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{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Syriac Orthodox Christians
| native_name = Suryoye
| native_name_lang = Neo-Aramaic
| flag = <!-- (image filename) -->
| flag_caption =
| image = <!-- filename -->
| image_caption =
| total = <!-- total population worldwide -->
| total_year = <!-- year of total population -->
| total_source = <!-- source of total population; may be ''census'' or ''estimate'' -->
| total_ref = <!-- references supporting total population -->
| genealogy =
| regions = <!-- for e.g. a list of regions (countries), especially if regionN etc below not used -->
| region1 = '''Middle East'''
| pop1 = 150,000–200,000
| ref1 =
| region2 = {{flagcountry|Syria}}
| pop2 = 82,000 (mid-1970s)
| ref2 =
| region3 = {{flagcountry|Turkey}}
| pop3 = 15–20,000 (2008)
| ref3 =
| region4 = {{flagcountry|Iraq}}
| pop4 = 15–20,000 (1991)
| ref4 =
| region5 = {{flagcountry|Lebanon}}
| pop5 = few thousand (1987)
| ref5 =
| region6 = {{flagcountry|Israel}}
| pop6 = 200–1,500
| ref6 =
<!-- etc, to: -->
| region10 = '''Diaspora'''
| pop10 = 100,000+
| ref10 =
| region11 = {{flagcountry|Germany}}
| pop11 = 37–55,000 (2005)
| ref11 =
| region12 = {{flagcountry|United States}}
| pop12 = 50,000 (2010)
| ref12 =
| region13 = {{flagcountry|Sweden}}
| pop13 = 30–40,000 (2016)
| ref13 =

| languages = ] (incl. ]), ], ]
| religions = ]
| related_groups = Other ] (especially ])
| footnotes =
}}
The '''Syriac Orthodox Christians''', known simply as '''Syriacs''' (''Suryoye''), is the ]<ref>{{harvnb|Donabed|Mako|2009}}; {{harvnb|Jongerden|Verheij|2012|p=223}}; {{harvnb|Romeny|2012}}; {{harvnb|Romeny|2005}}</ref> community adhering to the ] ''']''' in the ], numbering between 150,000 and 200,000 people according to estimations.

The community formed and developed in the ] in the Middle Ages. They speak ] (their original and ]) and ]. The traditional community of Syriac Orthodox Christians is ], regarded the ], in southeastern ], from where many people fled the ] to ] and ], and ] in northern ]. Significant diaspora communities exist in ] and ].

The Syriac Orthodox community is regarded a subgroup of ]

==Identity==
{{see also|Terms for Syriac Christians}}
There is an ongoing debate over the identification of the people. Historically identified as "''']'''", the community tends to identify as "Syrian" or "Syriac" (Sūryōyē), or "Aramean" (Oromoye).{{sfn|Brock|Taylor|2001|p=123}} They have also been called "'''Jacobites'''", after Bishop ] (d. 578) of Edessa, and "Monophysites" (owing to the division of Syriac Church bodies).<ref name="Lapidge2006">{{cite book|author=Michael Lapidge|title=Archbishop Theodore: Commemorative Studies on His Life and Influence|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eyg9VS_CuwoC&pg=PA30|date=2 November 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-03210-0|pages=30–}}</ref> The identification as "Assyrians" means that they share identity with non-Orthodox Syriacs (such as ] and ]), while the "]" identity almost solely represents the Syriac Orthodox.{{sfn|Donabed|Mako|2009}}

The ethnic identification of Syriac Orthodox as "Assyrians" is contested by the community itself.{{sfn|Donabed|Mako|2009|p=90}} In the diaspora, the Syriac Orthodox identify with the term ''Suryoye''.<ref name=HM-Suryoye>{{harvnb|Hämmerli|Mayer|2016|loc="Suryoye as a Social Category in the Homeland"}}</ref> In Arabic and Kurdish, they were identified as ''Suryani'', and in Turkish as ''Süryaniler''.<ref name=HM-Suryoye/> In Tur Abdin (Turkey), the community does not consider converts to Protestantism (''Prut'') and Catholicism (''Katholik'', ''Kaldoye'') as ''Suryoye'', thus, in Tur Abdin the identification as Syriac only applies to the Syriac Orthodox, who share a collective identity and consciousness.{{sfn|Hämmerli|Mayer|2016}}

