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                                            T H I S     W E E K     I N     Z E N D A
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The Lighthouse.............................    Yusuf Malek:  The Man Who Saw Tomorrow
Good Morning Bet-Nahrain............    Turkey to Annex North Iraq, Says Ocalan
                                                        Iraq Protests I.N.C. Meeting with Blair
Surfs Up......................................    "my dream is to be with you"
Surfers Corner.............................    Internet Assyrian Dictionary Project
News Digest................................    Tehran's Assyrian Leader Calls Iran Ideal
                                                      Tamraz Accused of Bribing Ciller's Husband
Calendar of Events......................    Conference in Lieden, The Netherlands
Khudra.......................................    October-December 1997
Entracte......................................    No New Entries
Intelligentsia................................    Meetings & Classes
Abzu..........................................    Assyrian Radio & TV Programs
Assyrian Surfing Posts.................    Hannibal Alkhas
                                                      Express Yourself
Pump up the Volume...................    Prescription & Description
Back to the Future......................    Ashurbanipal and Shamash-Shum-Ukin
                                                     Jerusalam Metropolitan Becomes Extinct
Literatus....................................    Lamb Strung on a Sword
This Week in History.................    Mohammad Pasha Destroy's Assyrian Ruins
Bravo.......................................    Tree of Life
The Directory............................    ZENDA News Sources
Bshena.....................................    Australia, Chicago, Walnut Creek & Turlock
Salute......................................    Firas, Fred, Lena, & Rita

In the quiet Persian town of Masjide Suleiman (Solomon's Mosque), on the afternoon of May 26, 1908, a few minutes after 4:00 A.M. the joyous shouting of the British and Persian laborers awakened the Indian cavalry guards serving in His Majesty's Army.  A gusher of oil marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of modern Assyrian nation.  The British had struck oil in Iran.

Soon after, the Anglo-Persian Petroleum Company (later British Petroleum or "BP") was established.  By 1914 the British government of King George V owned fifty one percent interest in BP.  In a secret agreement drafted by Winston Churchill, then a member of the Parliament, the British Admiralty was handed a twenty-year contract for oil extracted in Iran and refined in the port city of Abadan.  In southern Iraq the rivers Tigris and Euphrates meet to form the waterway of Shatt-al-Arab which waters the area separating Abadan and the Iraqi city of Basra, a place once inhabited by the ancient Sumerians.  It was here in Basra that a young Assyrian interpreter developed a keen interest in defending the rights of his people and focusing his entire energy on the political work at hand. This is the story of Yusuf Malek, the man who saw tomorrow.

Born on 28 March 1899 in Baghdad, Yusuf Malek attended his hometown's "Latin and American Schools."  His parents were Chaldean-Catholics from the Tel Keif (Tell Keppe) in the district of Nineveh. Today's Iraq, Turkey, in fact much of the Middle East was then under the control of the Ottoman rulers.  In the Fall of 1914 the troops of Ottomon Empire (modern Turkey) were mobilized to capture the Abadan Refinery in an effort to cut energy supplies to the British.  On 6 November 1914 Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire.  To secure their oil fields in Iran and the control of Baghdad the British captured Basra from the Ottomans. Yusuf was working as a War Interpreter during the British occupation of Basra.

The British soldiers lost in their first attempt to capture Baghdad.  The battle took place on 25 November in the ancient city of Ctesiphon, 26 miles southeast of Baghdad, where centuries before the Assyrian Church monitored the growth of its domain from the Mediterranean Sea to China and Japan.  The British decided to retreat and stop at the mud village of Kut el-Amara. The Ottomans isolated the humiliated, starving and diseased British soldiers for nearly five months.  Finally the British Government dispatched Captains Aubrey Herbert and T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) to negotiate the terms of surrender on 28 April 1916. The siege of Kut lasted 146 days with 10,000 British casualties.  The defeated army was sent on a death march to Turkey to work on railroad chain gangs.  Only a few, including Yusuf Malek, survived the ordeal.

