Assyrian naming dispute

Since the mid-to-late 20th century, there has been a debate over the most appropriate ethnic name for Assyrians. Such debates are divided into distinct arguments that fall on the declaration of three unique identities, especially in diaspora, and are usually defined by the Syriac Christian denomination one belongs to:

Assyrian: Assyrian is the most common label used, being employed by the Assyrian Church of the East as well as adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Syriac Catholic Church. The Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, and Assyrian Evangelical Church also use the label. Assyrian identity is understood as reflecting a common ancestry and factors of peoplehood, predating religious or geographical division. Chaldean: Within the Chaldean Catholic Church, some members will declare a Chaldean identity that is distinct or even ethnically separate from an Assyrian one. Additional claims, albeit in the minority, include that Chaldean Catholics descend from southern Iraq and the former ancient civilization state of Chaldea. The label is most prominent among Iraqi Assyrian communities. Syriac/Aramean: Within the Syriac Orthodox Church (and a minority of Syriac Catholics), an Aramean identity is espoused, claiming ancestry to the Semitic-speaking Arameans and emphasizing the Aramaic language as part of cultural background. The identity is often linked with a "Syriac" element, especially after 2000.

The emergence of the Assyrian naming dispute is tied to the Ottoman millet system and the antagonistic divisions created based on church denominations. From the early 20th century onward, shifts in identity were greatly influenced by the Assyrian genocide, though the catalyst for the dispute itself is often cited as being the later Simele massacre. Starting from the 1960s and 70s, issues of identity became more apparent and resulted in high-scale conflicts between different factions, which constituted tribalist infighting, positions on secular or religious identity, and individual political interests. Since then, the dispute has been amplified by successive human rights violations against Assyrians in Iraq, including the Kurdistan Region.

Disputes around ethnic identity are more over the question of the name itself, rather than a question of separate ethnicities (though advocacy for such exists in the minority). Nowadays, the dispute tends to be more political than historical or religious. Generally, Assyrian identity is more likely to be used by those who prioritize politics and secular initiatives, while Aramean and Chaldean identities are used by those who prioritize religious values and heritage. Names belonging to the community are recognized to represent one people who have different views on the subject of identity.

The Assyrian naming dispute has contributed to greater intra-communal division, often on a visibly social level. The rise of the Internet and other online communication technologies has made the dispute more visible and volatile than ever before, and the subject has since dominated Assyrian internal discourse. Additionally, the dispute is also noted as having been taken advantage of politically by external actors, more recently the Kurdistan Democratic Party, to undermine Assyrian political interests, and religious advocacy for separate Chaldean/Aramean identities have since been characterized by expressions of anti-Assyrian internalized racism. Though compromises have been previously suggested, few have been implemented with varying degrees of success, but a comprehensive solution to the dispute has not yet been achieved.

Etymology

Today, Assyrians are known by various names, such as Chaldeans, Syriacs, Syrians (not to be confused with Syrians from the country of Syria), Jacobites, Nestorians, Arameans, or a combination thereof. Endonyms such as "Suraye/Suroye", "Suryaye/Suryoye", and "Süryani" are also used. The various names attributed to Assyrians have different religious, historical, and/or doctrinal backgrounds, have been used interchangeably, and imply different understandings of ethnic/cultural heritage, with some only representing a fraction of the larger people.

Assyrians across all denominations and identities primarily use "Suraye/Suroye" () or "Suryaye/Suryoye" () to identify themselves natively. This term was coined as a self-designation by Mesopotamian Christians in Edessa in at least the fifth century AD, quickly gaining widespread usage in both what would come to be called the West and East Syriac traditions, themselves deriving from Syria, which itself ultimately derives from the Akkadian word for Assyria, "Aššūr". Suraye and Suryoye are also the origins of names used in reference to spoken Aramaic dialects ("Sureth", "Suryoyo", etc.). These two words, alongside "Athuraye", "Othuroye", "Aturaye", "Ashuri", "Athuri", "Asuri", and other variants trace back to the same roots etymologically and were used interchangeably. Members of the community in Tur Abdin had previously used the terms "Suroye/Suroyo" and "Surayt" for people and language until around the 1990s.

Although there is no specific term to describe the naming dispute itself, many academics have noted that the arguments exist and define them in various ways. Anthropologist Naures Atto has previously written about the discourse of identity in Sweden, and the antagonism of the label "Syrianer" to the by-then used "Assyriska". Similarly, professor at Roger Williams University Sargon Donabed and Erica McClure have previously written about the dispute as a linguistic one, relating to the meaning and significance of several identifiers or Neo-Aramaic dialects in formulating modern identity. In the past, the dispute has been labeled as an "identity conflict", an "appelative conundrum", a "name debate", the "Assyrian identity crisis", and "the ethnic Assyrian debate".

