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|image = Chaldean Assyrian genocide o2p.svg

Estimates on the overall death toll have varied. Providing detailed statistics of the various estimates of the Churches' population after the genocide, David Gaunt accepts the figure of 275,000 deaths as reported at the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] and ventures that the death toll would be around 300,000 because of uncounted AssyrianChaldean-inhabited areas, leading to the elimination of half of the Assyrian nation.<ref name="The Assyrian Genocide of 1915">David Gaunt, [http://www.seyfocenter.com/index.php?sid=2&aID=36 "The Assyrian Genocide of 1915"], ''Assyrian Genocide Research Center'', 2009</ref>

The Assyrian Chaldean genocide took place in the same context as the Armenian and Pontic Greek genocides.<ref>Schaller, Dominik J. and Zimmerer, Jürgen (2008) "Late Ottoman Genocides: The Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and Young Turkish population and extermination policies." ''Journal of Genocide Research'', 10:1, pp. 7–14.</ref> In these events, close to three million [[Christian]]s of [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac]], [[Armenian Rite|Armenian]], or [[Greek Orthodox]] denomination were murdered by the [[Young Turks]] regime.<ref name="Travis2"/> Since the Assyrian genocide took place within the context of the much more widespread Armenian genocide, scholarship treating it as a separate event is scarce, with the exceptions of the works of David Gaunt and Hannibal Travis.<ref name="Anahit"/>

In 2007, the [[International Association of Genocide Scholars]] (IAGS) reached a consensus that "the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted a genocide against Armenians, AssyriansChaldeans, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks.<ref>[http://www.genocidescholars.org/images/PRelease16Dec07IAGS_Officially_Recognizes_Assyrian_Greek_GenocidesPRelease16Dec07IAGS_Officially_Recognizes_Chaldean_Greek_Genocides.pdf Genocide Scholars Association Officially Recognizes Assyrian Greek Genocides. 16 December 2007. Retrieved 2010-02-02].</ref> The IAGS referred to the work of Gaunt and Travis in passing this resolution.<ref>[http://www.genocidetext.net/iags_resolution_supporting_documentation.htm Notes on Genocides of Christian Populations of the Ottoman Empire]</ref> Gregory Stanton, the President of the IAGS in 2007–2008 and the founder of [[Genocide Watch]], endorsed the "repudiation by the world's leading genocide scholars of the Turkish government's ninety-year denial of the Ottoman Empire's genocides against its Christian populations, including AssyriansChaldeans, Greeks, and Armenians."<ref>[http://www.genocidepreventionnow.org/Home/GPNISSUES/Issue5Winter2011/tabid/145/ctl/DisplayArticle/mid/607/aid/216/Default.aspx]</ref>

The Assyrian genocide is sometimes also referred to as ''Sayfo'' or ''Seyfo'' in English language sources, based on the modern Assyrian Chaldean (Mesopotamian neo-Aramaic) designation ''Saypā'' ({{lang|arc|ܣܝܦܐ}}), "[[saif|sword]]", pronounced as ''Seyfo'', and as ''Sayfo'' in the [[Western Neo-Aramaic|Western dialect]] (the term abbreviates ''shato d'sayfo'' "year of the sword"). The [[Neo-Aramaic|Assyrian]] name ''{{transl|arc|Qeṭlā ḏ-‘Amā Āṯûrāyā}}'' ({{lang|arc|ܩܛܠܐ ܕܥܡܐ ܐܬܘܪܝܐ}}), which literally means "killing of the Assyrian Chaldean people", is used by some groups to describe these events. The word ''Qṭolamo'' ({{lang|arc|ܩܛܠܥܡܐ}}) which means ''Genocide'' is also used in Assyrian diaspora media. The term used in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] media is ''Süryani Soykırımı''.

In countries where significant [[Assyrian Chaldean diaspora]] communities exist, the designation "Assyrian" has become [[Assyrian naming controversy|controversial]], notably in [[Assyrians/Syriacs in Germany|Germany]] and [[Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden|Sweden]], alternative terms such as ''Assyriska/syrianska/kaldeiska folkmordet'' "Assyrian/Syriac/Chaldean genocide" are employed. Nestorians, Syrians, Syriacs, and Chaldeans were names imposed by Western missionaries such as the Catholics and Protestants on the Ottoman and Persian AssyriansChaldeans.

[[File:Chaldean Assyrian population 1914.svg|thumb|left|Percentage of Chaldean populations in Several Vilayets and Sanjaks in the Ottoman Empire and Urmia in Persia prior to WW1 as presented by the Chaldean delegation to the 1919 peace conference.

The Chaldean population in the Ottoman Empire numbered about one million at the turn of the twentieth century and was largely concentrated in what is now [[Iran]], [[Iraq]] and [[Turkey]].<ref name="Travis2"/> However, researchers such as David Gaunt have noted that the Assyrian Chaldean population was around 600,000 prior to World War I.<ref name="The Chaldean Assyrian Genocide of 1915"/> There were also hundreds of thousands of Maronite Christians in Lebanon, with some Chaldean heritage but which are less often called Chaldeans. There were significantly larger communities located in the regions near [[Lake Urmia]] in Persia, [[Lake Van]] (specifically the [[Hakkari]] region) and [[Mesopotamia]], as well as the eastern Ottoman [[vilayet]]s of [[Diyarbekir Vilayet|Diyarbekir]], [[Erzurum Vilayet|Erzurum]] and [[Bitlis Vilayet|Bitlis]]. Like other Christians residing in the empire, they were treated as second-class citizens and denied public positions of power. Violence directed against them prior to the First World War was not new. Many Chaldeans were subjected to [[Kurds|Kurdish]] brigandage and even outright massacre and forced conversion to Islam, as was the case of the Chaldeans of Hakkari during the [[massacres of Badr Khan]] in the 1840s and the [[Massacres of Diyarbakır (1895)|Massacres of Diyarbakır]] during the 1895–96 [[Hamidian Massacres]].<ref name="Anahit"/> The [[Hamidiye (cavalry)|Hamidiye]] received assurances from the Ottoman Sultan that they could kill Assyrians Chaldeans and Armenians with impunity, and were particularly active in [[Şanlıurfa|Urhoy]] and [[Amid|Diyarbakir]].<ref name="Travis2"/>