Two months later Yusuf succeeded in escaping the Ottomans.  In July 1917 once again he was employed by the British.  Within two years he had become an Assistant to the Governor of Samara. On 25 April 1920 the San Remo Agreement was signed between the French and the British.  Nineveh (Mosul) was to be taken from the French in exchange for 25% of oil in Bet-Nahrain- if ever found.  Both the British and the French were cognizant of the oil-rich land of northern Bet-Nahrain, and so was Yusuf whose vision for a future Assyria included an economy based on the sale of his homeland's oil to the West.  Yusuf was now holding a very visible position in the Government of Iraq.  As the Secretary Inspector for the State of Nineveh he clearly understood that the purpose of such an agreement was to temporarily appease the Turks in the north.  These were the same people who had only five years earlier committed the greatest massacre against his people and forced him onto a death march.   By 1920 much of the Mosul region was in the hands of the Turkish rulers. In 1921 the British installed Faisal as the king of a new country called Iraq. Yusuf and other Assyrian leaders worked diligently to convince the British to regain the Mosul Villayet in the hope of rebuilding the new autonomous homeland for Assyrians.  In May 1924 at the Conference of Constantinople Mosul was seceded to Iraq under British Rule. The British had a different plan for northern Iraq.  Fighting broke immediately between Tkhumnaye Assyrians and the Turkish troops.  Turkey had decided to drive Assyrians out of Hakkari into Iraq.  On 16 July 1925 the League of Nations agreed to give Mosul Vilayet to Britain but allowed the Hakkari to stay within Turkish borders.  The Assyrian homeland was now divided between Iraq and Turkey.  Two years later, at 3:00 AM on 15 October, from a well known as Baba Gurgur Number One, a roar was heard. The British had discovered oil six miles northwest of Kirkuk in northern Iraq.  In the next few months foreign oil investors signed a contract in which it was agreed that Royal Dutch (Shell), Anglo-Persian (BP), the French, and the American "Near East Development Group" would each receive an equal share of the riches found in the homeland of the Assyrians.  The British had decided that northern Bet-Nahrain could no longer be entrusted to the secesionist Assyrians; and therefore, vocal activists such as Yusuf Malek and Mar Ishai Shimun of the Assyrian Church of the East had to be silenced.

On 16 August 1930 the Administrative Inspector for the State of Mosul promoted Yusuf to the position of Mayor of Sheehan in northern Iraq. Only two days later the Minister of Interior ordered Yusuf to be tranfered to Nassiriya.  Yusuf's refusal angered the government officials who promptly requested his resignation.  To insure a global agreement on the sovereignty of a nation under Arab and not Assyrian rule, the British decided to help the newly-created nation of Iraq be admitted to the League of Nations.  On 16 November 1930 the Iraqi Parliament ratified a new Anglo-Iraqi Treaty and set a date for the termination of the British Mandate over Iraq.  Assyrians holding high-ranking positions in the British administration of Iraq had to be replaced with Arab counterparts. In April 1931 Yusuf left Sheehan for Beirut, a city under French Mandate.  Along the way he attended the Assyrian-Kurdish Conference held in Halab (Aleppo), Syria. On 3 October 1932 the independent state of Iraq was admitted to the League of Nations.

In Beirut a bitter Yusuf Malek wrote much against the British involvement in Iraq and their refusal to cooperate with the Assyrian leaders.  His writings angered both the British and the Arab rulers of Iraq.  Certain Assyrian tribal leaders were now convinced that the future of Assyrian nation could only be entrusted to the French. In August 1933 a few days following the small exodus of Assyrians to Syria, an area under the protection of the French, and the massacre of Assyrians in northern Iraq (the Semel Massacre), at the request of the Iraqi Exterior Minister Nuri al-Saeed Pasha from the French government, Yusuf was arrested and exiled to Cyprus.