In the 19th century, the various Syriac denominations did not view themselves as part of one group.{{sfn|Jongerden|Verheij|2012|p=21}} The Syriac Orthodox community in the Ottoman Empire was for long not recognized as its own '']'' (legal entity), but part of the ] ''millet'' (under the Armenian Patriarch).{{sfn|Taylor|2014|p=84}} Then, during the '']'' reforms (1839–78), the Syriac Orthodox were granted independent status with the recognition of their own ''millet'' in 1873.{{sfn|Taylor|2014|p=87}} Late 19th- and early 20th-century Syriac Orthodox intellectuals predominantly used the "Assyrian" identification.{{sfn|Donabed|Mako|2009|p=77}} Despite this "Assyrian" intellectual trend, the identity of Syriac Orthodoxy in the Ottoman Empire in the 1910s was principally religious and linguistic.<ref>{{harvnb|Taylor|2014|p=201}}; {{harvnb|Romeny|2005}}</ref>

A secular "Assyrianism", as an ethnic category, was then reduced by creating a separate "Aramean" or "Syrian" (or "Syriac") identity by the Syriac Orthodox Church.{{sfn|Donabed|Mako|2009|p=80}} Overall, the Syriac Orthodox of Turkey, Syria and to a lesser degree Iraq today identify as Aramean.{{sfn|Donabed|Mako|2009|p=72}} The Syriac Orthodox community is currently divided over their common ancestry and name, also outside the Middle East.{{sfn|Romeny|2010|p=51}} Riots and debates are recorded in Sweden among Syriacs from mainly southeastern Turkey, and in the Netherlands (towns such as ] and ]), where many Syriac Orthodox refugees have settled.{{sfn|Romeny|2010|p=51}}

The Syriac Orthodox identity was not only religious, although this was dominant, but also included cultural traditions of the pagan Assyrian and Aramean kingdoms.{{sfn|Romeny|2012|p=195}} Syriac Orthodox traditions crystallized into ] through their invention of an own tradition, of their stories and customs, the Syriac Orthodox being aware of their core identity already by the 12th century.{{sfn|Romeny|2012|p=195}}

==History==
{{see also|Syriac Orthodox Church}}
===Middle Ages===

The 8th-century hagiography ''Life of Jacob '' evidents a definite social and religious differention between the ] and ] (Syriac Orthodox).{{sfn|Saint-Laurent|2015|p=131}} By the time{{when|date=June 2016}} of the longer hagiography on ], he had become the hero of the "Jacobite" Syriac Orthodox Church; the followers eventually wore his name.{{sfn|Saint-Laurent|2015|p=103, 131}} The longer hagiography shows that the Syriac Orthodox (called "Jacobites" in the work, ''suryoye yaquboye'') self-identified with Jacob's story more than those of other saints.{{sfn|Saint-Laurent|2015|p=103, 106}} Coptic patriarch Al-Muqaffa (ca. 897), of Miaphysite (Syriac Orthodox) ancestry, speaks of Jacobite origins, on the veneration of Jacob Baradaeus; he explained that the Chalcedonian "Melkites" were labelled as such because the Miaphysite Jacobites never traded their Orthodoxy to win the favour of the king as the Melkites had done (''malko'' is derived from "king, ruler").{{sfn|Saint-Laurent|2015|p=136}}

It has been assumed that in the ] (1098–1268), the Syriac Orthodox made up the civilian population, their elite consisting of clergy; they did not participate in the military nor administration.{{sfn|Ciggaar|Metcalf|2006|p=108}} It seems that in Antioch itself, after the 11th-century persecutions, the Syriac Orthodox population was almost extinguished.{{sfn|Ciggaar|Metcalf|2006|p=108}} Only one Jacobite church is attested in Antioch in the first half of the 12th century, while a second and third are attested in the second half of the century, perhaps due to refugee influx.{{sfn|Ciggaar|Metcalf|2006|p=108}} Dorothea Weltecke thus concludes that the Syriac Orthodox populace was very low in this period in Antioch and its surroundings.{{sfn|Ciggaar|Metcalf|2006|p=108}} In ], on the other hand, an anonymous 1137 report speaks of the entire population consisting of Syriac Orthodox.{{sfn|Ciggaar|Metcalf|2006|p=108}} In the 12th century several Syriac Orthodox patriarchs visited Antioch and some established temporary residences.{{sfn|Ciggaar|Metcalf|2006|p=123}} In the 13th century the Syriac Orthodox hierarchy in Antioch was prepared to accept Latin supervision, however, for the whole Church, this was of little consequence.{{sfn|Ciggaar|Metcalf|2006|p=123}}

