Assyrians are predominantly Christian, mostly adhering to the East and West Syrian liturgical rites of Christianity. The churches that constitute the East Syrian rite include the Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, and Chaldean Catholic Church, whereas the churches of the West Syrian rite are the Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church. Both rites use Classical Syriac as their liturgical language.Most recently, the post-2003 Iraq War and the Syrian Civil War, which began in 2011, have displaced much of the remaining Assyrian community from their homeland as a result of ethnic and religious persecution at the hands of Islamic extremists. Of the one million or more Iraqis reported by the United Nations to have fled Iraq since the occupation, nearly 40% were Assyrians even though the Assyrians accounted for only around 3% of the pre-war Iraqi demography.

Dr. Kemal Yildirim is an Orientalist. He has published various numbers of books about the Middle Eastern and Southeastern politics and diplomacy, and he has directed more than 20 Films as Feature and short films as well as Documentaries. He works currently on ancient and modern World cultures.