Changes

| region1 = '''{{resize|120%|Traditional areas of Assyrian Chaldean settlement}}'''

| ref3 = {{lower|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2014/04/syria-assyriansChaldeans-threat-crisis.html|title=Syria’s Assyrians Chaldeans threatened by extremists – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East|work=Al-Monitor|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref>}}

| ref4 = {{lower|<ref name="atourpop">[http://www.aina.org/articles/dtcitaic.htm].</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |url=http://www.refworld.org/docid/4cb826c3c.html |title=Iran: Last of the Assyrians Chaldeans |publisher=Refworld |date=2010-10-13 |accessdate=2013-09-18}}</ref>}}

| ref5 = {{lower|<ref name="atourpop" /><ref>[http://www.refworld.org/docid/49749c9837.html].</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/10464/TU|title=Assyrian Chaldean in Turkey|author=Joshua Project|publisher=|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref>}}| region6 = '''{{resize|120%|[[Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac diaspora|Diaspora]]}}'''

| ref6 = {{lower|<ref>[http://www.eurfedling.org/Sweden.htm Demographics of Sweden], [[Swedish Language Council]] "Sweden has also one of the largest exile communities of Assyrian Chaldean and Syriac Christians (also known as Chaldeans) with a population of around 100,000."</ref>}}

| ref7 = {{lower|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_11_1YR_S0201&prodType=table|title=American FactFinder – Results|author=Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS)|publisher=|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ainakaldaya.orgnet/Articles/500/briefAtricle575_Sep12_07_Chaldean.html|title=Brief History of AssyriansChaldeans|publisher=|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref>}}

| ref8 = {{lower|<ref>[http://spectator.org/archives/2007/07/02/thrown-to-the-lions Thrown to the Lions], [[Doug Bandow]], The America Spectator</ref><ref>[http://www.aina.org/releases/20070511014200.htm Jordan Should Legally Recognize Displaced Iraqis As Refugees], AINA.org. [http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiontoday/11542438/ Assyrian and Chaldean Christians Flee Iraq to Neighboring Jordan], ASSIST News Service</ref>}}

| ref12 = {{lower|<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web|url=http://www.aina.org/news/20040620144321.htm |title=CNN Under-Estimates Iraqi Assyrian Chaldean Population |publisher=Aina.org |accessdate=2013-09-18}}</ref>}}

| ref19 = {{lower|<ref>{{cite web|author=Joshua Project |url=http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=10464&rog3=UK |title=Assyrian Chaldean of United Kingdom Ethnic People Profile |publisher=Joshuaproject.net |accessdate=2013-09-18}}</ref>}}

| ref26 = {{lower|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=10464&rog3=AJ|title=Assyrian Chaldean in Azerbaijan|author=Joshua Project|publisher=|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref>}}

| ref27 = {{lower|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.astanatimes.com/2014/12/assyrianChaldean-community-kazakhstan-survived-dark-times-now-focuses-education/|title=Assyrian Chaldean Community in Kazakhstan Survived Dark Times, Now Focuses on Education|work=The Astana Times|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref><ref>[http://www.kazakhstanlive.com/2.aspx?sr=3 Kazakhstan Live]</ref>}}

| ref28 = {{lower|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aina.org/news/20071018142453.htm|title=Assyrian Association Founded in Finland|publisher=aina.org|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref>}}| languages = [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]]: [[Neo-Aramaic languages|Neo-Aramaic]]<br />{{smaller|(also [[Assyrian Chaldean people#Language|various Neo-Aramaic dialects]])}}