The Syriac Orthodox were the most numerous non-Latin sect in Jerusalem and Bethlehem prior to 1187.<ref>{{cite book|author=Benjamin Arbel|title=Intercultural Contacts in the Medieval Mediterranean: Studies in Honour of David Jacoby|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yMr4wGjgqt4C&pg=PT69|date=15 April 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-78195-8|pages=69–}}</ref>

===16th century===
] (fl. 1549–d. 1592) was a diplomat of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Rome in the 16th century.<ref name="Johnson">{{cite book|author=Dale A. Johnson|title=Living as a Syriac Palimpsest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7zvVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA70|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-0-557-40255-7|pages=70–}}</ref>

===17th century===
By the early 1660s, 75% of the 5,000 Syriac Orthodox of Aleppo had converted to Catholicism following the arrival of Friar missionaries.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=40}} The Catholic missionaries had sought to place a Catholic patriarch among the Jacobites, and consecrated Andrew Akhijan as the patriarch of the newly founded ].{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=40}} The ] and foreign diplomats pushed for Akhijan to be recognized as the Jacobite patriarch, and the ] then consented, and warned the Syriac Orthodox that they would be considered an enemy if they did not recognize him.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=41}} Despite the warning and gifts to priests, frequent conflicts and violent arguments continued between the Catholic and Orthodox Syriacs.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=41}}

===19th century===
], Turkey.]]
In the 19th century, the various Syriac denominations did not view themselves as part of one group.{{sfn|Jongerden|Verheij|2012|p=21}} During the '']'' reforms (1839–78), the Syriac Orthodox were granted independent status with the recognition of their own ''millet'' in 1873.{{sfn|Taylor|2014|p=87}}

The ] in Turkey affected the Armenian and Syriac Orthodox communities; an estimated 105,000 Christians were killed.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter C. Phan|title=Christianities in Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nfva8m7UOboC&pg=PA251|date=21 January 2011|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-9260-9|pages=251–}}</ref> By the end of the 19th century, 200,000 Syriac Orthodox Christians remained in the Middle East, most concentrated around Deir el-Zaferan, the Patriarchal seat.{{sfn|Tozman|Tyndall|2012|p=9}}

====Diyarbakır province====
In 1870, there were 22 Syriac Orthodox settlements in the vicinity of ].{{sfn|Jongerden|Verheij|2012|p=225}} In the 1870–71 Diyarbakır '']s'', there were 1,434 Orthodox Syriacs in that city.{{sfn|Jongerden|Verheij|2012|p=222}} In the 1881/82–93 census, the ''kaza'' of Diyarbakır had 4,046 "monophysites" (Syriac Orthodox), while the ''sancak'' of Diyarbakır had 5,909 Syriac Orthodox.{{sfn|Jongerden|Verheij|2012|pp=222–223}} The results of these records shows that the Syriac Orthodox were rural, as opposed to the Catholics who were less but more urbanized.{{sfn|Jongerden|Verheij|2012|p=223}} The 1894–95 ''salname'' of Diyarbakır records 4,096 Syriac Orthodox in the ''kaza''.{{sfn|Jongerden|Verheij|2012|p=223}} In the 1897–98 ''salname'' the ''vilayet'' (province) of Diyarbakır had 20,082 Syriac Orthodox, out of 84,906 non-Muslims.{{sfn|Jongerden|Verheij|2012|p=223}}

===20th century===
], Iraq.]]
====Genocide (1914–18)====
{{further|Assyrian genocide}}
The Ottoman authorities looted, killed and deported Orthodox Syriacs.{{sfn|Kevorkian|2011}} In 1915–16, the number of Orthodox Syriacs in the Diyarbakır province was reduced by 72%, in the Mardin province by 58%.<ref>Gaunt, David. ''Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I''. Piscataway, N.J.: Gorgias Press, 2006, pp. 433–436</ref>

====Inter-war period====
In 1924, the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Church was transferred to ] in Syria.{{sfn|Parry|2010|p=259}} This happened after ] expelled the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, who took the library of Deir el-Zaferan and settled in ].{{sfn|Tozman|Tyndall|2012|p=9}} The Syriac Orthodox villages in Tur Abdin suffered from the 1925–26 Kurdish rebellions; massive flight to Lebanon, northern Iraq and especially Syria ensued.<ref name="Angold2006">{{cite book|author=Michael Angold|title=The Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 5, Eastern Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xUV-nMxNGsC&pg=PA513|date=17 August 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-81113-2|pages=513–}}</ref>

====1945–present====
In 1959, the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Church was transferred to ] in Syria.{{sfn|Parry|2010|p=259}}

