al-Zarqawi Group Boasts Killing a Christian

(ZNDA: Baghdad)  On 7 April, the Mujahadeen Council, a leading insurgency group linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq, announced the killing of a Christian in Mosul "for offending the prophet Mohammed."

In a statement posted to the Internet, the group, whose military arm is still headed by Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said that on Tuesday,  4 April it "eliminated" a Christian in Mosul.

"We eliminated him, because this impure crusader offended our noble prophet Mohammed. We killed him in the al-Tahir quarter of Mosul" it read.

Assyrian Killed in Dora

(ZNDA: Baghdad)  On 7 April, Shimshon Awisha (Abu Robi), a brother of David and Abbi Awisha, was murdered near the Assyrian Club in Dora district as he was heading home.

In Dora these days, rows of homes sit empty and abandoned. The streets show signs of desperate attempts to craft barriers from palm tree trunks and rusty washing machines. And there are countless crude threats scrawled in black spray paint.

Gone are the packs of curious children who often trail American soldiers and the clusters of neighbors usually found socializing outside on hot weekend afternoons.

Dora was once a bustling community of about 500,000 Christians, Sunnis, and Shiites.  But tens of thousands of Assyrians have already fled this and other predominantly Christian quarters of Baghdad and other major Iraqi cities.

All sects in the area, once a close-knit, middle-class community of villas and smart shops, have been affected by the violence, U.S. soldiers say.

At least one Assyrian church bears signs from a car bombing, and several mosques, even those in quieter parts of Dora, have concertina wire strung in front.  Some have sandbagged bunker positions on their rooftops.

The killer of Mr. Awisha last week stepped out from a car, walked towards Mr. Awisha, and shot him dead.

Kirkuk Street & Quarter Given Assyrian Names

(ZNDA: Baghdad)  The authorities in the city of Kirkuk in north Iraq, in a gesture of goodwill toward the Assyrian residents, have renamed the Assyrian quarter, known as Alfayn Dar, to the "Ashur Quarter".

There are some 2,000 homes in the "Ashur Quarter".

Many of the names of the streets and quarters associated with the Baathist regime of the past are being changed in Kirkuk and other major Iraqi cities.

Similarly, the Yarmouk Street in Kirkuk was also recently renamed the "Ishtar Street".

The Kurds are pressing for as much power under a federal system and control of Kirkuk, a city that has some of Iraq's richest oil reserves and which is claimed by Kurds, Turkish-speaking Turkmen and Arabs alike.

Assyrian-Dutch Politician Visits Assyrians in Iraq

Kha b'Nisan celebration in Al-Qosh.  Photo by Karam Hasso - AshurTV journalist

(ZNDA: Arbil)  Two years after his first visit to Assyria, Ms Attiya Gamri returned to Iraq to inspect the situation of the Assyrians after the end of the Baathist reign of Saddam Hussein.   Gamri was also interested to learn more about what the regional parliament of Kurdistan has done after the recent elections and to hear from the Assyrians about their human rights in the region where the KDP hold political power.

Ms. Gamri, a member of the provincial parliament of Holland, visited the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) offices and a few NGOs in the Nineveh Province.   She also visited the Assyrian schools in Bakhdede, Bartille and Ankawa.

Assyrian school children in Arbil

Ms Gamri was surprised to find the books and classroom instructions in the Assyrian language, where the children read and write Assyrian in the western and eastern languages. A speaker of the western dialect, she spoke to the children in the eastern dialect.

Ms. Gamri visited the Monastery of Mor Matay (St. Matthew) and spoke with the Bishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Mor Musa Bahzan.   The church is protected by the ADM guards.   The bishop told Gamri that he and his parishioners have received many threats, messages like: "Leave this country or we will kill you ".

Ms. Attiya Gamri (center) on her visit to the Assyrian schools in the Nineveh Province.

Gamri told Bishop Bahzan that "after a decade a new generation of Assyrians will be able to speak both dialects of the Assyrian language, thanks to the efforts of the Assyrian schools established and maintained by the Assyrian Aid Society and the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM)."

