Assyrians in Russia

Assyrians in Russia

St. Mary Assyrian Church in Moscow
Total population
14,000
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Syriac-Aramaic, Russian
Religion
Assyrian Church of the East

Assyrians in Russia (Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܐܫܘܪ̈ܝܐ; Russian: Ассирийцы в России, romanized: Assiriytsy v Rossii) number 14,000 according to the 2002 Russian census.

History

Assyrians came to Russia and the Soviet Union in three main waves:

• The first wave was after the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828, which delineated a border between Russia and Persia. Many Assyrians suddenly found themselves under Russian sovereignty, and thousands of relatives crossed the border to join them.
• The second wave was a result of the repression and violence during and after World War I. Assyrians were represented by the All-Russian Union of Assyrians "Khoyad-Atur" from 1924 to 1928.
• The third wave came after World War II when Moscow unsuccessfully tried establishing a satellite state in Iranian Kurdistan. Soviet troops withdrew in 1946 and left the Assyrians exposed to the same kind of retaliation that they had suffered from the Turks 30 years earlier. Again, many Assyrians found refuge in the Soviet Union, this time mainly in the cities. From 1937 to 1959, the Assyrian population in the USSR grew by 587.3%. The Soviets in the thirties oppressed the Assyrians' religion and persecuted religious and other leaders.

The Assyrians have tended to assimilate in recent years, but their cultural and ethnic identity has strengthened through centuries of hardships, and they have found new expression under Glasnost.

Current situation

According to the 2002 Russian census, there were 14,000 Assyrians in Russia. 13,300 people (95% of all Assyrians) spoke Syriac as their native language.