y. ODISHO

Published in Melammu Symposia 2: R. M. Whiting (ed.), Mythology and Mythologies. Methodological Approaches to Intercultural Influences. Proceedings of the Second Annual Symposium of the Assyrian and Babylonian Intellectual Heritage Project. Held in , , October 4-7, 1999 (: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project 2001), pp. 137-48. Publisher: http://www.helsinki.fi/science/saa/

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ODISHO E THNIC, L INGUISTIC AND C ULTURAL I DENTITY OF M ODERN A SSYRIANS

EDWARD Y. O DISHO

The Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Identity of Modern Assyrians *

To be the native of a land for more than three millennia and yet to have the authenticity of one’s nativity questioned or even denied is the most flagrant violation of one’s human rights

1. Introductory Remarks

he historical and cultural connection ing of an enterprise, I had to conduct a quick between ancient Assyrians and mod- but extensive survey of most of the major Tern Assyrians [hereafter to be desig- , peoples and nations that either nated as connection ] has remained a highly emerged on the greater Mesopotamian controversial problem because there are theater or had an impact on it through inva- few, in fact, very few non-Assyrian schol- sions, occupations or mere adjacency. It ars around the world who believe in the was immediately concluded that the prob- connection and attempt to substantiate it lem encountered was not just a historical scholarly, objectively and scientifically. one, but rather a complex civilizational one The question of connection is truly aca- whose complexity was further compounded demically challenging for those who care by the number of the variables that had to about scholarship. I seriously experienced be invoked and considered in order to fi- this challenge early in 1984 when I em- nalize a reasonable solution. Consequently, barked on writing my book, The Sound Sys- the need to develop the sketch for an ap- tem of Modern Assyrian (Neo-) . It proach to solve the problem became inevi- took six months to write the nine linguistic table. Gradually and convincingly, it be- chapters, but approximately three years came clear to me that no feasible solution were needed to write the first chapter which to this problem can be envisaged without was, more or less, a history-based one. Not the investigation of as many aspects of the being a historian, it was so intimidating an problem as possible such as political, experience to risk writing a chapter on the cultural, linguistic, religious and ethnic. history of the modern Assyrians and trace it Any monodimensional and narrow perspec- back to the ancient times of the Mesopota- tive to the solution, such as the exclusive mian civilizations, peoples and nations. To dependence on the historical narration of make the writing of the chapter less daunt- political events, tends to regurgitate those

* I wish to express my deep gratitude to Professor Simo troversial problem of connection between the ancient Parpola for inviting me to attend the Symposium and Assyrians and modern Assyrians. This is a connection conduct this presentation. Despite the last minute invita- that Parpola, unlike many writers, strongly believes in tion, I managed to overcome the requirements of travel and affords strong and concrete evidence to substantiate because of my academic interest in discussing the con- it.

R.M. Whiting (ed.) MELAMMU S YMPOSIA II (Helsinki 2001) ISBN 951-45-9049-X 137 ODISHO E THNIC, L INGUISTIC AND C ULTURAL I DENTITY OF M ODERN A SSYRIANS

events again and again and end up with the connection and the multidimensional ap- same rhetorical conclusion such as the one proach to tackle it, the objective was not to drawn by Will Durant and summarized here substantiate the connection as much as it as follows: was to counter the views of those who with- out any valuable evidence bluntly denied was laid to waste….The population the connection. The study remained hidden was slaughtered or enslaved…At one blow disappeared from history.. Nothing in my book until recently when Parpola’s remained of her except certain tactics and views and writings were brought to my at- weapons of war… Not a stone remained tention. visible of all the temples… (Durant, 1942: He, for instance, states, 283-84) Quite apart from the importance of this issue Durant’s conclusion, among others, im- to the identity of the modern Assyrians, the plies the total annihilation of the ancient question is of scientific importance, too … Assyrians, whereas other historians such as the speakers of Neo-Aramaic languages are Diakonoff who is more intimately associ- the ethnic/cultural/linguistic descendants of ancient Assyrians … this connection is sup- ated with the Middle Eastern civilizations ported (and can be proven) by a large set of counters the annihilation notion and states: data attesting to the continuity of and national identity in upper Meso- The was not annihilated; it potamia until the advent of . (Parpola merely merged with the mass of Near eas- (a), 1999) tern , for as a result of the numer- ous deportations carried out by the Assyrian In a more recent presentation, Parpola, as kings, Aramaic had long become the lingua an Assyriologist, brings forth very signifi- franca of the ordinary people all over the cant pieces of evidence to reinforce and Assyrian . (Diakonoff, 1985:124) substantiate the connection (Parpola (b), However, neither Diakonoff nor other 1999). This is why Parpola’s academic historians who reject the notion of the anni- stand in this regard is so significant. He is hilation of the ancient Assyrians carried the the only Assyriologist that I know of who is issue further so as to establish a connection not only interested in rejecting the annihila- between the ancient Assyrians and the mod- tion notion, but is also ardently trying to ern Assyrians. objectively and scientifically establish the At an earlier stage in dealing with the connection.

