The Assyrian Genocide: Cultural and Political Legacies

341 Pages·2017·2.77 MB·English

by  Hannibal Travis

“One of the fortuitous aspects of the development of comparative genocide
studies has been attention to a number of cases of genocide and genocidal
massacres that previously were not included in a manner commensurate
with the crime. For example, after a century the genocide of the numerically
small Herero people has finally entered the consciousness of many scholars
and students. The same is happening with the Assyrian genocide, recogni-
tion of which I have personally advocated for a long time. Each genocide is
different, however, and care should be taken as there are pitfalls in attempt-
ing to equate one with the other in every way. For decades, the Assyrian
genocide, like the Armenian genocide, had become a ‘forgotten genocide.’
Armenian activists and scholars martialed their resources relatively early to
gradually eliminate the adjective ‘forgotten.’ Assyrians and Greeks tarried,
in part because they themselves did not pay sufficient heed to the challenge.
It is gratifying that this has changed in recent decades and the fact that
both Assyrian and non-Assyrian authors are contributors to The Assyrian
Genocide: Cultural and Political Legacies is strong testimony to that fact.”
Richard G. Hovannisian, Professor Emeritus,
University of California, Los Angeles,
President’s Fellow, Chapman University, and
Scholarly Advisor, Shoah Foundation,
University of Southern California.

The Assyrian Genocide
For a brief period, the attention of the international community has focused once
again on the plight of religious minorities in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. In particular,
the abductions and massacres of Yezidis and Assyrians in the Sinjar, Mosul, Nineveh
Plains, Baghdad, and Hasakah regions in 2007–2015 raised questions about the pre-
vention of genocide. This book, while principally analyzing the Assyrian genocide of
1914–1925 and its implications for the culture and politics of the region, also raises
broader questions concerning the future of religious diversity in the Middle East. It
gathers and analyzes the findings of a broad spectrum of historical and scholarly works
on Christian identities in the Middle East, genocide studies, international law, and the
politics of the late Ottoman Empire, as well as the politics of the Ottomans’ British and
Russian rivals for power in western Asia and the eastern Mediterranean basin.
A key question the book raises is whether the fate of the Assyrians maps onto any of
the concepts used within international law and diplomatic history to study genocide
and group violence. In this light, the Assyrian genocide stands out as being several
times larger than the Srebrenica genocide, which is recognized by Turkey as well as by
international tribunals and organizations. That is true both in absolute terms and rela-
tive to the size of the affected group, which was larger in the Bosnian case. Including
its Armenian and Greek victims, the Ottoman Christian Genocide rivals the Rwan-
dan, Bengali, and Biafran genocides. The book also aims to explore the impact of the
genocide period of 1914–1925 on the development or partial unraveling of Assyrian
group cohesion, including aspirations to autonomy in the Assyrian areas of northern
Iraq, northwestern Iran, and southeastern Turkey. Scholars from around the world
have collaborated to approach these research questions by reference to diplomatic and
political archives, international legal materials, memoirs, and literary works.
Hannibal Travis publishes work and teaches classes at Florida International Univer-
sity relating to international law, Internet law, and intellectual property. He has also
served as Visiting Associate Professor of Law at Villanova University. He graduated
magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1999, where he served as a teach-
ing assistant in Harvard College. He has published widely on genocide studies and
human rights law, including Genocide in the Middle East: The Ottoman Empire,
Iraq, and Sudan (2010); “Genocide in Sudan: The Role of Oil Exploration and
the Entitlement of the Victims to Reparations” in The Top Ten Global Justice Law
Review Articles 2008 (Amos Guiora ed., 2009), 107–162; “On the Original Under-
standing of the Crime of Genocide,” Genocide Studies and Prevention 7 (2012):
30–55; “Did the Armenian Genocide Inspire Hitler?” Middle East Quarterly 20,
no. 1, Winter 2013, pp. 27–35; and “Why Was Benghazi ‘Saved,’ But Sinjar Allowed
to Be Lost?: New Failures of Genocide Prevention, 2007–2015,” Genocide Studies
International 10, no. 2 (2017), https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/690.
Routledge Studies in Modern History
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29 The Assyrian Genocide
Cultural and Political Legacies
Edited by Hannibal Travis
The Assyrian Genocide
Cultural and Political Legacies
Edited by Hannibal Travis
First published 2018
by Routledge
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© 2018 selection and editorial matter, Hannibal Travis; individual
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Travis, Hannibal, editor.
Title: The Assyrian genocide : cultural and political legacies / edited
by Hannibal Travis.
Other titles: Routledge studies in modern history ; 29.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, 2017. | Series:
Routledge studies in modern history ; 29 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017006188 | ISBN 9781138284050 (hardback :
alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315269832 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Genocide—Turkey—History—20th century. |
Genocide—Iraq—History—20th century. | Assyrians—Turkey—
History—20th century. | Assyrians—Iraq—History—20th century. |
Turkey—Ethnic relations. | Iraq—Ethnic relations. | Minorities—
Turkey—History—20th century. | Minorities—Iraq—History—
20th century. | Christians—Turkey—History—20th century. |
Christians—Iraq—History—20th century.
Classification: LCC DR435.A87 A87 2017 | DDC
305.8009561—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017006188
ISBN: 978-1-138-28405-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-26983-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Dedication
The editor of this book is greatly indebted to the Mor Afrem Foundation f or
funding the publication of this book.
The Mor Afrem Foundation (www.mor-afrem.com) was established by
Dr. Samir Afram in Gronau, Westphalia (Germany) in 2007.
The promotion of cross-denominational, national, historical, and identity-
building projects for Assyrians worldwide is among its stated objectives.

Contents
List of figures and tables xi
List of contributors xii
Acknowledgements xvi
Glossary xvii
List of judicial decisions cited xviii
Table of legislation xxi
1 The Assyrian genocide across history: collective memory,
legal theory, and power politics 1
HANNIBAL TRAVIS
2 The term S eyfo in historical perspective 92
MICHAEL ABDALLA
3 The atrocities against the Assyrians in 1915: a legal
perspective 106
SARA DEMIR
4 The Ottoman genocide of the Assyrians in Persia 137
ANAHIT KHOSROEVA
5 Abduction, rape, and genocide: Urmia’s Assyrian girls
and women 158
EDEN NABY
6 Genocide/ Seyfo – and how resistance became a way of life 178
SAIT ÇETINOĞLU (ABDULMESIH BARABRAHAM, TRANS.)
7 Lady Surma: the pillar of the Assyrian nation, 1883–1975 191
STAVROS STAVRIDIS