Today that ancient territory is part of several nations: the north of [[Iraq]], part of southeast [[Turkey]] and northeast [[Syria]]. They are indigenous to, and have traditionally lived all over what is now Iraq, northeast Syria, northwest [[Iran]], and southeastern Turkey.<ref name="MacDonald">*{{cite journal|author=MacDonald, Kevin |date=2004-07-29 |title=Socialization for Ingroup Identity in the United States |publisher=Paper presented at a symposium on socialization for ingroup identity at the meetings of the International Society for Human Ethology, [[Ghent, Belgium]]|url=http://evolution.anthro.univie.ac.at/ishe/conferences/past%20conferences/ghent.html |quote=Based on interviews with community informants, this paper explores socialization for ingroup identity and endogamy among Chaldeans in the United States. The Chaldeans descent from the population of ancient [[Mesopotamia]] (founded in the 24th century BC), and have lived as a [[linguistic]], political, religious, and [[ethnic minority]] in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey since the fall of the [[Chaldean Empire]] in 645 BC. Practices that maintain ethnic and cultural continuity in the [[Near East]], the United States and elsewhere include language and residential patterns, ethnically based [[Christian]] [[local church|churches]] characterized by unique holidays and [[rite]]s, and culturally specific practices related to life-cycle events and [[food preparation]]. The interviews probe parental attitudes and practices related to ethnic [[Cultural identity|identity]] and encouragement of [[endogamy]]. Results are being analyzed. |authorlink=Kevin B. MacDonald}}</ref>{{Better source|reason=Kevin is a white supremacist, not an ethnologist, there must be more objective sources for this|date=January 2015}} Most Chaldeans speak an [[Aramaic language#Modern Eastern Aramaic|Eastern Aramaic language]] whose subdivisions include [[Assyrian Chaldean Neo-Aramaic]], [[Chaldean Neo-Aramaic|Chaldean]] and [[Kaldya language|Kaldeya]].<ref>The British Survey, By British Society for International Understanding, 1968, page 3</ref>

Many have migrated to the [[Caucasus]], North America, Australia and Europe during the past century or so. [[Chaldean–Syriac diaspora|Diaspora]] and refugee communities are based in Europe (particularly Sweden, Germany, Netherlands, and France), North America, New Zealand, Lebanon, [[Armenia]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?peo3=10464&rog3=GG|title=Assyrian Chaldean in Georgia|author=Joshua Project|publisher=|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref> southern Russia, Israel, [[Azerbaijan]] and [[Jordan]].

[[Emigration]] was triggered by such events as the [[Chaldean Genocide]] by the [[Ottoman Empire]] during [[World War I]], the [[Simele massacre]] in Iraq (1933), the [[Iranian Revolution|Islamic revolution in Iran]] (1979), Arab Nationalist [[Baathist]] policies in Iraq and Syria, the [[Al-Anfal Campaign]] of [[Saddam Hussein]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aina.org/articles/dtcitaic.htm|title=Documenting The Crisis In The Assyrian Iranian Community|author=Dr. Eden Naby}}</ref> and [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] nationalist policies in northern Iraq.

The Chaldeans initially experienced some periods of religious and cultural freedom interspersed with periods of severe religious and ethnic persecution after Arab Islamic invasion and conquest of the 7th century AD. As heirs to ancient Mesopotamian civilisation, they also contributed hugely to the Arab Islamic Civilization during the [[Ummayad Caliphate|Umayyads]] and the [[Abbasids]] by translating works of [[Greek philosophers]] to Syriac and afterwards to [[Arabic language|Arabic]]. They also excelled in [[philosophy]], [[science]] and [[theology]] (such as [[Tatian]], [[Bar Daisan]], [[Babai the Great]], [[Nestorius]], [[Toma bar Yacoub]] etc.) and the personal [[physicians]] of the Abbasid Caliphs were often Chaldean [[Christians]] such as the long serving [[Bukhtishu]] dynasty.<ref>Rémi Brague, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130927015958/http://www.christiansofiraq.com/assyriancontributionstotheislamiccivilization.htm Assyrians Chaldean Contributions To The Islamic Civilization]. (Archived: 27 September 2013)</ref>

From the 7th century AD onwards Mesopotamia saw a steady influx of Arabs, [[Kurdish people|Kurds]] and other [[Iranian peoples]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Aboona|first=Hirmis|title=AssyriansChaldeans, Kurds, and Ottomans: intercommunal relations on the periphery of the Ottoman Empire|year=2008|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=AdZfWpd4YrYC&pg=PR11}}</ref> and later [[Turkic peoples]], and the indigenous population retaining native Mesopotamian culture, identity, language, religion and customs were steadily marginalised and gradually became a minority in their own homeland.<ref>{{cite book|last=Khanbaghi|first=Aptin|title=The fire, the star and the cross: minority religions in medieval and early modern Iran|year=2006|publisher=I.B.Tauris|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=7iAbUEaXnfEC&pg=PA86}}</ref>

