When You Erase Our Assyrian Name, You Erase Our Humanity

"In northern Iraq, there is a city named Baghdeda, meaning "house of youth." The name comes from Iraq's indigenous people—the Assyrians. We have called it that for thousands of years. After migrating in the 1500s, the Ottomans began calling the city Qaraqosh, meaning "black bird" in Turkish. It is also called Al Hamdaniya, this time in Arabic, named for the Arab tribe that migrated from the city to southern Iraq 300 years ago.

Names are strategic and intentional. They hold power. They reveal history and politics over time. The changing of city names highlights what my Assyrian people have been subjected to on their indigenous lands for over a millennia".