Posted by Tiglath from 126.d.011.mel.iprimus.net.au (210.50.219.126) on Saturday, December 07, 2002 at 0:56AM :
Who are we?
We are the descendants of the people who belonged to the ancient Assyrian Empire. Our people have been known by many names throughout our long history.
Sumerian, Akkadian, Amorite, Aramaen, Chaldean, Babylonian, Mesopotamian, Nestorian, Jacobite, Arabian, Kurd, Yezidie, Shiite etc.
We who call ourselves Assyrians today use the Assyrian identity not as a genetic, geographic, tribal or religiously based identity but with a desire to associate with the Assyrian name and the Assyrian Empire, which marked the zenith of our ancestors' achievements and a benchmark for us to emulate today.
We realise that the ancient Assyrians first converted to Christianity and adopted Jewish culture before the
majority accepted Islam and adopted Arab culture.
We have a deep understanding of our long history and as non-religiously based Assyrians we accept that genetically and geographically the people of modern day Iraq, and parts of Iran, Turkey and Syria, are the descendants of our ancestors even if we have all geographically, religiously and culturally strayed.
We consider an Assyrian anyone who actively works for the human rights, well being and betterment of all the people in our ancestral homeland regardless of religion, gender, tribe or affiliation.
In short Assyria is a verb and not a noun.
Where to from here?
With this paradigm shift it becomes clear that we have a modern homeland currently known as Iraq, and the imperative becomes not the formation of a Christian homeland but the re-Assyrianisation of all people in the homeland by working with the secular governments in our homeland.
Through this re-Assyrianisation policy minorities such as the Assyrian-Christians will receive human rights and be regarded as a national asset and not as a liability.
-- Tiglath
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