Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden
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In the latter part of the 1970s, about 12,000 Assyrians/Syriacs from Lebanon, Turkey and Syria immigrated to Sweden. They considered themselves persecuted for religious reasons, but were never acknowledged as refugees. Those who had already lived in Sweden for a longer period were finally granted residence permit for humanitarian reasons.[1] About 90,000 to 120,000 Assyrian/Syriacs live in Sweden today, and are settled in central and southern Sweden. Most of Assyrian/Syriacs belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church, and there is around 40 Syriac churches in Sweden, whereas 5 churches in Södertälje.
There is an ideological division of this group in Sweden between[2]
- Aramaenists, adherents of the Syriac Orthodox Church (West Syrian Rite) who insist on the name Syrianer and an "Aramaean" heritage for the group.
- Assyrianists of various denominational backgrounds, who de-emphasize religious adherence in favour of pre-Christian antiquity, who insist on the name Assyrier and an Assyrian heritage for the group.
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").
Södertälje, a municipality in Sweden, is often seen as the unofficial Assyrian/Syriac capital of Europe due to the city's high percentage of Assyrians/Syriacs. Some Swedish professional football (soccer) teams are Assyriska Föreningen, Syrianska Botkyrka IF, Syrianska FC and Valsta Syrianska IK. The international TV-channels Suryoyo Sat and Suroyo TV are also based in Södertälje. More than 22,000 Syriacs live in Södertälje and over 40,000 in Stockholm County. Other cities with notable Assyrian/Syriac residents are Västerås, Göteborg, Norrköping, Linköping and Örebro.
Between 2005 and 2006, Assyrian/Syriac Ibrahim Baylan served in the Swedish government as Minister of Education.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Famous Swedish Assyrians/Syriacs
[edit] Politicians
[edit] Entertainers
[edit] Journalist
[edit] Athletes
- Kennedy Bakircioglü
- Stefan Batan
- Andreas Haddad
- Suleyman Sleyman
- Sharbel Touma
- Abgar Barsom
- Gabriel Özkan
- Nisha Besara
[edit] Other
[edit] References
- ^ Swedish Minister for Development Co-operation, Migration and Asylum Policy, Migration 2002, June 2002
- ^ Dan Lundberg, Christians from the Middle East[year needed][page needed]
- ^ http://www.riksdagen.se/webbnav/index.aspx?nid=1111&iid=0973474532717
