Assyria

**Assyria** is a Southwest Asian nation situated between the great powers of the region: Armenia, Arabia and Persia. It borders Armenia to the north, Kurdistan to the south, and Persia to the east.

### **Established**

1896 ( de-facto Russian-aligned state established)1926 (full independence achieved)

## Prelude to modern Assyria

Before the Ottoman Revolution, Assyrian nationalism had defined the Assyrian identity for decades within the 1800s. The Greek War of Independence and the successful emancipation of the Christian Greeks from the holds of the Ottoman Turks was, much like for the Armenians, an ember for nationalist uproar. The idea of where exactly the modern Assyrian state came from is much too long a discussion, and is heatedly debated among Historians. Some Assyrians who were more engulfed in nationalist sentiment dreamed of a brand new Assyria, stretching from the mouth of the Tigris-Euphrates, to the Highlands of Van, and even as far as stretching into Persia. However the more accepted idea among the Assyrian people was the independence of an Assyrian state carved out of the Van and Diyarbakir Vilayets.

As the 1800s unfolded, and domino upon domino had fallen, nationalists rose to the task of heading the Assyrian people towards independence.

## The Ottoman Revolution

At first, the Assyrian population was relatively neutral during the first months of the Ottoman Revolution, until Kurdish and Turkish forces began targeting Assyrian civilians in Anatolian villages after it was ordered that Muslim civilians protect themselves against supposed Christian insurgents. These incidents were isolated, but a rallying cry for Assyrian independence fighters moving forwards.

By 1894, Assyrian villages were fully confronting Ottoman garrisons with increasing success, and with Russian support, major cities like Hakkari fell in the summer, linking once isolated Assyrian militias into a more competent fighting force. With the fall of Hakkari, various, prominent Assyrians came together in order to discuss the future of Assyrian independence. In the end, the already influential Shimun XVIII Rubil, representing the large Nestorian Church of the East was elected as "provisional" leader, while the Hakkari Governate was declared, independent and free from foreign interference up until 1896.

## Peace and collapse

While the Hakkari Governate celebrated the fall of the Ottoman government in 1896, they soon found themselves under threat from a new foe - Russia. Under the then secret Erivan Accords, a proposed state for Assyria in Hakkari and Kurdistan in Diyarbakir and Erbil were made, which were supposed to be under nominal Russian control. When these plans were made public, both the Assyrian and Kurdish states, already almost in a state of war, momentarily kept peace in order to stop Russian interference, but their hopes were quickly quashed. Britain, Persia and France refused to acknowledge the new states, leaving both countries isolated. Under constant Russian pressure, representatives in Baku, during the signing of the Treaty of Baku finally yielded and accepted Russian influence and the proposed borders created under the Erivan Accords.

## Russian Assyria

### Political consolidation

Many Assyrians felt betrayed, and the sentiment that the Russians were just replacing the Ottomans as occupiers was widespread in nationalistic circles, but not all was lost for the Assyrian Independence Movement. Shimun XVIII Rubil, the then head of state of the Hakkari Government, was able to make an agreement with the Russians, promising to remain under the Russian sphere of influence so long as he and the Church of the East remained leaders of Assyria, which was still popular with the Assyrian people. The Russians also proved themselves to be respectful to Assyrian autonomy, giving the Assyrian people more freedom under the Church of the East than the Ottomans did previously.

### The Great Exchange

(Main article: The Great Exchange)

From 1896 shortly after both Assyrian and Kurdish independence, the so-called Great Exchange began, a massive migration of Assyrians from Kurdistan and Kurds from Assyria as with Turks migrated to Kurdistan or to Central Anatolia. Homes were abandoned, villages depopulated with both nations while they suffered a refugee crisis. About 30,000 Kurds and 20,000 Turks migrated out of Assyria while 50,000 Assyrians migrated out of Kurdistan and into Assyria. With Russian aid, the amount of migrants had slowed to almost none by 1900, while Moscow sent aid to both nations to help with the damage and repair. Assyrians for their part we’re migrated into different depopulated villages and neighborhoods.

### Peace and prosperity (1900-1925)

There were many issues that Assyria faced, namely tribalism, religious and political divides and widespread illiteracy. Assyria was not industrialized and remained an agrarian state reliant on subsistence agriculture. In order to remain popular with the people and avoid further divides within the government, Rubil underwent a series of reforms in order to repair the damages caused by the Great Exchange and the Ottoman Revolution.

Rubil openly embraced Assyrian nationalism. Considering that the Assyrian people had not achieved statehood at all in modern times, there was a vacuum he and his administration had to fill in order to bring Assyria into the 20th century. While he wouldn't live to see it, his policies and doctrine would later become a distinct political ideology, one which his successor, Shimun XIX Benyamin would embrace, which was coined as "Rubilism" in 1904. The idea of cradling Assyrian nationalism was vital in the hopes to not only create a new, well educated Assyrian generation but also bridge the religious divide between Chaldeans, Nestorians, Catholics and Protestants, with the idea of putting one's one ethnicity first, rather than religion, though this idea remained unpopular, and the religious divide is still present to this day. The most famous example was the renaming of the capital of Hakkari to Sargesh, named after the ancient Sargon of Akkad. The issue of tribalism was also dealt with through embracing nationalism, which turned out to be majorly successful in the long run.

Economically however, Assyria was struggling. Assyria was not a good country, for several reasons, for outside foreign investment. That combined with the economic decay of the Russians led to Assyria falling behind and experiencing economic stagnation. Agricultural production slowly increased however, as did the size of several villages, and illiteracy slowly decreased throughout the 1900s-1910s.

## The Second Declaration of Independence

As the Russian Civil War proved to be highly devastating, the Assyrian collaborationist regime soon found itself and its position as a Russian vassal to be a liability, rather than an asset. The Communist Revolution provoked an economic depression in Assyria and Kurdistan, and finally in May of 1926, at a emergency council meeting in Sargesh, Benyamin, and the Assyrian Church of the East ratified the Second Assyrian Declaration of Independence, nullifying the Erivan Accords under the claim that Russia could no longer protect Assyrian interests in the long term.

The declaration and the Assyrian Constitution created a theocratic, unitary state under the ideological principles of Rubilism, giving the Church of the East full power and domination over all political and economic aspects of the country. While at first many were open to the idea of Assyrian independence, some started to view it as a "step backwards", as while under Russia, Benyamin was forced to, even just nominally respect other denominations of faith, especially after 1905, Assyrian independence kickstarted a wave of religious fundamentalism that still rules Assyria to this day, which gives Nestorians disproportionate power over all other religious groups. Chaldeans, Catholics and Protestants would be continually repressed and the religious divide only worsened. Muslim and non-Assyrian communities were especially hit hard, which prompted a new exodus of the last remaining Kurds and Arabs from Assyria, leaving only a very small minority of Muslims in Sargesh.

## Politics

The political aspect of Assyria is quite intriguing for many, as Assyria remains one of the only Christian theocracies in the entire world. Their government structure gives entire authority to the Nestorian Church of the East.

### Rubilism

The state ideology of Assyria, Rubilism embraces ideas of Assyrian irredentism, self-determination, traditional values and strict adherence to Christianity. It embraces the idea of Christianity being a fundamental part of the Assyrian identity, an unpopular belief among growing anti-government opposition, which, more often than not, is open to the idea of a secular state. Rubilism calls for total obedience to the state, not allowing any significant government opposition to grow in recent years.