Attiya Gamri met with Mr George Mansour, director of Ishtar TV and discussed the political role of Ishtar TV.   She asked Mr. Mansour about Ishtar TV's lack of interest in the political situation of the Assyrians.   According to Ms Gamri, the Kurdistan Democratic Party officers did not allow Assyrians on April 2 to enter Arbil, without any reasons other than stating that they were " Christians".

Ms. Gamri explains that there is much discrimination against the Assyrians in north Iraq, yet nothing about this discrimination is shown on Isthar TV.

Visiting an Assyrian orphanage in the Nineveh Province

Mr. George Mansour promised Ms Gamri that in the future they will work on these issues and told her that Ishtar TV has only been on air for 3 months and needs more time.

When visiting Ashur TV, Ms. Gamri inquired about the threats the staff had received after the publication of the Prophet Mohammed's cartoon in a Danish newspaper.  The staff at Ashur TV told Gamri that they were receiving 4 to 8 threatening phone calls every week.

In Al Qosh Ms. Gamri attended the Kha b'Nisan celebration (Assyrian New Year), where more than 15, 000 Assyrians attended this festival. The security was provided by the American soldiers, helicopters and tanks together with the ADM guards.

All schools were closed on this day, recongnized as an official holiday in the Assyrian calendar.  Most political parties from the region attended the festival, and showed their respect for this national holiday.

Dutch journalist M. Vrij photographs Assyrian students

At the end of her trip, Ms. Gamri visited Mr. Fuad M. Hussein, Chief of Staff in the office of the President of Kurdistan in Arbil, and described what she had observed and heard from the Assyrians.
A few of the issues Ms Gamri discussed with Mr. Hussein included:

● Illegal and seizure in Sarsang, Dohuk and Arbil
● Forced membership in the KDP
● Lack of freedom of expression for Assyrians
● The Administrative rights of the Assyrians
● Treatment of the Assyrians during the elections and the results of the elections
● The emergence of a new Saddam, namely Mr. Massoud Barzani and a new Tariq Aziz, namely Sargis Aghajan.

Ms Gamri asked Mr. Fuad Hussein, whom she has known from the Netherlands, where he too was a member of the political party PvdA, what were his plans to resolve these issues. Mr. Hussein promised Attiya Gamri that he will take serious look at these issues and will discuss them with President Barzani and asked her to visit Mr Sargis Aghajan to learn about the positive developments.

Ms Gamri attended a meeting with 21 NGOs in the Province of Nineveh, and asked each to collect facts about the human rights of the Assyrians in the province. "I need a report from every Assyrian village in the Nineveh province, on their counts, where, why and whom has been discriminated, and we need this every year" she noted to the NGO staff.

Ms. Attiy Gamri speaks to the Assyrian associations and NGOs in the Nineveh Province.

As Ms Attiya Gamri said on Ishtar and Ashur TVs, every Assyrian should visit Assyria during Kha  b'Nisan to show solidarity with the Assyrians and give a signal to the Kurds and Arabs that the Assyrians in the Diaspora are the voices of the Assyrian men and women in Assyria.

Ms Gamri's delegation included 3 Assyrians from USA and 1 from Canada.

The Dutch journalist M. Vrij accompanied Ms. Gamri on her travels and has written reports about the human right situation of the Chaldo-Assyrians in the Nineveh province for the Dutch media.

Ms Gamri spoke with two PvdA and CDA parliamentarians in the EU last week about the aggravated situation of the Chaldo-Assyrians. They promised to use her information for the resolution on Iraq.
She will visit the European Parliament on 18 and 19 April, and will put forward the issue about the money the EU sends to Iraq, and how much of this money reaches Assyrians.