In the mid-1970s, it was estimated that 82,000 Syriac Orthodox lived in Syria.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=110}}

In 1977, the number of Syriac Orthodox followers in diaspora dioceses were: 9,700 in the Diocese of Middle Europe; 10,750 in the Diocese of Sweden and surrounding countries.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sobornost|volume=28–30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1KVAAQAAIAAJ|year=2006|p=21|quote=<!--In 1977 the numbers of Syrian Orthodox in these two new dioceses were as follows: (a) Diocese of Middle Europe: Germany, 7000; Austria, 700; France, 600; Switzerland, 600; the Netherlands, 700; Belgium, 100. In total, 9700. (b) Diocese of Sweden and surrounding countries: Sweden, 10,000; Norway, Denmark and Finland, 500; Great Britain, 250. In total, 10,750. In 2003, by which time there were four dioceses, namely Middle Europe, Germany, and two dioceses in Sweden, there are some 150,000 Syrian Orthodox in Western Europe. The large difference in numbers between 1977 and 2003 indicates-->}}</ref>

By 1990, there were 4,000 Syriac Orthodox in Tur Abdin.{{sfn|Tozman|Tyndall|2012|p=9}}

After the Turkish–PKK ceasefire in 1999, conditions to Christians in Turkey have improved.{{sfn|Parry|2010|p=259}}

==Population==
Estimations of the total number of Syriac Orthodox Christians in the Middle East include: 150–200,000 (2002)<ref name="Sela2002">{{cite book|author=Avraham Sela|title=Continuum Political Encyclopedia of the Middle East: Revised and Updated Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YJwsAQAAIAAJ|date=5 September 2002|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|isbn=978-0-8264-1413-7}}</ref> and 146,300 (2008).<ref>{{cite book|author=Jos M. Strengholt|title=Gospel in the Air: 50 Years of Christian Witness Through Radio in the Arab World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_m5WAAAAYAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Boekencentrum|isbn=978-90-239-2280-3|p=147|quote=In the whole Arab World, but mostly in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, there are an estimated 146,300 Syriac-Orthodox.}}</ref> In the diaspora, there are significant communities in Western Europe and North America, most notably in Sweden, Germany and the United States. A Syriac migration wave out of Turkey was prompted by the ] (1970s–90s). Syriac Orthodox refugees from Syria and Iraq has recently increased the number of Syriacs in Turkey and the diaspora.{{cn|date=June 2016}}

===Turkey===
]
The ] region is a traditional stronghold of Orthodox Syriacs.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Aphram I. Barsoum|author2=Ighnāṭyūs Afrām I (Patriarch of Antioch)|title=The History of Tur Abdin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1TMsAQAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Gorgias Press|isbn=978-1-59333-715-5}}</ref> The community identifies as ''Sūryōyō'', historically as ''Sūrōyō'' or ''Sūrōyē'' (until 20 years ago).{{sfn|Donabed|Mako|2009|p=88}} The identity characteristics defining the Tur Abdin Syriacs is the Neo-Aramaic language and the Syriac Orthodox Church, and their religious identity correlates to an ethnic identity. Intermarriage between Syriacs and other Christian groups (Armenians and Greeks) is very rare.<ref name=Roy>{{cite book|last=Roy|first=Olivier|title=Holy Ignorance: When Religion and Culture Part Ways|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQMqBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA70|year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-932802-4|page=70}}</ref> It is estimated that there are 15–20,000 Syriac Orthodox in Turkey.<ref>{{cite book|author1=D. Jung|author2=Catharina Raudvere|title=Religion, Politics, and Turkey's EU Accession|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xfDHAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA183|date=29 September 2008|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-61540-3|pages=183–}}</ref> 2,400 still live in Tur Abdin.{{sfn|Tozman|Tyndall|2012|p=9}} The community speaks Syriac (Suryani) in Tur Abdin, and Arabic, due to historical reasons, in ].<ref>{{cite book|author=Diana Darke|title=Eastern Turkey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dLaHAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA280|date=1 May 2014|publisher=Bradt Travel Guides|isbn=978-1-84162-490-7|pages=280–}}</ref>{{better source|date=June 2016}}

