The Failure of the Assyrian Lobbies at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919

Abstract

During the First World War the Assyrians suffered great losses as a result of massacres and deportations organized by the Ottomans. Between 250.000 and 300.000 Assyrians are estimated to have lost their lives during the Seyfo, the Syriac word for “sword”. Several Assyro-Chaldean delegations, from different countries and different churches, participated in the Paris Peace Conference after the War in order to lobby the victorious powers for a free Assyria under one mandatory power. Although they received much sympathy, in the end nothing of what the Assyrians demanded was implemented. The reasons for this failure were anchored in the Assyrians’ geographical and denominational differences and because Britain and France had other plans for the territories in which Assyrians lived.