Surma D'Bait Mar Shimun
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Lady Surma D'Bait Mar Shimun was the sister of the Catholics Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East and leader of the Assyrians, Mar Shimun XXI Benyamin who was assassinated by the Kurdish rebel Simko and succeeded by his younger brother, Mar Shimun XXII Paulus. Surma Khanum (Lady Surma) practically became regent, and in 1918 she was invited by British authorities to present the Assyrian question in London and she also attended the Treaty of Versaille negotiations, probably as the only woman regent. The descendants of the Assyrian Empire had lived as a semi-independent nation in the Kurdish mountains, but they were massacred and driven out by the Ottomans in 1915. In return they were promised an independent homeland by Britain, France, and Russia in 1918 in Northern Iraq - the Mosul district - but this promise was not fulfilled. Mar Paulus died of tuberculosis 1920 and was succeeded by his 12 years old nephew, Mar Shimun XXIII Eshai, (1908-75), who was also assassinated. When Mar Eshai went to school in England until 1927, she assisted the Metropolitans Mar Yosip Khnanisho of Rustaqa in Church affairs and was in charge of the secular affairs together with her brother, General David d'Mar Shimun, father of the Patriarch. She continued to act as a consultant throughout Mar Eshai's life , given her temporal and secular expertise. In 1928 she hesitantly accepted an O.E.B. from the British authorities. At the time of the disturbances in 1933 in Iraq, the Patriarchal family were taken to Cyprus, where they remained until 1949 when they moved to USA. The Assyrians became Christians in the 1st Century and are today followers of the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church and various Protestant denominations. Because of the Patriarchal succession from uncle to nephew for 652 years, she was also the niece, great niece, etc. to numerous Patriarchs. She died in the year of 1975 in the city of Turlock, California.[1]
