Simele massacre in the context of "Kingdom of Iraq"

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⭐ Core Definition: Simele massacre

The Simele massacre (Syriac: ܦܪܲܡܬܵܐ ܕܣܸܡܹܠܹܐ, romanizedPremta d'Simele, Arabic: مذبحة سميل, romanizedmaḏbaḥat Simīl), also known as the Assyrian affair, was a massacre committed by the Kingdom of Iraq under the leadership of Kurdish army general Bakr Sidqi. The massacre was committed against the Assyrian population of Iraq in and around the village of Simele in August 1933.

Although primarily known for the attacks in the village of Simele, 54 villages in total are said to have been targeted during the four day period of the massacre, primarily in the Zakho and Simele Districts which are now in the modern Duhok Governorate. The legacy of the massacre is known partly for imprinting the memory of persecution on modern Assyrian identity, while also being regarded as the turning point for the Assyrian naming dispute due to the responses of the Chaldean Catholic and Syriac Orthodox churches. Raphael Lemkin's coining of the term genocide was influenced by the events of the massacre.

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👉 Simele massacre in the context of Kingdom of Iraq

The Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq was the Iraqi state located in the Middle East from 1932 to 1958. It was founded on 23 August 1921 as the Kingdom of Iraq, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the Mesopotamian campaign of the First World War. Although a League of Nations mandate was awarded to the United Kingdom in 1920, the 1920 Iraqi revolt resulted in the scrapping of the original mandate plan in favour of a formally sovereign Iraqi kingdom, but one that was under effective British administration. The plan was formally established by the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty.

The role of the United Kingdom in the formal administration of the Kingdom of Iraq was ended in 1932, following the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty (1930). Now officially a fully independent kingdom, officially named the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, it underwent a period of turbulence under its Hashemite rulers throughout its entire existence. Establishment of Sunni religious domination in Iraq was followed by Assyrian, Yazidi and Shi'a unrests, which were all brutally suppressed. In 1936, the first military coup took place in the Hashemite Kingdom of Iraq, as Bakr Sidqi succeeded in replacing the acting Prime Minister with his associate. Multiple coups followed in a period of political instability, peaking in 1941.

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Simele massacre in the context of List of Assyrian settlements

The following is a list of historical and contemporary Assyrian settlements in the Middle East. This list includes settlements of Assyrians from Southeastern Turkey who left their indigenous tribal districts in Hakkari (or the historical Hakkari region), Sirnak and Mardin province due to torment, violence and displacement by Ottomans and Kurds in the First World War. Many Assyrians from Urmia, Iran were also affected and as such have emigrated and settled in other towns. Resettling again occurred during the Simele massacre in northern Iraq, perpetrated by the Iraqi military coup in the 1930s, with many fleeing to northeastern Syria.

Most modern resettlement is located in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Iran in the cities of Baghdad, Habbaniyah, Kirkuk, Duhok, Al-Hasakah, Tehran, Mardin and Damascus. Few Assyrian settlements exist in Turkey today and also in the Caucasus. The exodus to the cities or towns of these aforementioned countries occurred between late 1910s and 1930s. After the Iraq War in 2003, a number of Assyrians in Baghdad relocated to the Assyrian homeland in northern Iraq. Many others have immigrated to North America, Europe and Australia, especially in the late 20th century and 21st century. Currently, there are a number of settlements on this list that have been abandoned due to persecution, conflict, and other causes.

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