One has to remember that this monument [...]]]> 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.

Rody

Hundreds of thousands of Assyrian Christians, a minority people who live principally in northern Iraq, have fled the country under murderous threats from Islamic militants that have grown so bad, a U.S. government entity has now labeled Iraq “among the most dangerous places on earth.”

In a report released today, the U.S. [...]]]> By Drew Zahn
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

Hundreds of thousands of Assyrian Christians, a minority people who live principally in northern Iraq, have fled the country under murderous threats from Islamic militants that have grown so bad, a U.S. government entity has now labeled Iraq “among the most dangerous places on earth.”

In a report released today, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federally-funded advisory team created and appointed by Congress, recommends that Iraq be designated a “country of particular concern” in light of ongoing, severe abuses against the country’s religious minorities – stating that the situation is “particularly dire” for ChaldoAssyrian Christians.

“The lack of effective government action to protect these communities from abuses has established Iraq among the most dangerous places on earth for religious minorities,” said USCIRF’s chairperson, Felice D. Gaer.
In the first century, Assyrians were among the first Gentiles to follow Christ, and to this day many Assyrian Christians still speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. They are also the people of ancient Nineveh, the city that was visited by the biblical prophet Jonah and that lies today near the modern city of Mosul, Iraq.
Nina Shea, a Washington, a member of the USCIRF, explained that following the onset of the Iraq war, many Assyrian Christians returned to Mosul seeking refuge.
“They want to escape persecution from southern points, like Basrah and Baghdad,” Shea told ChristianWeek.

For Iraq’s battered Christian community, Shea said, “Mosul in the north was the last refuge within Iraq.”

In recent months, however, the city of Mosul has become a hotbed of religious persecution from Islamic militants.

In October, Christians in Mosul protested a change to Iraqi law that stripped minority groups of representation – only to be met with a fierce and violent backlash.

Carl Hetu, national secretary of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association of Canada, reported to ChristianWeek, “What we’ve heard from people in the field is that each person identified as Christian has received a letter telling them: ‘You leave Mosul and Iraq, or you will be killed.’”

The threats are neither new nor empty: Since 2003, the International Herald Tribune reports, over 25 churches across Iraq have been bombed, several priests have been abducted and beheaded, nuns have been stabbed and a 14-year-old boy was even crucified near Mosul.

“The situation continues to grow grimmer for the targeted minority Christian community in Iraq, especially in Mosul,” Carl Moeller, head of Open Doors USA, an organization that serves the persecuted Church, told Christian Today. “The marginalized people of Iraq desperately need our support.”

In Mosul, a flurry of fulfilled threats – reports tell of 2 women killed, 15 Christians assassinated at once and a wave of violence that left 25 dead in October alone – have sent thousands of Assyrian Christians families to flight again.

Hetu’s Catholic Near East Welfare Association of Canada, or CNEWA-Canada, estimates 400,000 Christians have fled Iraq since the start of the war, though a surge of refugees following the violence in Mosul may have pushed that number even higher.

Ken Joseph Jr., director of the Assyrian Christian Assistance Center in Baghdad, estimates there are now nearly 500,000 Assyrian Christians living as refugees in neighboring Jordan and Syria.

For those who have fled, however, there may be hope of returning.

The Iraqi government is now offering displaced Christian families financial assistance to return, reports the McClatchy-Tribune News Service, and security forces in Mosul have been boosted by 35,000 officers.

“If we can get a little support to do the survey of the people,” Joseph told WND, “and get their name, Iraqi Social Security Number and hometown, we can qualify them for monthly support from the Iraqi Oil fund as well as [thousands] per family to return home.”

Despite widespread fears and skepticism that government security forces can actually protect Christians from Islamic extremists, several groups are urging the international community to help the Assyrian Christians return home.

Hetu told ChristianWeek that the Iraqi Christians are indispensible to the future of Chrisitianity as a bridge to spreading the faith and spreading peace in the Middle East.

“That’s where Jesus started off, where the Apostles sacrificed so much,” Hetu said. “They are our voice between the East and the West.”
A fund has been set up by the Assyrian Christian Assistance Center’s Ken Joseph to help support the refugees with basic needs and to register them for the return home to Iraq.

“The Assyrian Christians desperately need our help,” says Joseph. “Stuck in the middle of the Iraqi War, they are in a no man’s land – unable to move forward and unable to return home.”

By Shamiram Daniali For the past five and half years of U.S. presence in Iraq, western media along with the world powers completely ignored the existence of the Assyrians. Almost all the reports, [...]]]> I would like to share the following article with you as it point out a big problem that I have with western media.

By Shamiram Daniali
For the past five and half years of U.S. presence in Iraq, western media along with the world powers completely ignored the existence of the Assyrians. Almost all the reports, which there have been many, were about Arabs and Kurds, with no emphasis to their Islamic religions, but when it comes to the Assyrians, all we ever read and hear is reference to their Christian religion. The solid proof of that is the one seat of representation in the Iraqi Parliament which has been called “The Christian Seat” instead of “The Assyrian Seat” since the establishment of the interim government.

The Assyrian of Diaspora are outraged at the killing of their brethrens in Iraq. Many hold demonstrations in their western countries to raise public awareness of the slaughter taking place under the watch of the U.S. troops and U.N. officials.

As if it is not bad enough that the rights of this indigenous people have been undermined in their own homeland, the ongoing violence has put this small nation at the brinks of extinction. Assyrians are the most peaceful citizens of Iraq, yet the most persecuted to this day. Perhaps the world would have taken a better notice of their plight if that was not the case.

Since the western media have finally turned their attention to the persecution of the Assyrians, they can only do these people justice by not emphasizing on their Christian religion, which makes them targets of Islamic Jihads; but to identify them with their national identity, just like they refer to Arabs and Kurds with their national identity. That same precaution must be exercised by U.S. and U.N. officials.

Regardless of how many well-intended statements are issued by the local and central government in Baghdad, or by the U.N. envoy in Iraq, the only way to protect the Assyrians is to acknowledge this ancient identity, because being constantly referred to as Christians makes them more vulnerable to aggression and retaliation.