Assyrian genocide monument
defaced by terrorists.
RECENT HISTORY
For thousands of years, Assyrian Christians were able to maintain their unique traditions and culture, despite the increasing Islamization of their homeland.
In modern times, however, Assyrian Christians came under attack. During the First World War, about half a million Assyrian Christians were massacred in the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey), along with Armenian and Greek Christians.
In northern Iraq, Assyrian Christians endured persecution and violence at the hands of Kurdish neighbors and later Saddam Hussein. Many fled to Baghdad or left Iraq to find safety in other countries.
The situation became even worse after the US invasion. Kurdish Muslims now control the Assyrian homeland. Assyrian Christians have been the target of church bombings, kidnappings, rapes, and murders. Assyrian Christians have been excluded from the new government of Iraq, while Kurds attempt to rewrite history and conceal the fact that the land they now control was home to a great Assyrian civilization for the past four thousand years.
Over two-thirds of Iraqi Christians have left the country since 2003.