===Syria===
The Syriac Orthodox is one of eight Christian denominations in the country. The community of Syriac Orthodox are concentrated in Hassake and ] in the ] of Syria (the northeast).<ref name="Leustean2014">{{cite book|author=Lucian N. Leustean|title=Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty-First Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zt2vAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA547|date=30 May 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-81866-3|pages=547–}}</ref> It originated from the 1915 massacres, when many people fled Turkey.<ref name="Leustean2014"/> In the mid-1970s it was estimated that 82,000 Syriac Orthodox lived in the country.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=110}} The community has been ]. Syriac Orthodox settlements include ], ], ],<ref>{{cite book|first=Hanna|last=Batatu|authorlink =Hanna Batatu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mbr-ZfU_uCoC&dq=Bayt+Yashut&source=gbs_navlinks_s|title=Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1999|isbn=0691002541|pages=14, 356}}</ref> ],<ref>{{cite news|last1=Said|first1=H.|title=Kafram: An Ancient Syriac Town Famous for Gorgeous Nature Charms|url=http://sana.sy/en/?p=43427|accessdate=2015-10-11|work=Syrian Arab News Agency|date=2015-06-15}}</ref> ], ], ]<ref>{{cite news|last1=Mounes|first1=Maher Al|title=Fearful Christmas for Syrian Christian town threatened by IS|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/fearful-christmas-syrian-christian-town-threatened-063604930.html?ref=gs|accessdate=2016-05-05|work=Agence France-Presse|publisher=Yahoo News|date=2015-12-24}}</ref> and ]. The community increased with an influx of Iraqi refugees after the ].<ref name="Leustean2014"/> The shelling of ] in 2012 affected the city, which was until then home to a large Christian community.<ref name="Leustean2014"/>

===Iraq===
An estimated 15–20,000 Syriac Orthodox Christians lived in northern Iraq in 1991.<ref>{{cite book|author=Farida Abu-Haidar|title=Christian Arabic of Baghdad|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0kOclNALY3wC&pg=PA2|year=1991|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-03209-4|pages=2–|quote=<!--An indigenous Christian group, the Jacobites, numbering between 10,000 and 15,000 live in northern Iraqi villages-->}}</ref>

===Lebanon===
Syriac Orthodox Christians are one of several ]. A Jacobite community settled in Lebanon among the Maronites after Mongol invasions in the Late Middle Ages, however, this community was either dispersed or absorbed by the Maronites.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=111}} ] (1687–1768) noted that many Maronite families were of Jacobite origin.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=111}} A Jacobite community was present in Tripoli in the 17th century.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=111}} In 1944 it was estimated that 3,753 Syriac Orthodox lived in Lebanon.<ref>{{cite book|author=A. H. Hourani|title=Minorities in the Arab World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lHU_MwEACAAJ|year=1947|location=London}}</ref> As of 1987 there were only a few thousands Syriac Orthodox in Lebanon.<ref name="Rolland2003">{{cite book|author=John C. Rolland|title=Lebanon: Current Issues and Background|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-JVOKeNkllgC&pg=PA79|year=2003|publisher=Nova Publishers|isbn=978-1-59033-871-1|pages=79–}}</ref>

===Diaspora===
{{see also|Assyrian–Chaldean–Syriac diaspora}}
]

*{{flagcountry|Sweden}}: 30–40,000 ({{estimation}}). 18,000 live in ].<ref name="ShahFoblets2016">{{cite book|author1=Prakash Shah|author2=Marie-Claire Foblets|title=Family, Religion and Law: Cultural Encounters in Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6PYGDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA183|date=15 April 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-13648-4|p=183}}</ref>
*{{flagcountry|Germany}}: 37,000 (2005);<ref>{{cite book|author1=United States. Dept. of State|author2=Committee on International Relations|author3=United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations|title=Annual report, international religious freedom|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rlo1AAAAIAAJ|year=2005|publisher=U.S. G.P.O.|p=342|quote=<!--The Syrian Orthodox Church has 37,000 members-->}}</ref> 55,000 (2005).<ref>{{cite book|author=Gerhard Robbers|title=Religion and Law in Germany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yFtwYJgtuj4C&pg=PA32|year=2010|publisher=Kluwer Law International|isbn=978-90-411-3352-6|p=32}}</ref>
*{{flagcountry|Netherlands}}: concentrated in Enschede and Hengelo. In the late 1970s Syriac Orthodox formed the majority of Christian Turk asylum seekers.<ref name="SchroverSchinkel2015">{{cite book|author1=Marlou Schrover|author2=Willem Schinkel|title=The Language of Inclusion and Exclusion in Immigration and Integration|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QXaACgAAQBAJ&pg=PT90|date=4 September 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-43254-8|pages=90–}}</ref>
*{{flagcountry|United States}}: 50,000 ({{estimation}}).<ref>{{cite book|author=John H. Erickson|title=Orthodox Christians in America: A Short History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5vPQCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA131|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-995132-1|p=131}}</ref> The Syriac Orthodox in ] identify as Arameans.<ref>{{cite book|author=R. Khanam|title=Encyclopaedic Ethnography of Middle-East and Central Asia: A-I|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KFZtAAAAMAAJ|year=2005|publisher=Global Vision Publishing House|isbn=978-81-8220-063-0}}</ref>
*{{flagcountry|Australia}}: 3–5,000 ({{estimation}}).

