Iraq’s declining Christian community has launched a new television channel as part of its efforts to preserve Syriac, its ancestral language. Syriac, an ancient dialect of Aramaic dating back 2,000 years, used to be the traditional language of Christians in Iraq and neighboring Syria, used in their homes, schools, and church services.
However, in recent years, Syriac-speaking communities in both countries have dwindled due to decades of conflict that have led Christians to seek refuge elsewhere. In Iraq, the Christian population is estimated to have declined by more than two-thirds in the last two decades.
The Iraqi government launched the channel in April with the aim of helping to keep the Syrian language alive. The channel offers a variety of programming, including film, art, and history. Many programs are presented in a dialect of Syriac, but news bulletins are broadcast only in classical Syriac, although not everyone understands it.
The goal of Al-Syriania, the name of the TV station, is to preserve the Syriac language through entertainment, explained Jack Anwia, the station’s director. Syriac used to be a widely spoken language throughout the Middle East, and Baghdad has a responsibility to prevent its extinction, he added.
Although the Syriac language has been marginalized, it is not considered dead. However, it is threatened to disappear due to migration as later generations abandon the language. Despite this, it is taught in the Syriac department at Salahaddin University in Erbil and in some 265 schools in Iraq, according to the Ministry of Education.
Syriac, which had its heyday between the 5th and 7th centuries, has left a significant literary and cultural legacy in the form of hundreds of books and manuscripts that have survived despite the conflicts in Iraq. The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul rescued thousands of Syriac manuscripts from Islamic State jihadist invaders in 2014. These valuable texts are now preserved at the Eastern Manuscripts Digital Center in Erbil.
Preserving the heritage and teaching of Syriac is essential to keeping alive the history and mother tongue of the Christian community in Iraq, despite the negative perceptions some may have about its usefulness.