Very few Assyrians remain in Tur Abdin (Turkey), where monks protect some of the oldest monasteries of Christianity. There were around 1.5 million Assyrians in Iraq before 1990; now, many are fleeing their ancient homelands in the face of ethnic and religious persecution, and several political movements, like the Assyrian Democratic Movement and the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council are working to help to maintain their culture. Now a big part of these communities lives in western countries where the memory of their genocide becomes a central point of their identity.