The HORRORS of the Assyrian Genocide! (REAL FOOTAGE)

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]For centuries, the Assyrians had survived everything history threw at them. But when World War I began pulling the Ottoman Empire apart, something shifted. What many Assyrians believed was just another period of hardship slowly revealed itself to be something far more calculated.

[00:00:18]And most of the world just let it happen without a word.

[00:00:25]To understand what happened, we need to go back to the Assyrians's history. As they are one of the oldest civilizations on the planet, their ancestors had once ruled one of the greatest empires in the ancient world. Cities like Nineva and Asher had stood at the center of powerful kingdoms centuries before the Roman Empire ever appeared. Most Assyrians lived in southeastern Anatolia, northern Mesopotamia, and northwestern Persia. Today, those areas mostly fall inside modern Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria. Many Assyrian villages were isolated high in the mountains of Hakkari while others lived in towns like Urmia, Mosul, The Arbakir, Mardin, and Turabdin.

[00:01:08]The Assyrians were deeply connected to Christianity. In fact, many Assyrians traced their Christian roots back to the first centuries. Different Assyrian communities belong to churches such as the Church of the East, the Chaldian Catholic Church, and the Syriak Orthodox Church. Inside the Ottoman Empire, religion shaped almost everything.

[00:01:27]Muslims held political and military power, while Christian minorities were treated as secondclass subjects under the empire's millet system. Christians could practice their religion, but they faced extra taxes, legal restrictions, and discrimination for centuries. Still, many Assyrian communities managed to survive by staying isolated and tightly connected to their traditions. Tribal leaders and church patriarchs became the center of Assyrian life. Entire mountain regions operated almost independently because Ottoman control there was weak.

[00:01:58]But as the 19th century came to an end, the Ottoman Empire itself was falling apart.

[00:02:04]For decades, the empire had been losing territory in Europe and the Balkans.

[00:02:08]Nationalist uprisings were spreading everywhere. Greece had broken away.

[00:02:13]Serbia and Bulgaria had gained independence. Russia constantly threatened Ottoman territory from the north. European powers called the Ottoman Empire the sick man of Europe.

[00:02:24]And as the empire weakened, fear began growing inside the Ottoman leadership.

[00:02:29]Many Ottoman officials became obsessed with the idea that Christian minorities might betray the empire from within.

[00:02:36]Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians all came under suspicion. The empire's rulers increasingly believed that Christian populations could help Russia invade eastern Anatolia. That fear would become deadly. During the late 1800s, violence against Christians had already exploded into several parts of the empire. One of the earliest warning signs came during the Kamedian massacres between 1894 and 1896 under Sultan Abdul Khameid II. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed across the empire.

[00:03:09]Assyrian communities were also attacked in places like Diarbakir and Thurabd.

[00:03:15]Entire villages were looted. Churches were destroyed. Many Assyrians were murdered alongside Armenians. Even then, survivors realized something terrifying.

[00:03:26]The old protections that had once allowed Christian minorities to survive inside the empire were disappearing. At the same time, Kurdish tribal conflicts added another layer of violence. In many eastern provinces, Kurdish tribes competed with the Assyrians over land, taxes, livestock, and political influence. Some Kurdish groups protected Christian communities while others raided them regularly. The situation was unstable long before World War I began.

[00:03:53]Then came another major turning point.

[00:03:57]In 1908, a revolutionary movement known as the Young Turks seized power in the Ottoman Empire. At first, many minorities hoped things might improve.

[00:04:06]The Young Turks promised constitutional reform, equality, and modernization. But those hopes collapsed quickly. The new ruling group known as the committee of union and progress slowly became more radical and nationalistic.

[00:04:20]Leaders like Mehmed Talat Pasha, Isbel Enver Pasha and Ahmed Jamal Pasha began pushing ideas centered around Turkish Muslim unity. The empire was shrinking.

[00:04:32]Millions of Muslim refugees from lost Ottoman territories flooded into Anatolia after wars in the Balkans. Many arrived angry, traumatized, and desperate. Ottoman leaders blamed Christian minorities for helping foreign enemies tear the empire apart. And now another global war was approaching. By 1914, Europe was turning into a powder keg. Alliances were forming. Militaries were mobilizing. Nationalism was exploding across the continent. Then on June 28th, 1914, Archduke France Ferdinand was assassinated in Svo.

[00:05:07]Within weeks, Europe descended into war.

[00:05:11]The Ottoman Empire eventually joined the Central Powers alongside Germany and AustriaHungary in late 1914.