2. A Spectrum of Views Relevant to the Connection

The views relevant to this connection fall signing of the international treaties of Sev- into three primary categories: political, res (1920) and Lausanne (1923) in which nationalistic and academic. some rights of the ethnic minorities includ- ing the Assyrians were recognized. has always feverishly attempted to deny the 2.1. Political View. connection with the intention of denying the Assyrians a natural and legitimate eligi- This has been typically represented by Iraq bility to citizenship with all the privileges since its inception as a political entity after that ensue. Once Iraq became independent the collapse of the and the and the majority of the Assyrians ended up

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settling within its political boundaries, the ians – is the best example of such a trend. denial was systematically publicized. All the official documents in the Iraqi govern- mental offices and textbooks in schools 2.3. Academic View. identified the Assyrians, and still do, as who moved from and This view is represented by a wide variety and settled in Iraq after the First World of individuals both Assyrian and non-Assyr- War . Most importantly, they stress the claim ian. Among the Assyrians, including the that the modern Assyrians are not the de- leaders of the so-called Assyrian Reawa- scendants of the ancient Assyrians. Such a kening, there is hardly any scholarly inves- total denial of the connection by the Iraqi tigation of the connection. Most of the government is part of a political campaign available is premised on the pre- of exclusion and distortion of the identity of sumption that the connection is undisputed. the ethnic minorities. During the last few decades, a few works appeared dealing with the connection, namely by Joseph (1961), Matveef (1990) 2.2. Nationalistic View. and Odisho (1988). These authors con- ducted extensive research to document and This is the view of virtually all of modern support their views with regard to the con- Assyrians, both educated and uneducated, nection. Joseph struggles to negate the con- initiated and spearheaded by the traditional nection while Matveef and Odisho attempt scholars – or Rabis for more accuracy – of to substantiate it. what I identify as the modern Assyrian Re- As for the non-Assyrian writers, one has awakening extending from the middle of the to distinguish between the authors of nineteenth century up to the 1960s. All general history textbooks and the authors of modern Assyrians emotionally espouse the genuine research works. The majority of the connection as a pillar and extension of their former, state that Assyria and the Assyrians national and historical identity in the form disappeared with the downfall of the Assyr- of a nationalistic movement known today as ian Empire in 612 BC or soon afterwards. Aturayuta (Assyrianism). Of the other Most such statements are not necessarily Aramaic-speaking communities, the older based on serious research and substantia- generations prefer to be known as Chal- tion; they are rather reproductions of some deans and . Those of them who have statements about Assyria and the Assyrians lost the Aramaic language and have been available in the Biblical and classical lit- heavily acculturated by the culture erature such as the prophecy and vision of claim Arabic ethnicity. However, the the prophet Nahum. As for the focused re- middle and younger generations of Syrians, searchers, there are very few who handled and more recently of Chaldeans, manifest a the connection as a serious issue. Among deep passion for the connection with the such modern non-Assyrian scholars, I know ancient Assyrians or, perhaps more accur- of only Parpola who believes in the connec- ately with a blend of Assyrian/Babylonian/ tion and substantiates it. Others opt to gloss Aramean connection. In fact, the present over the history of modern Assyrians and leadership and rank-and-file of the Assyr- identify them as the remnants of the ancient ian Democratic Movement – the most pop- Aramaic/Syriac-speaking with- ular, best-organized and politically mature out either avering the Assyrian connection organization ever among the modern Assyr- or denying it.

