Hakob

I didn't really answer the sex and rape part of this thread. source: http://members.boardhost.com/tajikistan/msg/7792.html 1. SEX Carnal gratification, man's greatest desire, is the first temptation that the concept of Jihad carries. A Mujahid i.e. the Islamic warrior, who at that time suffered pangs of sexual starvation in the torrid land of Arabia, was promised plenty of sensual enjoyment as a reward for participating in the carnage whether or not he survived the rigors of the battlefield. If he got killed, he was assured that the houris waited for his glorious company in Jannnat i.e. paradise, and if he survived, he had a share in the plunder, which included women of the infidels. Islam has prescribed flogging, and death-by-stoning for sexual offenses such as fornication and adultery because it holds such acts as unlawful when committed out of wedlock but when a Muslim "fights in the way of Allah" to murder the infidels and plunder their property, then the Koran relaxes this rule: "And anyone of you who has not the affluence to be able to marry believing free women in wedlock, let him take believing handmaids that your right hand owns ......So marry them, with their people's leave, and give them their wages honorably as women in wedlock, not as in license or taking lovers." (Women, IV: 25) These verses demonstrate beyond a shadow of doubt that the Koran forbids sexual intercourse outside wedlock: marriage is a must for the fulfillment of sensual desires, but this law is blown off by the wind of change when it comes to a Muiahid (the Holy warrior): During the battle of Autas, the Muslims captured some women along with their husbands. Though earlier, a Muslim had been forbidden sexual intercourse with an unbelieving married woman, at this occasion, it was revealed to the Prophet that Allah had relaxed this restriction and permitted copulation to the warrior if she had fallen to his lot in the battle and thus became his property. ( TIRMZI, vol. one, P 417 ) What a lure for becoming a fighter! Even the institution of marriage loses its varnish, value and validity. It must be remembered that having carnal relationship with one's concubine in the Byzantine Empire, was considered an offense punishable by death, but Islam, the true religion of God, permitted it at will! Even the Prophet Muhammad himself indulged in this Divine Concession. Having forced the Jewish tribe of Banu Qureza to surrender as an exercise of Jihad, he put 800 men to death. Among the victims were the husband, father and brothers of Rehana, a twenty-year-old Jewish beauty, who fell into Muhammad's lot as his share of the plunder. Having presided over the massacre of the Jews, he returned to his tent where mournful Rehana awaited her fate. Charmed by her radiant figure, the Prophet proposed marriage to Rehana, sobbing with grief and utter frustration. Realizing that he was so impervious to other peoples' bereavement and sorrow, she refused to acknowledge him as the Prophet of God and preferred to end up as his concubine instead of wife. Sex was a big bait to attract followers, and eventually, make them sincere devotees. After the people of Taif surrendered in February, 1639 AD to escape horrors of the siege, Muhammad was presented with three beautiful women; he gave one of them "to Ali, another to Usman and the third to Omar." To realize the significance of this episode, one ought to remember that both Ali and Usman were his sons-in-law and Omar was his father-in-law. The holy warriors of Islam have been given an unusual privilege of sexual merriment. If they survive the battle, they secure concubines but if they fall, they are sure to enter paradise full of houris, living in the most luxurious environment. See for yourself: " For them (the Muslims) is reserved a definite provision, fruit and a great honor in the Gardens of bliss reclining upon couches arranged face to face, a cup from a fountain being passed round to them, while, a pleasure to the drinkers ..... and with them wide eyed maidens flexing their glances as if they were slightly concealed pearls. (The Rangers, 40-45) "Surely for the God-fearing awaits a place of security gardens and vineyards and maidens with swelling bosoms." (The Tidings: 30) The houris are ever-young women who have wide eyes, flexing glances and swelling bosoms. Fancy the modesty of Allah and holiness of His manners. Can anyone honestly say that it is not a lure to attract followers? How desperate Allah is for votaries! To bring out the veracity of this point, I may refer to HADITH TIRMZI, volume two (p 35-40) which gives details of the houris: 1. A houri is a most beautiful young woman with a transparent body. The marrow of her bones is visible like the interior lines of pearls and rubies. She looks like red wine in a white glass. 2 She is of white color, and free from the routine physical disabilities of an ordinary woman such as menstruation, menopause, urinal and offal discharge, child bearing and the related pollution . 3. A houri is a girl of tender age, having large breasts which are round, and not inclined to dangle. Houris dwell in palaces of splendid surroundings. Now add to this description of houris what MISHKAT, volume three Says on pages 83-97: 4. If a houri looks down from her abode in heaven onto the earth, the whole distance shall be filled with light and fragrance ..... 5. A houri's face is more radiant than a mirror, and one can see one's image in her cheek. The marrow of her shins is visible tothe eyes. 6. Every man who enters paradise shall be given seventy-two houris; no matter at what age he had died, when he is admitted into paradise, he will become a thirty-year-old, and shall not age any further. 7. TIRMZI, vol. 2 states on page 138: A man in paradise shall be given virility equal to that of one hundred men. Need I add more to the sexual temptation that Islam offers to turn its followers into warriors?

