During the First World War , many Assyrians living in Ottoman Turkey were forced from their homes , and many of their descendants now live in Iraq . The relocation has led to the creation of this dialect . Iraqi Koine was developed in the urban areas of Iraq ( i.e. Baghdad , Basra , Habbaniya and Kirkuk ) , which became the meccas for the rural Assyrian population . By the end of the 1950s , vast number of Assyrians started to speak Iraqi Koine . Today , Iraqi Koine is the predominant use of communication between the majority of the Assyrians from Iraqi cities and it is also used as the standard dialect in music and formal speech . Some modern Hakkari speakers from Iraq can switch back and forth from their Hakkari dialects to Iraqi Koine when conversing with Assyrian speakers of other dialects . Some Syrian-Assyrians , who originate from Hakkari , may also speak or sing in Iraqi Koine . This is attributed to the growing exposure to Assyrian Standard-based literature , media and its use as a liturgical language by the Church of the East , which is based in Iraq . Elements of original '' Ashiret '' dialects can still be observed in Iraqi Koine , especially in that of older speakers . Furthermore , Assyrian songs are generally sung in Iraqi Koine in order for them to be intelligible and have widespread recognition . To note , the emergence of Koine did not signify that the rest of the spoken dialects vanished . The '' Ashiret '' dialects are still active today and widely spoken in Northern Iraq and Northeastern Syria as some Assyrians remained in the rural areas and the fact that the first generation speakers who relocated in urban areas still maintained their native dialects
forced from their homes
Assyrian genocide
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic