On Saturday 7 September 2024, the Patriarch Joseph VI Audo Conference Hall at the Monastery of the General Congregation of the Chaldean Antonian Order of St. Hormizd in Ankawa, Erbil, witnessed the conclusion of the activities of the First Athra Syriac Symposium, which was organised by the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts and the Yonan Hozaya Centre for Research and Future Studies, under the slogan: “Syriac as a Living Culture, Despite Challenges to its Survival.”
The third and final day began its activities with a word of thanks and gratitude to the Antonian Order of St. Hormizd’s Monastery for hosting the Symposium’s closing events, in addition to extending thanks to the pastor of the Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil, Mar Bashar Matti Warda, and the presidency of the Catholic University in Erbil.
The third day’s sessions included the presentation of a number of research papers in Syriac, Arabic and English. The research papers in Syriac were as follows:
- “Linguistic Problems in Syriac Media” by researcher Adel Danno Youhanna.
- “The Numbering System in the Syriac Language: A New Vision” by Dr. Kawther Najeeb Abdulahad Askar.
- “A Unified Script for a Unified Language” by researcher Anwar Atto.
As for the research papers in Arabic, they were as follows:
- “The Manuscripts of the OAOC: An Historical Account on the Collection’s Evolution, its Importance, and the Scriptorium Syriacum’s role in preservation, digitization and cataloguing” by Abbot Dr. Samer Soreshow Yohanna.
- “The Artistic Structure of Narrative Poetry (Durriktha) in the Swadaya Dialects Compared with Hebrew Narrative Poetry: Selected Examples” by Prof. Adnan Shibeeb Jasim and Amal Addai Paulus.
- “Cultural Openness to Syriac Speakers following Resolution No. 251 in 1972” by researcher Lawrence Nader Makho.
- “A Century of Demographic Change: How do the Assyrians continue to lose their Historical Lands? Dohuk Governorate (1992 – 2022) as a Case Study” A Case Study by researcher Mikhael Benjamin Daoud.
- “The Role of Bayn al-Nahrayn Magazine in Spreading Syriac Culture” by Fr. Albert Hisham Naoum.
- “Terrorist Violations of Cultural Heritage Sites in Mosul: Selected Examples of Christian Churches” by Prof. Anmar ‘Abd al-Jabbar Jasim.
- “Literature of Forced Displacement and its Features” by Br. Wisam Marzena Khidhr.
- “Summary of the Horrors and Conditions of the Christians of Mesopotamia: Geography and Demographics, Ethnic Contact Lines and Sectarian Fault Lines” by Dr. Saad Saloom.
As for the research in English, they were as follows:
- “The Relationship between Surayt (Turoyo) and Surit (NENA) Reconsidered” by Prof. Dr. Shabo Talay via Zoom.
- “Computing Syriac: Towards Artificial Intelligence” by Dr. George Anton Kiraz.
- “Enhancing Digital Translation Capabilities for Syriac: Augmented Learning for AI Transformer Models” by Michael Gliana.
- “From Documentation to Revitalization: Leveraging Data and AI for NENA Language Reclamation and Community Strengthening” by Matthew Nazari.
- “Digitization and Preservation of Modern Assyrian Texts: Addressing the Challenges of Low-Resource Languages through Advanced Technological Solutions” by Prof. Sargon Hasso.
At the conclusion of the First Athra Syriac Symposium, the Organising Committee issued a closing statement with a number of recommendations, most notably contacting the Iraqi Federal Government’s Prime Minister about the need to reopen the Syriac Language Authority within the Iraqi Scientific Academy, contacting the Iraqi Kurdistan Region’s Prime Minister for the purpose of establishing a Syriac Academy, and paying attention to the Syriac language and Syriac studies by supporting the Syriac Writers and Authors Union. The committee also recommended at the end of its recommendations the need to continue holding such conferences in the homeland.
On the sidelines of the Symposium’s conclusion, the Assyrian Church of the East hosted the members participating in its sessions, in an evening attended by His Holiness Mar Awa III, Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East in Iraq and the world, and the honourable bishops and venerable priests of our Churches.
It is worth noting that the First Athra Syriac Symposium’s activities had begun on Thursday 5 September 2024, at the main hall of the Martyr Saad Abdullah Convention Centre in Erbil, under the patronage of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Prime Minister, His Excellency Masrour Barzani.