Muhammad did conquer and unite all the Arabic tribes (whether Jewish, pagan, Christian, etc.) of modern Saudi Arabia before his death. Read, that these nomadic Bedouin people are the only true "ARABS." The others of Magrib (North African countries) and Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, etc.) are only those who became "Arabs." Before his death, he had invited the Byzantine Romans and Sassanians (Iranians) to join Islam or invite war. His later companions and relatives then went on to complete his envisioned mission. No one started no wars with them. Ask: who are the aggressors?

"Finally, when you see Hakob next time, tell him on my behalf that he is an ass.hole, a pathological coward and a degenerate voyeurist." I am not here on the Net to make friends nor enemies. I'll take it as a compliment. If you had noticed, on CyberIran, I had refrained from make all the namecalling or mudslinging against you awhile ago. The IPs are there for you to check now. To me, all of this is now water under the bridge. I am not here to make friends nor enemies. I am just to post viewpoints whether one likes it or not.

Any of you know the exact figure for this population group in northeastern Turkey? I have relatively little or no info. about this group on the Net. Some say they are around 50,000 while others say they can be as high as 2 million? Are there any in the republic of Armenia? When exactly did their ancestors convert over to the Muslim faith? I heard they became Muslims just to avoid the massacres? It is sad that Armenians refuse to acknowledge this group and the Turks resent them for maintaining their Armenian language. Their future does not look too good. I really think Armenians should try to reach out to them and show them back to the way of God and Hayastan.

I don't need to lie. Look everywhere in this world and you can see Muslims cannot coexist peacefully with others from different faiths. Either in a Muslim dominated nation like Indonesia or even in non-Muslim dominated society in the Phillipines, the Muslims cannot tolerate differences or get along with others.

majya, The West is prejudiced, but yet there is a little grain of truth to every falsehood. Can we not say that the Taliban in Afghanistan is not living and ruling according to the codes of the Prophet 1,400 years ago? Are we not using a Western yardstick to measure their actions? Maybe that is how the real ideal Islam is and was? I know I cannot accept that.

Harut, I agree with you. I am very subjective or religious matters. But, this religion is the only one that promises life in heaven after killing a non-believer. This is the only holy book where I have seen so much references to fighting, killing and slavery. Qur'an sounds more like our Old Testament, but more violent in my opinion. Muhammad, I think did not create the religion out of his own. He must have took a lit bit here and there from both Christianity and Judaism, along with the harsh realities of the nomadic Bedouin Arabian deserts. This is the only holy book where killing and war is prescribed. I have read other religions and their texts, and none to this extent. It is relatively easy to understand how they became 1 billion. Jihad and jizya.

If there are any Muslim friends/visitors to this thread and have read what they do not want to read, then I sincerely apologize toward any ill feelings generated from this. Yet, I don't hold back what I have posted (actually cut and pasted). The issue is an emotional one for me. My people have dealt with it for more than one thousand years. It was as if we were cursed.