Concerning the responsibility of the Ottoman government, Hilmar Kaiser wrote that Talaat Pasha ordered the deportations of the Assyrians in the area on 26 October 1914, fearing their collaboration with the advancing Russian troops, but the order was postponed and abandoned three days later due to a lack of forces. When the Assyrians Chaldeans did not collaborate with Russians, any plans to deport them were cancelled. Kaiser wrote that the massacres of Assyrians were apparently not a part of the official Ottoman policy and that the Assyrians Chaldeans were ordered to be treated differently than the Armenians.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kaiser|first1=Hilmar|editor1-last=Bloxham|editor1-first=Donald|editor2-last=Moses|editor2-first=A. Dirk|title=The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780191613616|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xCHMFHQRNtYC&pg=PR35&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false|accessdate=25 March 2015|chapter=Genocide at the Twilight of the Ottoman Empire}}</ref> [[Taner Akçam]] cites Ottoman official correspondence in 1919, inquiring the number and conditions of Assyrians deported, to state that the Ottoman government was unaware of the full numerical extent of the deportations of AssyriansChaldeans. Another Ottoman document orders Assyrians to be detained in their present locations, instead of their deportation, which, according to Akçam, indicates that the Assyrian Chaldean population could have been treated differently from the Armenians, but that they were often "eliminated" alongside them.<ref name=akcamsyr/>

According to historian David Gaunt, a primary characteristic was the total targeting of the Assyrian Chaldean population, including farming villages as well as rebelling mountain tribes. The killing in rural regions was more extensive, while some survived the massacres in cities; Gaunt states that this indicates that a primary aim was the confiscation of land. The property, villages and animals of the villagers were destroyed totally to prevent their return. Gaunt states that organized troops were tasked with killing and expelling Assyrians Chaldeans in [[Hakkari]] and Ottoman-controlled parts of Persia, as well as resisting villages.<ref>Gaunt, David. "The Ottoman Treatment of Assyrians" in {{cite book|editor1-last=Grigor Suny|editor1-first=Ronald|editor2-last=Muge Gogek|editor2-first=Fatma|editor3-last=Naimark|editor3-first=Norman M.|title=A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire|date=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199781041|page=245|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q_mHshUAeZ8C&pg=PA245&dq=assyrian+massacres+mardin&hl=en&sa=X&ei=pmLuVN-rH8uBywO8tYCAAQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=assyrian%20massacres%20mardin&f=false|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref> There were also deportations of AssyriansChaldeans.<ref name=akcamsyr>{{cite book|last1=Akçam|first1=Taner|title=The Young Turks' Crime against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire|date=2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9781400841844|pages=xx-xxi|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V_C3AKGSBqkC&pg=PA55&dq=syriac+genocide&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z2_uVISmIorCywO3loGwDQ&ved=0CEQQ6AEwBg#v=snippet&q=Syriac&f=false|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref>

[[Percy Sykes]], a British officer in Persia, wrote that the Assyrians Chaldeans would have been exterminated if they had not fled to Persia. However, starvation, disease and fatigue cost the lives of 65,000 more Assyrians Chaldeans on their way to Persia or once they had arrived there, according to Christoph Baumer.<ref name=intro/>

The earliest programs of extermination took place in the southern province of Diyarbekir, under the leadership of [[Reşit Bey|Reshid Bey]].<ref name="Anahit"/><ref>See David Gaunt, "Death's End, 1915: The General Massacres of Christians in Diarbekir" in ''Armenian Tigranakert/Diarbekir and Edessa/Urfa''. Ed. Richard G. Hovannisian. UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series: Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces, 6. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2006, pp. 309–359.</ref> A German Vice-Consul reported in July 1915 that Assyrians Chaldeans were being massacred in [[Diyarbekir Vilayet]]. A German Consul reported in September 1915 that the adult Christians of [[Diyarbakır]], [[Harput]], [[Mardin]], and [[Viranşehir]] had been targeted, and also mentioned an Ottoman reign of terror in [[Şanlıurfa|Urhoy]].<ref name="Travis2"/> According to the reports, the Assyrian Chaldean population of [[Faysh Khabur]] was completely killed, along with all the male Assyrians Chaldeans of Mardin and Siirt. The widows and orphans of these men were reportedly left to flee to [[Mosul]] on foot, and died on their way due to starvation and harsh conditions. These atrocities prompted the Assyrian Chaldean patriarch to appeal to the Russian representative in the Caucasus, claiming that the Turkish leaders were intent on killing all AssyriansChaldeans.<ref>Travis, Hannibal. "The Assyrian Genocide: A Tale of Oblivion and Denial" in {{cite book|last1=Lemarchand|first1=Rene|title=Forgotten Genocides: Oblivion, Denial, and Memory|date=2011|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=9780812204384|page=127|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4CEPu00Z-i8C&pg=PA127&dq=assyrian+massacres+mardin&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8F7uVJTcOOSxygPMwIKACg&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=assyrian%20massacres%20mardin&f=false|accessdate=25 February 2015}}</ref> The German ambassador reported that the Ottoman Empire was being "clear[ed]" of its indigenous Christians by "eliminat[ion]".<ref name="Travis2"/> In July 1915, he confirmed that the Assyrians Chaldeans of Midyat, Nisibis, and Jazirah were also slain.<ref name="Travis2"/>

