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The Simele Massacre of 1933: Early Iraq’s neglect, ostracization, and eradication attempt of its Assyrian population // Thread:
To start off, the Assyrians are indigenous to regions of Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran. The majority adhere to four major churches: the Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Assyrian Church of the East & Syriac Catholic Church.
Throughout the past millennia, the group was massacred on several occasions. From 1914-1923, the Assyrian Genocide carried out by Ottoman Troops & allied Kurdish tribes resulted in the deaths of 300,000 Assyrians, over half their population in Anatolia (Turkey) & Urmia (NW Iran).
Following the Iraqi Revolt of 1920, the British Mandate of Iraq was founded, and from the start there was tension between Assyrians and neighboring Arab & Kurds. Although the three groups served the British-led Iraq Levies at the time, it quickly became majority Assyrian.
Due to their discipline, skill, and experience, the Assyrian Levies were assigned tasks, such as fighting off Turkish forces, which led to Iraq’s ownership of Mosul. However, they were also ordered to put down Kurdish-Arab tribal disputes, furthering the already existent tension.
During this era, Assyrians were denied independence & autnomy, and were deliberately excluded from border negotiations. By 1932, the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence. It was politically under absolute Hashemite-Arab rule, leading to a lack of representation for Assyrians.
Assyrian leaders, who survived massacres at the hands of neighboring Arab & Kurdish tribal forces, feared that their population would be exterminated and/or exiled if they remained in Iraq without any autonomy, representation, or proper protection.
As a result, in June 1933, over 800 Assyrians -specifically genocide survivors from Hakkâri that fled to established Assyrian regions of Iraq a decade prior- marched toward the Assyrian-majority Khabur River Valley, Syria, where they were denied entry/disarmed by French officers.
Upon return, Iraqi troops stopped them and a fatal skirmish ensued. Immediately, anti-Assyrian propaganda began to spread. In the summer of 1933 alone, 200 articles falsely accusing Assyrians of poisoning the water supply, bombing bridges, killing soldiers, etc. were published.
Also, Iraqi Arab PM Rashid Ali al-Gaylani & Iraqi Arab MP Sayed Chabali Thabit labelled Assyrians as a “plague,” “wretched,” “corrupt” & “poisonous germs,” Iraqi Kurdish General Bakr Sidqi called for their eradication & agreeing deputies named them “rebels” that must be disarmed.
By July of 1933, thousands of Assyrians surrendered their weapons, hoping to relieve tensions while also fearing that they would be targeted by neighboring Kurdish/Arab tribal forces that consistently targeted them. Their fear soon became a reality...
“On August 7th, 1933, General Sidqi led his army north to begin what now represents Iraq’s first military action as a sovereign nation: the massacre of Assyrian men, women, and children” - Max J. Joseph
In the villages of Nineveh’s Bekhar Mountains, all the men were taken into custody by Sidqi’s forces and transported to sparsely inhabited regions. There, they were first shot in groups and then ran over by military trucks, ensuring that they were all murdered.
As the men were systematically executed, the women and children were exiled from their lands. Short after, dozens of villages in the region were looted & aimlessly destroyed by several Kurdish tribes.
On August 8th, Iraqi troops began to head towards Zakho district. Aware of the campaign, the mayor of the municipality sent police to forcibly disarm the remaining Assyrians. He then encouraged the Kurdish tribes of Gulli, Selivani & Sindi to raid and loot the villages.
By August 9th, the Kurdish tribes along with the Arab tribes of Jabour & Shammar began carrying out attacks. Nearly 60 villages were looted and/or destroyed, hundreds of girls were raped, and all the men were turned in to the Iraqi Royalist’s forces, who executed them on site.
In the town of Simele, thousands of Assyrians from the area and nearby villages fled to the center police post, where they were told by officials that they would be shielded and untouched by violence.
The following day, the police force authorized the looting of homes and food supply by the armed Arab and Kurdish tribes. The disarmed Assyrians could only regrettably watch the same mobs they feared rob them of their shelters, wealth, dignity, and eventually their lives.
The next day, 40 more villages were indiscriminately targeted in Nineveh’s Sheikhan district and Dohuk’s Amadiya (Amêdi), Simele, and Zakho districts. Entire Assyrian-owned farms were scorched after their livestock and crops were plundered by the invading tribes.
On August 11th, the bloodiest massacre of the campaign occurred in Simele, as Assyrians were ordered to leave the center post and return to their destroyed villages. Army officer Ismael Abawi Tohala ordered his troops to fire at the defenseless, but to avoid killing women.
As thousands of Assyrians were fleeing the post, the were met by bullets from stationed Iraqi soldiers’ machine guns. The few that escaped returned to their villages being air-raided by Iraqi warplanes dropping British-provided bombs on them.
For those that remained in Simele, it was even worse. Pregnant women were beat then stabbed in the belly, children were tossed into the air and pieced with bayonets, and young girls were stripped down, raped, forced to walk for commanders, and then ran over by military vehicles.
In the end, the soldiers and tribal forces burned the corpses of the slain Assyrians with holy books and other looted materials. The campaign by Iraqi troops continued until August 13th, but looting and land grabs by Kurdish and Arab tribes continued for decades.
The Massacres at Simele, Zakho, Nineveh, etc. resulted in the deaths of 6,000 Assyrian Christians, the eradication of 63 Assyrian towns, and the forced expulsion of over 21,200 Assyrians to the Khabur River Valley in Syria, where they were first denied entry.
Accounts from Eyewitnesses of the Simele Massacre:
List of 121 Assyrian villages targeted during the Genocidal Campiaign:
Following the atrocity, King Ghazi organized parades in Baghdad & Mosul to celebrate the soldiers’ “victory” against the Assyrians. The Christians of those cities, mostly Chaldean & Syriac Catholics, fearfully hid in their homes as the public celebrated their people’s deaths.
87 years later, the Simele Massacre still isn’t officially recognized by the Iraqi government, Kurdistan regional government, or Britain, which betrayed their “smallest ally.” Former KRI President Masoud Barazani wrongly recognized it as a “crime against Kurdistan’s Christians.”
Barazani didn’t just strip the victims of the identity they were targeted for, but the KRG under his leadership didn’t even attempt to establish a memorial at the mass grave. Instead, bones remain scattered and a transmission tower has been built over it. Photos: @AssyrianPolicy
Due to lack of representation and continuous suppression of identity, many Assyrians don’t know about the Simele Massacre, today. In the KRI, instead of learning about this great tragedy, Assyrian students are taught about Kurdish “heroes” that mass murdered their ancestors.
In order for the Iraqi government and KRG to reconocile with the minoroties, especially Assyrians, they must take the first step: recognition/condemnation of the past crimes. Unfortunately yet not surprisingly, neither have even attempted to do so.