In the context of Assyrians, a person who advocates for separation into a distinct Chaldean or Aramean identity, while disavowing connection to other Assyrians or Assyrian ancestry, is considered to be a "separatist." The term has primarily been used surrounding the emergence of Chaldean identity and the political actions of clergymen, namely Sarhad Yawsip Jammo and Ibrahim Namo Ibrahim.

Origins The Assyrians are a stateless ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, originating from a homeland that is now spread across the present-day boundaries of northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria, and northwestern Iran. They are considered to be some of the first converts to Christianity, alongside the ancient Arameans and the Armenians, Greeks, and Nabataeans. References to both the ancient Assyrians and the ancient Arameans are present within Syriac tradition. Assyrians primarily belong to four different churches; the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church, and the Syriac Catholic Church. Smaller numbers of Assyrians belong to other Christian denominations or are non-Christian.

Church formations

Church of the East

The Church of the East (COE) was originally formed in Mesopotamia during the time of the Parthian Empire. In the year 431, a controversy surrounding the nature of the Virgin Mary was raised by the Archbishop of Constantinople Nestorius, which was convened at the Council of Ephesus. Disputes between the two schools of the Council, the Antiochenes and the Alexandrians, involved the whole Mediterranean, but ended with the latter obtaining the majority agreement. The Nestorian label was first applied to the Church of the East due to its refusal to condemn Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus in 431. However, the label is nowadays considered theologically incorrect, and has been considered a misnomer by scholars such as Syriacist Sebastian Brock, as he argues the ideology of Nestorius can not be equated with the Christology of the COE. By the seventh and eighth centuries, the COE had a widespread period of growth into different parts of the Near East and across Asia.

In 1968, with support from the federal government of Iraq, the Church of the East split into new and old calendar variants, with the old calendar variant being the newly formed Ancient Church of the East (ACE). The Iraqi government recognized the breakaway group of the ACE and the election of their Catholicos-Patriarch Thoma Darmo, and even confiscated properties to be delivered to the new church. Under the leadership of Shimun XXIII Eshai and his successor, Dinkha IV, the Church of the East changed its name to the Assyrian Church of the East (ACOE) in 1976.

Syriac Orthodox Church

The Syriac Orthodox Church (SOC) is part of the Eastern Christian Oriental Orthodox churches that were formally in communion with the State church of the Roman Empire before the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. Following the council, various Christological controversies occurred that resulted in a battle for the position of Patriarchate between supporters and opponents. On the western end of the border between the Roman Empire and Sasanian Empire, the Western Syrians found themselves in support of Miaphysitism, which periodically resulted in persecution under Byzantian rule. Geographical divisions that existed during this time began to take on an increasingly theological direction, resulting in a split with the COE. The church and its adherents received the name 'Jacobite' after Bishop of Edessa Jacob Baradaeus, who ordained most of the miaphysite hierarchy of the church in the sixth century.

The split into Monophysitism and Dyophysitism created identity shifts among Assyrians at the behest of clergymen, in response to the Roman-Persian geographic boundaries created. In turn, these divisions developed into identity markers that persisted over centuries, defined by denominational differences.

Chaldean Catholic Church

The Chaldean Catholic Church (CCC) was formed out of the Schism of 1552, when the Church of the East split into two factions. During Shemon IV's reign as patriarch, the practice of patriarchal succession had been made hereditary, which often resulted in controversies and schisms within the church. Upon his death, his brother Shemon VII Ishoyahb succeeded him; upon his passing, his nephew Eliya VI ascended to the patriarchate. In opposition to this policy, a group of bishops from Amid (modern day Diyarbakir) and Salmas elected Yohannan Sulaqa, who was the abbot of the Rabban Hormizd Monastery in Alqosh at the time. To affirm his succession to the patriarchate, Sulaqa travelled to Rome where he entered communion with the Catholic Church. The name "Chaldean" was given to the church in order to distinguish itself from members of the COE.

The new church was accepted by the faithful of Mardin and Diyarbekir, but did not catch on elsewhere. Most Chaldeans who are originally from Iraq converted from the COE to the Chaldean church in the 1800s. Around this time, Assyrians fleeing the Massacres of Bedir Khan were encouraged to convert in exchange for assistance, something which SOC and COE members did not receive. The church was strongest in urban contexts, namely in Mosul, Diyarbekir, and Mardin.

Syriac Catholic Church