==Language==
{{main|Neo-Aramaic languages}}
The ], of the Semitic ], is the ] of the Syriac Orthodox Church. In Tur Abdin, ] is the Neo-Aramaic dialect spoken by the Syriac Orthodox community. The Turoyo-speaking population prior to the ] largely adhered to the Syriac Orthodox Church.{{sfn|Weninger|2012|p=697}} In 1970 it was estimated that there were 20,000 Turoyo-speakers still living in the area, however, they gradually migrated to ] and elsewhere in the world.{{sfn|Weninger|2012|p=697}} The Turoyo-speaking diaspora is now estimated at 40,000.{{sfn|Weninger|2012|p=697}} Today only hundreds of native speakers remain in Tur Abdin.{{sfn|Weninger|2012|p=697}}

The Jacobites adopted Arabic early on; Arabic had become the dominant language of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, and Egypt by the 11th century.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=22}} Syriac Orthodox clergy wrote in Arabic using Garshūni, a Syriac script, as early as the 15th century.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=22}} They only later adopted the Arabic script.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=22}} An English missionary in the 1840s noted that the Arabic speech of the Syriacs was intermixed with Syriac vocabulary.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=22}} They chose Arabic and Muslim-sounding names, while women had Biblical names.{{sfn|Joseph|1983|p=22}}

The community speaks ] (] and ]) and ] in Arabic countries, and Turkish, Arabic and Neo-Aramaic in Turkey.

==Culture==
===Television===
*], Syriac diaspora
*], Syriac diaspora

==Organizations==
*], formerly "Syriac Universal Alliance", Aramean-identity umbrella organization.
*], Aramean-identity political party in Lebanon aiming to gather Syriac Christians.

==Notable people==
{{incomplete list|date=June 2016}}
*], Turkish politician and co-mayor of Mardin (as of 2014).<ref>{{cite web|title=25, Christin - und Bürgermeisterin in Südanatolien|publisher=Stern|url=http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/kommunalwahl-in-der-tuerkei-25--christin---und-buergermeisterin-in-suedanatolien-3728966.html|quote=<!--Februniye Akyol ist nichts von alledem: 25 Jahre, weiblich, syrisch-orthodox.-->}}</ref>
;Diaspora
*], Syrian-American poet, Assyrian identity.
*], Swedish politician, Syriac identity, born and raised in Deir Salih, ], Turkey.<ref>{{cite web|title=”Baylan började hos mig när han var sju år”|publisher=SVD|url=http://www.svd.se/baylan-borjade-hos-mig-nar-han-var-sju-ar}}</ref>
*], Swedish former footballer, Syriac-Aramean identity.<ref>{{cite web|title=Syrianske stjärnan Abgar Barsom tackar Syrianska folket|url=http://www.svenskafans.com/fotboll/149721.aspx|quote=<!--Abbe Barsom: "När min karriär satte fart i DIF så ville jag ha något nära mig, min tro (korset) och mitt folk (syrianer/araméer). Dessa två är det viktigaste för mig. Med dem nära mig känner jag mig trygg."-->}}; {{cite web|last=Grimlund|first=Lars|year=2004|title=Artisten Barsom vill vara perfekt|publisher=DN|url=http://www.dn.se/arkiv/sport/artisten-barsom-vill-vara-perfekt/|quote=<!--Du är syrian och kristen ortodox, hur ofta går du i kyrkan-->}}</ref>
*], Swedish footballer, Syriac identity,<ref>{{cite web|author=Max Wiman|year=2011|title=Ur ilskan växte årets stora succé|url=http://www.sydsvenskan.se/2011-04-03/ur-ilskan-vaxte-arets-stora-succe|quote=<!--För Jimmy Durmaz är syrian, fan av Syrianska ... Jag ville visa upp mig, att jag var den bästa syrianen ... Ur sitt ursprung har han också sin religion. Jimmy Durmaz är ortodox kristen-->}}</ref> father from ] in Turkey.<ref>{{cite news|publisher=Fotbolltransfers|title=Jimmy Durmaz ska underlätta flytt - kan skaffa turkiskt pass|url=http://www.fotbolltransfers.com/site/news/20506}}</ref>
*], Swedish footballer, Syriac identity, family from southeastern Turkey.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Svenska fans|url=http://www.svenskafans.com/fotboll/mff/259544.aspx|quote=<!--Dessutom avslöjar han att han är släkting med Malmös nya kelgris Jimmy Touma. ... David Durmaz är född i Sverige men har syrianska föräldrar. Dom härstammar från Mesopotamien i sydöstra Turkiet. Det gör även spelare som Lolo Chanko, Kennedy Bakircioglü och Sharbel Touma. Vi är samma folkslag allihop, syrianer/assyrier berättar han.-->}}</ref>
*], Swedish politician, Assyrian-Syriac identity, born in Turkey.<ref>{{cite web|title=yilmazkerimo|publisher=socialdemokraterna|url=http://www.socialdemokraterna.se/yilmazkerimo}}</ref>
*], Swedish footballer, Assyrian identity,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u281/AssyriskaFF/Kennedy.jpg | title = Zweedse Assyriër in Twente | trans_title = Swedish-Assyrian in Twente | work = ] | language = Dutch | date = 9 March 2007 | accessdate = 9 February 2013}}</ref> family arrived in 1972 from Midyat.
*], Swedish footballer, Aramean identity, born in Lebanon.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=128431|quote=<!--Touma is van Aramese afkomst, geboren in Libanon en opgegroeid in Zweden.-->}}; {{cite web|url=http://na.se/sporten/fotboll/inspark/1.1013662-touma-kan-ersatta-porokara|title=Touma kan ersätta Porokara|work=na.se|quote=<!--Touma är syrian, ursprungligen från Libanon-->}}</ref>
*Sarah Ego, German singer.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sarah Ego repräsentiert die syrisch-orthodoxe Kirche|year=2012|publisher=Beth Nahrin|url=http://bethnahrin.de/2012/05/08/sarah-ego-repraesentiert-die-syrisch-orthodoxe-kirche/}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
SyriacChurch-Mosul.jpg|Celebration at a ] monastery in ], ], early 20th century
Dioceses of the Syrian Orthodox Church.svg|Dioceses of the Syrian Orthodox Church
</gallery>