Mr. Karam Hasso, an AshurTV journalist in Iraq

During this unstable situation in Iraq the Assyrian delegation was protected by the ADM soldiers, Ms Attiya Gamri told journalists that she was shocked to witness the human rights conditions of the Assyrians in north Iraq.  She also noted that she had hoped that their condition would improve after two years, but in fact it had deteriorated.  She explained that there should be more political pressure from the EU and USA on the Iraqi authorities to resolve this issue.

"After two years the right of Assyrians to have political autonomy, to practice their own religion and culture, and give education in their own language should be respected," said Ms. Gamri.

Gamri continued: " If the human rights situation for the Assyrians was a measurement for the development of democracy in Iraq, the future looks bleak. If the discrimination and suppression of the Christian Assyrians by the Kurdish authorities continues, we must be prepared to see the last Christians in Iraq revolting en mass. The discontent is great, and the Assyrian youth doesn't have much patience left."

Christianity on the Rise in Iraq

Courtesy of the Associated Press
17 April 2006

(ZNDA: Baghdad)  Attendance is booming at the Rev. Andrew White's church as more Iraqi Christians seek solace in religion to cope with a life of car bombings, kidnappings and deprivation.

Every month "Canon White,'' as he is known here, travels to Baghdad to minister to the faithful, including Western Protestants and Iraqi Assyrian Christians - who must be bused into the U.S.-protected Green Zone to hear him preach after al-Qaeda put a price on his head.

Canon Andrew White

Over the past three years, the number of Iraqis attending his services has grown to about 900, said the 41-year-old British Anglican priest.

"People turn to religion when they are desperate,'' White said in a Green Zone coffee shop after conducting three Easter services.

The apparent Christian revival takes place against a backdrop of resurgent Muslim religiosity. Sunni and Shiite Muslim deaths are mounting daily in sectarian violence and there is massive attendance at both Shiite and Sunni services.

The tall, bespectacled cleric began visiting Iraq regularly in 1998, and he has witnessed profound changes since then.

During those early visits, he would preach at St. George's Anglican Church, an arrangement facilitated by Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, the most prominent Christian in the national leadership and now a U.S. detainee.

Under Saddam, White said he found a more secular society where tensions between religious groups seemed nonexistent. But over time he began to realize that divisions were there - Iraqis were simply too terrified to speak frankly.

White recalled receiving a dinner invitation from Odai Saddam Hussein, Saddam's most ruthless son. He declined, but the man delivering the invitation began to weep, pleading him to accept. Otherwise, Odai would kill the messenger, White said.

AISC Statement on the Genocide of the Assyrians
During World War I

For Immediate Release

Assyrian International Seyfo Committee (AISC)
20 April 2006

On 24 April, 92 years ago, a decision was taken to wipe out the Assyrians in the Turkish region of Assyria.    Assyrians, every year, hold a memorial day on 24th of April to commemorate the Genocide of 1914–1919 known among the Assyrians as the “Seyfo”.

This genocide was a continuation of similar acts carried out by the Turks and the Kurds in earlier times, against the peaceful and unarmed Assyrian people.

Over 4 million Christian citizens of the Ottoman Empire were killed or deported between 1915 and 1923.  The genocide of the Assyrians, Armenians and Greeks is known among Assyrians as the Seyfo Genocide referring to the Sword of Islam (Seyfo is Sword in Western Assyrian language).  Two out of three Assyrians perished during this period.

It was the obligation of the Ottoman Empire to protect the Assyrians and not to annihilate them. Instead a genocide was committed which almost eradicated an entire ethnicity, creating more than half a million martyrs and put tens of thousands to march towards uncertainty.

The Turkish state today, the true successor of the Ottoman Empire, is denying the genocide against Assyrians. The leaders of the Kurdish parties, who claim to represent the Kurdish people, are also carrying out the same denial policy.  Both Turks and Kurds are responsible for the genocide against the Assyrians and they are the reason for the complete destruction of the Assyrian society and its social, political, cultural and economical aspects.

The European Union's negotiations on the acceptance of Turkey's membership is totally at odds with the European Union's basic belief in democratic norms and humanitarian values.