According to the Syrian Patriarchate, the Turkish government ordered an attack on the Christian villages near Mardin, which were mostly inhabited by AssyriansChaldeans. The soldiers went beyond attacking property and killed civilians, for instance, the Assyrians Chaldeans of [[Kızıltepe|Kızıltepe/Tell Armen]] were gathered in a church and burned. In Diyarbekir, women and children were deported, but only a very small number reached their destinations as women were killed, raped or sold.<ref>de Courtois, 248.</ref>

Individual accounts of the massacres include several villages. In the village of Cherang near Diyarbekir, 114 men were killed and the women and children were put to forced agricultural labor and given the choice to convert or die. The massacre was committed by an Al-Khamsin death squad, which were recruited by the government and led by officials, while composed of local urban Muslims.<ref>Gaunt, David. "Relations Between Kurds and Syriacs and Assyrians" in {{cite book|editor1-last=Jongerden|editor1-first=Joost|editor2-last=Verheij|editor2-first=Jelle|title=Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915|publisher=BRILL|page=263|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=X_LmnA75Dt8C&pg=PA263&lpg=PA263&dq=al+khamsin+death+squad&source=bl&ots=wGBdpUp0AV&sig=TVNnmtgxhIb5wX3PmasatG74HYM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=R3PyVPTKKYGCPZWmgbgD&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=al%20khamsin%20death%20squad&f=false|accessdate=1 March 2015}}</ref> In the village of Hanewiye, about 400 Assyrians Chaldeans are believed to have been murdered. In Hassana, a village near [[Cizre|Jezire]], the 300 inhabitants were massacred, with some managing to survive and flee. The inhabitants of the village of Kavel-Karre were attacked by Kurdish tribes on 19 June 1915 and killed; their bodies were then thrown into the [[Tigris River]]. In Kafarbe, 2 km from the [[Mor Gabriel Monastery]], 200 Assyrians Chaldeans were attacked by a clan of Kurds and murdered in 1917. However, there were also cases when those in power chose to protect the AssyriansChaldeans, as Rachid Osman, the agha of [[Şırnak]] protected the 300–500 inhabitants of Harbol.<ref>Gaunt, ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia During World War I'', [http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=4mug9LrpLKcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Massacres,+resistance,+protectors&hl=en&ei=ECZLTcCpFML48AahyaTJDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Deyr-Zor&f=false p. 216-235].</ref>

Figures by the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate presented to the peace conference after the war state that 77,963 Assyrians Chaldeans were killed in 278 villages of the Diyarbekir province.<ref>de Courtois, 196.</ref> Jean Naayem writes that about 50 villages close to [[Midyat]] were ruined and their Assyrian Chaldean inhabitants slaughtered, but he does not name any of them nor give any casualty figures. However, the figure agrees with the data of the patriarchate.<ref>de Courtois, 199.</ref>

In late 1915, [[Jevdet Bey]], Military Governor of [[Van Vilayet]], upon entering [[Siirt]] (or Seert) with 8,000 soldiers whom he himself called "The Butchers' Battalion" ({{lang-tr|Kasap Taburu}}),<ref name="Anahit"/> ordered the massacre of almost 20,000 Assyrian Chaldean [[civilian]]s in at least 30 villages. The following is a list<ref name="aina.org">[http://www.aina.org/aol/martyr.htm Genocides Against the Assyrian Nation]. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref> documenting the villages that were attacked by Cevdet's soldiers and the estimated number of Assyrian Chaldean deaths:

The same "butcher battalions" killed all the male Assyrian Chaldean and Armenian population of [[Bitlis]]. They reportedly raped the women, and subsequently sold them or gave them as "gifts".<ref name=Travis/>

The town of Sa'irt/Seert (modern-day Siirt), was populated by Assyrians Chaldeans and Armenians. Seert was the seat of a Chaldean Archbishop [[Addai Scher]] who was murdered by the Kurds.<ref>[[Ara Sarafian]]. ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=H0mfmdThGLAC&pg=PA120]''</ref> The eyewitness Hyacinthe Simon wrote that 4,000 Christians died in Seert.<ref name="Gaunt, David 2006, p. 436">Gaunt, David. ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I''. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2006, p. 436.</ref><ref>[[Yves Ternon|Ternon, Yves]]. ''[http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.imprescriptible.fr/rhac/tome4/l1-p4-ch4&ei=kbBbS4TkB9GOtgfn-tihAg&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBQQ7gEwAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhyacinthe%2Bsimon%2Bsite:fr%26hl%3Den Mardin 1915]''. Paris: Center for Armenian History, 2000. Accessed 2010-02-02.</ref> According to Joseph Naayem, who was an Assyrian Chaldean priest, the number of Assyrians Chaldeans killed in the town of Seert/Siirt alone exceeded 8000. Eyewitness accounts state that the Assyrian Chaldean men were rounded up by criminal gangs and forced to a march to the valley of Zeryabe, where they were killed. This was followed by the gangs' attack on women. The Ottoman officer Raphael de Nogales described a "slope [...] crowned by thousands of half-nude and still bleeding corpses, lying in heaps". He then wrote that when he entered Siirt, he saw that the police and the locals were sacking Christian homes, and learned that the governors of the town directed the massacre, which had been arranged beforehand.<ref name=intro>{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Adam|title=Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction|date=2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781136937965|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1xDGBQAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=genocide+a+comprehensive+introduction&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Nx_xVNGNBsjjywOHrILoDQ&ved=0CCAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Assyrian&f=false|accessdate=28 February 2015}}</ref>

