Ex-archbishop in
fight to save ancient Christians
Telegraph Group Limited
Jan. 24, 05
A former Archbishop of Canterbury has
launched a campaign to save the ancient Assyrian people of Iraq
from extinction.
Lord Carey said they were facing systematic
ethnic cleansing which had worsened considerably since the fall
of Saddam Hussein.
[Smoke drifts after an explosion next to an Assyrian church in
Baghdad ]
Assyrian churches have been the target of attacks, such as this
one in Baghdad
The mainly Christian community has faced
relentless persecution for hundreds of years from the largely
Muslim population living alongside them.
Lord Carey today joined members of the
Assyrian community in London at the House of Lords to launch
a campaign raising awareness of their plight. He said: "In
recent months and years churches and monasteries have been attacked
and people have been killed.
"In one case a young man was kidnapped
and beheaded. We are talking about terrible atrocities which
would undermine any community.
"It is systematic violence against
Assyrian people, driving them out of their homes and pillaging
them.
"It is putting pressure upon them
to get them to leave.''
The ancient civilisation, which has
existed since 3,000 BC, has one of the oldest Christian traditions
in the world, dating back to the first century.
About 800,000 Assyrians live in Iraq
with an additional half a million around the world. They still
speak the ancient biblical language of Aramaic.
Prof Simo Parpola, an expert on Assyrian
culture, told the meeting that the current violence was on a
par with the massacres during the First World War when 250,000
were killed.
Mark Seddon, campaign organiser, said:
"There does appear to be a degree of ethnic cleansing going
on now.''
He called for Assyrian rights to be
enshrined in the new Iraqi constitution and for Assyrians dispossessed
by the violence to be given the financial aid to return to their
lands and homes.
The Rev Doctor Khoshaba George, who
runs an Assyrian church in London, said hopes had been raised
with the fall of Saddam in 2003.
But he added: "We were waiting
more than 40 years for the change of regime and hoping for a
bright and new future for Iraq and our nation.
"Unfortunately things went wrong
and our condition in Iraq is becoming worse and worse.''
In another article:
Former Anglican head warns
of abuses against Assyrians in Iraq
Jan 24, 05
LONDON (AFP) - Iraq (news - web sites
)'s long-repressed Assyrian population faces "systematic
violence" in post-Saddam Iraq and needs better protection,
the former head of the worldwide Anglican Church said.
Lord George Carey, who stepped down
as Archbishop of Canterbury in 2002, joined members of London's
Assyrian community to warn that ethnic cleansing of Assyrians
in Iraq had worsened since the fall of Saddam Hussein (news -
web sites).
The mainly-Christian Assyrians, who
speak Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke, have been brutally repressed
for many decades in largely Muslim Iraq.
Things have not been better since the
March 2003 US-led war to unseat Saddam, Carey said.
"In recent months and years churches
and monasteries have been attacked and people have been killed,"
he said.
"In one case a young man was kidnapped
and beheaded. We are talking about terrible atrocities which
would undermine any community.
"These are issues of human rights
and abuse of people which we have to be aware of. It is systematic
violence against Assyrian people, driving them out of their homes
and pillaging them.
"It is putting pressure upon them
to get them to leave."
Mark Seddon, who is organising a campaign
to raise awareness of the Assyrians' situation, called for their
rights to be enshrined in a new Iraqi constitution.
"There does appear to be a degree
of ethnic cleansing going on now," he said.
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