On 26 August 1933 Yusuf joined the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Ishai Shimun, who was also exiled from Bet-Nahrain. On 28 September 1933 Yusuf Malek and Mar Ishai Shimun left Cyprus and arrived on 4 October 1933 in Geneva, Switzerland.  Malik, an Assyrian-Chaldean, accompanied the Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East as his official secretary in defending the rights of the Assyrians at the meetings of the League of Nations.  The discussion over "The Assyrian Cause" was to take place on 14 October.  Both men worked at "an unbelievable pace of 18 hours a day" to prepare for these historic gatherings.  Yusuf and Mar Ishai Shimun's demands in London, Geneva, and Paris were promptly ignored or rejected one meeting after another.  Yusuf returned to Beirut empty-handed.  By this time however, many international politicians in Europe and Asia were made aware of "The Assyrian Cause."  To Yusuf it meant only one thing, that the British had once again betrayed their Christian allies in Bet-Nahrain.   In Beirut he continued his journalistic efforts as the Editor of "Kheerotha" (Freedom), an Assyrian newspaper financially supported by the Assyrian-American National Federation. Yusuf also wrote his monumental book "The British Betrayal of Assyrians," a revealing look at the British politics in Bet-Nahrain at the turn of the century.

Yusuf Malek gave Assyrian politics a practical realism and redefined Assyrian identity in terms of a modern secular faith. His leadership and writings, as with most of his contemporary Assyrian educated leaders, led to the foundation of all future Assyrian political movements in Bet-Nahrain.   Tel Keppe's most famous Assyrian political activist and visionary passed onto immortality in 1959.

Staff of ZENDA

References:

History of Mesopotamia, Samuel Guliana
A Peace to End All Peace, David Fromkin
The Prize, Daniel Yergin
"The Unforgotten Son of Tel-Keif", William Mikhail
 

       TURKEY WANTS TO ANNEX NORTHERN IRAQ, SAYS KURDISH LEADER

Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse / Tue, 7 Oct 1997 10:42:07 PDT

(ZNAF:  Ankara)  Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan accused Turkey of plans to annex northern Iraq, where Turkish troops have been attacking the Kurd separatist group, in an interview on Kurdish Med-TV.  Turkey has a "clear plan" to use the presence of ethnic Turks living in northern Iraq to increase Turkish influence there and create a "federal structure" before moving to "annex" the area, Ocalan was quoted as saying in Tuesday's edition of the Turkish pro-Kurdish newspaper Ulkede Gundem.  "Behind this plan is the support of the United States, Israel and other imperialist countries who want to disperse the Kurds using Turkey as an intermediary," said the head of the PKK. Turkish warplanes moved into Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq at the end of last month in an operation to wipe out what Ankara says are PKK rear bases used to launch attacks across the border into Turkey. Ocalan said the PKK could issue a ceasefire with the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of the Iraqi Kurdish groups controlling northern Iraq, if its leader Massoud Barzani withdrew support for the Turkish army.  Turkey said yesterday that its troops and Iraqi Kurdish allies had killed 797 PKK rebels and lost 11 Turkish solders and 35 fighters from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) in three weeks of fighting in northern Iraq following an army incursion into the area.  Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Friday that Ankara's military presence in northern Iraq was not permanent, but necessary to counter the "negative effect of the current power vacuum" after Baghdad had lost control of the region in the wake
of the 1991 Gulf war.  Ocalan usually lives in Damascus or the Syrian-controlled Bekaa valley in Lebanon.

   IRAQ PROTESTS IRAQI OPPOSITION MEETING WITH BRITISH GOVERNMENT

(ZNAF: New York)  In a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz accused the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair of "hostile conduct," following the meeting on September 30. Aziz said that a statement issued in London after the meeting interfered with Iraqi internal affairs "with a view to overthrowing its national government, undermining its security and stability, encroaching on its sovereignty and destroying its national unity."  The British statement notably expressed serious concerns about the regional threat posed by the regime of Iraqi leader Saddam
Hussein and said that all sides agreed to "expanded future meetings."

Last week's meeting was attended notably by the umbrella Iraqi National Congress, the Shiite Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution and the Kurdish Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.  The Jordan-based Iraqi National Accord and Iraqi defector Wafic Samarrai, former head of Iraq's military intelligence also attended. The Assyrian Democratic Movement (Zowaa) is also a member of INC. Meanwhile, the two rival Kurdish factions that control northern Iraq blamed each other for the failure of this meeting.
In two separate statements received in Dubai, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) said the meeting was held Monday and Tuesday at the British Foreign Office in the presence of representatives of the three countries that oversaw the signing of the October 1996 KDP-PUK ceasefire.  The KDP said "the PUK wanted to put the cart before the horse and demanded the formation of a coalition government in northern Iraq"  The PUK said it reiterated its demands during the meeting for an agreement with the KDP on forming a joint government and for the KDP to hand over to a joint treasury the duties it collects at the border with Turkey.  "We hold the KDP responsible for the deterioration of the situation in (Iraqi) Kurdistan because it doesn't want a real peace and scorns the interests of the Kurdish people, loots their resources and is amassing money in bank accounts abroad," the PUK said.  It also accused Turkey "of being biased toward the KDP, whose forces serve as mercenaries with Turkish troops" and said that "the Turkish position only complicates the situation."

