On October 1914 , the Assyrian genocide occurred whereby thousands of Chaldeans were killed or deported by the Ottoman Empire . After having experienced such atrocities on the hands of the Ottomans , the Chaldean Catholics began to migrate away from their homeland , in search of somewhere safer . Some of these emigrants found their way to the city of Ahwaz where , '' “ ... under the protective shadow of His Highness the Sardar Aqdas … they found refugee , and when their numbers increased , they approached His Highness asking for a plot of land that they may build a church and a school to bring up their children and he accepted with what he promised of the welcoming of the heart and the tolerance of the palm and he granted them the land and he provided them endowment . The Chaldeans had found in Ahwaz justice and safety and were envied by their brothers who had not emigrated . ” '' When the Patriarch of Babylon for the Chaldean Catholics , Emmanuel Joseph saw what had been done , in the year 1920 , he decided to repeat what he had seen to Pope Benedict XV . He explained that those of his spiritual children who had remained happy in the East were the ones who emigrated to Ahwaz and lived under the shadow of the Sardar Aqdas . The Pope was moved by the benevolence of Sheikh Khaz ’ al Khan towards those who were distressed amongst the children of the church and he granted him the Order of St Gregory the Great of the rank of Knight Commander , announcing his thanks and his acknowledgment of " ... the grace of this great and generous Arab King "
Assyrian genocide
Assyrian genocide
Khaz’al Khan Ibn Haji Jabir Khan