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

Mar Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa returned to northern [[Mesopotamia]] in the same year and fixed his seat in Amid. Before being put to death by the partisans of the [[Assyrian Church of the East]] patriarch of [[Alqosh]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Frazee|first=Charles A. |title=Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453–1923 |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-02700-7|page=56}}</ref>{{rp|57}} he ordained five metropolitan bishops thus beginning a new ecclesiastical hierarchy: the patriarchal line known as the ''Shimun line''. The area of influence of this patriarchate soon moved from Amid east, fixing the See, after many places, in the isolated Chaldean village of [[Qochanis]]. Although this new church eventually drifted away from Rome by 1600 AD and reentered communion with the Chaldean Church, the archbishop of [[Amid]] reinstated relations with Rome in 1672 AD, giving birth to the modern [[Chaldean Catholic Church]].

In the 1840s many of the Chaldeans living in the mountains of [[Hakkari]] in the south eastern corner of the Ottoman Empire were massacred by the Kurdish emirs of Hakkari and Bohtan.<ref>{{cite book|last=Aboona|first=H|author-link=Hirmis Aboona|title=AssyriansChaldeans, Kurds, and Ottomans: intercommunal relations on the periphery of the Ottoman Empire|pages=218–219|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=AdZfWpd4YrYC|year=2008|publisher=Cambria Press|isbn=978-1-60497-583-3}}</ref>

{{Main|Assyrian Chaldean Genocide|Assyrian Chaldean struggle for independence}}The most significant recent persecution against the Chaldean population was the [[Assyrian Chaldean genocide]] which occurred during the First World War. Between 275,000 and 300,000 Chaldeans were estimated to have been slaughtered by the armies of the Ottoman Empire and their Kurdish allies, totalling up to two-thirds of the entire Chaldean population. This led to a large-scale migration of Turkish-based Chaldean people into countries such as Syria, [[Iran]], and Iraq (where they were to suffer further violent assaults at the hands of the Arabs and Kurds), as well as other neighbouring countries in and around the Middle East such as Armenia, [[Republic of Georgia|Georgia]] and [[Russia]].<ref>The Plight of Religious Minorities: Can Religious Pluralism Survive? - Page 51 by United States Congress</ref><ref>The Armenian Genocide: Wartime Radicalization Or Premeditated Continuum – Page 272 edited by Richard Hovannisian</ref><ref>Not Even My Name: A True Story – Page 131 by Thea Halo</ref><ref>The Political Dictionary of Modern Middle East by Agnes G. Korbani</ref>

In reaction to the [[Assyrian Chaldean Genocide]] and lured by [[United Kingdom|British]] and Russian promises of an independent nation, the Chaldeans led by [[Agha Petros]] and [[Malik Khoshaba]] of the Bit-[[Tyari]] tribe, fought alongside the allies against Ottoman evil forces in an [[Assyrian war of independence]]. Despite being heavily outnumbered and outgunned the Chaldeans fought successfully, scoring a number of victories over the Turks and Kurds. This situation continued until their Russian allies left the war, and Armenian resistance broke, leaving the Chaldeans surrounded, isolated and cut off from lines of supply.

The [[Assyrian Chaldean Levies]] were founded by the [[United Kingdom|British]] in 1928, with ancient Chaldean military rankings such as [[Rab-shakeh]], Rab-talia and [[Tartan (AssyrianChaldean)|Tartan]], being revived for the first time in millennia for this force. The Chaldeans were prized by the British rulers for their fighting qualities, loyalty, bravery and discipline,<ref>Len Dieghton, ''Blood Sweat and Tears''</ref> and were used to help the British put down insurrections among the Arabs and Kurds. During [[World War II]], eleven Chaldean companies saw action in [[Palestine]] and another four served in [[Cyprus]]. The Parachute Company was attached to the [[Royal Marine Commando]] and were involved in fighting in [[Albania]], [[Italy]] and [[Greece]].