[00:05:17]Almost immediately, Eastern Anatolia became one of the most dangerous places in the world. Russian forces advanced toward Ottoman territory through the Caucasus. Ottoman leaders became paranoid that Christians near the front lines would support Russia. For Assyrians, the danger was enormous. They were trapped between empires, between armies, and between growing waves of hatred that had been building for decades.

[00:05:44]As World War I spread across the Middle East, conditions inside the Ottoman Empire became even more unstable. Food shortages grew worse. Refugees flooded towns and villages. Disease spread quickly. Entire regions became militarized almost overnight. But for Christian minorities in eastern Anatolia, the greatest danger came from the Ottoman government itself.

[00:06:07]After suffering major military defeats against Russia during the winter of 1914 and 1915, Ottoman leaders desperately searched for someone to blame. One disaster in particular shook the empire badly. In January 1915, Ottoman forces under Ishmail and Varasha were crushed during the battle of Sarikamish. Tens of thousands of Ottoman soldiers froze to death in brutal winter conditions near the Russian border. The defeat was catastrophic. Instead of accepting military failure, many Ottoman officials blamed Armenians and other Christians for supposedly helping the Russians. This accusation became one of the major justifications for mass violence. Soon, Christian soldiers serving in the Ottoman army were disarmed and transferred into labor battalions. Many were later executed outright. Armenian intellectuals were arrested across Constantinople in April 1915, marking the beginning of the Armenian genocide.

[00:07:06]But while the Armenian genocide became more widely documented over time, the Assyrian genocide often remained hidden in its shadow. For Assyrians, the violence unfolded differently depending on the region, but the result was horrifyingly similar. Ottoman authorities, local militias, Kurdish tribal fighters, and irregular units all became involved in attacks against Assyrian communities. In many places, entire villages disappeared within days.

[00:07:34]One major Assyrian center was the mountainous Kakari region near the Persian border. The Assyrians were led by patriarch Shimon the 19th Beyamin.

[00:07:43]For years, his people had tried to remain neutral between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, but neutrality became impossible. Ottoman authorities increasingly viewed the Assyrians of Hakari as a security threat. Kurdish tribal leaders hostile to Assyrians also pushed for military action against them.

[00:08:02]During the spring and summer of 1915, Ottoman and Kurdish forces launched attacks against Assyrian mountain villages. Entire settlements were burned. Civilians fled through mountain passes carrying whatever they could.

[00:08:14]Many survivors later described seeing bodies left unburied along roads and rivers. Some Assyrian fighters resisted fiercely despite being badly outnumbered. Villages became makeshift fortresses.

[00:08:27]Men, women, and even children sometimes helped defend mountain positions using old rifles and limited ammunition. But resistance couldn't stop the scale of the attacks. As villages fell, refugees poured southward toward Persia.

[00:08:41]Thousands died from exhaustion, hunger, exposure, and disease during the journey. Meanwhile, another center of Assyrian life faced destruction farther west. The Tur Abdin region, home to many Syriak Orthodox Assyrians, became one of the bloodiest areas of the genocide.

[00:08:59]Ancient monasteries and villages that had existed for centuries, suddenly found themselves surrounded by hostile forces.

[00:09:06]Some communities tried negotiating with Ottoman officials. Others surrendered their weapons, hoping to avoid bloodshed. In many cases, it made no difference. Mass killings spread through villages around Midiat, Mardin, and the Arbakir. Churches were looted. Clergy members were murdered. Entire Christian populations vanished from areas they had inhabited for generations. One particularly famous Ottoman official was Mehmed Rashid, governor of Diarbakir province. He became known for extreme brutality during the massacre of Armenians and Assyrians alike. Under his administration, systematic killings spread rapidly across the province during 1915. Witnesses described death squads moving from village to village.

[00:09:52]Men were often separated first and executed outside settlements. Women and children were then deported, abducted, or killed. And yet, the outside world barely understood what was happening.

[00:10:05]World War I created chaos everywhere.

[00:10:07]Newspapers focused heavily on battles in Europe. Information from eastern Anatolia traveled slowly. Foreign diplomats and missionaries reported atrocities, but communication was limited and dangerous. Still, some eyewitnesses managed to leave detailed records behind. American missionaries stationed in Persia and eastern Anatolia described streams of starving Assyrian refugees arriving in terrible condition.

[00:10:32]Many survivors had severe wounds, frostbite, or disease. Children often arrived alone after losing entire families during attacks. Some missionaries described roads filled with corpses and abandoned villages left completely empty.

[00:10:50]At first, many Assyrian refugees believed Persia might offer safety. The region around Ora in northwestern Persia had large Assyrian and Armenian Christian population. Russian troops were also active there during the war, which gave refugees hope that Ottoman forces would stay away, but the war in Persia quickly became chaotic and unpredictable.

