[[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>{{ }}</ref> and [[Kurdish people|Kurdish]] nationalist policies in northern Iraq.
Most recently, the [[Iraq War]] has displaced the regional Chaldean community, as its people have faced ethnic and religious persecution at the hands of [[Islamic extremists]] and [[Arab nationalism|Arab]] and [[Kurdish nationalism|Kurdish]] nationalists. Of the one million or more Iraqis reported by the [[United Nations]] to have fled Iraq since the [[History of Iraq (2003–11)|occupation]], nearly 40% are Chaldean, although Chaldeans comprised around 3% of the pre-war Iraqi population.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chaldean Christians 'Most Vulnerable Population' in Iraq |url=http://www.christianpost.com/article/20061205/23863.htm |work=The Christian Post |accessdate=2006-12-05 |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20061206183622/http://www.christianpost.com/article/20061205/23863.htm| archivedate=6 December 2006 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl=no }}</ref><ref name="Assyrian Chaldean Report on CWN">{{cite news |title=Iraq's Christian community, fights for its survival |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaNG6OF3pQE |publisher=Christian World News}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. Gov't Watchdog Urges Protection for Iraq's Chaldean Christians |url=http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070314/26312_U.S._Gov't_Watchdog_Urges_Protection_for_Iraq's_Chaldean_Christians.htm |work=The Christian Post |accessdate=2007-12-31}}</ref> According to a 2013 report by a [[Chaldean Syriac Popular Council]] official, it is estimated that only 300,000 Chaldeans remain in Iraq.<ref name="ishtartv.com" />
== History ==
== Chaldean Identity ==
{{Further| nationalism|Aramaeanism|Arabization|Turkification|Kurdification}}
[[File:FlagofAssyria.svg|thumb|[[Assyrian Chaldean Nation flag]] (since 1968)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crwflagskaldaya.comnet/fotw2010/flagsNews/assyria04/April01_2010_E3_Akitu7310_TripToElMontePark.html |title=Assyria Chaldea |publisher=Crwflags.com |accessdate=2008-11-16| archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20081012054550/http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/Flags/assyria.html| archivedate=12 October 2008 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl=no}}</ref>]]
[[File:Flag of the Syriac-Aramaic People.svg|thumb|[[Syriac flag|Syriac-Aramean flag]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/sy%7Darama.html |title=Syriac-Aramaic People (Syria) |publisher=Crwflags.com |accessdate=2008-11-16| archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20081204205821/http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/sy%7Darama.html| archivedate=4 December 2008 <!--DASHBot-->| deadurl=no}}</ref>]]
Chaldeans are divided among several churches (see below). They speak, and many can read and write, dialects of [[Neo-Aramaic languages|Neo-Aramaic]].<ref>Florian Coulmas, ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems'' 23 (1996)</ref>
In certain areas of the [[Assyrian Chaldean homeland]], identity within a community depends on a person's village of origin (see [[List of Chaldean villages]]) or Christian denomination rather than their ethnic commonality, for instance [[Chaldean Catholic]].<ref>[http://www.friesian.com/notes/note-n.htm Note on the Modern Assyrians]</ref>
Today, Chaldeans and other minority ethnic groups in the Middle East, feel pressure to identify as "Arabs",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.meforum.org/article/558|title=Iraqi AssyriansChaldeans: Barometer of Pluralism|author=Jonathan Eric Lewis|work=Middle East Forum|accessdate=18 February 2015}}</ref><!--Already stated above (¶5): Chaldeans formed about 6% of Iraq's population before the start of the Iraq War, but since then many have emigrated, mostly to Syria.--><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aina.org/releases/20070416140021.htm |title=Arab American Institute Still Deliberately Claiming Assyrians Are Arabs |publisher=Aina.org |accessdate=2008-11-16}}</ref> "Turks" and "Kurds".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aina.org/news/20061120133220.htm |title=In Court, Saddam Criticizes Kurdish Treatment of Assyrians |publisher=Aina.org |accessdate=2008-11-16}}</ref> Those Chaldeans in Syria, who live outside of the traditionally and historically Chaldean northeastern region of the country, are pressured to identify as Arabs, due to Arab Nationalist policies of the [[Baathist]] government.
Neo-Aramaic exhibits remarkably conservative features compared with [[Imperial Aramaic]].<ref>J.G. Browne, "The Chaldeans", ''Journal of the Royal Society of Arts'' 85 (1937)</ref>