Simele massacre
| Simele massacre | |
|---|---|
Aerial view of Batarshah in northern Iraq, an Assyrian village destroyed by Arabs and Kurds in August 1933 | |
Area where villages were looted
Heavily targeted Assyrian villages | |
| Native name | مذبحة سميل (Arabic) ܦܪܲܡܬܵܐ ܕܣܸܡܹܠܹܐ (Syriac) |
| Location | Northern Kingdom of Iraq, notably at Simele |
| Coordinates | 36°51′30″N 42°51′0.35″E / 36.85833°N 42.8500972°E |
| Date | 7 August 1933 – 11 August 1933 |
Attack type | Summary executions, mass murder, looting |
| Deaths | 300–600 (British estimate) 3,000–6,000 (Assyrian estimate) |
| Victim | Assyrians |
| Perpetrators | Royal Iraqi Army (led by Bakr Sidqi, Arab and Kurdish tribes |
| Motive | Anti-Christian sentiment |
| Part of a series on |
| Assyrians |
|---|
| Assyrian culture |
| By country |
| Assyrian diaspora |
| Language |
| Subgroups |
| Religion |
| By location |
| Persecution |
The Simele massacre (Syriac: ܦܪܲܡܬܵܐ ܕܣܸܡܹܠܹܐ, romanized: Premta d'Simele, Arabic: مذبحة سميل, romanized: maḏbaḥat 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.