[00:11:11]Russian forces moved in and out of the region repeatedly. Ottoman armies launched offensives across the border.

[00:11:18]Kurdish tribal fighters raided vulnerable communities. Control over towns changed constantly. Civilians became trapped in the middle. By late 1915 and early 1916, hundreds of thousands of displaced people crowded into the Yuria area, food became scarce almost immediately.

[00:11:36]Disease spread through refugee camps and villages packed far beyond capacity.

[00:11:41]Typhus and Kolera killed huge numbers of people even without direct violence.

[00:11:46]Then the military situation collapsed again. In 1917, the Russian Revolution changed everything. Russia's army began disintegrating as soldiers deserted the front lines. Suddenly, Assyrian and Armenian communities in Persia lost one of their few remaining protectors. The timing could not have been worse.

[00:12:07]Ottoman forces and Allied militias quickly moved back into the region.

[00:12:11]Panic spread among Christian refugees who remembered the massacres from previous years. Assyrian leaders realized they might face total destruction if they stayed. One important Assyrian military figure during this period was Agapa Petros. He organized Assyrian volunteer fighters and attempted to defend refugee populations despite overwhelming odds.

[00:12:33]Assyrian forces actually achieved several battlefield victories against Ottoman units during parts of the war.

[00:12:39]But these successes were temporary and could not reverse the larger disaster unfolding around them. The civilian population remained exposed. One of the most shocking moments came in March 1918 when patriarch Shimun the 19th Benyamin was assassinated. He had traveled to meet the Kurdish leader Simo Shikak under promises of negotiation.

[00:13:00]Instead, he was ambushed and killed along with many of his companions. The murder devastated Assyrian morale.

[00:13:08]Shimmoon the 19th Benyamin had been more than a religious leader. He symbolized unity and survival for many Assyrians during the war. His death convinced countless refugees that no agreements or promises could be trusted anymore.

[00:13:22]Soon after, full panic erupted across the region. As Ottoman forces advanced in 1918, tens of thousands of Assyrians and Armenians fled southward to Kamadan alongside retreating Allied units. The journey became one of the deadliest refugee marches of the entire war.

[00:13:40]Families walked for weeks through extreme heat, hunger, and constant attacks. Many survivors later described roads lined with corpses. Children died from dehydration in their parents' arms.

[00:13:51]Elderly refugees collapsed during the march and were left behind because the columns couldn't stop. Bandits and militias attacked refugees repeatedly during the retreat. Women were abducted.

[00:14:04]Supplies were stolen. Sick people were abandoned on roadsides. Some estimates suggest that thousands died during this single refugee exodus alone. The collapse of order across the region made survival almost impossible.

[00:14:20]One of the most horrifying parts of the Assyrian genocide was not just the number of deaths. It was the destruction of communities that had existed for nearly 2,000 years. Entire cultural worlds vanished during the war. Before 1915, regions like Hakkari and Turabin were filled with Assyrian villages connected through churches, monasteries, schools, and tribal networks. Many communities still spoke dialects of Aramaic. Some monasteries dated back over a thousand years. Places like Mo Hanano Monastery and Deul Zafaran had survived invasions, dynasties, and empires across centuries. But the violence of World War I changed the region permanently.

[00:15:02]As killings and deportations spread, many ancient religious sites were looted or abandoned. Clergy members were targeted specifically because they represented community leadership.

[00:15:13]Priests and bishops were executed in numerous towns. Church manuscripts disappeared. Libraries were destroyed.

[00:15:20]Sacred objects vanished during raids and massacres. The demographic map of entire regions transformed almost overnight and many areas of southeastern Anatolia as Syrian populations that had existed for centuries simply ceased to exist after the war. Some survivors escaped abroad.

[00:15:39]Others converted under pressure. Many died during massacres or refugee marches. Children were sometimes taken into Muslim households and raised separately from surviving relatives. The scale of displacement was enormous.

[00:15:54]Many estimates suggest that between 250 and 300,000 Assyrians died during the genocide, possibly more. For Assyrians themselves, the catastrophe became known as Sepho, meaning the sword.

[00:16:08]The name captured how survivors remembered the genocide as sudden, brutal, and deeply personal. Unlike industrialized killing systems seen later during World War II, much of the violence during SEO happened face to face.

[00:16:23]Villages were attacked directly.

[00:16:25]Civilians were massacred by soldiers, militias, and armed groups moving through local areas. Neighbors sometimes turned against neighbors. That reality left scars that lasted generations.

