Murder and mayhem has again shown its face against the beleaguered Assyrian Community in Iraq. In anticipation of the fast approaching Iraqi elections to be held on March 7, certain ‘undefined’ peoples within Iraq have escalated the violence against Assyrians, at least eight Assyrian have been killed in the Mosul in the past two weeks. In January 2009 provincial polls 450 Christian families fled the city after at least 35 Assyrians were killed.
Threats Ahead of Elections
In Mosul, the situation remainds dire, a flyer was posted on the doors of Assyrian Christian homes in Mosul yesterday, stating: “Do not go to vote and do not elect Christians or you will die.”
Exodus
A UN report said Sunday that 4,098 Christians fled Mosul between February 20 and 27 following the attacks. It is estimated that between 15,000 and 20,000 Assryains live in Mosul. Since the 2003 US-led invasion, Al-Qaeda militants have been targeting Christians and other minorities. Hundreds of thousands have since fled Iraq to neighboring and European countries. The number of Christians in Iraq is estimated at nearly 600,000, and was over 1.2 million before 2003 invasion.
The bold city of Fairfield Australia has approved the building of a 4.5-metre-high memorial to victims of the Assyrian genocide. This event is more often referred to as the Armenian Genocide, where Armenians also lost 1.5 million souls, in addition to the murder of over 250,000 Pontic Greeks.
One has to remember that this monument is not a victory of one group over another. This small monument that has already caused so much controversy is a symbol of hope. The building of this monument will be yet another small step to help open a dialog to a horrible time in history. My hope is that the millions of murdered souls will eventually be recognized and honoured officially by the World, and in by doing so give the dead a voice that has been denied to them for over 90 years.
Google recently announced that is will make available online, 14,000 images of artifacts within the Iraqi Nation Museum which officially reopened in February 2009. This is good news as the artifacts needed to be documented and protected. I would not want to see a repeat of the chaotic 2003 US-led invasion where approximately 15,000 artifacts were stolen from the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad. The online archiving will help to set a permanent record of artifacts, some of which can be traced back to the beginning of human civilization.
Added bonus, people from around the world will be able to view ancient Assyrian and Iraqi Artifacts from the comfort of their own home. A special thanks to the U.S. State Department and Google are sharing in the cost!!
The Turkish government has now focused on preventing the construction of a proposed Assyrian genocide monument in Fairfield, Australia. The proposed monument would honor the Assyrian victims of genocide in the 20th century, particularly the Turkish genocide of Assyrians in World War One, in which 750,000 (75%) Assyrians were killed between 1915 and 1918, as well as Armenians and Greeks, and the massacre of 3000 Assyrians in Simmele, Iraq in August, 1933.
Turkey’s Consul General in Australia, Mr. Renan Sekeroglu has expressed opposition to the erection of the monument and denied the genocide of Assyrians in World War One by claiming that there were ‘tragedies’ on ‘both’ sides during the period in question. In fact, Mr. Renan Sekeroglu goes on to say, “if such proposals bear fruit then it will create a climate of hostility and it will also contradict the environment of historically friendly relations between Turkey and Australia”. If given a chance, I would love to have Mr. Sekeroglu clarify what he meant by “it will create a climate of hostility”?
It may seem very bizarre that a Country as large as Turkey continues to involve itself in small trivial matters on the other side of the world, but this hasn’t been the first time and won’t be that last. It is obvious that this latest attempt of suppression of history is futile, especially in the internet age. Long gone are the days when a nation can suppress and re-write history.
The bold city of Fairfield Australia has approved the building of a 4.5-metre-high memorial to victims of the 
The Turkish government has now focused on preventing the construction of a proposed Assyrian genocide monument in Fairfield, Australia. The proposed monument would honor the Assyrian victims of genocide in the 20th century, particularly the Turkish genocide of Assyrians in World War One, in which 750,000 (75%) Assyrians were killed between 1915 and 1918, as well as Armenians and Greeks, and the massacre of 3000 Assyrians in Simmele, Iraq in August, 1933.