As Assyrians we strongly believe that the EU will not disregard our rightful claims despite the strong political and economical reasons for the EU to accept Turkey as a member.

The Assyrian people, owners of civilisation and a history spanning thousands of years, ask the United Nations and especially the European Union to demand from Turkey to accept the following points before approving Turkeys membership application for membership in the EU:

1. That Turkey recognize and apologize for the genocide against the Assyrian people.
2. That Turkey is tried in the International Court in the Hague and other courts dealing with the International Rights and genocide issues.
3. That Turkey amend its constitution to include Assyrians as an indigenous minority with rights to live in their ancestral lands.
4. That Turkey amends its educational systems to give accurate and relevant information on Assyrians.
5. That Turkey compensate the Assyrian people economically and grant them the right to create a memorial site for the victims of the genocide in a place selected by the Assyrian people.
6. That Turkey return the confiscated properties of the Assyrians.
7. That destroyed villages, towns, churches and monasteries be rebuilt and that places be renamed with their true historical names. This applies even to property confiscated prior than the war between Kurds and Turks.
8. That Turkey grant Assyrians the right to return under the supervision of the EU.
9. That the "Treaty of Lausanne" from 1923 be amended to include Assyrians as a minority and that the treaty be further amended to fulfill the Copenhagen criteria.
10. That Turkey stop the illegal usage, sale and expropriation of the Assyrian property and return the Assyrian properties to village guardians or village chiefs, as is the case today.

Gov. of California Overlooks Assyrians in His Genocide Proclamation

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaims 23-29 April as the Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide, overlooking the death of over one million Assyrians and Greeks.

(ZNDA: Sacramento)  Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of the State of California, has proclaimed the week of April 23rd through April 29th as the Days of Remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.  In recognizing the Genocide, he urges all freedom-loving people in America and around the world to do the same.

Mr. Schwarzenegger's proclamation unexpectedly overlooks the killing of hundreds of thousands of Assyrians and Greeks during the same cataclysmic event and makes no mention of any victims other than the Armenians.

The Genocide of 1915, known among Assyrians as the Seyfo Genocide, was the Twentieth Century's first genocide in which two out of every three Assyrians perished due to mass killings, deportation, cold, and hunger until 1923.

Nuri Kino's "Assyriska" Wins Golden Palm

(ZNDA:  Los Angeles)  On 9 April the Sixth Annual Beverly Hills Film Festival awarded the Golden Palm Award for the "Best Film Competing in All Categories" to Nuri Kino and Erik Sandberg's film "Assyriska: A National Team Without a Nation.”

An emotional Nuri Kino accepts the prestigious "Golden Palm Award" at the 6th Annual Beverly Hills Film Festival on 9 April for Best Film in All Categories.

At this year's Beverly Hills Film Festival (BHFF) 40 films were competing.  The Festival, under the direction of Nino Simone, kicked off with the World Premiere of “Verso La Luna Con Fellini” (“Towards the Moon with Fellini”) on April 5th, at the Writers Guild Theater (135 South Doheny Drive) at 7:00 p.m.   The Festival culminated in the Awards Night Gala held at the Beverly Hills Hotel (9641 Sunset Blvd.) on April 9, 2006.

The Jury members included Mark Amin, chairman of the Lions Gate Films; Laura Lucio, Emmy Award-winning journalist; John Daly, producer (“The Last Emperor,” “Platoon”) and director (BHFF Golden Palm winner of 2005, “The Aryan Couple”); Arlene Donnelly Nelson, director (HBO’s “Naked States”) and cinematographer (“A Mighty Wind”), Lawrence Kubik, film producer; and Steven Paul, Crystal Sky, CEO and president.

The BHFF Jury judged for the following categories: Golden Palm Award (best film in all categories); Best Feature; Best Documentary; Best Short Film; Best Director of Photography; Best Editor; and the Golden Palm Screenplay Competition Award. Audience Choice Awards include Best Feature; Best Documentary; Best Short Film; Best Director; Best Male Performance; Best Female Performance; Best Producer; Best Screenplay; and Best Animation.