According to "the Blue Book" of the American government, widespread ethnic cleansing and massacres occurred against the Assyrians Chaldeans as well as Armenians in the [[Hakkari]] area, with the orders for the deportations of Armenians being misinterpreted as orders against all Christians by the local Kurds. It was reported that an attack was launched on Assyrian Chaldean dwellings in summer 1915, and that Assyrians Chaldeans were attempted to be "starved out". According to Paul Shimmon and [[Arnold J. Toynbee]], an Assyrian Chaldean village called "Goele", with the population of 300, was attacked and its men were killed, while the women and children were forced into slavery and the houses were pillaged. In another village with fifty houses, the Kurds reportedly killed the entire civilian population. "The Blue Book" states that in one district of Hakkari, only 17 Christian survivors were left from 41 villages.<ref name=Travis/> In April 1915, after a number of failed Kurdish attempts, Ottoman Troops invaded [[Gawar]], a region of Hakkari, and massacred the entire population.<ref>"[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C07EEDF143BE633A2575BC1A96F9C946796D6CF The Plight of Assyria]." ''New York Times'', 18 September 1916. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref> Prior to this, in October 1914, 71 Assyrian Chaldean men of Gawar were arrested and taken to the local government center in [[Başkale]] and killed.<ref name=bryce>{{cite web |url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/brycereport_armenia.htm |title=British Government Report on the Armenian Massacres of April–December 1915 |author=Bryce, James Lord |accessdate=17 September 2013}}</ref> There were later reports of the mass killing of hundreds of Assyrians Chaldeans in the same area, and women being forced into sexual slavery.<ref name=Travis/>

===Assyrian Chaldean resistance in upper Mesopotamia===On March 3, 1918, the Ottoman army led by Kurdish soldiers assassinated one of the most important Assyrian Chaldean leaders at the time. This resulted in the retaliation of the AssyriansChaldeans. [[Malik Yosip Khoshaba]] of the Bit Tiyari tribe led a successful attack against the Ottomans. Assyrian Chaldean forces in the region also attacked the Kurdish fortress of [[Simko Shikak]], the leader who had assassinated [[Mar Shimun XIX Benyamin]], they successfully stormed it, defeating the Kurds, however Simko escaped and fled.

Assyrians Chaldeans were involved in a number of clashes in Turkey with Ottoman forces, including [[Kurds]] and [[Circassians]] loyal to the empire. When armed and in sufficient numbers they were able to defend themselves successfully. However, they were often cut off in small pockets, vastly outnumbered and surrounded, and unarmed villagers made easy targets for Ottoman and Kurdish forces.

The Assyrians Chaldeans in Persia armed themselves under the command of General [[Agha Petros]], who had been approached by the Allies to help fight the Ottomans.{{when|date=February 2015}} They put up a resistance, and Agha Petros' volunteer army had quite a few successes over the Ottoman forces and their [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] allies, notably at Suldouze where 1,500 Assyrian Chaldean horsemen overcame the far larger Ottoman force of over 8,000, commanded by Kheiri Bey. Agha Petros also defeated the [[Ottoman Turks]] in a major engagement at Sauj Bulak and drove them back to Rowanduz. Assyrian Chaldean forces in Persia were greatly affected by the withdrawal of [[Russia]] from the war and the collapse of [[Armenia]]n armed resistance in the region. They were left cut off, with no supplies, vastly outnumbered and surrounded.<ref name="Travis2"/>

[[File:Ruins of Gulpashan.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Ruins of Golpashan, one of the most prosperous Assyrian Chaldean towns in Persia.]]The Ottoman Empire invaded northwestern Persia in 1914.<ref name="Travis2"/> Before the end of 1914, Turkish and Kurdish troops had successfully entered the villages in and around [[Urmia]]. On February 21, 1915 the Turkish army in Urmia seized 61 leading Assyrians Chaldeans from the [[France|French]] [[Mission (station)|missions]] as hostages, demanding large ransoms. The mission had enough money to convince the Ottomans to let 20 of the men go. However, on February 22 the remaining 41 were executed, having their heads cut off at the stairs of the Charbachsh Gate. The dead included bishop Mar Denkha.{{fact|date=February 2015}}

Most of the Assyrian Chaldean villages were unarmed. The only protection they had was when the Russian army finally took control of the area, years after the presence of the Ottoman army had been removed. On February 25, 1915, Ottoman troops stormed their way into the villages of Gulpashan and Salamas. Almost the entire village of [[Golpashan]], of a population of 2,500, were massacred.<ref name="Anahit"/> In [[Salmas]], about 750 Armenian and Assyrian Chaldean refugees were protected by Iranian civilians in the village. The commander of the Ottoman division stormed the houses despite the fact that Persians lived in them, and roped all the men together in large groups and forced them to march in the fields between Khusrawa and Haftevan/Hafdewan. The men were shot or killed in other ways. The protection of Christians by local Persian civilians is also confirmed in the 1915 British report: "Many Moslems tried to save their Christian neighbours and offered them shelter in their houses, but the Turkish authorities were implacable."<ref name=bryce/> According to American official accounts, the largest Assyrian Chaldean knowledge in the Urmia region was overrun and all its men killed, while the women were attacked. In Haftevan, the Russian troops later discovered more than 700 corpses, and ''[[The Washington Post]]'' also claimed the abduction of 500 Assyrian Chaldean girls. According to similar reports, 200 Assyrians Chaldeans were killed by burning in a church.<ref name=Travis/>

