Family relations and religious education among Assyrians in Türkiye

Abstract

PurposeAssyrians in T & uuml;rkiye position their existence on a religious basis and perform their rituals in daily life accordingly. The paper aims to examine Assyrian practices ranging from marriage to child rearing, family practices and education. However, the family has played an important role in social policy via shaping the Assyrian society in social sharing areas, religion and education institutions, and communication channels. The paper aims to fill the gap in the literature and to serve as a source for future studies.Design/methodology/approachThe paper used interview and observation techniques from qualitative methods. Data were collected through semi-structured and open-ended interviews with 15 people through 8 Assyrian families living in the Idil district of Sirnak province. The collected data were analyzed by the thematic analysis method.FindingsThe paper investigates how the religion shapes Assyrian culture, worldview and social policy, family relations, the importance of the family and its role in the mechanism of producing the daily system, and how the process of transferring family relations to future generations works. Additionally, the impact of religious education on understanding family relationships and shaping this process was also explored. The Assyrian family plays a key role in building, passing down, preserving and sustaining religious identity, education and social values.Originality/valueThe scarcity of studies investigating family relationships shaped by worldviews and religious education within the scope of Assyrianism studies makes this research important.