==See also==
*]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last1=Brock|first1=Sebastian P.|last2=Taylor|first2=David G. K.|title=The Hidden Pearl: At the turn of the third millennium ; the Syrian Orthodox witness|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1lPuAAAAMAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Trans World Film Italia|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last1=Ciggaar|first1=Krijna Nelly|last2=Metcalf|first2=David Michael|title=East and West in the Medieval Eastern Mediterranean: Antioch from the Byzantine reconquest until the end of the Crusader principality|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DO8qTYM71tQC&pg=RA1-PA108|year=2006|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=978-90-429-1735-4|ref=harv}}
*{{cite document|last1=Donabed|first1=Sargon|last2=Mako|first2=Shamiran|year=2009|title=Ethno-cultural and Religious Identity of Syrian Orthodox Christians|publisher=Roger Williams University|url=http://docs.rwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=fcas_fp|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Kevorkian|first=Raymond |title=The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mZ33AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA376|year=2011|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-0-85773-020-6|pages=91, 94, 365, 366, 368, 371–379, 887, 901|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last1=Hämmerli|first1=Maria|last2=Mayer|first2=Jean-François|title=Orthodox Identities in Western Europe: Migration, Settlement and Innovation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KRU3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT78|year=2016|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-08490-7|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last1=Jongerden|first1=Joost|last2=Verheij|first2=Jelle|title=Social Relations in Ottoman Diyarbekir, 1870-1915|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X_LmnA75Dt8C&pg=PA222|year=2012|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-22518-8|pages=222–|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Parry|first=Ken|title=The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fWp9JA3aBvcC&pg=PA260|year=2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-4443-3361-9|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|editors=Pohl, Walter; Gantner, Clemens; Payne Richard|title=Visions of Community in the Post-Roman World: The West, Byzantium and the Islamic World, 300–1100|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KteqCwAAQBAJ|year=2016|origyear=2012|publisher=Asghate; Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-00136-2}}
**{{cite journal|last=Romeny|first=Bas ter Haar|title=Ethnicity, Ethnogenesis and the Identity of Syriac Orthodox Christians|work=Visions of Community in the Post-Roman World: The West, Byzantium and the Islamic World, 300–1100|year=2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KteqCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA183|publisher=Ashgate|pp=183-204|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Romeny|first=Bas ter Haar|title=Religious Origins of Nations?: The Christian Communities of the Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZxDi924k4RIC&pg=PA51|year=2010|publisher=BRILL|isbn=90-04-17375-7|pages=51–|ref=harv}}
*{{cite journal|last=Romeny|first=Bas ter Haar|title=From religious association to ethnic community: a research project on identity formation among the Syrian Orthodox under Muslim rule|journal=Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations|volume=16|year=2005|pp=377–399|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Saint-Laurent|first=Jeanne-Nicole Mellon |title=Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2MlCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA94|year=2015|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-96058-9|pages=94–|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=William|title=Narratives of Identity: The Syrian Orthodox Church and the Church of England 1895-1914|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MDlQBwAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-6946-1|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Weninger|first=Stefan|title=The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SMzgBLT87MkC&pg=PA697|year=2012|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-025158-6|ref=harv}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last1=Tozman|first1=Markus K.