"First, let me state that I fully agree...on the principle that the
current process of dialogue and unity between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church should have included, in one way or another, the segment of the Church of the East that follows the Old Calendar.  There is no reason why these brethren should not have been rejoicing the initiation of this course as many of us are these days.

However, your statement that this Church was "left in the cold" during these talks is not an accurate one.  The Patriarch of the Assyrian Church, His Holiness Mar Dinkha has attempted numerous time in recent years to invite His Holiness Mar Addai to the round table in order to resolve differences, progress in dialogue and achieve rapprochement. But, unfortunately, the final result of these attempts has always been insignificant.  During their talks, before signing the "Joint Synodal Decree for Promoting Unity," Their Holinesses our two Patriarchs Mar Raphael and Mar Dinkha, in Chicago, personally called Patriarch Mar Addai, who was then in California, on the 13th of August (4:10 pm) and invited him to come to Chicago and co-consecrate Mart Maryam Church with them.  That would have been an historic opportunity to "jump start" the process that is so stagnant now.  Unfortunately Mar Addai's reply to both Patriarchs -- who pleaded with love and respect for his participation -- was that "I cannot come, I am too busy now here in California."

I want to assure you...that neither this nor any other situation will
ever deter Assyrians or Chaldeans from insisting with a more serious approach on meeting with our brothers who are not with us today celebrating the hopes and aspirations of UNITY.  This church and her hierarchy, clergy and members are our brothers and sisters and our joy in the Lord and in our nation will never be fulfilled without them.  Our mission is to be one with them as well; this is what Christ has asked us to do.

Mar Bawai Soro
Bishop--Sec. Gen. of CIRED

[Mar Bawai Soro's letter was sumbitted in response to a ZENDA reader's comment published last week.]

                         *******************

"Today Mesopotamia has become the game of war, torture, killing, imprisonment, hatred, revenge, and all sorts of barbaric actions that couldn't be found elsewhere.  Yet the people of Bethnahrin are brave and fight for their right to be there, to guard their grandfathers' and grandmothers' graves and trace their people's steps. The difficulties they have tolerated 'not even the mountains' could tolerate, in winter under coldness and in summer under the hot sun.

Who was responsible for this disaster of 1914? Behind the mirror there are many unexplained questions? Immigration has cost us a high price. To escape is not the solution. Our enemy's purpose is to force us to leave there!  To force a human to flee from his/her own home you gain nothing except a bad reputation.  I will be brave and dare not to be quiet for my people's right. I won't keep my mouth shut because the four season's of Mesopotamia are in my heart.

My mother, where are your green trees and sparkling grass which never can be found somewhere else? The sun shine which made me feel I was in paradise? Who can encourage me to forget you? My tears run like a river as I remember you. Who can wipe or dry my teardrops falling day and night? Who can explain how I miss you, your voice rings in my ears day and night.  My patience is running out without you for my desire is to realise my dream. And my dream is to be with you

Although I'm far from you and the distance is great, I promise to keep you in my heart for ever, my hope will never be destroyed despite all difficulties which exist.  Your beauty is always in front of my eyes. You are wonderful and you will be for ever. Your flowers possibly could grew up again, this is my first hope and expectations.

It's you who gave the world civilisation and the establishment of peace.  You lost your self-defence by bringing peace to the world, but your self confidence still exist.  You are waiting for somebody to
revive it.  No one will mention you if you don't stimulate your children. To describe your pain for me feels hard.  Your garden has became dry because it hasn't rained for 2000 years. Your soil has became hard as stone and there is nobody to irrigate it...You were a good shepherd for your children and you were a pigeon which always wished to follow the path of peace.  But your enemies were after you to destroy your villages, and change them to their mentality and methods.

