Muslim Assyrians? Who are they? By Sabri Atman Many readers will wonder, who are these Assyrians? Moreover, aren’t all Assyrians Christian? Apparently not! The majority of Assyrians are Christians – some agnostic and some atheists as well. Now; however, we also have Muslim Assyrians that are proud of their Assyrian identity. Crypto- Assyrians, is a term to describe those Assyrians that are full-fledged ethnic Assyrians or those that of partial Assyrian origin; yet they feel obliged to hide their Assyrian identity from the Turkish and the Kurdish society. These people are the descendants of Assyrians in Ottoman Turkey. Their parents were killed; many orphans were taken as slaves and worked for the Kurdish aghas. Assyrian women were taken into harems by Muslim husbands and were converted to Islam, forced into slavery, and raised as Turks or Kurds. Orphans, girls, and women were forcefully taken from their parents and were sold on the markets in a very similar way to many Yezidi women and girls in Iraq in the hands of ISIS. During my work on the Assyrian genocide, Seyfo, I came across many stories related to this topic. I was, and I am, still contacted by some hidden Assyrians who … Continue reading Muslim Assyrians? Who are they?