What is the exact meaning of Jihad? Should I ask the modern Muslim scholars educated in the West, or should I find out from hojas in isolated Muslim villages of the Middle East? I got this article directly from a Tajikistan discussion forum: http://members.boardhost.com/tajikistan posted by: "Ayatollah Rock'n'Rollah Human rights abuses happen in many countries, but never to the proportion and the magnitude of what is happening in Iran and other Islamic countries. In the last few years, and with no little thanks to the Islamic Revolution of Iran, I noticed that the major human right abuses are perpetrated in the name of religion. I became concerned for the plight of my people in Iran and her neighboring countries and decided to investigate the cause. I asked myself whether all this is because the gentle and peaceful message of Islam is misunderstood and whether there is a way to revive the pure Islam and save my country. It was in this quest that I realized, to my chagrin, that the human right abuses are not deviations from the true Islam but they ARE teachings of Islam. I realized that in Islam, Man has no rights! All the rights are reserved for Allah. Man has only duties. Among his duties, he has to pray five times a day, believe in the religion of Allah and submit his will, thoughts and intelligence to him. Any independence from Allah, even at the level of thought is punishable by beating, imprisonment and death. All the Islamic countries have signed the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights; despite that gross violations of human rights happen in almost all of them. The reason is – the laws of Quran and Sharia take precedence over the human rights whenever they are in conflict. You are in violation of the laws of Quran and Sharia if you apostatize. Apostasy is the biggest sin that Allah cannot forgive. If you decide to turn your back to Islam, you must be killed. The prophet himself killed those who rejected him after they had accepted him and there are many verses in Quran from which the Islamic governments can get their guidelines in killing the apostates. (Q. 2:39,, 3:90-91, 4:89 , 9:66)If you apostatize your marriage with your wife is annulled and your relationship with her is adulterous, which means not only you should be killed for heresy, your wife also should be stoned to death for adultery. If you are a woman you cannot marry a non-Muslim, or both of you could face death. If you belong to a religious minority; a Christian or a Jew, you may live but not before paying a penalty tax. This tax that is called Jizyah could be as high as half of your income. This was the amount that the Prophet exacted from the Jews of the Kheibar after he raided that town and killed many of their able men, taking as sex-slaves and maids their young and pretty women. Torture in Islamic countries is common but it is also inspired by what the Prophet did. Muhammad is reported to have employed torture to force his victims reveal the information that he needed. The oldest biography of Muhammad called the “Sirat Rasulallah On page 515, tells of Muhammad’s conquest of Kheibar. He ambushed this city without any provocation, and. “Kinana al-Rabi, who had the custody of the treasure of Banu Nadir, was brought to the apostle who asked him about it. He denied that he knew where it was. A Jew came (Tabari says “was brought” , to the apostle and said that he had seen Kinana going round a certain ruin every morning early. When the apostle said to Kinana, “Do you know that if we find you have it I shall kill you?” He said, “Yes”. The apostle gave orders that the ruin was to be excavated and some of the treasure was found. When he asked him about the rest he refused to produce it, so the apostle gave orders to al-Zubayr Al-Awwam, “Torture him until you extract what he has.” So he kindled a fire with flint and steel on his chest until he was nearly dead. Then the apostle delivered him to Muhammad b. Maslama and he struck off his head, in revenge for his brother Mahmud.” Taken from “The Life of Muhammad”, or Sirat Rasulallah”, translated by A. Guillaume, page 515. One wonders why the same angle Gabriel who told the Prophet about the plot of the Banu Nadir against his life, a plot that no one heard of except the Prophet, thus giving him the excuse to exterminate that tribe and confiscate all their property, did not come to tell him where the treasure was hidden, forcing the impeccable and compassionate mercy of God amongst men to commit such horrendous act with another human being? Muhammad himself raped the captured women in his raids. Rayhana and Safiya from the Jewish tribes of Banu Quraiza and Banu Nadir were the shares of the Prophet and were allotted to him before other Muslim warriors could get their share of their sex slaves. Assassinations is the preferred Method of the Islamic regime of Iran. Hundreds of dissidents, whether inside of Iran or outside, have been eliminated by this way. Not surprisingly it was Muhammad who set the example. More than a dozen of people were assassinated by the followers of Muhammad and at his behest. One of them was a 120-year-old man called Abu Afak whose crime was to mock the Prophet in the street. Another one was Asma Bint Marwan who composed a lyric cursing the Arabs for letting Muhammad get away with his crimes. The Prophet asked: “Who will get me rid of her”?. “Umayr b. Adiy al-Khatmi who was with him heard him, and that very night he went to her house and killed her. In the morning he came to the apostle and told him what he had done and he [Muhammad] said, “You have helped God and His apostle, O Umayr!” When he asked if he would have to bear any evil consequences the apostle said, “Two goats won’t butt their heads about her”. Asma was the mother of 5 small children. When her assassin came to her, she was asleep and her youngest baby suckling from her breast. Every torture, every cruelty, every inhumanity perpetrated by Muslims in authority is inspired by the words and the deeds of the Prophet and can be found in Quran and hadith, the two sources of guidance for 1.1 billion Muslims worldwide. This is a long subject and one could write a book about it.. Human rights violations cannot stop while Islam dominates the minds and the hearts of these people. The violence perpetrated by the Muslims is not limited to the Islamic countries. Although the Muslims are the primary victims of this cult, the West is not immune to Islamic terrorism. With the growth of the Muslim population in European and American countries, the inhabitants of these two continents could expect to see more terrorisms, World Trade Center style, and more loss of innocent lives. The United States, Canada and all the European countries expend millions and millions of dollars to counter terrorism. But the sad reality is that Islamic terrorism is not the problem but the symptom of the problem. It is Islam that rears terrorists. You fight one terrorist group, ten more emerge from beneath the rock. “Fundamentalism is the poisonous branch of the poisonous tree of Islam” says Taslima Nasrin, the Bangali doctor who’s death is now decreed by the Muslims Ulama, “as long as the tree is standing these poisonous branches will keep shooting out”. To eliminate Islamic terrorism we have no option but to eliminate Islam. Despite the anger and the threats of violence by the Muslim fundamentalists, Islam is a very vulnerable religion. The majority of Muslims are not aware of the inhumane teachings of Islam. The best part of them will leave Islam once they learn the bitter truth about it. This is why I have dedicated my energy and life and have embarked on the self imposed mission to introduce the real Islam to the world, stop this insanity, bring common sense, call for unity of human kind, promote equality of the genders and advance science and reason

Ottoman Turks during Genocide as well as current Arab suicide bombers in Palestine often quote from this chapter and verse.