Iskender Aryo
Sweden

                                 THE INTERNET ASSYRAIN DICTIONARY PROJECT

In cooperation with Tyler Chambers' Internet Dictionary Project, the Assyrian Academic Society is creating a royalty-free Assyrian dictionary through the help of Assyrians that have access to the internet. This site allows individuals from all over the world to visit and assist in the translation of English words into modern Assyrian. The resulting lists of English words and their translated counterparts are then made available through this site to anyone, with no restrictions on their use.

Please donate a little of your time and add translations to the IADP by visiting :  http://aas.net/id.htm

Firas Jatou
Assyrian Acadmeic Society

   HEAD OF ASSYRIAN MOTVA IN TEHRAN: "ISLAMIC REPUBLIC IDEAL FOR ASSYRIANS"

(ZNDA: Tehran) Two weeks after the publication of a 38-page report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch in which Iran's Islamic government is said to be engaged in flagrant persecution of the country's religious and ethnic minorities especially evangelical Christians and Baha'is, an interview was conducted by the officials of Iran's media group with Yonatan Bet-Kolya, the head of the Assyrian Council of Tehran (Motva'd Tehran) and the Assyrian Universal Alliance's representative in Asia. Bet-Kolya calls the Islamic Republic of Iran "ideal for the Assyrian Society." He adds that "for centuries the Assyrians had lived in this vast land and for religious reasons, they had long wished that a government would come to power which would be on the basis of religion." He also stated that "the culmination of the Islamic Revolution of Iran and the establishment of Islamic Republic of Iran based on Divine Law and Justice materialized the long cherished wishes of the Assyrian community." He pointed out that under the Divine Law of Islamic Iran, the Assyrians have the opportunity to freely practice their religious rites. Bet Kolya notes that "under Islamic Iran, Assyrians have full freedom in the practice of their culture and religion. They face no form of restrictions what-so-ever and that the Assyrians have been able to preserve their identity, their language, culture and religion in Iran, whereas the Assyrians in Arabic countries neither know their language nor have their true identity as Assyrian community."  ZENDA was unable to confirm the validity of the information received at presstime. Bet-Kolya, a contraversial figure in the arena of Assyrian politics in Iran due to his past involvement with Iran's intelligence community, was a guest of the Assyian American National Federation at this year's "Detroit Convention."

                                TAMRAZ INVOLVED IN TURKEY'S BRIBERY CASE

(ZNSM: Ankara) Turkish newspaper, Milliyet, last week revealed that Turkey's ex-premier Tansu Ciller's husband was being investigated by the country's judiciary over allegations of his taking a bribe from the
Maronite-American businessman Roger Tamraz.  Ozer Ciller allegedly took money from Tamraz in exchange for obtaining a contract to build a pipeline from the Caspian Sea to Turkey's port of Ceyhan.  Last month Tamraz testified before a US congressional committee on his donations to the Democratic Party in order to "have access" to president Bill Clinton in support of his multi-billion dollar Caspian Sea Oil Pipeline project. A French investigative magistrate also has charged Tamraz with issuing a fake budget for France's Banque de Participations et de Placements (BPP) and embezzling more than 6 million francs from its coffers.

------C   A   L   E   N   D   A   R    OF     E   V   E   N   T   S----

Oct 17-18        Lieden University Symposium
            A History of Assyro-Chaldean Christians
            Contact Dr. Heleen Murre-van den Berg
            hlmurre@rullet.leidenuniv.nl

            Topic include:
            "The Church of the East in the 17th and 18th Centuries: Bet Israel Alqoshaya and the                   Periodization of History"

            "Israel Alqoshaya and Yausip Tilkipnaya and the Beginnings of Sureth Literature"

            "Neo-Aramaic and Persian Glosses in the Syriac Translation of the Pseudo-Callisthenes and the Literary Traditions around the School of Alqosh"

            "Early Neo-Aramaic and Present-day Dialectal Diversity"

            "The Patriarchate of the Church of the East in the 17th Century"

