Facing
a June 30th deadline for transfer of power, a
`Temporary Constitution` that reads in Article 7 ,
`Islam is the Official Religion of the State` and the
most recent humiliation for the community - the
failure to receive even one position on the Executive
Council and only one Ministry Post - the Ministry of
Emigration , the Christians of Iraq are voting with
their feet.
` On a
recent night the Church had to spend more time on
filling out the Baptismal forms needed for leaving the
country than they did on the service. ` says Amir, a
deacon at a local Church who does not want his name
published.
`We
have been flooded with parishioners desperate to leave
the country and as they cannot get an exit permit
without a Baptismal Certificate from the Church we
have been swamped with requests.`
`In
recent days nearly 400 families as far as we can tell
have filled out Baptismal Forms to leave the country -
our community is being decimated.` he continues.
Most of
the Christians in Iraq are Assyrians - the original
people of Iraq. The Assyrians were the people of
Nineveh - present day Mosul - where Jonah in the Bible
came.
As the
original people of Iraq and due to the fact that they
are not Arabs, are Christians in a sea of moslems and
by the simple fact that they are Christians always
seen as allies of the West they have been subject to
long persecution.
The
Assyrian Church - known officially as the Assyrian
Church of the East, is the oldest continually
existing Church in the world, and the people are the
only in the world who still speak Aramaic, the
language of Jesus.
During
the Assyrian Genocide, early in the 20th Century it
is estimated that nearly 2/3 of the Assyrian people
were slaughtered in the waning days of the Ottoman
Empire.
According to figures from the previous regieme there
were 2.5 million Assyrian Christians in the country
with an estimated 3.5 million outside the country for
a worldwide total of as many as 6 million, many of
which would return to Iraq if they had a future.
`We
thought the Americans were going to bring us Freedom
and Democracy `says 31 year old Robert. `Instead, they
are promoting Islam. We do not understand it`!
`We
love the Americans! We are so grateful for them
removing Sadaam and giving us back our freedom. We do
not want their effort to be a failure if the
disctatorship of Sadaam is replaced by the
dictatorshio of islam.`
`The
American funded TV Station, Al Iraqia broadcasts
moslem programs four times every day and for two hours
each Friday but nothing for the other religions. The
recent inauguration of the new government was opened
by a moslem mullah giving a long message from the
koran and and prayer, but none of our Priests were
invited at all. Why do they do this? Why do the
Americans promote moslems? They need to promote
equality and democracy and freedom, not moslem
dictatorship!`
`Iraq
is becoming a moslem country! What happened to the
American promise to help it become a democracy that
would be a place for all to live? This is our
homeland! We are the original people of Iraq! We
should not have to leave!` he continues.
The
community is working on two projects - one to
establish a 24 hour nationwide hotline to provide
security for the daily acts of intimidation that is
much of the cause for the panic and a nationwide
network of `safe houses` to take care of the
community, when as they believe following the handover
Iraq descends into chaos and civil war.
`We are
having to take care of daily cases of harrasment of
the Assyrians by the moslems` says Father I. `I just
got back form helping one of our parishoner who was
falsely accused by a neighebor and about to be
arrested. I had to go and sort it all out.
Our
women are accosted on the street and intimidated to
start dressing like moslems, our business are being
burned and the constant harassment is because of the
attitude of appeasment towatrs the moslems.` he
continues.
In
addition a proposal for an `Assyrian Regional
Government` based on Article 54 of the Transitional
Administrative Law is being circulated in Iraq and in
Washinton in a last ditch effort to persuade the
community to stay.
`We
want to stay! This is our homeland! But if we do not
have a place where we can go, if we will be daily
persecuted by the moslems again we cannot stay. We are
appealing to the world to help us - to guarantee us an
area where we can be protected, where we can live in
peace and where we can worship in freedom.`
Will
the world listen?
