Christians of Iraq writer

William Warda

California

May 23, 06

A year or so ago when President Bush visited the country of Georgia he was asked; "who will look after the Assyrians in northern Iraq?" He answered; "The Kurds will!" President Bush obviously was not well informed about how each governing faction in the Middle East strives selfishly to benefit at the expense of others, and that is why the region is drowning in such turmoil and bloodshed.

In recent articles published on the KurdishMedia.com two writers have expressed the opinion that Assyrians in diaspora unjustly complain about Kurd's maltreatment of their people. An article by Samy H. Adam agrees that "Assyrians were persecuted by Saddam along with the Kurds". The fall of Saddam made it possible for the Kurds to become the ruling power in northern Iraq. There was hope that because Kurds had suffered under the previous dictatorial regime together with other Iraqi minorities they would have more empathy for the people under their rule, alas such has not been the case.

The very fact that Kurds will dismiss the Assyrian concerns about how they are being mistreated rather than investigating these grievances and solve the problem shows their lack of interest in their plight. Another KurdishMedia.com writer adhering to the premise that 'the best defense is an offense' in response to the Assyrian complaints questions their identity, claiming contrary to the historic facts, that they are not the indigenous people of the land, heaping one insult on another over them. This is an attempt to rewrite history to benefit the Kurds at the expense of the Assyrians, just as Saddam did to ethnic cleanse Iraq's non Arab minorities. It is true that majority of Kurds are decent and caring people but as usual a small unrestrained minority commits the injustices.

People who are used to mistreat or exploit others seldom consider themselves at fault. The slave owners considered themselves good, God fearing people and did not think there was anything wrong with owning and mistreating the slaves. It is absurd to determine the possibility or lack of injustice by asking the oppressor. The way Kurds have responded to the Assyrian complaints prove this point once more.

Samy H. Adams who seems to be a christian Assyrians admits that "their (Assyrian) blood was shed side by side with the kurds by Saddam," hundreds of thousands who survived were driven out of their bombed villages and scattered around the world, yet he sees nothing wrong with Kurds making life difficult for the remaining Assyrians, in their historic homeland. While Assyrians appreciate Kurds allowing them to have their own schools where they can teach their own language but Kurdish authorities determination to dominate social and political aspects of their life through Machiavellian schemes undermine many of their rights. One has to acknowledge both the good and the bad.

According to Ankawa.com On May 18th 2006 at 10:30 AM, in Nohadra, "a Kurdish mob attacked Christian children. Students of the 'Ararat' primary school, were beaten and injured. A nine year old student; Shlemon Youkhanis, was stabbed on the head and was taken to the hospital. The children were threatened, called cowards, and told to leave the city and not to come back. Police did not interfere or made any arrest." Is this the kind of justice which Assyrian should be grateful for? The tendency to call a people cowards because they do not fight, injure, plunder or kill others betrays a willingness to treat violence against others as a way of life.. What kind of courage does it take to expect unarmed people outnumbered by thousand to one, to fight back an enemy armed to the teeth? What happened in Duhuk was not a children brawl, Stabbing a nine year old boy on the head indicates that the stabber was much taller than him and was perhaps an adult. Such incidents makes Christians who live under the Kurdish rule feel like they are sitting on a ticking bomb which can blow up unexpectedly, at any time, especially since the Kurdish authorities are unwilling to protect them from such oppression.

Samy H. Adam writes; "Many isolated incidents of injustice against Assyrians occur, but can anyone deny that the Kurdish political leadership has gone further than any other political leadership in the entire Muslim world to address the problem on equitable and fair bases?" When a people are being persecuted because of their ethnicity or religion and the local government instead of protecting them thinks of new ways to restrict their freedom they are justified in feeling insecure about their future. It is preposterous to tell them that they should be happy they are not being persecuted even worst.

The least Assyrians expect from the Kurds is to treat them as Kurds would have liked to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot. Assyrians have paid dearly for the Kurdish ambition for independence. Kurdish rebellions in Iraq and Turkey resulted in driving Assyrians out of their homeland because they were threatened and attacked by both the Kurds and the central governments . Now those who remain in northern Iraq are treated as second class citizens rather than being able to enjoy the same freedom as Kurds do.

The Christian towns and villages in northern Iraq are the last remaining refuge for the Assyrians of various denominations where they have lived since before christianity, and after the down of Islam to this day. Until the rise of the Kurdish rule their inhabitants had been allowed to administer their own affairs without interference by the central government, Since then Kurdish authorities through Machiavellian social and political tactics seem determent to change this state of affair, to dominate the plain of Nineveh and it Christian inhabitants through interfering in their community affairs, fracturing their unity by bribing and supporting one faction against the other

By undermining their Assyrian identity and promoting Chaldean as an ethnic identity of the Catholic Assyrians - Funding the Ishtar TV as a propaganda media to glorify Kurds at the same time promoting conflict within the Christian population - Terrorizing the community into submission by stationing in the christian towns the KDP militia offices; to intimidate Christians into joining Kurdish political parties dedicated to furthering Kurdish interest - Subjecting Assyrians to violence when they ask for equal rights and equal justice as it happened when they demonstrated against being prevented from voting and when there were several demonstration against the recognition of the Chaldean Church as a separate ethnic entity other than Assyrian. - Undermining the independent Assyrian leadership by promoting unelected individuals as community leaders, and paid servants of Kurdish interest, masquerading as Christian representatives, introduced to the Western media as Kurdish officials - Refusing to give to the Assyrian communities their share of reconstruction funds and spending it instead on projects preferred by the Kurds pretending they are paying for them out of their own pocket - Not allowing Assyrians to have an independent administrative region where they can manage their own affairs without having to answer to the Kurdish authorities and their militias - Such denial of rights plus the ongoing violence against Christians by the Muslim extremists; Kurds and Arabs alike, make life unbearable for most. It is unconscionable to expect those who have been unjustly treated not to complain and accept such oppressions as a way of life. A tendency to Label everything in northern Iraq as Kurdish i.e. 'belonging to Kurds', has a racist connotation which should alarm the fair minded people of the world.

By redressing these injustices Kurds will earn not only the admiration and friendship of the Assyrians, also of western countries without their help it would have been impossible for them to dominate northern Iraq.

See also

The Relentless Kurdish Campaign to Undermine Assyrian Rights