Nuri Kino is an award-winning Assyrian investigative journalist from Sweden who has worked on other film documentaries, chronicling the modern history of the Assyrians. 

The third episode of "Assyriska..." in a five-part documentary, shown twice at the BHFF, chronicles an Assyrian soccer team from the Swedish city of Södertälje as it achieves international stardom while also pushing Swedish and Turkish governments to recognize the “forgotten” Assyrian Genocide of WWI (click here).

Australian PM's Statement on the Assyrian New Year 6756

John Howard
Prime Minister of Australia
Canberra, Australia

1 April 2006

It gives me great pleasure to send my best wishes to all those attending the Assyrian New Year Festival.

As the Assyrian Australian community celebrates the New Year, with its symbolic meaning of the regaining of new life, we pray that the new year will be a prosperous time for all. The festivities provide a great opportunity for families and friends to embrace the Assyrian culture and honour this ancient tradition.

The Assyrian New Year Festival is also a time to reflect upon the Assyrian Australian community’s considerable participation in Australia’s cultural and economic achievements. Australia is a home to people from many different backgrounds, united by mutual respect and a common commitment to fairness and democratic values.

Cultural diversity is an intrinsic part of the Australian society and a unifying force for our nation.

Events such as this festival and the efforts of the Assyrian Australian community contribute to the pursuit of these important goals. I commend the Assyrian Australian Federation for their efforts in fostering a better understanding of the diverse traditions that enrich Australian society.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all attending the Assyrian New Year Festival hope for peace and prosperity in the new year.

ADO Statement on the Occasion of Syria’s Independence Day

For Immediate Release

ADO Political Bureau
Assyrian Democratic Organization
Syria
17 April 2006

Our Syrian people, with all political and national components, succeeded in liberating their country from the French colonizers and forcing them to evacuate; achieving full independence in the 17th of April 1947 . This has been accomplished because of the great struggle and sacrifices, as well as solidarity and unity of the Syrian people in confronting one of the toughest colonial powers in the 20th century .

Our Assyro-Syriac-Chaldean people, side by side with their Kurdish, Arab and Armenian brothers and other components of the Syrian society, played a significant role in achieving this independence . To mention but few names, known for their great patriotic spirit and resistance to the French occupation, we quote here the names of Patriarch Afram Barsom, Bishop Keriakes Tanourchi, Khouri Malke Afram and deputy Saeed Ishak, as well as many others who played a great part in resisting the occupation and foiling their plans and further laying the foundation for the national government.

Our founding fathers, in the course of their struggle, worked hard to consolidate the values of freedom, justice and equality, and build a modern state for all the citizens, dreamt to make their country a model to be followed in the region.  But the successive political elites after the independence were unable to enhance the values and ideals of independence and failed to achieve the national objectives, on top of these, building a secular, democratic system capable of transforming the country onto the age of modernity and growth. All these happened because of the subjection of the country –with few exceptions -to a revolutionary, totalitarian and ideological regimes that restricted freedoms, stifled the society and obstructed progress .

Sixty years after the independence, Syria is still suffering from political repression and the continuation of the state of emergency. The prisons are still full of political detainees, whereas poverty and unemployment is prevalent, the economic conditions are steadily worsening, and corruption is widespread. All the empty slogans that have been reiterated in the past years not only have failed to curb the situation from getting worse, but also have disregarded, sidelined the national issues and marginalized the role of the citizen in the society. Consequently, this policy has weakened the national bond and further stimulated sectarian and religious affiliations that has given way to confrontations and crises in the society whose clearest manifestations appeared in the bloody and serious clashes that has happened lately throughout the country.

No doubt, Syria is now at a very serious crossroad, and in order to safeguard its stability and independence, she is in need of a new approach, capable of dealing with the internal and external challenges and this can only be achieved by returning to the values and principles of the independence and leaving behind the totalitarian mentality that has stifled the society’s potentials and has excluded people from political participation and active public life .