During the winter of 1915, 4,000 Assyrians Chaldeans died from disease, hunger, and exposure, and about 1000 were killed in the villages of Urmia.<ref name="Travis2"/><ref>http://books.google.com/books?id=cWI9AAAAYAAJ&pg=PT319</ref> According to ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', in Urmia alone, 800 Assyrians Chaldeans were massacred and 2000 died from disease. American documents report widespread sexual violence against Assyrian Chaldean women of all ages and the looting and destruction of the houses of about five-sixth of the Assyrian Chaldean population. Reports state that over 200 girls were forced into sexual slavery and conversion into Islam. Eugene Griselle from the Ethnological Society of Paris gives the figure of 8,500 for the number of deaths in the Urmia region; according to other reports, out of an Assyrian Chaldean population of 30,000, one-fifth was killed, their villages and churches destroyed. An English priest in the area estimates the death toll at 6,000.<ref name=Travis/>

However, David Gaunt wrote that the massacres were reciprocated by the AssyriansChaldeans. Assyrian Chaldean Jilu tribes were accused of committing massacres of local villagers in the plains of Salmas; local Iranian officials reported that between [[Khoy|Khoi]] and [[Jolfa, Iran (city)|Julfa]], a great number of villagers were massacred.<ref>Gaunt, ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I'', [http://books.google.com.tr/books?id=4mug9LrpLKcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Massacres,+resistance,+protectors&hl=en&ei=ECZLTcCpFML48AahyaTJDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Urmia&f=false p. 104].</ref>

In 1918, the Assyrian Chaldean population of Urmia was nearly wiped out, 1,000 killed in the French and American mission buildings, 200 surrounding villages destroyed, and thousands perished of famine, disease, and forced marches.<ref name="Travis2"/>

In early 1918, many Assyrians Chaldeans started to flee present-day Turkey. Mar Shimun Benyamin had arranged for some 3,500 Assyrians Chaldeans to reside in the district of [[Khoy|Khoi]]. Not long after settling in, Kurdish troops of the Ottoman Army massacred the population almost entirely. One of the few that survived was Reverend John Eshoo. After escaping, he stated:

{{quotation|You have undoubtedly heard of the Assyrian Chaldean massacre of Khoi, but I am certain you do not know the details.<br /><br />These Assyrians were assembled into one caravansary, and shot to death by guns and revolvers. Blood literally flowed in little streams, and the entire open space within the caravansary became a pool of crimson liquid. The place was too small to hold all the living victims waiting for execution. They were brought in groups, and each new group was compelled to stand over the heap of the still bleeding bodies and shot to death. The fearful place became literally a human slaughter house, receiving its speechless victims, in groups of ten and twenty at a time, for execution.<br /><br />At the same time, the Assyrians, who were residing in the suburb of the city, were brought together and driven into the spacious courtyard of a house [...] The Assyrian refugees were kept under guard for eight days, without anything to eat. At last they were removed from their place of confinement and taken to a spot prepared for their brutal killing. These helpless Assyrians marched like lambs to their slaughter, and they opened not their mouth, save by sayings "Lord, into thy hands we commit our spirits. [...]<br /><br />The executioners began by cutting first the fingers of their victims, join by joint, till the two hands were entirely amputated. Then they were stretched on the ground, after the manner of the animals that are slain in the Fast, but these with their faces turned upward, and their heads resting upon the stones or blocks of wood Then their throats were half cut, so as to prolong their torture of dying, and while struggling in the agony of death, the victims were kicked and clubbed by heavy poles the murderers carried Many of them, while still laboring under the pain of death, were thrown into ditches and buried before their souls had expired.<br /><br />The young men and the able-bodied men were separated from among the very young and the old. They were taken some distance from the city and used as targets by the shooters. They all fell, a few not mortally wounded. One of the leaders went to the heaps of the fallen and shouted aloud, swearing by the names of Islam's prophets that those who had not received mortal wounds should rise and depart, as they would not be harmed any more. A few, thus deceived, stood up, but only to fall this time killed by another volley from the guns of the murderers.<br /><br />Some of the younger and good looking women, together with a few little girls of attractive appearance, pleaded to be killed. Against their will were forced into Islam's harems. Others were subjected to such fiendish insults that I cannot possibly describe. Death, however, came to their rescue and saved them from the vile passions of the demons. The death toll of Assyrians totaled 2,770 men, women and children.<ref name=Werda>Joel Euel Werda. ''[http://www.aramaicpeshitta.com/Online_Version/books/fla.pdf The Flickering Light of Asia: Or, the Assyrian Nation and Church]'', [http://www.aina.org/books/fla/fla.htm#c26 ch. 26].</ref>}}

[[File:Burying of the dead.jpg|thumb|Assyrian Chaldean digging mass graves for those perished during the exodus from Urmia.]]By mid-1918, the British army had convinced the Ottomans to let them have access to about 30,000 Assyrians Chaldeans from various parts of Persia.The British decided to relocate all 30,000 from Persia to [[Baquba]], northern Iraq, in the hope that this would prevent further massacres. Many others had already left for northern Iraq after the Russian withdrawal and collapse of Armenian lines. The transferring took just 25 days, but at least 7,000 of them had died during the trip.<ref>Austin, H. H.(Brig.-Gen.). ''The Baquba Refugee Camp&nbsp;– An account of the work on behalf of the persecuted Assyrian Christians''. London, 1920.</ref> Some died of exposure, hunger or disease, other civilians fell prey to attacks from armed bands of Kurds and Arabs. At Baquba, Assyrians Chaldeans were forced to defend themselves from further Arab and Kurdish raids, which they were able to do successfully.

In 1920, the British decided to close down the Baquba camps. The majority of Assyrians Chaldeans of the camp decided to go back to the Hakkari mountains, while the rest were dispersed throughout Iraq, where there was already an Assyrian Chaldean community.{{fact|date=February 2015}} However, they would again be targeted there in the 1933 [[Simele massacre]].