            "A Chaldean aksa d-kahna in an East-Syrian Ms. from the University Library of Groningen"

            "The Ascetic Florilegium in Ms. Charfeh 86 and its Connections with East-Syriac Ascetic Literature"

            "The Transmission of the Syriac Pseudo-Callisthenes"

            "Founding a New Patriarchate: Eliya X, Joseph I, and the Muslim Authorities"

            "Pour une ‚tude de l'‚change culturel entre chr‚ tiens orientaux et catholicisme latin: problŠmes et   methodes"

            "Ottoman Administration and its Christian Subjects:
             Changes in the Millet System under Influence of Western Missions"

            "Alqosh as a Channel of Transmission of Syriac Literary Culture"
 

Oct 25        A Discussion on "The Assyrians": The Second of Joan Grande's Series of Gallery Talks on the Development of Civilization.
        British Museum, London
        Coffee Bar (inside the museum)
        11:00 AM
        £1.50

Nov 22-24    Middle East Studies Association's 31st Annual Meeting
        San Francisco, California
        Hyatt Regency San Francisco
        http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/mesa97.htm

        Selected Topics:
        -Christian Persian Notables: Patrons and Leaders in East Syrian Christian Society
        -Iraq and the Assyrians, 1925-1933
        -Dawn at Tell Tamir: The Assyrian Christian Survival on the Khabur River
        -The Future of Iraq
        -Recognized Religious Minorities in Iran
        -An Ethnic Perspective on State Formation in Iraq
        -Lebanon's Culture and National Identity
        -Sons of Noah in Eastern Christian Tradition

Dec 7        General Meeting of the Assyrian Foundation of America
        Berkeley, California
        Agenda:  General Elections

Dec 11-13    British Association for Near Eastern Archaeology
        1997 Annual Conference
        University of Durham
        United Kingdom
        http://www.dur.ac.uk/Archaeology/confs/BANEA.html

Dec 20        Maestro Nebu Issabey's Nineveh Choir
        San Jose State University Music Hall
        8:00 PM
        (Tickets are on sale!)

Through    In the Presence of the Gods: Art from Ancient Sumer
Mar 8,1998    The Smart Museum of Art
        5550 South Greenwood Avenue
        Chicago
        Free Admission
        A presentation of 43 4,500-year-old Sumerian temple offerings, including statues from Tell Asmar, tablets,  carved stone vessels, and relief panels showing banquet scenes.

Oct 17     Anniversary of Mar Dinkha IV's Consecration (1976)
        Patriarch of the Church of the East
Oct 19        Second Sunday of Moses
Oct 26        Third Sunday of Moses
Oct 31        Dokhrana 'd Mar Elia (of Hirta or Khirata)
Nov 1        Dokhrana 'd Mar Mikha d'Alqosh
Nov 3        Dokhrana 'd Mar Gewargis, Sahda (The Martyr)
Nov 19       Commemoration of Mar Yacoub m' Pasqa
Nov 22       Dokhrana 'd Mar Odisho d'Urmi
Dec 7        Annunciation of the Virgin Mary (Soobara)
Dec 8        Immaculate Conception
Dec 13        Mar Yacub d'Nsiven (St. James of Nisibin)
Dec 20        King Abgar V
Dec 22        Mar Yousip (St. Joseph)
Dec 25        Christmas (Julian Calendar)

For the Church Liturgy of the Assyrian Church of the East visit:
               http://www.cired.org/liturgy.html

Dec 31        New Year's Eve Party
        Assyrian American Association of San Jose
        Entertainers:  Black Cats & Franco
        Marriott Hotel
        Santa Clara, California

CHICAGO    Introductory & Advanced Modern Assyrian
          Room Numbers C13 & C33
          Instructor: Rabbie Zaia Kanoon
          Wednesdays, Thursdays, & Saturdays
        7:00-9:00 PM
          Location:  North Park University, Carlson Tower
        language@aas.net or  1-800-454-6979.