Friends, Please read Surah (chapter) Muhammad, Ayyah (verse) #4 in the Qur'an. (ch.47) Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful. (Ch.47, verse 4)---(English translation from the original Arabic). Whenever you encounter the infidels, seize them and strike their necks until they have been subdued, then tie them up as prisoners, either in order to release them later on or also to ask for ransom, until war lays down her burdens. Thus shall you do-; yet if Allah so wished. He might defend Himself from them-in order that some of you may be tested by means of one another. The ones who have been killed in Allah's way will never find their actions have been in vain. He will guide them and improve their attitude and admit them to the Garden He has acquainted them with. "NOBLE QUR'AN"---English translation by Thomas Irving.

In and near the city of Isfahan in Iran, there exists an ancient fortress by the name of "Kala Mamikun." It is believed to have been established during the early reign of the Sassanians, but locals claim it was built during the waning years of the Arsacid dynasty, only to be rebuilt and rebuilt time after time. Some Armenians live within this vicinity and when their ancestors where deported here during the Safavis, they claimed this land as their own saying that they were returning to the old Arsacid lands of their forefathers. In Afghanistan and all the way up in the northern coastal Caspian regions, many towns bear this title "Kala." I don't know the meaning of this word. But, people say it means a fortress or a castle. Kala Mamikun, doesn't name sound familiar? Perhaps, it was a fortress built by the early ancestors of the Mamikonian dynasty? History says they (Mamikonians) came from the lands east of Iran, and this fortress is located in the east of Iran. I would like to check out this place someday. Iranyar knows better about this.

I am sick of it and before anyone cast stones to my statement, think about it logically.

Maybe that is why they posted on the Net in the first place? Out of desperation?? This my first time seeing girls post pictures of their boobs and butocks and shaking it on the dance floor! I have been to various Russian, Ukrainian, Filipino, Columbian and Armenian dating agencies on the Net and I have yet to see something such as this!! I thought we put our women on such high standards and expected them to be angels? Well, I guess some guys can't control their instincts and these girls know it.

Turkish who converts himself to Christianity and tries to do the same to other Turks or else I would be a Turkish Marcus Garvey and tell fellow Turks to pack up and return to Turan (Central Asia) on horses. Jirit, jirit.

Kazza is absolutely right. First of all, we can't be so sure these are the real actual people. As a guy, I can only talk about the gals in that site. They do not look like what I look for in a happy marriage life. They have caught up to the modern thinking of their "odar" environment. Put it this way, some of those girls seem to be sexually open. Those are the kinds that probably wouldn't mind dating or even sleeping with a boy (odar or Hay). Beauty is only in the eyes of the beholder.

Many Hayastansis have hair color and eye color so black that they almost look like Central Asians and Chinese. Look at this girl: http://www.meetaperson.net/profiles/21196.htm Did the Mamigonians really have so much impact on the Armenians, even genetically?

And, MJ, many Mamigonians had married with Iranian princesses of either the Arshakuni or Sasani dynasties as well.

I don't know about present historians, but I do know that the Ashkani (Arshakuni) dynasty in Iran had a habit of employing foreigners to rule over parts of their empire. This Parthian empire was a huge and international one composed of all races and with huge volumes of trade unimaginable in its heyday.

For the graphs and charts please refer to: http://www.assyrianfoundation.org/genetics.htm It is strange how Armenians are clustered together with (Central Asians) Tajiks, Pathans and Hazaras on similar genetic distance more so than they are with (Middle Easterners) Turks, Iranians, Arabs, Kurds, and Jews.

