Assyrians call for unity in Iraq

September 19, 2008

BRUSSELS, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- The head of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East said in a prayer service in Belgium that Assyrians based in Iraq should seek solidarity.
Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV addressed a Syriac Orthodox church in the Belgian capital, saying Iraqi Christians based in the Iraqi province of Ninawa should establish an Assyrian-administered unit in accordance with the Iraqi Constitution and provisions of the United Nations, the Assyrian International News Agency reported.

In July Chaldean Christians in northern Iraq made similar statements, expressing their interest in forming a coalition to run in the provincial council elections.

The Assyrian patriarch said unity across faiths was necessary as the Christian minority in the Middle East suffers from discrimination and frequent attacks.

A group calling itself "The Battalion of Just Punishment, Jihad Base in Mesopotamia" sent a letter in July threatening the Assyrian community for collaborating with U.S. forces and for seeking to establish an autonomous police force.

The Assyrian bishop of the Belgian and French dioceses of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Hazail Soumi, addressed congregants in a statement of unity.

"We are one nation, but history divided us; it is time we work for unity," he said.

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