        Assyrian Athletic Club Soccer Development Program
        Ages 7-14
        7:45-9:45 PM
        Mondays
        Warren Park Gymnasium
        Western Avenue & Devon Street
        ------------------------------------------------------
HARVARD     1997-98 Syriac Classes Taught by Dr. J.F. Coakley
UNIVERSITY    Elementary Syriac
        Instructor:  J. F. Coakley
        Basic Syriac grammar and syntax with selected readings from
        the Syriac Bible and other early texts.
        ------------------------------------------------------
        Readings in Syriac I
        Historical and theological texts, and early poetry
        ------------------------------------------------------
             Readings in Syriac II
        Special attention to exegetical texts and to reading
        manuscripts.
        ------------------------------------------------------
NORTH          Assyrian Boy Scouts
HOLLYWOOD     Assyrian American Association of Southern California
             Assyrian Club
             5901 Cahuenga Blvd
              North Hollywood, California
             9:30am  to 12:30pm
        Sundays
              Contact Sargon Gewargis @ fishtale@juno.com
            (818) 891-3705 after 7:30 PM
        ------------------------------------------------------
             Assyrian Student Union
          California State University, Northridge
        Assyrian American Association of Southern California

        Assyrian Club
        5901 Cahuenga Blvd
        North Hollywood, California
        6:00pm
        Contact Sargon Gewargis @ fishtale@juno.com
        (818) 891-3705 after 7:30 PM
        ------------------------------------------------------
SAN JOSE    English as a Second Language & Conversational English (Adults)
        Instructor:  Jacklin Bajan
        Mondays
        7:00-9:30 PM
        AAA of San Jose BETA
        ------------------------------------------------------
        Nisibin School for Children (Classes begin on 10/6/97)
        Various Instructors
        Saturdays
        10:00-1:00 pm
        AAA of San Jose BETA
        ------------------------------------------------------
        Citizenship Classes
        Instructor:  Jacklin Bajan
        Mondays & Tuesdays
        7:00 PM
        AAA of San Jose BETA
        20000 Almaden Road
        ------------------------------------------------------
        Maestro Nebu Issabey's Nineveh Choir Practice
        AAA of San Jose BETA
        8:00 PM
        Thursdays
        ------------------------------------------------------
ONTARIO    Nisibis School
           10:30-1:30
        Saturdays
           The Church of the East
          Toronto, Canada

        Assyrian Student Association
        12:00 pm (noon)
        MSA Room, Fennell Campus
        Hamilton, Canada

                   RADIO PROGRAMS

Assyrian Voice of Canada            Ontario-Canada

Saturdays
3:00 - 4:00 PM                 Cable 91.7 and 91.9
10:00 PM - 12:00 AM (midnight)         AM 1430
Voice (905) 279-6206
Fax (905) 279-7347
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                TELEVISION PROGRAMS

AssyriaVision KBSV-TV 23             Modesto/Turlock-California
Bet-Nahrain Inc.
Daily (Saturday-Friday)
7:00 AM - 2:00 AM PST
(209) 538-4130
http://www.betnahrain.org/kbsv-tv23.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Assyrian National Magazine             San Jose/Bay Area, California
(with George Maragolof)
Live Show (Every first and third Tuesday)
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM "live show"
Weekly Show (Fridays)
7:00-8:00 PM
Channel 15A (TCI Cablevision)
http://wwwdeanza.fhda.edu/26/shows/assyrian.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Atour TV (Assyrian American Association)       San Jose, California
Weekly (Mondays)
8:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Channel 15A (TCI Cablevision)

---A  S  S  Y  R  I  A  N     S  U  R F  I  N  G     P  O  S  T  S-----

Hannibal Alkhas & His Paintings:

        http://www.iranian.com/Arts/June97/Alkhass/index.shtml
 

Express Yourself:

          http://aina.org/bbs/index.cgi

A cross between a newsgroup (soc.culture.assyrian) and an email distribution service (AssyriaLink), this online forum is ideal for those readers unable to access the Internet newsgroups.

        English        Modern Assyrian

           Prescription        noo/sakh/ta     [F]

              Description         poog/ra/pa      [F]
________________________________________________________________________
            F = Feminine     M = Masculine      P = Plural
 
 

BC (669)  Returning from his conquests in Egypt, King Essarhaddon dies of old age and Bet-Nahrain is divided between his two sons. Ashurbanipal is given northern Bet-Nahrain and Babylonia is handed to Shamash-shum-ukin. The rivalry between the two brothers ends in a bitter capture of Babylon by Ashurbanipal.  Babylonians are forced to resort to cannibalism and the streets were filled with corpses.  By 648 Babylon surrenders to the armies of Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shum-ukin throws himself into the flames of his own palace.