[[File:AssyrianGenocideVictims.jpg|thumb|right|Bodies of Christians who perished during the Assyrian Chaldean Genocide]]Scholars have summarized events as follows: specific massacres included 25,000 Assyrians Chaldeans in Midyat, 21,000 in Jezira-ibn-Omar, 7,000 in Nisibis, 7,000 in Urfa, 7,000 in the Qudshanis region, 6,000 in Mardin, 5,000 in Diyarbekir, 4,000 in Adana, 4,000 in Brahimie, and 3,500 in Harput.<ref name="Anahit"/><ref name="Travis">Travis, Hannibal. "[http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/yv544142p5rnx055/?p=91e7dbe895ec4cbf9eef0ad842fef76a&pi=6 'Native Christians Massacred': The Ottoman Genocide of the Assyrians During World War I]." ''Genocide Studies and Prevention'', Vol. 1, No. 3, December 2006, pp. 327–371. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref><ref>Gaunt. ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors'', pp. 76–77, 164, 181–96, 226–30, 264–67.</ref><ref>{{de icon}} Gorgis, Amill "Der Völkermord an den Syro-Aramäern," in ''Verfolgung, Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Christen im Osmanischen Reich 20''. Ed. Tessa Hoffman. London and Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2004.</ref> In its December 4, 1922, memorandum, the Assyro-Chaldean National Council stated that the total death toll was unknown. It estimated that about 275,000 "Assyro-Chaldeans" died between 1914 and 1918.<ref name="Yacoub">{{fr icon}} Yacoub, Joseph. ''La question assyro-chaldéenne, les Puissances européennes et la SDN (1908–1938)'', 4 vol., thèse Lyon, 1985, p. 156.</ref> The population of the Assyrians Chaldeans of the Ottoman Empire and Persia was about 600,000 before the genocide, and was reduced by 275,000, with very few survivors in 1930s Turkey or Iran.<ref name="Travis2"/><ref>Gaunt, ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors'', pp. 21–28, 300–3, 406, 435.</ref> Contemporary newspapers reported death tolls of 200,000 to 250,000.<ref name=Travis/> Representatives from the [[Anglican Church]] in the region claimed that about half of the Assyrian population had perished.<ref name=intro/>

The memorandum of the Assyrian Chaldean Archbishopric of Syria ([[Damascus]]-[[Homs]]) to the 1920 peace conference, places the death toll at 90,313 people, with 345 villages burned and 156 churches destroyed. The archbishop demanded 250,000 pounds sterling of reparations to compensate for the destruction of the churches. The figures of the archbishopric places the death toll in Harput at 3,500, in [[Midyat]] at 25,830, in Diyarbekir and surroundings at 5,679, in Jezireh at 7,510, in [[Nusaybin]] at 7,000, in Mardin at 5,815, in [[Bitlis]] at 850, in [[Urfa]] at 340, and tens of thousands at other areas. The archbishopric states that the Ottoman government undertook massacres of Assyrian Chaldean civilians with "no revolutionary tendencies" in the provinces of Diyarbekir, Urfa, Van, Harput and Bitlis.<ref>{{cite book|last1=de Courtois|first1=Sébastien|title=The Forgotten Genocide: Eastern Christians, the Last Arameans|publisher=Gorgias Press|isbn=9781593330774|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=whDcogCNZs4C&pg=PA237&dq=assyrian+massacre+urfa&hl=en&sa=X&ei=_HHuVOCQF4KaygOS9oHwBA&ved=0CFAQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=assyrian%20massacre%20urfa&f=false|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref>

The Assyrians Chaldeans were not going to be an easy group to deport, as they had always been armed and were as ferocious as their Kurdish neighbors.<ref>Gaunt. ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors'', p. 311.</ref>

|style="background:red; text-align:center;" colspan="6"| '''<span style="color:#fff;">Assyrian Chaldean and Armenian population in [[Diyarbakır Province]] in 1915-1916<ref>Gaunt, David. ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I''. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2006, p. 433.</ref></span>'''

! rowspan="4" | AssyriansChaldeans

|style="background:red; text-align:center;" colspan="6"| '''<span style="color:#fff;">Assyrian Chaldean and Armenian population in [[Mardin province]] in 1915-1916<ref name="Gaunt, David 2006, p. 436"/></span>'''

! rowspan="4" | AssyriansChaldeans

[[File:Assyrianmassacres.jpg|thumb|200px|''The Washington Post'' and other leading newspapers in Western countries reported on the Assyrian Chaldean Genocide as it unfolded.]][[File:Assyriangenocide2Chaldeangenocide2.jpg|thumb|200px|An article from ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 27, 1915.]]Assyrians Chaldeans in what is now Turkey primarily lived in the provinces of [[Hakkari]], [[Şırnak]], and [[Mardin]]. These areas also had a sizable [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] population.

The following newspaper articles documented the Assyrian Chaldean genocide as it occurred:

{{quotation|Numerous articles in the American press documented the genocide of Assyrians Chaldeans by the Turks and their Kurdish allies. By 1918, ''The Los Angeles Times'' carried the story of a Syrian, or most likely an AssyrianChaldean, merchant from Urmia who stated that his city was "completely wiped out, the inhabitants massacred", 200 surrounding villages ravaged, 200,000 of his people dead, and hundreds of thousands of more starving to death in exile from their agricultural lands. In an article entitled "Native Christians Massacred", the Associated Press correspondent reported that in the vicinity of Urmia, "Turkish regular troops and Kurds are persecuting and massacring Assyrian Christians". Close to 800 were confirmed dead in Urmia, and another 2,000 had perished from disease. Two hundred Assyrians Chaldeans had been burned to death inside a church, and the Russians had discovered more than 700 bodies of massacre victims in the village of Hafdewan outside Urmia, "mostly naked and mutilated", some with gunshot wounds, others decapitated, and still others carved to pieces.

