The Kurdish Democratic Experiment: an Assyrian Tragedy
By Majed Eshoo
August 17, 06
www.ana-ashur.com
Not to dwell on the near or not so distant past; let us examine the events which resulted in the horrific killing of Akhiqar Giwargis Audisho who was born in 1965, married with three daughters.
The Kurdish appetite for confiscating Assyrian lands in northern Iraq, through terror is well documented. The latest example is the village of Gondkosa which has fertile land and adequate supply of water. Kurds of the neighboring Kurdish village 'Ikmala' whose village has fewer agricultural fields, have made no secret of their desire to drive out the Assyrians so that they can take over their land.
After the uprising of March 1991, the Kurdish trespassing on Assyrian villages especially on Gondkosa's increased which often resulted in many clashes. The local Kurdish authorities showed no interest in solving the problem by ordering their people to respect the Assyrian right to their land. Even when inhabitants of Gondkosa filed several complaints with the local authorities including the department of agriculture in Mangish and Dohuk (Nohadra), the Governor of Dohuk (Nohadra), the ministry of agriculture, the parliament, the Kurdish and Assyrian political parties, Sarkis Aghajan, Massoud and Nechirvan Barzani, but none was able or willing to help.
During the last year the Kurdish transgressions from the Ikmala village increased and turned into confrontation and attacks against the Assyrians with the support of Abdul Rahman the director of agriculture in Mangish. Kurds bombed a water pump which was the property of a farmer called William Khoshaba, and then another water pump was sabotaged followed by throwing irrigation pipes into the waterway but the authorities didn't take any action against the perpetrators.
A week before the killing of 'Akhiqar Audisho' two Assyrian framers 'Oshana' and 'Nissan' were surprised to discover acres of their red melon field burned completely due to the use of a pesticide which exterminates all sorts of vegetation, but when the two complained to authorities the latter claimed the accused suspects are innocent because they have sworn on the Koran that they weren't the culprits.
((Yes, Kurds have their own "Koran verses" aside from all other Muslims. One says: "maleh fala halaleh" which means the 'usurpation of Christian property is Halal (permitted)'. Another one says: "bkosheh fala dijta bhashteh" which means 'kill a Christian and you will go to paradise'. The latter phrase was repeated until recently during Friday prayers in Kurdish mosques and even though today they have less faith in that phrase but they still practice it; that's how they have been able historically to establish a wide region for themselves which they call Kurdistan at the expense of the Assyrian land, name and history))
The suspects in destroying the melon field were released in spite of the repeated threats which they uttered in the presence of the Kurdish officials in Mangish that there would be dire consequences if their wishes of getting land in Gondkosa weren't met. On the night of the killing on Tuesday August 08, 2006 young men of Gondkosa had gone to Dohuk (Nohadra) to meet with 'Giwargis', the Deputy governor, who is also a church deacon and a lawyer to see how the conflict between the resident of Gondkosa with the greedy Kurds of 'Ikmala' can be resolved. Unfortunately he was unable to do any thing because his duties are limited to serving the Kurdish propaganda of showing to the world that Kurds are "good with our people" and to brag that they employed an Assyrian Deputy governor, this is what other ministers and parliamentarians are expected to do, including the helpless and intimidated Assyrian political parties whose duties are nothing more than serving as public relation entities for the Kurdish authorities and pretend that there is peaceful coexistence with the Kurds) in attempt to help the illusionary ( Kurdish democratic experiment!).
The killer of 'Akhiqar', 'Chirdel Tahir Khalid' and his two friends who were in a car took advantage of the absence of the young men of the village to ambush and shot him with a Kalashnikov rifle, one bullet hit him in his chest, another hit his rifle causing it to shatter therefore he wasn't able to shoot back. This happened around 7:30 p.m. while the victim was tending to his sheeps, another shepherd who witnessed the shooting hurried to the scene of the crime. His presence compelled the killers to leave their car and escape on foot towards the orchards in the north side of the village. when the residents of 'Gondkosa' heard the gun shots they rushed out to see what had happened. They heard the other shepherd calling for help, saying; "Akhiqar was killed." villagers put the injured shepherd in the car to take him to the Dohuk (Nohadra) hospital for treatment as he was still conscious and talking about his attackers and why he wasn't able to use his rifle.
As the car passed through the Village of Ikmala, the road was blocked by armed men; killer's uncle and two of his cousins. They wanted to finish off Akhiqar because they had heard that he had killed his attacker. When they learned such was not the case the car and its passengers were allowed to pass. This clearly proves that the impending crime was known to them before it happend. The victim was admitted to the emergency ward at the hospital and was operated on at 12:00 midnight but he died at 3:00 a.m. due to sever heart and lung injuries.
Authorities dispatched police forces to the two villages and they detained the inhabitants of Gondkosa preventing them from leaving to prevent further conflict. At the same time they removed the killer's car from the crime scene as soon as they arrived before completing their investigation. They claimed that killing resulted from personal animosity between the murderer and the victim and had nothing to do with Kurd's desire to terrorize the Assyrian villagers. One has to ask why this ongoing conflict wasn't solved during the past 15 years of Kurdish rule?
It's worthy to not that the continuous Kurdish offenses against the Assyrian villages are countless, aggressions against Gondkosa wasn't the first. Assyrians of Mangish were also subjected to such Kurdish violations recently . Two thirds of the village is occupied by Kurds who arrived from a Kurdish village in mid 1970's when they were driven out of their homes by Saddam's forces. Jaafar Bisvki the chief of the village visited Bishop Hanna Qalu in Mangish and asked him to allow the deportees to live in the empty houses where the owners were either working in Baghdad, in other cities, or were living outside of Iraq. As an act of Charity and helping the neighbors in need the Bishop agreed. After the fall of Saddam Kurds however refused to return to their village even when their former homes were rebuilt.
When Assyrians complained Kurds began their usual campaign of threat and intimidation. Twenty some armed tribal Kurds arrested Paulus an Assyrian engineer in Mangish and ordered him to build new homes at Mangish for them or they will kill him.
The engineer went to complain at the Dohuk (Nohadra) governorate but the local authorities didn't take any legal action because they never do when Kurds trespass and take over Christian property. It is part of a campaign to dispossess the Assyrians of their land and drive them out of northern Iraq so that it can be claimed as Kurdistan by them.
This is how the Kurds and the Kurdish government treats the Assyrians on daily basis.
Given the present ethnic cleansing in progress by the Kurds one has to wonder what will happen in the future if Kurds establish their own independant country in northern Iraq.
It's certain that Assyrian situation would be far worst than it is now, therefore Assyrians need a secure region to protect them from murder, extortion, and terrorism by the Kurds which has haunted them for as long as history can remember.
www.ana-ashur.com
---- |