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The interest in the pursuit of the connec- subject to proof. Thirdly, the pursuit of the tion has never been, never was and will connection was to set an example of scien- never be a nationalistic or a sentimental tificness, scholarship and objectivity in pas- urge on my part for a blood connection. As sing judgement with regard to sensitive a human being and an intellectual, I am human issues of identity. proud to belong historically to the greater Looking at myself as an individual with Mesopotamian land and to any of its ancient an Assyrian name, an Aramaic language, a civilizations be that Sumerian, Assyrian, Christian and a Mesopotamian cul- Babylonian or Aramean. Rather, the inter- ture, I began to contemplate on my hybrid est in investigating this connection rests on identity. My hybrid identity haunted me for three drives. Firstly, it is a legitimate human a while until it evolved into an academic right for everyone to know and authenticate challenge worthy of being researched and one’s historical lineage and identity. Sec- solved as objectively as possible. There ondly, it is only a practice in self-defense to were several assumptions to be made to maintain one’s identity against any distor- shape the approach. tion or denial; besides, any denial should be

3. The Assumptions

Assumption 3.1. disappearance of its people, language and culture. Political systems may be brought That massive cultural, religious and linguis- down by coup d’etat , emperors and kings tic shifts and conversions are not unfamiliar may be assassinated or suddenly die with a in the history of peoples and nations. The heart attack or stroke, but peoples, fact that the majority of the natives of Bri- and languages are not entities that disappear tain lost their Celtic languages and picked suddenly and do not perish with the swift- up a Germanic language to be known later ness of human strokes or heart attacks. as English; the fact that the natives of Egypt lost their ancient Egyptian language and gradually embraced Arabic; and the fact Assumption 3.3. that the natives of Central and South Ameri- ca who were never Latinos in language, That any positive or negative judgement Hispanics in culture and Catholic in reli- with regards to a controversial issue re- gion are now predominantly Spanish- quires substantiation and proof to be speaking and overwhelmingly Roman Cath- credible. Thus, any approval of the connec- olics all attest to such massive conversions. tion requires substantiation; likewise, any denial requires substantiation without which the approval or the denial is judged Assumption 3.2. as subjective and/or bias. With those three assumptions in mind, I That the downfall of a political system re- proceeded to flesh out the approach to the gardless of how extensive its political do- solution. main had been does never imply the sudden

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4. The Approach to the Solution

In light of the above three assumptions, the small parts being annexed to the neighbor- approach to the solution of the connection ing nations. Incidentally, the most recent controversy was developed in terms of three example to support the line of thinking es- drastic changes in the life and history of the poused here is the collapse of the Soviet ancient Assyrians and all the neighboring Union. Nothing disappeared except the pol- inhabitants of ancient . itico-economic system, whereas the peo- ples not only regained their political free- dom but also embarked on reaffirming their 4.1. The Political Reshuffle. ethnic, linguistic and cultural identity. I, therefore, have no hesitation whatsoever to The argument here is primarily premised on adopt Diakonoff’s view cited above and assumption 3.2 in that the downfall of As- completely reject Durant’s description of in 612 BC , or immediately thereafter, the total annihilation of the people of Nine- should never be envisaged as the total de- veh and Assyria. It is true that Nineveh, as struction of the Assyrian people. It is unrea- a capital, fell. It is true that Assyria, as a sonable to interpret the collapse of a politi- political system, collapsed. It is quite con- cal system in the sense of the instantaneous ceivable to talk of tens, or even hundreds of disappearance of its citizenry . Nothing of thousands of casualties. But none of the this sort happened to the peoples of the above facts should be construed as the total Byzantine, Roman or Ottoman . In annihilation of the Assyrians (Odisho, each case, it was the political machine that 1988:8) collapsed and the territory under its juris- Perhaps of equal political significance is diction split into smaller countries, states or the appearance of an entity under the name provinces that survived under the same or of Athura a short time after the downfall of different names. This has to be so, and can- Assyria which seems to stand for a reduced not be otherwise, because those who perish form [or satrapy ] of Assyria. The Athura with the collapse of the political system satrapy is mentioned in the Behistun royal represent the minority while the majority inscriptions of King Darius, 558-486 BC outlives the collapse though frequently (Rawlinson, 1859; Olmstead, 1948; Cook, undergoes various political, religious and 1983 & 1985). Later in history, the name linguistic changes. Based on common sense Aturia emerges as a reference to Assyria or and the evidence from the political history Athura. (Jouguet, 1928:31; Herzfeld, 1968: of past empires and nations, the sudden an- 305) There is certainly far more historical nihilation of a political system or empire and political evidence to support the con- should not entail the annihilation of it peo- tinuation of an entity representing the ples, languages and cultures. It is appropri- ancient Assyria, its people and its culture ate here to draw an analogy with World (for more details see Odisho, 1988). War II . In the recorded history of humanity, there has been no worse catastrophe than this War. was destroyed, millions of 4.2. The Linguistic Shift. soldiers and civilians did perish and the Nazi war machine and regime did disinte- In order to understand the nature of this grate, but the German people and shift and the manner in which it is relevant, survived though in two parts and with many the following five points are worthy of con-