[00:16:36]Survivors carried stories of betrayal alongside stories of survival. Some Muslim families risked their own lives to hide Assyrians during the massacres.

[00:16:45]Others participated in killings or property seizures. The war created an atmosphere where fear, revenge, propaganda, and survival instincts mixed together in terrifying ways. Meanwhile, international awareness remained limited. Foreign diplomats, missionaries, and aid workers documented atrocities against Armenians and Assyrians throughout the war, but global attention remained fragmented because the entire world was consumed by conflict.

[00:17:14]When World War I finally ended in 1918, millions across the Middle East hoped the violence would finally stop. The Ottoman Empire had collapsed. Its armies were defeated. Allied powers occupied parts of Anatolia and Mesopotamia.

[00:17:29]On paper, it looked like a completely new era was beginning. But for Assyrian survivors, peace didn't bring stability.

[00:17:37]Most had lost everything already, and now new political struggles were beginning. The Middle East was being divided by foreign powers almost immediately after the war. Britain and France carved up former Ottoman territory through mandates and colonial agreements. Borders were drawn with little understanding of the ethnic and religious communities living there. The Assyrians suddenly found themselves scattered across several new states instead of one empire. Large refugee populations settled in British controlled Iraq. Others remained in Syria, Iran, or Soviet territory. Some eventually fled farther abroad to the United States, Europe, and Australia.

[00:18:15]But many Assyrians still hoped they could regain some of their former autonomy or protection after what they'd endured. Those hopes were encouraged partly by Allied promises made during the war.

[00:18:26]Some Assyrian leaders believed that their cooperation with allied forces against the Ottomans would lead to international support afterward, but once the war ended, major powers focused mostly on their own political interests.

[00:18:39]As Syrian demands were largely ignored during post-war negotiations at the same time, another major transformation was happening in Anatolia. A Turkish nationalist movement led by Mustafa Kamal Ataturk began fighting against Allied occupation and plans to partition the former Ottoman Empire. The Turkish War of Independence created even more instability between 1919 and 1923.

[00:19:04]Violence against remaining Christian communities continued in several regions during this period.

[00:19:10]By the time the modern Republic of Turkey was officially established in 1923, most surviving Assyrians had either fled or been permanently displaced from many ancestral areas. Meanwhile, refugees in Iraq faced new problems. British authorities recruited some Assyrians to military units known as the Assyrian levies. These forces helped defend British interests in Iraq during the 1920s and early30s. But this military role also increased tensions between Assyrians and some Arab and Kurdish communities who sometimes viewed them as collaborators with British colonial rule. The situation became extremely dangerous after Iraq gained independence in 1932.

[00:19:51]The following year, another massacre shocked the Assyrian population. In August 1933, Iraqi forces and irregular fighters attacked Assyrian civilians around the torn of Simle and northern Iraq. Hundreds, possibly thousands were killed. The Simle massacre terrified Assyrian survivors because many realized the cycle of violence had not truly ended after World War I. In fact, the word genocide itself would later be influenced partly by these events.

[00:20:21]Legal scholar Raphael Lmin studied the massacres of Armenians and Assyrians when developing the concept of genocide during the 20th century. The destruction of these communities helped shape the world's understanding of systematic extermination.

[00:20:38]One reason many people know very little about the Assyrian genocide today is because the survivors themselves were scattered and weakened after the war.

[00:20:47]Unlike larger populations with established nation states, the Assyrians had no country representing them internationally. That mattered enormously after World War I.

[00:20:58]Armenian survivors eventually formed strong diaspora communities and gained wider international recognition over time. Even though denial and political controversy remained intense, but the Assyrians were smaller in number and spread across many countries, their tragedy often disappeared inside broader discussions about the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Even the historical records became fragmented. Some documents survived through missionary reports, diplomatic archives, church records, and survivor testimonies, but many local Assyrian communities that could have preserved detailed histories had been wiped out entirely. Political tensions in the Middle East also complicated the issue further. Modern Turkey had long rejected the idea that the Ottoman government carried out deliberate genocide against Armenians or Assyrians. Turkish officials generally described the deaths as part of wider wartime chaos. famine, disease, and civil conflict affecting many groups during World War I. But many historians strongly disagree with that explanation.

[00:22:00]Researchers studying Ottoman archives, eyewitness accounts, and demographic changes argue that there is clear evidence of systematic targeting of Christian minorities, including Assyrians.

[00:22:12]In recent decades, more scholars have begun using the term Assyrian genocide or SEO openly. Several countries and organizations have officially recognized it. Some parliaments in Europe acknowledged the genocide during the 2000s and 2010s. As Syrian activists and historians have also worked intensely to preserve survivor stories before they disappear forever.