A refutation of Gabriel Afram's arguments for calling our language 'Assyrian'
In his “Therefore the Jews call their script ‘ketuv Ashuri’, Assyrian script,” Gabriel Afram argued that we should call our Aramaic language ‘Assyrian’. Respectfully, I disagree. I scrutinized his statements and the main subjects which have been briefly discussed are, among others, the Jewish usage of ketav (not “ketuv”) Ashuri, noteworthy things Bishop Tuma Audo (1853-1917) wrote but which were not mentioned or taken into consideration by Mr. Afram, the origin of the name Suryoyo and the Aramaization of Assyria(ns).


The Aramean Identity of Tur ‘Abdin and its Native Population
The indigenous people of Tur ‘Abdin and its vicinity are (the offspring of the ancient) Arameans, because their Arameanness can be corroborated – historically & geographically; linguistically & culturally; religiously; and, finally, ethnically.


The impact of the Treaty of Lausanne (July 1923) on the Aramean people
The Treaty of Lausanne was signed, among others, by Turkey in July 1923. This pact guarantees the rights of all non-Turkish and non-Muslim 'minorities' who live within the Turkish borders. According to the Turkish interpretations of this treaty, however, the Aramean people are not recognized as a distinct entity with their own identity. The author shows what consequences this Turkish reading has for the Arameans.


Syriac/Aramaic language and culture
One the one hand, ‘Syriac’ has often been used as a synonym for the ‘Aramaic’ language/ culture. On the other hand, this term frequently has been applied to the literary Aramaic dialect of Edessa (and its near environment) as well as to the Aramaic parlances still spoken today by various Syriac, Jewish and Mandean religious communities originating from Mesopotamia.


The Professor & The Nationalist
... both the scholar and the nationalist are equally entitled to their opinions. When it comes to the writing of history, however, both are bound to the same objective criteria. The author’s “intellectual integrity,” to use Prof. Joseph’s words, being one of them.


The Indigenous Origins of the Arameans of Upper Mesopotamia
The ancient Arameans have traditionally been viewed as “camel nomads” who “spread out from the fringes of the Syro-Arabian desert,” whence a segment of “the Aramean tribes invaded northern Mesopotamia, and founded there a series of little states.”


Who Should Contribute to our National Concerns?
We have reached a crucial stage in our history. The majority of the present generation has been born and raised outside our traditional homelands. And everything that our forefathers had build up, all they had fought for and died for, every bit and piece they were able to protect of that what we retrospectively can call our ‘national heritage’ today; indeed, all that and more is presently at the crossroads of its ominous extinction, of becoming history soon.


The Identity of the People Described in the Writings of Gabriele Yonan
“The Assyrian-Suryoyo people are the most ancient people in the Middle-East.” These were the opening remarks of a “report compiled” by Gabriele Yonan, “which was distributed to all members of the EU Parliament” in 2000. Who is Gabriele Yonan and who are, in fact, these ‘Assyrian-Suryoyo people’ whom she normally calls ‘Assyrians’ in her publications?


The Arameans of Aram-naharaim
The Arameans trace their genealogical lines back to the eponymous ancestor Aram, the son of Shem, the son of Noah (Genesis 10:1, 22). In pre-Christian times, notably between 1150-700 B.C., they played a crucial and decisive role in Mesopotamia and ancient Syria.


Appeal to our (spiritual and cultural) leadership
In the early part of the 20th century the Syro-Arameans were (reluctantly) divided among the new born countries Syria, Turkey and Iraq by the contemporary Western superpowers. After, and even before, the horrible year of the (Islamic) sayfo (‘sword’), many Arameans fled to Arab countries because of, softly put, uneasy circumstances; some even moved to Western countries, such as the U.S.A., Australia and South-America.


Assyria and Syria: Synonyms?
In 1992, Prof. R.N. Frye published an article in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies (hereafter JNES; 51:4, 281-285). Several years later it was reprinted in the Journal of the Assyrian Academic Studies (hereafter JAAS; 11:2 [1997], 30-36) and provided with a short postscript. On April 24, 1999, Frye gave a lecture about the topic of his paper that appeared earlier in the JNES and the JAAS. The article and the lecture were titled “Assyria and Syria: Synonyms.”