Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden

Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden
Total population
(120,000[1])
Regions with significant populations
Södertälje, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Örebro, Västerås, Norrköping, Linköping
Languages
Neo-Aramaic, Swedish, (some knowledge of Turkish, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian)
Religion
Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church

Assyrians/Syriacs (Swedish: Assyrier/Syrianer) in Sweden mainly came due to ethnic and religious conflicts from Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Iran that largely corresponds with the Assyrian homeland, including parts of what is now primarily northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, northwestern Iran, and southeastern Turkey.[2] Also, some of the first Assyrians came from other Western Asian countries outside of the Assyrian homeland like Lebanon, Jordan, and Armenia. Those who had already lived in Sweden for a longer period were finally granted residence permit for humanitarian reasons.[3]

Population

The Assyrian/Syriac community in Sweden numbers an estimated 30–40,000 people (2016). An estimated 18,000 live in Södertälje,[4] which is seen as the unofficial Assyrian/Syriac capital of Europe due to the city's high percentage of Assyrians/Syriacs.

Identity

There is an ideological division of this group in Sweden between[5]

To account for this division, official Swedish sources refer to the group as "Assyrier/Syrianer", with a slash (similar to the US census, which opted for "Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac").

History

The first Assyrians/Syriacs arrived in 1967 as refugees from Lebanon (see Lebanese Civil War), numbering some 200 people.[6]

The migration to Sweden may be broken up into a number of distinct periods: early settlement and the subsequent waves of migration sparked by the Assyrian genocide in present-day Turkey, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and, more recently, during the 2000s, an unprecedented immigration wave from Iraq and Syria reached Sweden as a result of the Iraq Wars (Gulf War in 1991, Iraq War in 2003, Iraqi Civil War in 2014–present) and the Syrian Civil War in 2011–present.

Sports and Media activities

The Swedish authorities have granted many rights for Assyrian/Syriacs including their own professional football (soccer) teams like Assyriska FF and Syrianska FC. Also, the Swedish authorities have granted the right of Assyrians to broadcast international TV-channels like Suryoyo Sat and Suroyo TV from the Swedish territory.

Notable people

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Sargon Donabed (1 February 2015). Reforging a Forgotten History: Iraq and the Assyrians in the Twentieth Century. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 18–. ISBN 978-0-7486-8605-6.
  3. ↑ Swedish Minister for Development Co-operation, Migration and Asylum Policy, Migration 2002, June 2002 Archived September 26, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Prakash Shah; Marie-Claire Foblets (15 April 2016). Family, Religion and Law: Cultural Encounters in Europe. Routledge. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-317-13648-4.
  5. ↑ Dan Lundberg, Christians from the Middle East
  6. ↑ Tore Wizelius; Lars-Sune Hansson; Sweden. Referensgruppen för folkrörelsefrågor; Sweden. Statens invandrarverk (1984). Föreningar bland invandrare och minoriteter i Sverige. Statens invandrarverk. p. 53.

Sources

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