The Genetics of Modern Assyrians and their Relationship to Other People of the Middle East by: Dr. Joel J. Elias Professor (Emeritus), University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The authors of the book "The History and Geography of Human Genes"1, published in 1994, and the abridged version in 19962, took on the monumental task of analyzing the vast number of research articles written about genetic properties of different human populations. The senior author, Prof. L.L. Cavalli-Sforza, Professor of Genetics at Stanford University, is considered one of the preeminent human population geneticists in the world, a field that he has been working in for over forty years. After eight years of collecting this massive information, the authors spent several more years doing the genetic and statistical analyses using sophisticated computer methods. The objective was nothing less than to define the genetic variations in the entire human population of the world and, from that information, to trace the origin and migration of modern humans to their present locations on the planet (hence the "History and Geography" in the title). As the American Journal of Human Genetics stated, "This book represents a landmark in biology. There is nothing of its kind... where the evolutionary history of a single species possessing a cosmopolitan distribution is distilled from genetic, morphological, and cultural data. It represents an essential historical source for all human biologists ... " And as the New York Times said, "Perhaps more than anyone else in his field, Dr. Cavalli-Sforza ... has been able to make sense of the whisperings of human ancestors that are recorded in the genes of present-day people." For their study, the authors chose to use data from only those populations that had been in the same geographic area for at least 500 years. They considered them as the native indigenous people of an area ("aboriginal") that could be used to trace human population origins, relationships and migrations. From analysis of the genes in these populations, it became possible to determine not only the genetic makeup of a people and the genetic relationships of different groups to each other, but also to measure the "genetic distance" between them. The analyses showed that there were sufficient data to provide statistically significant information on the genetic characteristics of 491 different human populations. Assyrians were one of them3-6. In this article, we will focus on the knowledge that has been gained about Assyrians and the genetic relationships between Assyrians and their neighbors, with the hope that it will lead to better understanding between the people of the Middle East. Members of a specific human population, for example an ethnic group, identify with each other by a shared language and also by cultural, religious, social, geographic, and other features which are held in common. They distinguish themselves from other groups by the same criteria. What are "hidden" from external view are genetically determined attributes of the type that are only brought into the light by scientific methods such as those described in this book, and they reveal a very important component of a group - its genetic character. This can provide both a genetic definition of a group and also its relationships to other groups that would not be apparent otherwise. The use of language along with genetics to define groups is very useful, but linguistic change can occur much faster than genetic change and "languages are sometimes replaced by others of totally different origin in a very short time", as will be pointed out later in this article. As the authors state, "Only genes almost always have the degree of permanence necessary for discussing" the changes in populations that took place in the history of our species. I have attempted the difficult task of presenting this information for the general reader in a concise way without compromising accuracy. Technical terms placed in parentheses are informative but not essential to understanding the basic ideas. But one technical element is crucial to the understanding of this information and I must briefly discuss it here. The chemical substance that makes up genes is DNA. A specific gene controlling the formation of a specific product may undergo a chemical alteration in its DNA ("mutation"). The product that it forms will then also be altered. We now have two forms of the same gene ("alleles") in the population and different individuals can get different forms of the gene. In the case of the familiar A, B, AB, and O blood types, whether an individual has the A form of the gene, the B form, or neither, determines the blood type. A human population can be genetically characterized by determining the distribution of the various forms of genes within that population ("gene frequency") - for example, what percentage of the population has the A, B, or O gene. When this is done for enough people and for enough different genes a "genetic profile" emerges for that population. Genes control the synthesis of proteins. In the "classical" studies that form the greater part of the material in the Cavalli-Sforza et al. book, the structure of the protein is analyzed as a genetic marker - the specific structure of the protein reflects the specific structure of the gene that codes for it. The proteins commonly analyzed as genetic markers are those that determine various types of blood groups, enzymes, blood serum proteins, hemoglobin, antibodies and cellular markers of the immune system (HLA system). In addition, direct analysis of DNA has recently become increasingly common and, of course, adds to the information pool about the genetic makeup of a people. In his very recent book2a, Cavalli-Sforza says: "Results with DNA have complemented but never contradicted the protein data." An example of DNA analysis will be seen later as part of the discussion of Jewish genetics. Analysis of the Assyrians shows that they have a distinct genetic profile that distinguishes their population from any other population. It is important to understand that this applies to the population as a whole, not to any one individual. Each individual can have a variety of genetic features, but it is when all the data for the individuals are assembled together that the population can become distinctive. The authors state that "The Assyrians are a fairly homogeneous group of people, believed to originate from the land of old Assyria in northern Iraq," and "they are Christians and are possibly bona fide descendants of their namesakes." The main research paper on Assyrians is that of Akbari et al. (3), who state "that the Assyrians are a group of Christians with a long history in the Middle East. From historical and archeological evidence, it is thought that their ancestors formed part of the Mesopotamian civilization." Akbari et al. examined some 500 members of Christian communities in Iran (Armenians and Assyrians from six localities) from whom specimens were obtained and examined for a number of blood group, red cell enzyme and serum protein systems. In the case of Assyrians, the researchers studied 18 different gene sites with a total of 47 different forms of those genes (alleles) in Assyrians in two regions of Iran - Urmia and Tehran. The particular gene frequencies of those 47 genes in the population formed the basis, along with the other two studies (4, 5), for establishing the distinctive genetic character of the Assyrians. A major finding of the study is that Assyrians, especially those in Urmia (their home area in Iran), are genetically homogeneous to a high degree. That is, an individual Assyrian's genetic makeup is relatively close to that of the Assyrian population as a whole. "The results indicate the relatively closed nature of the [Assyrian] community as a whole," and "due to their religious and cultural traditions, there has been little intermixture with other populations." The small size of the population is also a factor. The genetic data are compatible with historical data that religion played a major role in maintaining the Assyrian population's separate identity during the Christian era. For most of that period Assyrians existed as a Christian minority in non-Christian majority populations, and adherence to their religion, abundantly documented in the historical record, would have provided a "genetic barrier" to gene flow from external groups. In analyzing other groups in similar situations, Cavalli-Sforza et al. arrived at this opinion: "The important conclusion is that the genetic origin of groups that have been surrounded for a long time by populations of different genetic type can be recognized as different only if they have maintained a fairly rigid endogamy [ marriage within the group] for most or all the period in which they have been in contact with other groups," although genes contributed by external groups ("gene flow") can be tolerated for many centuries or even millennia by a population, provided they are not on a large scale. Later in this article we will see an analogous situation with Jews, where a religious difference allowed them to maintain their genetic characteristics as a minority over many centuries while living among non-Jewish majority populations. In any case, the data provide unequivocal evidence that Assyrians as a people are distinguishable from all other population groups in their genetic characteristics and are not a part of any other population. The second important contribution that emerges from the book is seen when genetic relationships are made between the 18 populations of Western Asia for which enough data were available to allow meaningful interpretation. The results are summarized in the "tree" shown in the figure. The horizontal scale at the bottom quantitates the genetic distance between groups. The individual populations are listed in the general order of their relationships. The three Arab populations at the lowest part of the "tree" (Saudi, Yemeni, Bedouin) are close to each other genetically but are so far separated from the others as to constitute what the authors call a separate "minor cluster." The remaining 15 groups constitute the "major cluster." Our primary purpose here is to define the relationships of Assyrians to their closest neighbors in the Middle East, so we will focus on seven groups that appear at the top of the "tree." Of these, Iranian and Iraqi are defined by the country of origin, after exclusion of Kurds. Jordanian, Lebanese and Turkish also mean the country of origin. Assyrians and Kurds refer to specific groups of people. All those studied were indigenous people of the area whose roots in their geographic locations go back to at least 1500 A.D. Relationship pairings are shown: Turkish and Iranian, and Assyrian and Jordanian are "loose" pairings; Druse and Lebanese form a closer pair; and Iraqi and Kurdish people form an extremely close pairing. The closest genetic relationships of the Assyrians are with the native populations of Jordan and Iraq. In point of fact, however, all of the seven populations of interest are quite close to each other. There are no wide separations between any of them. This despite the fact that they contain members of three major language families: Indo-European (Iranian, Kurdish), Turkic (Turkish) and Semitic (Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese - Arabic; Assyrian - Aramaic). As the authors state, "In spite of the complex history of the Middle East and the great number of internal group migrations revealed by history, as well as the mosaic of cultures and languages, the region is relatively homogeneous" [genetically]. The least heterogeneous zone of Asia "is observed in the Near East, where the highest population densities have existed the longest, especially in the central part (Mesopotamia). Ten thousand years of agriculture, ancient urban developments, and internal migrations are probably responsible for this homogeneity." Thus, in that part of the world with the most ancient civilizations, an underlying genetic homogeneity has been "masked" by great cultural, religious and linguistic heterogeneity. The latter point is also made in studies of Jews. Based on earlier studies using classical genetic methods7 , Cavalli-Sforza et al. came to the conclusion "that Jews have maintained considerable genetic similarity among themselves and with people from the Middle East, with whom they have common origins." Evidence for the latter concept was very convincingly made and extended by an international team of scientists in a very recent research article8 ,widely reported in the press, in which the genetics of different Middle Eastern populations were studied using a completely different method than the classical methods that form the great majority of papers in the Cavalli-Sforza et al book. The research involved direct DNA analysis of the Y chromosome, which is found only in males and is passed down from father to son. Seven different Jewish groups from communities in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East were compared to various non-Jewish populations from those areas. The results showed, first of all, that "Despite their long-term residence in different countries and isolation from one another, most Jewish populations were not significantly different from one another at the genetic level." Furthermore, the genetic characteristics of Jews were shown to be distinctly different from (non-Jewish) Europeans, suggesting that very little admixture occurred between Jews and Europeans, even after about 80 generations of Jews in Europe. There was a similar distinct difference between Jews and North Africans. In striking contrast, there was an "extremely close affinity of Jewish and non-Jewish Middle Eastern populations [Palestinians, Syrians, Lebanese, Druze, Saudi Arabians] observed here ...[that] supports the hypothesis of a common Middle Eastern origin" of these populations dating back about 4,000 years. The differences between the populations were not statistically significant, demonstrating once again the close genetic relationship of Middle Eastern populations to each other. In fact, the Palestinians and Syrians were so close to the Jews in genetic characteristics that they "mapped within the central cluster of Jewish populations." As one of the Israeli scientists on the team said, "Eventually people will realize that they are not that different." Peace through Genetics? Let us examine the situation in two areas of the Middle East where a radical change in the population and language occurred rapidly without being accompanied by a significant genetic change, and try to explain it. The land that now forms the nation of Turkey (Anatolia) was once a part of Byzantium. Greek (Christian) was the major influence there. The Turkic-speaking people arrived there from Central Asia in the 11th century A.D., spread successfully throughout the land and Turkish eventually became the dominant language as a Turkish nation was established. Turks are, as the authors state, "the only major group in the region that speak a language originated at a great geographic distance (probably in the Altaic region)." The pre-existing people in Anatolia, however, did not physically disappear. The genetic studies show that the majority became part of the new Turkish population. The genetic constitution of the Turks today is much closer to their nearest geographic neighbors, although none is a Turkic-language population, than to the Turkic-speaking populations of Central Asia. The authors interpret this to mean that "the Turkish language was imposed