Other leading British and American newspapers corroborated these accounts of the Assyrian Chaldean genocide. ''The New York Times'' reported on 11 October that 12,000 Persian Christians had died of massacre, hunger, or disease; thousands of girls as young as seven had been raped or forcibly converted to Islam; Christian villages had been destroyed, and three-fourths of these Christian villages were burned to the ground.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9806E4DD1239E333A25752C1A9669D946496D6CF|accessdate=2008-08-19|title=Turkish Horrors in Persia|work=New York Times|date=1915-10-11|page=4}}</ref> ''The Times'' of London was perhaps the first widely respected publication to document the fact that 250,000 Assyrians Chaldeans and Chaldeans eventually died in the Ottoman genocide of Christians, a figure which many journalists and scholars have subsequently accepted. ...

About half of the Assyrian Chaldean nation died of murder, disease, or exposure as refugees during the war, according to the head of the [[Anglican Church]], which had a mission to the AssyriansChaldeans.}}

On 11 March 2010, the Genocide of the [[Assyrian Chaldean people|AssyriansChaldeans]] was officially recognized by the [[Riksdag]] of [[Sweden]], alongside that of the [[Armenians]] and [[Pontic Greeks]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://riksdagen.se/templates/R_PageExtended____21484.aspx|title=Motion 2008/09:U332 Genocide of Armenians, Assyrians/Syriacs/Chaldeans and Pontiac Greeks in 1915|date=11 March 2010|publisher=The [[Riksdag]]|accessdate=12 March 2010|location=[[Stockholm]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thelocal.se/25468/20100311/|title=Sweden to recognize Armenian genocide|date=11 March 2010|work=[[The Local]]|accessdate=12 March 2010|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100313002959/http://www.thelocal.se/25468/20100311/|archivedate=13 March 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|deadurl=no}}</ref><ref>"[http://www.aina.org/news/20100311192620.htm Sweden Recognizes Assyrian, Greek and Armenian Genocide]." ''Assyrian International News Agency''. March 12, 2010.</ref> In March 2015, [[Armenia]] became the second country to recognize the Assyrian genocide in a declaration from the [[National Assembly of Armenia|National Assembly]] which concurrently recognized the Greek genocide.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://armenpress.am/eng/news/798768/adoption-of-declaration-to-certify-that-armenia-recognizes-greek-and-assyrian-genocide-eduard-sharmazanov.html|publisher=[[Armenpress]]|title=Adoption of declaration to certify Armenia recognizes Greek and Assyrian genocides: Eduard Sharmanazov|date=23 March 2015}}</ref> The Assyrian genocide is also recognised by the [[New South Wales]] state parliament in [[Australia]]<ref>{{cite web|title=NSW Parliament formally recognises Assyrian genocide as Smithfield MP Andrew Rohan shares tale of parents' survival|url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/south-west/nsw-parliament-formally-recognises-assyrian-genocide-as-smithfield-mp-andrew-rohan-shares-tale-of-parent8217s-survival/story-fngr8hxh-1226642271408|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|accessdate=17 March 2015|date=14 May 2013}}</ref><ref>"[http://www.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/upload/hutxy19692/FINAL_Assyrian_Memorial_ConsultationPaper.pdf Consultation Paper for Proposed Memorial Dedicated to the Victims of the Assyrian Genocide]." Fairfield City Council.</ref> and the last three governors of the state of [[New York]].<ref>[http://www.ny.gov/governor/keydocs/proclamations/proc_armenian.html State of New York, Gov. David Paterson, Proclamation], 24 April 2008. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref><ref>{{Wayback |date=20071025033413 |url=http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=565 |title=Governor Pataki Commemorates Armenian Genocide}}, Proclamation, 05 May, 2004. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref>{{as of?|date=March 2015}}{{who|date=March 2015}}

This is in contrast to the [[Armenian Genocide]], which has also been [[Recognition of the Armenian Genocide|recognized]] by other countries and international organizations. Assyrian Chaldean historians attribute the limited recognition to the smaller number of Assyrian Chaldean survivors, whose leader [[Mar Shimun XXI Benyamin]] was killed in 1918.<ref name="Travis"/> For example, there are one million Armenians living in the United States alone, but even they were unable to persuade Congress to pass a [[United States resolution on Armenian genocide]]. In addition, the widespread massacres of all [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Christians]] in [[Asia Minor]] is sometimes referred to by Armenian authors as an "[[Armenian Genocide]]". On April 24, 2001, Governor of the [[United States|US]] state of [[New York]], [[George Pataki]], proclaimed that "killings of civilians and food and water deprivation during forced marches across harsh, arid terrain proved successful for the perpetrators of genocide, who harbored a prejudice against ... Assyrian Christians."<ref>{{cite web|date=April 1, 2001|url=http://www.armenian-genocide.org/keyword_search.assyrian/Affirmation.196/current_category.40/affirmation_detail.html|title=New York State Governor Proclamation|accessdate=2006-06-16}}</ref>In December 2007, the [[International Association of Genocide Scholars]], the world's leading genocide scholars organization, overwhelmingly passed a resolution officially recognizing the Assyrian Chaldean genocide, along with the genocide against [[Ottoman Greeks]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.aina.org/news/20071215131949.htm|work=AINA|title=International Genocide Scholars Association Officially Recognizes AssyrianChaldean, Greek Genocides|first=Adam|last=Jones|date=2007-12-15|accessdate=2008-08-19}}</ref> The vote in favor was 83%. The [[Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy]] (I.A.O.), passed a resolution officially recognizing the Assyrian Chaldean genocide on June 2011.<ref>http://www.seyfocenter.com/index.php?sid=2&aID=340</ref>