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sideration: 4.2.4. The above conversion in both oral 4.2.1. Before and after the downfall of and literacy forms is not too surprising to the Assyrian empire there were no clear-cut occur since both Assyrian and Aramaic are political or geographic boundaries between cognate whose under- the Assyrian and Aramean provinces. There lying linguistic systems should not be en- was always a great deal of territorial over- visaged as drastically different. It is not lap between the two entities. For instance, unreasonable to assume that most Semitic the cities of Nisibis, Orhai and , languages, especially those adjacent to each which were centers of Aramaic language, other, developed some sort of a “common had been regions within the Assyrian Em- language” and had at one time maintained a pire (Rogers, 1915; Oppenheim, 1967). In reasonable degree of . fact, those cities alternately belonged to the For instance, “the late Babylonian language Assyrian Empire and the Aramean states. is largely characterized by Aramaic syntax 4.2.2. The Aramaic language became the with Babylonian words.” (Lambert, 1973: of the . Accord- 181) Besides, the knowledge of more than ing to Rosenthal (1974:6), one language would have been very likely in ancient Mesopotamia where speakers of During the second millennium BC various different languages came into extensive and Aramaic dialects are likely to have been spoken at the borders and within Mesopota- extended authentic contact. Hence, it is mia and the . But it was the quite conceivable to think of Mesopotamia dialect used by the Arameans settled within as an extensive bilingual and even multilin- the confines of Assyria that from the eighth gual community where people became vul- century BC on supplanted all other dialects. nerable to language shift first and language This is such a well-established fact that it disappearance later. It is in those terms that hardly needs any further citations and ela- the shift from Sumerian to Akkadian and borations. from Akkadian to Aramaic and later from 4.2.3. The dominance of Aramaic as a Aramaic to Arabic had taken place. lingua franca was not confined to the oral 4.2.5. Etymologically and even onomas- form; its literacy instrument in the form of tically, the jumble of names to identify the the system was equally modern Assyrians as Asuristanyi, Athuraye, pervasive in replacing the logographic and Aturaye, Suraye, Suryaye, Athuri, Ashuri, syllabic systems of writing. Asuri, among others, could all be traced back to the same root taking into consider- From its inception, the Aramaic alphabet, in ation some reasonable and legitimate a sense, had to fight a duel with the cunei- form system of writing. It was a long phonetic and morphological modifications struggle – it lasted until the commencement according to language-specific rules (Odi- of the Christian era – between the compli- sho, 1988). This trend of cross-language cated theocratic system of writing acces- morphological change is also too common sible only to certain privileged classes and and too well established as a linguistic fact the simple democratic system accessible to everybody; at the end of the seventh century to be controversial. BC , all Syria and the great part of Mesopo- tamia became thoroughly Aramaized. (Dir- inger, 1968:200; cf. Toynbee, 1947:19).

