Meltha Magazine Online

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2002 May Conference page 22

A Phenomenon of Scanty Assyrian Community in Tatars tan:

Present and Future

Arsen V. SAVVA

Rise of nations and their disappearance in the course of historical development of mankind are determined by many factors of social, economic and political processes. But for many people preservation of the Assyrian nation, scattered allover the world, is really phenomenal. It couldn't but influence forming of an ethno cultural type and a specific character of historical development.

In small communities problems are more visible and processes, peculiar to the whole nation in the present period of its history , take place. But status of dispersed ethnic groups depends directly on political situation, social and cultural factors of the country in which this or that ethnic group lives. A peculiarity of Assyrian Diaspora residing in Kazan (Tatars tan, Russia), is determined by its small number and the way of life, which was passed on to Kazan Assyrians from their ancestors. A patriarchal character of life, which appears nowadays, mainly in family relations, characterizes this way of life: respect for elders, a man is the head of the family; a woman is a keeper of hearth etc. Besides, realization of affiliation with a certain tribe and generation remains until now and is passed on to children. Cognate ties, religiosity, respect for remembrance of ancestors and unanimity of professional activity stipulate for the phenomenon of firmness of such a small Assyrian community in Kazan with the number of 150 people in all.

At the same time anabolic processes become stronger in the community. However, if speaking about perspectives of Tatars tan Assyrians development one should mark some aspects:

First, government of the Republic of Tatars tan is aware of hardship concerning existence and preservation of the Assyrian nation and gives all-around support and concern to this small community. In this respect Tatars tan Assyrians are in more comfortable conditions than the Assyrians living in other republics of the former USSR.

Second, the Assyrians continue celebrating their national holidays and creating their folklore ensembles and in this respect they are given state support.

Third, a small number of the community forces to hold more united and not to sever ethnic ties.

As a main negative feature it's essential to mention loss of the language; native speakers of Assyrian in the community make up only 10 percent of Kazan Assyrians.

All this requires elaboration of special programs for the whole nation as well as for every community taken separately. In particular, it's necessary to establish contacts and mutual aid between large-scale groups of compact residence of the Assyrians with scanty communities, which allows us realize personal claim in the Assyrian world. Such collection of blood is a powerful factor for joining culture of your own nation, and, therefore, confronting assimilation.