Ashuriena ܐܫܘܪܝܢܐ

BREAKING: Assyrians celebrating Akitu in northern Iraq were targeted in an axe attack reportedly carried out by a Kurdish man and woman. Asayish forces are believed to have arrested the suspects. Injury status remains unconfirmed. More details to come.

ܪܝܫܐ ܕܫܢܬܐ ܗܘܝܐ ܒܪܝܟܬܐ Happy Assyrian New Year 6776! May this year bring us all peace, love, and freedom. 💙🤍❤️

@Ramsen_ @FordhamNYC I'm so proud of you, akhoonee! 💙🤍❤️

It was an honor to be invited to speak to @FordhamNYC University Professor John Davenport’s class today about the precarious situation of #Indigenous #Assyrians and #Yazidis following the start of the #Iraq War until the present day.

The story of Sister Cecilia, the Assyrian nun who was raised an orphan & died a martyr. Please be warned that this story is extremely graphic. Sister Cecilia was raised in the village of Araden which translates to the "Land of Eden" in Aramaic. She was raised in a monastery. Her family was displaced during the Kurdish uprising in the 60s, relocating to Mosul then Baghdad. She spent her adult life as a Chaldean nun looking after sick Catholics in Baghdad. She was 71 years old when they killed her. On August 15, 2002, her family begged her not to go back to the monastery that night. "I cannot leave God's house alone". That was the night that three men broke into the Sacred Heart of Jesus Monastery in Baghdad. They found Sister Cecilia Moshi Hanna alone. They stabbed her. Repeatedly. They slit her throat. They cut off her head. She was 71 years old. They chose that night deliberately. The next morning, tens of thousands of Christians had a retreat on. She was raised an orphan in a monastery, and she became a martyr in a monastery, with her Lord. Nobody was ever prosecuted. This is what Assyrian Christians have endured. The Catholic Church has declared Sister Cecilia a Servant of God. DO NOT LET HISTORY FORGET HER NAME!

Aramaic is an ancient language of immense historical and religious significance. It served as the lingua franca of the Near East for over a millennium. Aramaic was the official administrative language of the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, and Achaemenid Persian empires. At its peak, it was the "English of the ancient world," facilitating trade and diplomacy from Egypt to India. Today, Aramaic-speaking Assyrians are oppressed and stateless in their indigenous lands in Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Turkey. Western governments should persuade those four governments to recognize the Assyrian right to receive education in their own language. In the West, more schools that teach Aramaic should be opened so members of the Assyrian diaspora can continue to learn and speak their own language. Also, more Western universities should establish advanced classes that research and teach the Aramaic language. More importantly, it has become a great challenge for a stateless community to maintain its mother tongue. Assyrians should have an autonomous region in the Middle East, where the Aramaic language will be officially recognised and preserved.

At what point do these repeated “coincidences” stop being ignored and start being recognized for what they are: an additional systematic effort by the KRG to silence Assyrians?

This reflects a broader pattern of narrative control under the KRG, where restrictions limit reporting and extensive lobbying maintains a tightly controlled narrative that diverges from the lived reality of Assyrians, reinforced by tokenized figures.

The KRG conveniently releases mandatory media guidelines to journalists on Palm Sunday with only a same-day registration window from 10am-1pm, effectively ensuring Assyrian journalists are shut out and punished with “legal consequences” for reporting. 🧵 gov.krd/dmi-en/activit…

Join us at the #IRFSummit2026! Speakers include Congressman @RepDerekTranCA, @ZumretErkin, @mervthomas, Arinkorn Kittisirachad, Viviana Osorio, @BobFu4China, Temulun Togochog, Subash Marapaka. #Actiontrack2026

My article for the @HooverInst hoover.org/research/iraqi…

Two new attacks on Assyrian sites in the KRG, vandalized graves in Hermota and a church stoned in Deralok, have renewed concerns over rising hostility and years of impunity for crimes targeting Assyrians. assyriapost.com/new-attacks-on…

@DanielYacoub10 Seriously! This list is ridiculous!

@DanielYacoub10 Argentina being over Iraq is criminal. They have good BBQ, but anyone who has ever even seen their salsa golf and pizza knows it's a crime. I've never had a bad meal in Iraq, even their sushi was delicious, and in Argentina they make it with canned tuna. 😭

“Peaceful coexistence,” they say while our cemeteries were desecrated yesterday, and today our church in Deralok was vandalized. If this is the KRG's definition of coexistence, imagine what their hostility looks like when they're not performing for international donors.