The other "nakbas"

This May and every May, Palestinians around the world mourn over 70 years of what they term “Zionist imperialism” and the “nakba” (catastrophe) they have endured. The prevailing narrative tells the story of “white” Jewish Europeans colonizing the land of the indigenous “brown”… pic.twitter.com/gSkA3BKriT

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) May 16, 2024

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This May and every May, Palestinians around the world mourn over 70 years of what they term “Zionist imperialism” and the “nakba” (catastrophe) they have endured. The prevailing narrative tells the story of “white” Jewish Europeans colonizing the land of the indigenous “brown” Palestinians, within the context of European colonialism and white supremacy. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict garners significant global attention, with Palestinians and their advocates being particularly vocal.

However, lost in the debate over the Palestinian experience are the stories of tens of millions of victims of genocide, expulsion, and forced assimilation under Arab and Turkish imperialism. My family, with Amazigh Jewish roots on my father's side and Babylonian (Iraqi) Jewish roots on my mother's, experienced expulsion and persecution, leading me to discover these largely untold stories.

Many other groups have faced similar persecution without restitution or the “right of return,” and the global community remains silent. Why the double standards?

Over the past 150 years, similar “nakbas” have occurred among those indigenous to North Africa, the Middle East, and the Eastern Mediterranean.

The approximate number of victims from less-publicized genocides includes Assyrians (300,000 from 1914-1920), Armenians (1.5 million from 1914-1923), Kurds (50,000-180,000 from 1986-1989), Greeks (450,000-750,000 from 1913-1920), Yazidis (10,000 in 2014 alone), and Sudanese in Darfur (300,000 from 2003-2009).

Victims of expulsion and persecution leading to emigration include Lebanese Maronites (8-14 million in the diaspora, 4 million in Lebanon), Assyrian Christians (15 million in the diaspora and in Syria), and Armenians under the Turkish Empire (11 million in the diaspora today). In Lebanon and Syria, nationality laws deliberately bar Christians from returning, ensuring a Muslim Arab majority in these countries.

From North African and Middle Eastern Jewish communities, 850,000 Jews were expelled or forced to flee, with one million Copts leaving Egypt. Even where expulsions or emigrations did not occur, widespread persecution did. Forced assimilation affected Berbers, Kurds, and Sudanese, with Arabization policies implemented in schools and government institutions since the 1960s. Berber only became an official language in Algeria in 2002; Kurdish was forbidden in Turkish media until then; and in Yemen, Jewish children were taken from their families for forced conversions. Numerous similar examples of persecution against Jewish communities persisted throughout the Middle East into the late 20th century. To this day, no restitution has been made for these heinous crimes.

These are not stories typically heard in newspapers, universities, or at social gatherings in cities like London and Paris, and certainly not on channels like Al Jazeera or Turkish television. Instead, major outlets like CNN, BBC, and academic faculties in Middle Eastern studies often depict the region as being Turkish, Arab, and Iranian since ancient times. These same sources highlight 'European' and 'Zionist' aggression while ignoring the histories of other groups in the region.

When confronted with the historical realities of Turkish and Arab oppression, these crimes are often whitewashed, with claims that the Ottoman and Arab Empires were peaceful and tolerant. These narratives overlook the fact that many groups, such as Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, Jews, and Lebanese Christians, sought independence from these empires. Smaller groups appealing to Western Europeans for help were met with violence from the imperial powers seeking to preserve their dominance.

From the 1880s to 1923, Pan-Turkish and Pan-Arab movements claimed lands conquered under their rule as settler colonialists. The Pan-Turks pursued genocides against Greeks, Assyrians, and Armenians, while ensuring forced assimilation for Kurds and Assyrians and expelling Greeks and Armenians.

Pan-Arabs claimed areas settled during medieval times as original Arab homelands, and after aiding the British in overcoming the Ottoman Empire, pursued imperialistic goals in multicultural countries, forcing Arab culture upon Assyrians, Amazigh, Maronites, and Egyptian Copts.

By the 1940s, the Arab League sought to Arabize North Africa and the Middle East, implementing policies of Arabization and forced assimilation.

At the Versailles Treaty (1919) all indigenous peoples of the Middle East— Kurds, Assyrians, Jews, Maronites—called for national self-determination.

However, only the Jews and Armenians, under British and Russian rule respectively, achieved independence.

As activists campaign to commemorate Palestinian Arab refugees of the Arab-Israeli conflict, I wish these advocates would extend half of the sympathy they have for Palestinians to the millions truly oppressed by imperial powers throughout history and today.