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For Iraq's Persecuted Assyrians, a Safe Haven is
the Only Solution
February 7, 06
(AINA) On January 29, Assyrian Christian worshippers suffered
yet another terrorist attack during Sunday mass as six synchronized
car bombs (AINA 1-30-2006) exploded outside churches in Baghdad
and Kirkuk. One Assyrian Christian was killed and a Muslim couple
who resided near one of the churches as well, 9 others were injured.
As in past Church bombings, bombs were synchronized to go off
during Sunday mass in order to wreak maximum havoc and terror.
The ongoing campaign to terrorize and intimidate the indigenous
Assyrian Christian (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) community
of Iraq is widely believed intended to continue and accelerate
the exodus of Christians from the country. Some Assyrians believe
that the Church bombings may have been in retaliation for a Danish
newspaper's publishing of cartoons (AINA 2-2-2006) depicting
Muhammad. According to Swedish-Assyrian journalist Nuri Kino,
"the Danish editorial illustrations of Muhammad have now
reaped their first life...", adding "Several Islamic
organizations have screamed for revenge against the Christians
in Iraq who are viewed as representatives for everything Western."
According to Ankawa.com, On January 29, a group of enraged
Muslim students at the University of Mosul attacked Assyrian
Christian students. Apparently, several "fatwas" or
religious edicts were issued by Islamic militias associated with
Islamic religious schools or madrasses against Christians in
Iraq.
During the attacks, Muslim students chanted anti Christian
slogans declaring their victims "sinners, infidels, and
agents of the West." According to reports, the attackers
also urged the "expulsion of the Crusaders and sinners from
schools and public institutions."
The belief by some that the Church bombings and student beatings
were tied to the Danish newspaper cartoon controversy prompted
the Assyrian Woman's Union and Iraqi Woman's Center to issue
a statement on February 1 noting "We protest, along with
our Muslim brethren in Iraq, the ill-mannered efforts taken in
the Danish Press by individuals aiming to defame the image of
the kind Arab Messenger Prophet. In addition, these crimes committed
against a number of churches in Baghdad and Kirkuk are also devoid
of any holy teaching."
Earlier, on January 29, the Ankawa Township Committee published
a statement denouncing the attacks while reiterating that they
have no connections to the journalists responsible for the cartoon
controversy. Most disturbing to many Assyrian Christians inside
as well as outside Iraq, however, remains the bitter irony that
Assyrian Christians need suffer retribution for acts carried
out by Western Christians when to many Assyrians, Western Christianity
has simply abandoned them.
For other Assyrian analysts, the motivation for the Church
bombings differs from the presumably fatwa driven student beatings.
According to one analyst "The synchronization, sophistication,
and multiplicity of targets suggest a more pre planned and premeditated
attack." Moreover, "The attacks on January 29 are very
reminiscent of the August 1, 2004 church bombings (AINA 8-1-2004).
To date, 27 churches have been bombed in Iraq, and most predate
the European cartoon controversy." The inclusion of Karkuk
where two churches were bombed has raised suspicions during a
period of increased Kurdish attacks against the Turkman, Arab,
and Assyrian communities in a Kurdish bid to consolidate control
over the oil rich city. The church bombings come on the heels
of the assassination of Kirkuk police general Wael Joseph Jacob.
Mr. Jacob was a prominent Assyrian who had of late been highly
critical of Kurdish brutality in Kirkuk.
To many inside Iraq, there remains an insidious and systematic
pattern of attacks designed to, as one resident complained, "terrorize,
demoralize, and drive out Assyrian Christians." The campaign
has thus far succeeded with over 40,000 leaving following the
first wave of bombings in August 2004 alone (AINA 8-18-2004).
Since that time, tens of thousands of others have fled as well.
One activist noted that " it must be an embarrassment for
the supposedly free and democratic government of Iraq as well
as the US Administration that tens of thousands of Christians
have chosen safe harbor in Syria of all places."
Irrespective of the terrorists' motivation, the net result
is a very real threat to the future existence of Christianity
in Iraq with accompanying profound reverberations for the region
as a whole. Reacting to the deteriorating situation for Christians
in Iraq, the World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission
labeled Assyrian Christians "endangered," stating "As
people, groups, and whole communities start to identify by religious
affiliation rather than their common Iraqi nationality, the Christian
minority find themselves increasingly despised, marginalized
and exposed. They are endangered, without equality before the
(Islamic) law, having no clan networks and retaliation ideology,
and lacking security in a lawless Islamic society." (AINA
2-2-2006)
The ongoing attacks against Assyrian Christians as well as
overall Assyrian insecurity have bolstered Assyrian demands for
a safe and secure self-administered area within the Nineveh Plain.
The remaining towns and villages within the Nineveh Plain lie
outside Mosul and adjacent to the historic ancient Assyrian capital
of Nineveh. This string of Assyrian towns forms the last area
that is predominantly Assyrian Christian in Iraq. According to
Mr. Michael Youash of the Iraq Sustainable Democracy Project,
"Development assistance for Assyrian Christians in the Nineveh
Plain are sorely lacking. A well developed Nineveh Plain with
adequate housing and infrastructure is the only hope to secure
ChaldoAssyrian existence in Iraq. The hope is to have the capacity
to absorb the tens of thousands already on the move within the
country and to hopefully one day lure back those who have already
left. Only by providing a secure, developed alternative to leaving
where Assyrians are given the right to administer their own local
affairs can we hope to entice those under threat to stay."
For those envisioning a future stable and progressive Iraq,
the true litmus test for democracy and pluralism remains the
fate of the Assyrians, the indigenous Christian community of
Iraq.
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