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4.3. The Religious and Cultural cultural changes and conversions. The pres- Conversions. ent dominance of Arabic where Aramaic was unrivalled and the spread of Islam With the advent of , most of where Christianity had its earliest citadels Mesopotamia’s religious rituals, traditions clearly sums up the history and the extent and practices started to disappear. Even of the linguistic, cultural, ethnic and cultu- though it is difficult to think of the pre- ral conversions in the region. Christianity Mesopotamia as a strikingly It is true that during the recent centuries, heterogeneous religious entity, it is yet eas- especially the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, ier to think that Christianity enhanced the the most common ethnic names for today’s religious homogeneity of the whole region Assyrians have been: Athuraye, Athurnaye, and helped to obliterate much of the relig- Suraye and Suryaye . It is also true that their ious inconsistency and create religious and association with the Anglicized appellation cultural uniformity in the region. In other ‘Assyrian’ emerged towards the end of the words, when Christianity became the domi- nineteenth century and was firmly estab- nant religion of the region, the early conver- lished afterwards as the predominant appel- sions included Arameans, Assyrians and lation and accepted by the Assyrians as Babylonians, among others. Consequently, their indisputable nationalistic name and Christianity ironed out many of the ethnic their historical linkage to the ancient Assyr- and nationalistic, linguistic and cultural dif- ians. However, this nineteenth century at- ferences among those populations. A major tachment of the Anglicized appellation ‘As- corollary to the religious conversions was syrian’ to an formerly known the further spread and consolidation of as Athuraye or Suraye should, by no means, Aramaic at the expense of other languages be confused with Joseph’s statement that especially Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylo- …while the name Chaldean was appointed nian) since Aramaic, and especially its Syr- to the Uniats, the illustrious twin name As- iac version, became the language of eastern syrian was in time applied to the Nestorians Christendom. Gradually, all the religious, and that they accepted and used it from the cultural and linguistic attributes among the end of the nineteenth century. (Joseph, Christians of the Middle East were ex- 1961:13) pressed in the form of Suryaya, Suryaye Joseph’s intention from his above state- or Suraya, Suraye . Another concomitant ment was to prove that the so-called ‘mod- change related to religion and culture was ern Assyrians’ have nothing to do with the the change in the proper names which, in ancient Assyrians both historically and eth- itself, is a significant ethnic and national nically. I am totally opposed to Joseph’s marker that can conceal the linkage be- views inasmuch as the connection is con- tween two eras in the history of an ethnic cerned for several reasons. Firstly, names group or nation. The Biblical and other do not always represent a reliable index to Christian names swept the entire region and historical, ethnic or nationalistic origin. erased almost all the ancient Assyrian- Egypt is historically known to its natives as Babylonian names. Masr , perhaps from its much earlier name Mesopotamia, is one of the smallest re- of Mudaraya , not as Egypt which has been gions in the world which has been the cradle popularized in the through for so many successive civilizations; it is a Greek. Secondly, the name ‘Assyria’ or region that has experienced radical and ‘Assyrian’ is the English rendition of the massive ethnic, linguistic, religious and Greek name based on ‘ Ashshur ‘where the

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double ‘sh’ was orthographically rendered Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian. Thirdly, by the as double ‘s’ [i.e. sigma] Joseph accepts the connection of the mod- since the Greek alphabet does not have a ern Assyrians to the Arameans or Syrians, symbol for ‘sh.’ If the Greeks had opted to but rejects their connection to the ancient base their coinage on the Aramaic equival- Assyrians although both the ancient Assyr- ent of ‘Ashshur’ which is ‘Aththur’ then we ian and Arameans were historically affil- would not have had the English coinage iated with the same regions which the mod- ‘Assyrian’; instead, the coinage might have ern Assyrians have inhabited as far as their been Aththurians or even Aththurites, an history is traced back. Joseph’s repeated appellation that is far more consistent with insistence on the lack of ethnic and nation- the modern Assyrians’ identification of alistic connection between modern and themselves as Athuraye and bears a stronger ancient Assyrian is mainly attributed to his sense of historical continuity. In fact, in exclusively historical approach to solving a many Middle Eastern languages, it is the problem that is too broad and complex for root ATHR which is more commonly used as a monodimensional perspective. It is un- the base for the coinage of the name for the likely for any author to arrive at a reason- Assyrians. In languages whose phonologi- able solution to this problem of connection cal systems do not have the interdental fri- without a serious consideration of the lin- catives [ θ] and [š], the [ θ] of Aththur has guistic, cultural and religious conversions been replaced by a [s] as is the case in that had swept the region.

