 The massacres also had a deep impact on the newly established Kingdom of Iraq . Kanan Makiya argues that the killing of Assyrians transcended tribal , religious , ideological and ethnic barriers as Sunni Arabs , Shia Arabs , Sunni Kurds , Sunni Turkmen , Shia Turkmen , and Yazidis ; Monarchists , Islamists , nationalists , royalists , conservatives , Leftists , federalists , and tribalists , were all united in their anti @-@ Assyrian and anti @-@ Christian sentiments . According to him , the pogrom was " the first genuine expression of national independence in a former Arab province of the Ottoman Empire " and that the killing of Assyrian Christians was seen as a national duty . 