on a predominantly Indo-European-speaking population (Greek being the official language of the Byzantine empire), and genetically there is very little difference between Turkey and the neighboring countries. The number of Turkish invaders was probably rather small and was genetically diluted by the large number of aborigines." And [ in Turkey] "language replacement has occurred essentially without, or with very little, gene replacement." In view of the authors' theory explaining the genetic characteristics of the population in Turkey, it seems reasonable to consider the possibility that a similar type of event may have occurred in the Arab world of Mesopotamia and its adjacent regions - Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon (and presumably also Syria and Palestine) - to explain the genetic characteristics of those populations. In the 7th century A.D., after the conversion to Islam, the Arabs of the Arabian peninsula conquered large areas, including Mesopotamia and adjacent regions. Arabic became the major language of the region and an Arab nation was established there under Islam. But again, the pre-existing indigenous population, mainly Christian (including Assyrians), did not physically disappear, and the majority must have become part of the Arab population. Looking at the figure, one sees a very large genetic separation between the Arabs of the South - Saudis, Yemenites - and those in the region of Mesopotamia - Jordanian, Iraqi. The latter two groups are much closer genetically to the four non-Arab people of the region that we are interested in (Turk, Iranian, Kurd, Assyrian) than to the Arabs of the Arabian peninsula. As in the case of the Turks in Anatolia, these findings provide a clue that a relatively small number of Arabs from the Arabian peninsula may have carried out the conquest of a region with a much larger population, which included a number of cities, and that although the dominant language, religion and culture changed, the genes of the previous population may not have been significantly diluted and were transmitted to the present population of that region. Finally, as seen in the figure, the two Indo-European language populations, the Iranians and the Kurds, are genetically closer to the Turks and the Semitic language group of Iraqi, Jordanian, Lebanese, Assyrian, than they are to their nearest Indo-European language speaking neighbors - Armenian, Pathan, Hazara Tajiki. In fact, the figure shows that the latter are part of a separate subcluster from the one in which the Iranians and Kurds are located. The results of these scientific studies lead to the startling realization that Turks, Iranians, Kurds, Iraqis, Jordanians, Lebanese are more closely related genetically to Assyrians than they are to other members of their own respective language families in Asia. These seven groups (and Jews) are genetically close. The great language, cultural and religious differences are not reflected in the most fundamental aspect of their biology - their genes, which are the most accurate indicators of their shared origins and ancestry. If this were widely known, would the Assyrians seem so "different" to the others? Would changes in attitude begin to take place, especially among the intellectual and academic communities and the younger generations? We stand with hope at the dawn of a new millennium. For mankind in general, the future holds exciting scientific prospects for understanding our past and present genetic nature. The tiniest amounts of DNA recovered from people who died thousands of years ago can now be exactly reproduced billions of times, providing abundant material for analyzing the genetic nature of ancient ancestors ("genetic archeology"). The "whisperings of our ancestors" can now be heard by us with our DNA amplifiers. Molecular genetics is poised to take understanding of the human race to heights undreamed of just a few years ago. Within the year there will occur one of the most momentous events in human history - the complete definition of the entire human genetic code (genome) of about 100,000 genes ("human genome project"). We will be able to see the complete DNA blueprint for creating a human being, God's handwritten letter to us9. Future research will show how little difference there is between us in our DNA, giving us an unparalleled opportunity to understand how much of our humanity we hold in common. Also standing at the dawn of the new millennium are the Assyrians - on the brink of extinction. For over 1900 years since they accepted Christianity and established the Church of the East, the Assyrians in the Middle East have survived for the most part as a religious and language minority. While this preserved their identity and kept them from disappearing, it came at a terrible price. The history of the Assyrians reads like one long unbroken story of massacre, persecution and indescribable horror, culminating in the 20th century with genocide and diaspora, followed by even more persecution and massacre. Was it just a coincidence that the first fratricide occurred in the Middle East, when Cain murdered his brother Abel? Will we ever be free of the curse of Cain? Will the younger generations of the Middle East release their souls from the dark forces of the past? Will the knowledge that Assyrians are their "blood relatives" begin to change the perception of Middle Eastern people about Assyrians? Will it be too late for the Assyrians? References and Footnotes 1. Cavalli-Sforza, L.L., Menozzi, P. and Piazza, A. The History and Geography of Human Genes. 1994. Princeton University Press. Unabridged Edition. 2. As above, Abridged Paperback Edition. 1996. Contains the text of the Unabridged Edition, but not the hundreds of pages of genetic maps; has an index, and references to literature that were cited in the text. Only the unabridged version has the references for research articles that were used to arrive at each population group's genetic analysis, listed by name for each population; also, the tables of gene frequencies. 2a. Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. Genes, Peoples, and Languages. 2000. North Point Press (division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux), New York. The book is a summation of the author's work written for the general reader. 3. Akbari, M.T. et al. Genetic Differentiation among Iranian Christian Communities. Am. J. Hum. Genetics, 38: 84-98. 1986. [Armenians and Assyrians]. 4. Papiha, S.S. et al. Isoelectric focusing of vitamin D binding protein (Gc): Genetic diversity in the population of Iran. Jpn. J. Hum. Genet., 30: 69-73. 1985. 5. Amin-Zaki, L. et al. Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency among ethnic groups in Iraq. Bull. WHO, 47:1-5. 1972. (References 3,4 and 5 were used to establish the Assyrian genetics in the Cavalli-Sforza et al. book). 6. Ikin, E.W. et al. The blood groups and haemoglobins of the Assyrians of Iraq. Man, 65:110-111. 1965. 7. Carmelli, D. and Cavalli-Sforza, L.L. The genetic origin of the Jews: A multi-variate approach. Hum. Biol., 51:41-61. 1979. 8. Hammer, M.F. et al. [12 authors]. Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes. Proceedings National Academy Sciences USA. The article appeared online on the website of the journal (www.pnas.org) on May 9, 2000, in advance of print publication. At the next issue of the journal, May 23, the article was still only online. Presumably, it will be in print in the following issue - June 6. 9. The entire DNA code is written in an "alphabet" of four "letters," A, T, G, C, which stand for the four bases found in DNA - adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine. The bases are lined up in a precise sequence to create a specific gene, say one that has 1,000 bases. Alteration of even one of the bases is a mutation.

