History of Assyria - Islamic Empires

Islamic Empires

The ancient Assyrian capital of Nineveh had its own bishop of the Church of the East at the time of the Arab conquest of Mesopotamia. The Arabs still recognised Assyrian identity in the Medieval period, describing them as Ashuriyun. During the era of the Islamic Empire, Assyrians maintained their autonomy. The ancient city of Ashur was still occupied by Assyrians until the 14th Century BC massacres of Tamurlane.

Starting from the 19th century after the rise of nationalism in the Balkans, the Ottomans started viewing Assyrians and other Christians in their eastern front as a potential threat. Furthermore, constant wars between The Ottomans and the Shiite Safavids encouraged the Ottomans into settling their allies the nomadic Sunni Kurds in what is today Northern Iraq and South-eastern Turkey. Starting from then Kurdish tribal chiefs established semi-independent emirates, those emirs sought to consolidate their power by attacking Assyrian communities which were already well established there. Scholars estimate that tens of thousands of Assyrian in the Hakkari region were massacred in 1843 when Badr Khan the emir of Bohtan invaded their region. After a later massacre in 1846 The Ottomans were forced by the western powers into intervening in the region, and the ensuing conflict destroyed the Kurdish emirates and reasserted the Ottoman power in the area. The Assyrians/Syriacs of Amid were also subject to the massacres of 1895.