I am Kurdish, and I am Muslim. But I genuinely love and respect Assyrians. I have always wished that Kurds and Assyrians could live together peacefully, even in the same country, where both peoples could preserve their identities, cultures, languages, and histories.
And I say this as someone who is not ignorant of our painful shared history.
During World War I, my own ancestors were directly involved in some of the biggest conflicts between Kurds and Assyrians. Some members of my family were also killed during the Assyrian retaliation following Simko Shikak’s assassination of Mar Shimun.
In fact, our family has preserved oral accounts of what happened during the meeting between Simko and Mar Shimun. According to what has been passed down through generations, our ancestors were shocked when Simko killed Mar Shimun. It was not something they had expected. It was Simko’s own decision, and the consequences were devastating.
Even some of the words and conversations from that meeting have been preserved in our family’s oral history, passed from one generation to another for more than a century.
What saddens me most is that the Kurds and Assyrians of that time and geography were extremely unfortunate. So much of their fate ended up in the hands of people like Simko, who, in my view, cared more about maintaining his dominance and securing his own position than achieving peace.
But beyond Simko, I believe there is something we Kurds need to acknowledge more openly.
Assyrians suffered enormously, and I don’t think we, as Kurds, have fully recognized the scale of their suffering or the role that Kurdish leaders and armed groups played in it.
Of course, Kurds also suffered throughout that period. My own family experienced that suffering. But recognizing our own tragedies should never prevent us from acknowledging the tragedies of others, especially when our own ancestors were involved.
I don’t believe that we should inherit the hatred of our ancestors, but I do believe we have a responsibility to understand their history honestly.
I am not asking Assyrians to forget what happened, nor am I trying to justify any of it. I simply want to say that there are Kurds who genuinely love Assyrians, respect their ancient heritage, and recognize the terrible injustices they experienced.
I wish our ancestors had found a different path. Perhaps our history would have been very different.
I hope one day Kurds and Assyrians can look at each other not as historical enemies, but as two peoples who have suffered enough and deserve to live together in peace, dignity, and mutual respect.