|last2=Tyndall|first2=Andrea|title=The Slow Disappearance of the Syriacs from Turkey and of the Grounds of the Mor Gabriel Monastery|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no5_QSBVq7kC&pg=PA1|year=2012|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-643-90268-9|ref=harv}}
*{{cite book|last=Joseph|first=John |title=Muslim-Christian Relations and Inter-Christian Rivalries in the Middle East: The Case of the Jacobites in an Age of Transition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lKaL3_dfFJAC&pg=PA1|year=1983|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-87395-600-0|ref=harv}}
*{{citation|author=Wozniak, Marta|title=From religious to ethno-religious: Identity change among Assyrians/Syriacs in Sweden}}
*{{citation|author=Atto, Naures|title=Hostages in the homeland, orphans in the diaspora: identity discourses among the Assyrian/Syriac elites in the European diaspora|publisher=Leiden University Press|year=2011}}
*{{citation|author=Van Ginkel, Jan J.|title=The perception and presentation of the Arab conquest in Syriac Historiography: How did the changing social position of the Syrian orthodox community influence the account of their historiographers?|work=The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam|publisher=Brill|year=2006|pp=171-184}}
*{{citation|author=Weltecke, Dorothea|title=The Syriac Orthodox in the principality of Antioch during the Crusader period|year=2006}}
*{{citation|author=Menze, Volker L.|title=Justinian and the making of the Syrian Orthodox Church|publisher=OUP Oxford|year=2008}}
*{{citation|author=Armbruster, Heidi|title=Homes in crisis: Syrian orthodox Christians in Turkey and Germany|year=2002|pp=17-33}}
*{{citation|author=Weltecke, Dorothea|title=Contacts between Syriac Orthodox and Latin Military Orders|year=2003}}
*{{citation|author=Tozman, Markus K., and Andrea Tyndall|title=The slow disappearance of the Syriacs from Turkey and of the Grounds of the Mor Gabriel Monastery|volume=III|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|year=2012}}
*{{cite book|author1=Anthony O'Mahony|author2=Emma Loosley|title=Eastern Christianity in the Modern Middle East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XzOMAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA22|date=16 December 2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-19371-3|pages=22–}}
*{{citation|author=Palmer, Andrew|title=The History of the Syrian Orthodox in Jerusalem|journal=Oriens Christianus|issue=75|year=1991|pp=16-43}}
*{{citation|author=Thomas, David Richard, ed.|title=Syrian Christians under Islam: the first thousand years|publisher=Brill|year=2001}}
*{{citation|author=Snelders, Bas|title=Identity and Christian-Muslim interaction: medieval art of the Syrian Orthodox from the Mosul area|publisher=Leiden Institute for Religious Studies, Faculty of the Humanities|year=2010}}
*{{citation|author=Sato, Noriko|title=Selective Amnesia: Memory and History of the Urfalli Syrian Orthodox Christians|journal=Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 12.3|year=2005|pp=315-333}}
*{{citation|author=Millar, Fergus|title=The Evolution of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the Pre-Islamic Period: From Greek to Syriac?|journal=Journal of Early Christian Studies 21.1|year=2013|pp=43-92}}
*{{citation|author=|title=The hidden pearl: The Syrian Orthodox Church and its ancient Aramaic heritage|publisher=Trans World Film Italia|year=2001|ref=harv}}
*Öktem, Kerem. "Incorporating the time and space of the ethnic ‘other’: nationalism and space in Southeast Turkey in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." Nations and Nationalism 10.4 (2004): 559-578.

{{commons cat|Syriac Orthodox Christians (Middle East)}}

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