However, this cooperation with the British was viewed with suspicion by some leaders of the newly formed [[Kingdom of Iraq]]. The tension reached its peak shortly after the formal declaration of independence when hundreds of Chaldean civilians were massacred during the [[Simele Massacre]] by the [[Iraqi Army]] in August 1933. The events lead to the expulsion of [[Shimun XXIII Eshai]] the Catholicos Patriarch of the [[Assyrian Church of the East]] to the United States where resided until his death in 1975.<ref>{{Citation|last=Zubaida|first=S|title=Contested nations: Iraq and the AssyriansChaldeans|journal=Nations and Nationalism|date=July 2000|volume=6|issue=3|pages=363–382|doi=10.1111/j.1354-5078.2000.00363.x|url=http://www.aina.org/articles/contestednations.pdf|accessdate=23 September 2011}}</ref><ref name="peshitta1">{{cite web|title=Biography of His Holiness, The Assyrian Chaldean Martyr, The Late Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII|url=http://www.peshitta.org/initial/mareshai.html|work=Committee of the 50th Anniversary of the Patriarchate of Mar Eshai Shimun XXIII|publisher=peshitta.org|accessdate=23 September 2011}}</ref>

The [[Ba'ath Party]] seized power in [[February 1963 Iraqi coup d'état|Iraq]] and [[1963 Syrian coup d'état|Syria]] in 1963, which introduced laws that aimed at suppressing the Chaldean national identity, the Arab Nationalist policies of the Ba'athists included renewed attempts to forcibly "Arabize" the indigenous Chaldeans. The giving of traditional Chaldean/Akkadian names and East Aramaic/Syriac versions of Biblical names was banned, Chaldean schools, political parties, churches and literature were repressed and Chaldeans were heavily pressured into identifying as ''Arab Christians''. The Ba'athist government refused to recognise Chaldeans as an ethnic group, and fostered divisions among the ethnic Chaldeans along religious lines (e.g. Chaldean Church of the East vs Chaldean Catholic Church vs Syriac Orthodox Church vs Chaldean Protestant).<ref name="UNHCR1">{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,USCIS,,IRQ,,3f520de14,0.html|title=Refworld – Iraq: Information on treatment of Assyrian and Chaldean Christians|author=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|work=Refworld|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref>

In response to Baathist persecution, the Chaldeans of the [[Zowaa]] movement within the [[Assyrian Democratic Movement]] took up armed struggle against the Iraqi government in 1982 under the leadership of [[Yonadam Kanna]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zowaa.org/|title=زوعا|publisher=|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref> and then joined up with the [[Iraqi-Kurdistan Front|IKF]] in early 1990s. Yonadam Kanna in particular was a target of the [[Saddam Hussein]] Ba'ath government for many years. The [[al-Anfal Campaign]] of 1986–1989 in Iraq was predominantly aimed at Kurds. However, 2,000 Chaldeans were murdered through its gas campaigns; over 31 towns and villages and 25 Chaldean monasteries and churches were razed to the ground; a number of Chaldeans were murdered; others were deported to large cities, and their land and homes then being appropriated by Arabs and Kurds.<ref>[http://www.indict.org.uk/crimedetails.php?crime=Anfal The Anfal Offensives], indict.org.uk</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Certrez, Donabed, and Makko |title=The Assyrian Chaldean Heritage: Threads of Continuity and Influence |pages=288–289|year=2012|publisher=Uppsala University|isbn=978-91-554-8303-6}}</ref>

{{Main|Assyrian Chaldean exodus from Iraq|2008 attacks on Christians in Mosul}}

[[File:Assyrian Chaldean world population.png|thumb|Chaldean world population.<br />

In [[Tur Abdin]], known as a homeland for Chaldeans, there are only 3000 left,<ref name="3000turabdin">*[http://sor.cua.edu/SOCNews/index.html SOC News report,] ''He was documenting life in the Tur Abdin, where about 3,000 members of the Aramean minority still live''.</ref> and an estimated 25,000 in all of Turkey.<ref name=autogenerated18>[http://sor.cua.edu/SOCNews/2002/20021201EUPStmt.html Statement on AssyriansChaldeans/Syriacs in Turkey/Iraq<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> After the 1915 [[Chaldean genocide]] many Chaldeans/Syriacs also fled into Lebanon, Jordan, Iran, Iraq and into the [[Western world]].

More recent persecutions since the 19th century include the [[Massacres of Badr Khan]], the [[Massacres of Diyarbakır (1895)]], the [[Adana Massacre]], the [[Assyrian Chaldean Genocide]], the [[Simele Massacre]], and the [[al-Anfal Campaign]].