This return can be done by meeting the following conditions :

1. Abolition of the emergency and martial laws as well as all the exceptional rules and courts
2. Releasing from prison all political and opinion prisoners
3. Closing the file of political detention once and for all, and lifting the bans imposed on political activities
4. Refraining from pursuing and harassing the opposition activists
5. Unleashing general freedoms
6. Drafting new democratic, modern laws for parties and elections that would guarantee a real and broader participation for all the Syrians in political life

But before this, the national unity should be restored and priority should be given to the Syrian national identity as a unifying factor that would bring together all the people with their diverse religious and national affiliations.  This should be constitutionally acknowledged, in addition to the recognition that the Assyrian Syriac Chaldean people are an indigenous component of the country .

Only this can safeguard the independence and the liberation of our occupied lands, build a new Syria, a final homeland for all its people and achieve progress and prosperity.

Finally, on this occasion we extend our congratulations and best wishes of prosperity and well-being to the Syrian people.

Sweets and Roses for Gunned Down Assyrian in Sydney

Courtesy of the Daily Telegraph
13 April 2006
By Kara Lawrence

(ZNDA: Sydney)  Ashur Audisho's young life was cut short before he could marry and start a family of his own.

So his funeral on 12 April was not only a show of grief but, in keeping with Assyrian tradition, a celebration of the wedding he never had.

Small wrapped sweets were thrown towards his coffin, and his father Arem and older brother Sargon waved white kerchiefs above the crowd as his coffin left the church.

Mr Audisho, 21, from Greenfield Park, was gunned down in an attack at Fairfield on Sunday night, the 9th of April.

About 600 mourners from the Assyrian community attended his funeral at St Zaia Cathedral in West Hoxton.

World with no sun … mourners weep at the funeral of Ashoor Audisho as his portrait is held aloft.  Throwing sweets and flowers onto the casket as it was carried from the church symbolised Mr Audisho's marriage to God and heaven, as he could not marry and raise a family in this life. Photo: Ben Rushton.

Mourners heard that Mr Audisho, as a child, had left war-torn Iraq with his family, moving to New Zealand and then to Sydney in 1999.

Police from Task Force Gain were at the church.  NSW detectives visited shops and community centres in Fairfield, asking for security camera footage from Sunday night's incident.

The fatal shooting has divided the city's Assyrian population, who fear the killer may be being protected by elements within the Assyrian community itself.

Ashur Audisho was gunned down after arguing with three men.  His father is a respected poet in Sydney's Assyrian community, offered a poem farewelling his son to the 1000 mourners.

Police believe an Assyrian crime syndicate, known as the Dlasthr gang and allegedly led by fugitive Ramon Youmaran, 27, may be linked to the killing.

The Dlasthr gang, whose members wear a distinctive clenched fist tattoo on their backs, has also been linked to a shooting murder at the Babylon Cafe in Fairfield in October last year and a 2002 murder outside a Sefton hotel.

Mr Youmaran himself narrowly escaped a police operation just seven weeks ago.

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Police saw Mr Youmaran in the passenger seat of a green Mercedes Benz and pursued the car along two of Sydney's major motorways, until fears for public safety forced them to abandon the chase. "People are afraid to tell where he is because they might end up dead, just like Ashur," said one woman, who asked not to be named.

Members of Ashur's family insist he was not involved in any gang activity. "I hope it won't be that he was killed by an Assyrian gang," Ashur's cousin Sharlin Audisho said.

"We Assyrians ran from Iraq to have a good life in Australia and now they turn on each other." Police said Ashur, whose family fled the country in 1991, had no criminal record and was not carrying a weapon.

"Unfortunately, it was a really beautiful funeral," one of Ashur's cousins, Sharlin Audisho, said.

"All the friends stood by and everyone put a rose on his coffin. As good as it was, it was a really sad occasion. Unfortunately, we lost him, because he was such a good person."

