Assyrian Indigenous peoples in the Middle East have had half their population massacred or removed over the last century.

Assyrian aboriginal peoples are descended from the first peoples of Mesopotamia, inhabiting a region overlapping what is today called Iraq and Turkey. They speak a form of their original traditional language, which is a combination of Aramaic and Akkadian.

They have been fighting for land rights and autonomy for the last century, against impossible odds. Unfortunately, their lands are rich with oil, and this puts them in the middle of the war-mongering machinations that are currently tearing our world apart.

This began earlier last century with the British insisting that oil rich Assyrian lands fall within Iraqi boundaries, rather than those of Turkey.

Assyrian indigenous people have petitioned international organizations and governments numerous times over the last century, and have continually been denied sovereignty.

They have retained customary links to land, language and culture, despite horrific genocide and dispossession that has removed half of their population in recent history. The homeless nation of Assyria has its own flag (pictured).

Since 2005, a few international governments (surprisingly including Australia) have been speaking out in favour of Assyrian autonomy. However, Assyrian indigenous land rights and autonomy are still far from being reality.

Some Kurdish indigenous peoples have actually been granted native title on Assyrian traditional lands.

The Kurds, Assyria's neighbouring indigenous peoples, are the largest indigenous group in the world, numbering around 30 million. They have suffered dispossession and genocide similar to that of the Assyrians.

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