April 29,
2005 - In
a series of moves that do not bode well for the future
of democracy and the rule of law in Iraq a series of
maneuvers at the Iraqi National Conference in Baghdad
have undermined the voice of the Assyrian Christians,
who according to figures of the previous government
comprise 2.5 Million or over ten percent of the country.
According to sources
within the conference who asked not to be named, out of
the total of 1,000 delegates only 54 Assyrian Christians
were allowed to attend and in backdoor maneuvering a
total of only three out of the 100 Delegates to be
chosen are being allowed. 100 Assyrian Christian
delegates should have been allowed to the conference and
10 for the National Committee.
"We are calling on the
democratic countries of the world to assist us" the
source said "Out of the watchful eyes of the world the
same old thugs from the old regime are throwing their
weight around and depriving the Christians of their
historical and political rights'
"We call up on the
democratic countries of the world to insist that the
Assyrian Christians, as the indigenous people of Iraq be
set aside 10 out of the 100 members of the National
Council and that these members be chosen from our own
community, not imposed from outside."
The Assyrian
Christians, are the indigenous people of Iraq, a
population that according to some experts nearly 60% of
the current Iraqi population are former Christians.
The people of
"Nineveh", of the Biblical story of Jonah and the whale,
the Assyrian Christians play prominent roles in Church
History becoming the first nation to accept Christianity
and according to Kenneth Scott LaTourette in "A History
of Christianity" the largest missionary sending people
in Christian History.
Sources close to the
conference, in particular single out The Kurdish
Regional Government who in violation of Article 53 of
the Iraqi Constitution have not provided for local
autonomy for the Assyrian Christian Community in
Northern Iraq.
Article 53 provides the
Assyrian Christian with their local administrative
rights in their original homeland in Northern Iraq, but
they have not been able to enforce the law.
Apparently, strong
pressure is being brought to reduce the numbers of
Assyrian Christian representatives from the 10 to three
and those members being appointed not by the community
but by the Kurdish Regional Government.
The state of the
Assyrian Christians has taken a sudden turn for the
worse in recent days with the announcement by the Iraqi
Minister of Migration, Pascale Isho Warda, the only
Assyrian Christian in the Iraqi Government, that "The
number of Christians who have left Iraq has reached
40,000 according to the latest statistics. This
emigration is due to insecurity and the attacks on the
Churches in Baghdad and Mosul two weeks ago."
According to Assyrian
Christian activist William Yonan, who asked that his
name be changed for fear of reprisal "We urgently need
help! There is a calculated campaign to cause our
people, the original people of Iraq to leave. There are
those who hate Christians, simply because of our faith
and because of the simple fact that we represent the
voice of reason and normalcy.
The vast majority of
the Iraqi people do not want the dark forces to rule in
Iraq and are fighting valiantly to prevent their
takeover. It is the Assyrian Christians who are at the
forefront of this fight defending the Iraqi people who
are for the most part completely secular against the
mullahs and other dark forces who want to turn Iraq into
another Iran."
An Assyrian Christian
website Assyrianchristians.com posts pictures of recent
killings as well as a plan for the enforcement of
Article 53 on the ground in Iraq.
Yonan continues "It
should now be clear to the world that the only way for
the Assyrian Christians to survive in Iraq is to be
accorded our rights under Article 53 for our homeland
in historic Assyria. We call upon the democratic
countries of the world to demand that the Iraqi
constitution be honored and our land be returned to us
so we can live in safety and honor as guaranteed by the
Constitution."
Rev. Ken Joseph Jr, an
Assyrian says "The Assyrian Christians are one of the
last remaining Christian communities in the Middle East.
The true cause of the current problems in the Middle
East is this dramatic departure of the historic
communities of the region.
The only long term solution for the Middle East is for
the world to stand up for these communities which have
historically been the engine of growth in the region. It
is their mass exodus that has triggered the true cause
of the problems in the middle east - economic collapse.
The historic balance of the region must be restored as
the only long term solution for the region.';
A recent report by the
European Union stated that "little or no aid is being
received by the Assyrian Christians in Iraq.
International aid is mainly distributed through regional
and therefore moslem leaders and seldom or never reaches
the Assyrians."
The population of
Christians in the Middle East as a whole has gone from
nearly 20% a generation ago to now under 2%. Reports
tell of a conference held in 1980 in Lahore, Pakistan in
which regional representatives vowed to climate all
Christians from the Middle East.
As the numbers drop
below 2% and with this most recent exodus from Iraq
their goal is more and more a reality.
Assyrian Christians
from across Europe are planning a Sunday,
1PM demonstration in London, in front of the residence
of the British Prime Minister at Number 10 Downing
Street to thank the British for their help in Iraq and
highlight the plight of the Assyrian Christians in Iraq.