* "Syriacs", advocated by followers of the [[Syriac Orthodox Church]], [[Syriac Catholic Church]] and to a much lesser degree [[Maronite Church]]. Those self identifying as Syriacs tend to be from Syria as well as south central Turkey. The term Syriac is the subject of some controversy, as it is generally accepted by most scholars that it is a [[Luwian]] and [[Greeks|Greek]] corruption of Chaldean. The discovery of the [[Çineköy inscription]] seems to settle conclusively in favour of Chaldea being the origin of the terms Syria and Syriac. For this reason, some Chaldeans accept the term Syriac as well as Chaldean. However, [[Poseidonios]] (ca. 135 BC – 51 BC), from the Syrian [[Apamea, Syria|Apamea]], was a Greek Stoic philosopher, politician, astronomer, geographer, historian, and teacher who says that the Syrians call themselves Arameans.{{#tag:ref|"The people we Greek call Syriacs, they call themselves Arameans". (See J.G. Kidd, Posidonius (Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, 1988), vol. 2, pt. 2, pp. 955-956)|group=nb}}. At the same time historians, geographers and philosophers like Herodotos, Strabo, and Justinus mention that Chaldeans were afterwards called Syrians.{{#tag:ref|"This, people, whom the Greeks call Syrians, are called Assyrians Chaldeans by the barbarians." "The AssyriansChaldeans, who were afterwards called Syrians, held their empire thirteen hundred years." (See John Gill (A Collection of Sermons and Tracts), vol. 3, pp. 487)|group=nb}}.

[[File:Iraqvillagealqosh.JPG|thumb|left|200ppx|[[Alqosh]], located in the midst of Assyrian Chaldean contemporary civilization.]]

Rudolf Macuch points out that the Eastern Neo-Aramaic press initially used the term "Syrian" (''suryêta'') and only much later, with the rise of nationalism, switched to "AssyrianChaldean" (''atorêta'').<ref>Rudolf Macuch, ''Geschichte der spät- und neusyrischen Literatur'', New York: de Gruyter, 1976.</ref> According to Tsereteli, however, a [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] equivalent of "AssyriansChaldeans" appears in ancient Georgian, Armenian and Russian documents.<ref>Tsereteli, ''Sovremennyj assirijskij jazyk'', Moscow: Nauka, 1964.</ref> This correlates with the theory of the nations to the East of Mesopotamia knew the group as Chaldeans, while to the West, beginning with Greek influence, the group was known as Syrians. Syria being a Greek corruption of Chaldea.

The object on which the inscription is found is a monument belonging to Urikki, [[vassal]] king of [[Quwê|Hiyawa]] (i.e., [[Cilicia]]), dating to the eighth century BC. In this monumental inscription, Urikki made reference to the relationship between his kingdom and his Chaldean overlords. The Luwian inscription reads "Sura/i" whereas the Phoenician translation reads ''’ŠR'' or "Ashur" which, according to Rollinger (2006), "settles the problem once and for all".<ref>{{cite journal |first=Robert |last=Rollinger |title=The terms "Assyria" and "Syria" again |url=http://www.aina.org/articles/ttaasa.pdf | doi=10.1086/511103 |format=PDF |journal=[[Journal of Near Eastern Studies]]| volume=65| issue=4 |pages=284–287 |year=2006}}</ref>

{{Main|Assyrian Chaldean culture}}[[File:Assyrianclothes23.jpg|thumb|Assyrian Chaldean child dressed in traditional clothes.]]

Assyrian Chaldean culture is largely influenced by Christianity.<ref>http://www.aina.org/articles/chicago.pdf</ref> Main festivals occur during religious holidays such as Easter and Christmas. There are also secular holidays such as [[Kha b-Nisan]] (vernal equinox).<ref>[http://www.assyrianconferencekaldaya.comnet/2010/News/ashur04/002April01_2010_E3_Akitu7310_TripToElMontePark.htm html The Assyrian Chaldean New Year]</ref>

There are many Assyrian Chaldean customs that are common in other Middle Eastern cultures. A parent will often place an eye pendant on their baby to prevent "an evil eye being cast upon it".<ref>Gansell, AR. FROM MESOPOTAMIA TO MODERN SYRIA: ETHNOARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON FEMALE ADORNMENT DURING RITES. Ancient Near Eastern Art in Context. 2007 – Brill Academic Publishers.</ref> Spitting on anyone or their belongings is seen as a grave insult.