5. Present Status of the Assyrians

5.1. Ethnic Status. the very speedy language and culture ero- sion as a serious threat to their ethnic and Today the Assyrians do not know them- historical identity. selves other than Assyrians and are also so Since their massive displacement after known by many others. They do not have a , they have never had a well-or- problem of self-identification; in fact, any ganized national or political movement attempt at substantiating the connection is with a long-term vision and strategy. Only considered by most of them as redundant recently and as a reaction to the dictatorship and unwarranted. Their largest population of the Ba’th , a younger fairly edu- concentrations were in Iraq and Iran, but are cated generation of Assyrians launched the now much smaller in size due to political Assyrian Democratic Movement with na- turmoil and wars in the Middle East leading tionalistic and political goals. The move- to massive immigration and displacement. ment has gained momentum since its incep- Presently, the largest contingent of Assyr- tion in late 1970s. Inside Iraq, and espe- ians is, ironically enough, in the United cially in the self-rule zone in the north, the States and Chicago is the city with the lar- movement is part of the governmental and gest Assyrian population. Some unofficial ruling coalition; it has both cabinet and par- figures put the population at 80,000 which liamentary representations. Outside Iraq, is not unreasonable. People are very aware its popular support is increasing rapidly to of their ethnic identity; however, they, at the extent that no previous Assyrian organ- the same time, are extremely conscious of ization has ever enjoyed.

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5.2. Linguistic Status. that almost two centuries after the resurrec- tion of modern Assyrian, the language once Due to the status of the Assyrians as mi- again faces its worst threat of erosion and norities in all the countries they inhabit, it disappearance due to three major reasons: is very rare to find Assyrians who are mono- the rise of the Ba’th regime in Iraq, the linguals. Most of them are bilinguals or Iran- and the . All three multilinguals. Most of the Assyrians iden- jointly and severally led to the worst dis- tify their language as Assyrian not knowing placement and immigration movement the linguistic/historic difference between among the Assyrians since their displace- Assyrian and Aramaic. Some ultra-Assyr- ment after the First World War. Their ianists are reluctant to accept Aramaic or strong hinterland in the north of Iraq and the Syriac as a name for their language. Only communal enclaves in several cities of Iraq very few Assyrians recognize the fact that and Iran suffered severe sparsity. Most of they are entitled to claim the Assyrian li- those people moved to the European and neage and ethnicity, but the language, with North American countries where they are both eastern and western dialects, is a de- even in greater danger of losing their native scendant of Aramaic rather than of ancient language. In the in particular, Assyrian. the language is eroding very severely. Before the arrival of the Christian Without new waves of immigrants, the lan- missionaries among the Assyrians towards guage can hardly survive beyond three or the beginning of the 19th century, the lan- four generations to come (Odisho, 1993; guage of the Assyrians was in the worst 1999). Other than a miracle, the only hope condition suffering from serious erosion for the maintenance of the language is the and high level of mutual unintelligibility. remaining settlements of Assyrians in the This was attributed partly to the high level north of Iraq led by the Assyrian Demo- of illiteracy and the drift of spoken lan- cratic Movement and its serious initiative in guage from the literary language and partly Assyrianizing the elementary and second- to the drastic divergence among regional ary educational curricula. The local educa- and tribal dialects. After long years of tional system is conducted primarily work, the missionaries and the few literate through the medium of Assyrian as the na- Assyrians succeeded in reducing the dialect tive language together with Arabic, Kurdish of Urmi to writing and later creating a mod- and English as second and foreign lan- ern Standard Written Language. In simple guages. If the geopolitics of the twenty-first words, this attempt represented a resurrec- century bestow on the the right of tion of the language in a modern version. autonomy or independence, and if the Since then this variety of modern Assyrian Kurds, in turn, bestow on other minorities has been the tool of literacy and linguistic in the region the privileges of ethnic, lin- leveling of dialects among the Assyrians. In guistic and cultural identity, the Assyrian other words, it has created a form of Koine language will have yet one more oppor- dialect (Odisho, 1988) at both the literacy tunity for further survival. If, however, the and oracy levels. The more the Assyrians Kurds were denied their autonomy or failed intermingle, the more uniform the Koine to practice democracy towards others, then and the written modern Assyrian become. the Assyrian language will highly likely be However, it is very unfortunate to point out doomed to extinction.

