NATIONAL MINORITIES AS A COMMUNICATIVE FACTOR OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (ASSYRIANS AT THE TURN OF THE XIX–XX CENTURIES)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/2524-2679-2025-02-29-38Keywords:
Assyrians, religion, national identity, national politics, international politics, hybrid aggression, annexation, warsAbstract
The article attempts a comparative analysis of state policy in relation to the Assyrians in the places of their compact residence on the territory of the Ottoman Empire (Republic of Turkey) and Persia. The specified region was in the zone of strategic interests of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Looking for opportunities for indirect influence, the empire used representatives of national minorities as an internal instrument of its aggres- sion.
Actively promoting the Orthodox narrative as a means of external expansion, Russian diplomats and religious figures influenced confessional changes in the national environment of the Assyrians. This is how they formed sup- porters of their foreign policy in the tap of a potential opponent. The loyal communication of the Assyrian minority was based on the idea of potential protection and the possibility of forming national-political autonomy at the expense of supporting the actions of the tsar. Soviet statesmen also con- sidered the Assyrians as communicators in a strategic region for them (the traditional countries of the community’s residence). Having created educa- tional and cultural conditions for the free development of the community, they tried to spread this information abroad as an achievement and standard of living.
In both cases, the result was the same: suffering, genocide, repression, a change in the national identity of the Assyrians. Therefore, cooperation with imperial formations did not have positive changes in the national environ- ment, it only inspired destructive processes.
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