[[File:Assyrian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan, Armenia.JPG|thumb|Assyrian Chaldean Genocide memorial in [[Yerevan]], [[Armenia]]]]

The only governments that have allowed Assyrians Chaldeans to establish monuments commemorating the victims of the Assyrian Chaldean genocide are [[France]], [[Australia]], [[Sweden]], [[Armenia]], [[Belgium]], [[Greece]] and the [[United States]]. Sweden's government has pledged to pay for all the expenses of a future monument, after strong lobbying from the large Assyrian Chaldean community there, led by Konstantin Sabo. There are three monuments in the U.S., one in [[Chicago]], one in [[Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia]] and the newest in [[Los Angeles, California]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Assyrian Genocide Monument Unveiled in Australia|url=http://www.aina.org/releases/20100807163306.htm}}</ref><ref>[http://www.greek-genocide.org/monument_columbia.html Retrieved 31 August 2010]</ref>

There have been recent reports indicating that [[Armenia]] is ready to create a monument dedicated to the Assyrian Chaldean genocide, placed in the capital next to the Armenian genocide monument.<ref>[http://www.zindamagazine.com/html/archives/2007/03.04.07/pix/AssyrianGenocideMonument.pdf Call for Architectural Sketches for Assyrian Genocide Monument in Yerevan, Armenia]. Retrieved 2010-02-02.</ref>

A monument to the victims of the Assyrian Chaldean genocide has been built in [[Fairfield, New South Wales|Fairfield]] in [[Australia]], a suburb of [[Sydney]] where one in ten of the population is of Assyrian Chaldean descent. The statue is designed as a hand of a martyr draped in an Assyrian Chaldean flag and 4.5 meters tall. It was designed by Lewis Batros. The memorial is placed in a reserve to be named the Garden of Nineveh. The memorial statue and the name for the reserve were proposed in August 2009 by the Assyrian Universal Alliance. After consultation with the community, Fairfield Council received more than 100 submissions for the memorial, including some from overseas, and two petitions. The proposal has been condemned by the [[Australian]] [[Turkish people|Turkish]] community. Turkey's consul general to Sydney expressed resentment about the monument, while acknowledging that tragedies had occurred to Assyrians Chaldeans in the period as well as Turks.<ref>{{cite web|title=Turkey protests Assyrian 'genocide' monument|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_turkey-protests-assyrian-genocide-monument_195309.html|work=Today's Zaman|accessdate=26 February 2015}}</ref> The Assyrian Chaldean genocide has been recognised by the NSW Local Government and South Australia state.<ref>Fairfield City Champion, 16 December 2009.</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|title=Assyrian Genocide Monument Unveiled in Australia|url=http://www.aina.org/releases/20100807163306.htm|agency=Assyrian International News Agency|date=8 July 2010|accessdate=31 August 2010|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100902172634/http://www.aina.org/releases/20100807163306.htm|archivedate=2 September 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|deadurl=no}}</ref> On the 30th of August 2010, twenty-three days after it was unveiled, the Australian monument was vandalised.<ref>{{cite web|title=Assyrian Genocide Monument in Australia Vandalized|url=http://www.aina.org/news/20100829191841.htm|agency=Assyrian International News Agency|date=August 30, 2010|accessdate=31 August 2010|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100831052445/http://www.aina.org/news/20100829191841.htm|archivedate=31 August 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|deadurl=no}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Assyrian memorial vandalised|url=http://www.fairfieldchampion.com.au/news/local/news/general/assyrian-memorial-vandalised/1926968.aspx|publisher=Fairfield Champion|date=30 August 2010|accessdate=31 August 2010|archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20100831211453/http://www.fairfieldchampion.com.au/news/local/news/general/assyrian-memorial-vandalised/1926968.aspx|archivedate=31 August 2010 <!--DASHBot-->|deadurl=yes}}</ref>

In 2013, an Assyrian Chaldean Genocide monument opened in Belgium. The monument depicts a dove, representing peace.<ref>http://www.aina.org/news/2013089120251.htm</ref>

There are also Assyrian Chaldean genocide monuments in France, Russia,<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and Armenia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seyfocenter.com/index.php?sid=2&aID=423|title=The unveiling of the Assyrian genocide monument in Armenia Representatives of the Assyrian community|publisher=Seyfo Center|accessdate=May 27, 2012|author=May 6, 2012}}</ref>

In [[Canada]], the Assyrian Chaldean Genocide, along with the Armenian Genocide, are included in a course covering historical genocides. Turkish organizations, along with other non-Turkish Muslim organizations, have reacted to this and protested.

* [[Assyrian Chaldean independence]]

* [[List of Assyrian Chaldean settlements]]* [[Newspaper documentation of the Assyrian Chaldean Genocide]]

* {{cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3q0lAQAAMAAJ&dq=The+Crimson+Field&source=bl&ots=DebSefFq-8&sig=lta_KWRsSE8lTynsJmYIIjHKr48&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Wo40UJy-H-rO2gXl2oHwBw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA|title=The Crimson Field|first=Rosie|firstlast=Malek-Yonan|authorlink=Rosie Malek-Yonan|publisher=Pearlida Publishing|year=2005|isbn=0-9771873-4-9}}

{{Commons category|Assyrian Chaldean Genocide}}

* [http://www.atour.com/holocaust Assyrian Holocaust&nbsp;– religious persecution and ethnic genocide of Assyrians Chaldeans in the Middle East]

[[Category:Assyrian Chaldean Genocide| ]]

[[Category:History of the AssyriansChaldeans]]

[[Category:Persecution of AssyriansChaldeans]]