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Story: Middle Eastern peoples

Assyrian reunion, 1991

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Assyrian reunion, 1991

Wellington’s small Assyrian community gained more members in the early 1990s as refugees arrived from the trials of war, poverty and persecution in Iraq. Many smiling and tearful members of the 500-strong community were there to meet their relatives and ease them into their new lives. Here, Warjo Khoshaba welcomes her mother Goliscan Odisho at Wellington Airport.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP-Politics-Immigration-Refugees-01

by Ross Giblin

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

James Veitch and Dalia Tinawi, Middle Eastern peoples – Other Middle Eastern peoples, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/2219/assyrian-reunion-1991 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by James Veitch and Dalia Tinawi, published 4 March 2009, updated 1 August 2024.