page_title: Assyrians in Iran
hierarchical_section_title: Assyrians in Iran
caption_attribution_description: Assyrian Christians from lake urmia in north eastern Persia in their traditional costumes. Women's costumes resemble tibetan and mangolian costumes. The Assyrian church (Nestorian) was very active in Evangelizing India, China, Tibet, and central Asia. The region around lake Urmia was the center of the Mangolian khannate Dynasty established by Hulagu the grand son of Jenkiz Khan until the 14th century.
context_page_description: Assyrians in Iran, Iranian Assyrians or Persian Assyrians, are an ethnic and linguistic minority in present-day Iran. The Assyrians of Iran speak Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, a neo-Aramaic language descended from Classical Syriac and elements of Akkadian, and are Eastern Rite Christians belonging mostly to the Assyrian Church of the East and also to the Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, Chaldean Catholic Church and Assyrian Evangelical Church.
  They share a common history and ethnic identity, rooted in shared linguistic, cultural and religious traditions, with Assyrians in Iraq, Assyrians in Turkey and Assyrians in Syria, as well as with the Assyrian diaspora.
  The Assyrian community in Iran numbered approximately 200,000 prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979. In 1987, there were an estimated 50,000 Assyrians living in Tehran. However, after the revolution many Assyrians left the country, primarily for the United States; the 1996 Iranian census counted only 32,000 Assyrians.
context_section_description: Assyrians in Iran, Iranian Assyrians or Persian Assyrians (Syriac: ܐܬܘܪܝܐ‎ ܕܐܝܼܪܵܢ‎), (Persian: آشوریان ایران‎), are an ethnic and linguistic minority in present-day Iran. The Assyrians of Iran speak Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, a neo-Aramaic language descended from Classical Syriac and elements of Akkadian, and are Eastern Rite Christians belonging mostly to the Assyrian Church of the East and also to the Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, Chaldean Catholic Church and Assyrian Evangelical Church.
  They share a common history and ethnic identity, rooted in shared linguistic, cultural and religious traditions, with Assyrians in Iraq, Assyrians in Turkey and Assyrians in Syria, as well as with the Assyrian diaspora.
  The Assyrian community in Iran numbered approximately 200,000 prior to the Islamic Revolution of 1979.  In 1987, there were an estimated 50,000 Assyrians living in Tehran. However, after the revolution many Assyrians left the country, primarily for the United States; the 1996 Iranian census counted only 32,000 Assyrians.  Current estimates of the Assyrian population in Iran consist of 7,000 combined members of the Assyrian Church of the East and Chaldean Catholic Church in addition to less than 10,000 members of the Assyrian Evangelical Church.
  The Iranian capital, Tehran, is home to the majority of Iranian Assyrians; however, approximately 15,000 Assyrians reside in northern Iran, in Urmia and various Assyrian villages in the surrounding area.
  The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, ratified in 1979, recognizes Assyrians as a religious minority and ethnic minority and reserves for them one seat in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Iranian parliament.  As of 2004, the seat was occupied by Yonathan Betkolia, who was elected in 2000 and reelected in the 2004 legislative election.
  In 2010, it was estimated that there were only around 5,000 Assyrians left in the historical center of the city of Urmia.
caption: Assyrians from Sena, Kurdistan Province of Persia
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