Assyrian Information Medium Exchange

For years it has been our deepest desire to present the Assyrian people, history and culture from a different prospective. Now that access to the World Wide Web is so vastly available to people of all persuasions and walks of life, we believe it is the best means possible to accomplish our long awaited project of writing our own national history, in our own words and images. We have relied on non-Assyrians to write about our history and culture, allowing those writers to interepret our culture and our way of life to their liking and without any concideration to the truth that is known only to us, the Assyrians. Assyrians and non-Assyrians have published many books on the subject of ancient Assyria. Numerous Assyrian magazines, periodicals and news papers have also written about Assyrian History, Assyrian Churches, Massacres of Assyrians, Assyrian Poetry, Assyrian Art, and the like. However, little has been written about Assyrians of this century, Assyrians in the diaspora, especially the United States and Europe, and the role of Assyrians in the American society as well as in the societies around the world. Whatever has been written on these topics has not been accessible to a large number of Assyrians because of their dispersion throughout the world and lack of any centerlized agency to assume the responsibility of the collection and dissemination of books, magazines, newspapers, audio and video resources of Assyrian-related issues. Realizing this void, and realizing the benefits of the World Wide Web, we decided to take this corner of the information media and attempt to fill this gap. The result is a collection of what we strongly believe is some of the most valuable information about the Assyrian people that Assyrians and non-Assyrians will readily appreciate. Our sincere appreciation goes to the Assyrian Foundation of America and especially to Mr. Julius Shabbas, editor of its Nineveh magazine for approving the publication of articles published in Nineveh magazine. We also thank all of the authors and others who contribute the information published on these pages because without their support and contribution these pages would not be possible. What we desperately need are our memories - those of your parents and grandparents, anyone you know who may have been part of the earth-shaking events of the early part of this century. The reason for this is simple. We as a nation have been scattered to the winds, to every corner of the globe. Our eyes and ears and experiences have thereby been enhanced by new surroundings and ideas, new ways of thinking and living - and far from spelling the death of our great culture, it should only herald the birth of something new and exciting for us and our children. However, our new world can have no value without the systematic and thorough review of our past and our circumstances. In this way we can develop the kind of self-awareness and kindred understanding, without which those of our forefathers who died for us and our continued existence would be as for naught and in vain, if we cannot remember and honor their courage and sacrifice. Please do not let dust destroy valuable and historical information relating to Assyrians. We urge you to share such information so that you and others around the globe get an opportunity to learn more about Assyrians. E-mail the text files and any related images to us along with a letter of permission to publish on this web site. Please be informed that it may not be possible to publish every article submitted to this web site. bardaisan@edessa.com Return to Home Page Last Revised: Nov 23, 1999