Mr. Ali suat, Your views are informative. I just want to comment on the Uigurs part, as I have once studied these people. They, like the Anatolian Turks, are not really Turks if you go into the genetics of direct descent. Instead, they are an amalgamation of various groups (Tocharians, Sogdians, Han Chinese, Iranians as well Turko-Mongols). SOme of them like the ones living in the Kucha oasis town, are recently found to be actually descended from the local Indo-Iranian population as well as Han Chinese ex-convicts exiled there during the Han and Tang Dynasties 1,000 years ago. Very little of Kazak/Mongol X chromosomes (DNA passed from father side) was found among them. Instead there was mainly Iranian with a sizeable Han Chinese in the X chromosomes, while the mitochondria (passed only through mothers side) was totally Iranian. But, these people speak Uigur, which is a Turkish dialect. Languages does not imply race, as here in United States people of all races speak or only speak English, a Germanic Indo-Aryan language. It is said that even when the Mongols conquered this region, not everyone was speaking Uigur. Some maintained their Aryan speech (which is similar to Tajiki). In fact, there is a pocket of Iranian speakers among the Uigurs today in and near Kashgar. They go by the tribal name "Aynu." And, it is believed that the speech of this group was the original speech of all the oasis people in the Tarim Basin. It is said this region really only completely Turkified and Islamified due to Tamerlane's conquest. But, you are right that the Mongols in Iran relied on their expertise. At their court, can be found many Uigurs and Chinese administrators, tax collectors, doctors, artists, and scientists who replaced the exterminated Muslims. Just wonder where the Asian faces in Iranian and Turkish art came from? And, the term "Uigur" was not in use until the Soviets devised this term for them in the late 1930s. Before, it was considered a word of degradation or insult. It literally meant ignorant barbarian. And, people only identified the region or city of origin (i.e. Kashgarlik, Tufanlik, Hotanlik, Kuchalik, Yarkandlik, etc.).