<< Babylon, Oates >>
 

AD (1616)  The metropolitan province of Jerusalem after centuries of service to the Assyrian pilgrims becomes extinct.  Assyrian bishops had served in this major province since 895 A.D.

<< The Nestorian Churches, Vine >>

                        LAMB STRUNG ON A SWORD

My grandmother, Mamma Joe, strung chunks of lamb on 12" steel swords with wooden handles.  The wonderful smell of grilled lamb coming from her barbecue grill on wheels filled the neighborhood.  She would tear a small piece of paper thin bread and use it to push the hot cubes of lamb onto a platter of chopped fresh cilantro, dill, green onions, and hot peppers. This mixture of meat, herbs, and peppers was wrapped in paper thin bread and accompanied by a platter of fresh summer vegetables.

<< Assyrian Cookery, David Benjamin Warda >>

October 15, 1843:  Mohammad Pasha, the Ottoman ruler of Mosul (Nineveh) orders the destruction of all archeological discoveries made by foreigners in his territory, including the palace of King Sargon II.

                                                                TREE OF LIFE

ZENDA is pleased to announce the receipt of Vol I, #2 issue of "Tree of Life."  This newsletter is the offical organ of the Assyrian Aid Society of America.   Current articles include a report from northern Iraq on the general conditions of the Assyrians, a message from the president of AAS, Mr. Narsai David, and this organization's 1997 Financial Summary.  Last night the annual meeting of the AAS Directors was held in the San Francisco Bay Area during which a proposed budget for 1997-1998 was reviewed and approved. To subscribe to Tree of Life or to pledge a donation toward the humanitarian efforts of this organization in northern Iraq contact Assyrian Aid Society at:

41 Sutter Street
Suite 1534
San Francisco, CA 94104

--------------------the   D I  R  E C  T  O  R  Y----------------------

ZNAA (Assyrian Academic Society-Chicago)
ZNAD (Assyrian Democratic Organization)
ZNAF (Agence France-Presse)
ZNAM (Archeology Magazine)
ZNAP (Associated Press International)
ZNBN (Bet-Nahrain Inc/ KBSV-TV "AssyriaVision")
ZNIF (Iraq Foundation)
ZNDA (Zenda: zenda@ix.netcom.com)
ZNIN (Iraqi National Congress)
ZNMN (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNNQ (Nabu Quarterly)
ZNNV (Nineveh Magazine)
ZNQA (Qala Atouraya- Moscow)
ZNRU (Reuters)
ZNSH (Shotapouta Newsletter)
ZNSJ (San Jose Mercury News)
ZNSM (Shufimafi Lebanese News)
ZNTM (Time Magazine)
ZNUP (United Press International)
ZNUS (US News & World Report)

CORPORATE ACCOUNTS
            McKesson Corp
UNIVERSITY ACCOUNTS
            California State University, Stanislaus
PERSONAL ACCOUNTS
            Australia
            Chicago
            Walnut Creek, California

This Week's Writers & Reporters:

Firas Jatou        Chicago, Illinois        Assyrian Surfing Posts
Fred Is-Haq        San Jose, California        News Digest
Rita Pirayou        San Jose, California        News Digest

& We Thank The Following Individuals For Referring Us to New Readers:

Lena Mushell        San Jose, California
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In Our Upcoming Issues:

October 20        Babylonian Mathematics
October 27        ZENDA's Readers Survey
November 3        The Urmie Manifesto
November 10        The Assyrian American Association of Chicago
November 17        Of Dolma and Haseeda:  Assyrian Chefs & Cookery

Would you like to know more about a particular topic on Assyrian culture, arts, history, language, politics, etc.  Drop us a note!

Do you have old books and magazines on topics related to the Assyrian culture sitting around at home eating dust?  How about sending them to ZENDA so we may share their information with our readers.  ZENDA will cover your cost of postage and handling.
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