Süryaniler

I didn't know Turkish. In the mornings, when the teacher was coming in, he was saying, "I'm a Turk, I'm honest, I'm hard-working, alhamdulillah, I don't know what I objected to, I didn't do it." I said I am a Christian. Well, there was nothing I understood about Christianity. But I didn't do it because I said I was a Christian. All Assyrian children in other villages say it, I did not say it. Out of spite, the teacher beat me a lot, and after that I had no problems, and I complained to my father. My father called the headman teacher. He said to the teacher: "I swear, if you slap Christians one more time, I will tear you to pieces."

They were on this land before anyone else was there.

Assyrians, one of the ancient peoples of Mesopotamia, went through difficult times as the bearers of a civilization dating back thousands of years. Despite the difficulties, they continued to survive and protect their religion and language.

But most of the time they were irrelevant. They were kept out of sight and their voices were trapped within the walls.
Since the times before Christ, Assyrians have been a bridge between different peoples, civilizations and geographies. But they were also crushed under the feet of those who crossed this bridge. They died, they were exiled, their religion and language were despised.

Their voices need to be heard, their troubles need to be known, and the richness of their civilization needs to be felt with a multicolored understanding. Neglect of this is neglect of this geography and human conditions.

Mutay Öztemiz, who set out to fill an important gap about Assyrians, carried out an intensive research based on field work and one-on-one interviews. This book, which is the product of many years, reveals the deep civilization of the Assyrians dating back to the ages and the difficulties they faced.



Number of Pages: 208

Year of Printing: 2012


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Details Publications

First Print Year: 2012

Number of Pages: 208

Language Turkish