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5.3. Cultural Status. light the connection with the ancient Assyr- ians and their culture. A pervasive wave of Like any other minority in the Middle East, name-changing swept the whole Assyrian the Assyrian culture shares much of the community. Names such as , Sargon, cultures of the majorities such as , Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, Atur, Sham- Turks and . Certainly, their bilin- miram were used side by side with the post gual or multilingual status naturally implies Christianity names of Ishu, Abd-Ishu, Yu- a bicultural and multicultural status, too. hannan etc. They also began to celebrate the However, there are still other aspects of ancient Assyrian feasts and festivals culture which distinguish them from other together with the Christian ones. This re- ethnic minorities or majorities. Foremost of awakening has been the cornerstone on those aspects is their Christian religion which their modern spirit of Assyrianism is most notably as followers of the Church of premised. Today, although most of the As- the East. Another aspect is their Aramaic syrians harbor an intense sentiment of As- language which served as the first and na- syrianism, the nationalistic sentiment is not tive language of Christianity and still serves matched with savvy long-term political until this very day as the medium of their strategy, organizational sophistication and daily communication, literacy and Church economic strength. In a world in which they services. Historically and culturally, the have hardly any geopolitical weight left, the is the only church that realization of their political ambitions in commenced its services in Aramaic and still independence or even autonomy are only maintains it. remotely likely though nothing is im- With the modern Assyrian reawakening possible with the geopolitics of the new in the 19th century, a new and important world order. Today’s geopolitics is a large aspect of culture was resurrected to high- hat under which much magic is worked.

6. Conclusions

By any stretch of reality or imagination, the extent and intensity of the linguistic-cultu- of Mesopotamia represents ral contacts. It is this consideration that the best panorama of intense civilizational determines the dynamics of change, ero- contacts where languages, and sion, survival and/or disappearance of lan- cultures intermingled, co-existed, clashed, guages and cultures. These dynamics succumbed or survived. These cross-civi- should be thoroughly understood and seri- lizational contacts have obliterated many of ously differentiated from the dynamics of the distinctive ethnic, linguistic, religious the emergence and collapse of political sys- and cultural boundaries and markers. How- tems. It is quite conceivable to accept the ever, since this controversy of connection is sudden downfall and the disappearance of heavily entangled in linguistic-cultural the Assyrian Empire as a political system, webs, the use of synchronic probing tech- but it is utterly inconceivable to apply the niques of the available diachronic data is same principle of sudden disappearance to indispensable. The techniques become most a people in its entirety or to its language and effective when consideration is given to the culture. All those non-political aspects take

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centuries to vanish. This trend is crystal- any long-term project for a comprehensive clear in the number of centuries taken for survey of the cultures of Mesopotamia, the linguistic conversion from Sumerian to such as M ELAMMU , has to grant serious con- Akkadian, from Akkadian to Aramaic, from sideration to those lengthy transitions of Aramaic to Arabic. In the latter case, bilingualism and biculturalism and the dy- Aramaic is still surviving in one form or namics that governed them. We should all another even after the total and pervasive remember that it was through the help of domination of Arabic and Islam in the re- bilingual and multilingual pieces of evi- gion for over one millennium. If a language dence such as the Behistun Monument and or culture is doomed to surrender to other the Rosetta Stone that archeologists and lin- languages and cultures due to civilizational guists were able to decipher the codes of the confrontation then the surrender tends to be ancient languages and illuminate their civi- usually effected through a century(ies)- lizations. long transition in the form of bilingualism Finally, this study was a practice in scien- and biculturalism. Thus, for any serious and tific research aimed at making judgements comprehensive probing of any controver- that are fairer and more objective. Today, sies in the , the lin- I am much happier because other scholars guistic-cultural context of the controversy who are more intimately associated with the is indispensable. In other words, those long theme under discussion are producing fur- transitional periods of bilingualism and bi- ther scientific substantiation. I specifically culturalism should be an integral part of any would like to acknowledge Professor Par- research in the history of any region that pola’s honest efforts in searching for the had experienced serious contacts between truth in the ruins of great Mesopotamian and among languages and cultures. In fact, civilizations.

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