Ashur, from Greenfield Park, moved to Sydney in 1999 when he was pursuing a dream of becoming a disc jockey.

He joined the Holy Apostolic Catholic Church of the East at Saint Zaia a few months ago and was a popular member of its youth group.

His father, Arem, said at his funeral that the world had been thrown into darkness after his son was killed.

Mr Audisho read a poem entitled Life Without You to a packed congregation at the Saint Zaia Cathedral.

Mourners at the funeral crowded into doorways or listened from outside as Mr Audisho said that there was no sun or moon in the family's lives without Ashur.

"Wherever we go, we call your memories, we call Ashur, yet we have no reply," an English translation of the poem read.

"Every door we open, we find your beautiful face, we come to hug you, yet you disappear."

Dozens of Ashur's friends, many wearing his name on a black armband and carrying a single red rose, surrounded his coffin as it was led from the cathedral after the service.

Other family and friends followed the coffin, openly weeping, as it was driven to Forest Lawn Cemetery in nearby Leppington for burial.

Thousands Celebrate Akitu Festival in Australia

Courtesy of the Fairfield Advance
5 April 2006
By Brett Cox

From Left:  Rasha Yousif, Ramina Bityou and Atour Georges enjoy the festival as part of a youth dance.  Photo by Dave Swift.

(ZNDA: Fairfield)  A crowd of 7000 to 8000 people turned out for the Assyrian Festival at Fairfield City showground on Sunday, April 2nd.

Hermiz Shahen, secretary of the Assyrian Universal Alliance's Australia Chapter, said the day had been a great success and had provided the perfect opportunity for people of an Assyrian background to celebrate who they were.

“It is something that binds you to your past and your history,” he said. He said the festival was a way of recognising the contribution Assyrians had made to Australia and of calling for freedom for those still living in Iraq.

He said representatives of the federal and state governments and opposition parties spoke on the day.

The event included entertainment from singers, dancers, choir group, and musicians and culminated in a fireworks display at 8pm.

“The young people were dancing together and stamping the ground. It was really good,” Mr Shahen said.

“Then at the end of the day the 8000 people sat and watched the fireworks. It was beautiful.”
Mr Shahen praised police officers that attended the day and said that because of their hard work there was no trouble.

“I’d really like to make the point that the police did a great job,” he said.

Dr. Amir Harrak's ACSSU Lecture

A report by Alhan Oraha in Canada

Dr. Amir Harrak

We all take pride in having a very unique and rich history that has, and continues to play, a major role in shaping our lives. We, at the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac Student Union (ACSSU) of Canada, understand how crucial it is to be aware and knowledgeable of that history in order for us, as a nation, to construct informed views regarding our present and to build a brighter future – particularly in light of the issues facing our nation today. This realization led ACSSU, in conjunction with the Assyrian Society of Canada, to begin organizing a series of lectures covering various topics pertaining to our people.

The choice for our inaugural lecture was none other than one of our very own esteemed professors, Dr. Amir Harrak, who warmly, and kindly, accepted our invitation. Dr. Harrak is an Associate Professor of Aramaic and Syriac in the department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. He is very enthusiastic about what he teaches and very knowledgeable in his field.

The evening started with a short speech by ACSSU President Alda Benjamen welcoming Dr. Harrak and the attendees and thanking the Assyrian Society of Canada for supporting us. Following that ACSSU Media Advisor, Alhan Oraha, read a short background about Dr. Harrak, which introduced both the audience to him and highlighted his achievements. As one of Dr. Harrak’s students, Ms. Oraha was delighted to have the opportunity. Ramen Benjamin was the Master of Ceremony of the evening.

Dr. Harrak then began his lecture, entitled "A Defiant Culture: Syriac Art and Literature After 1400 AD", which demonstrated our culture to be truly defiant despite allegations about its demise in the second half of the last millennium. Some claims had marked the 13th century to be the end of Syriac literature. However, there are many Syriac writings dating back throughout 14th to the 20th centuries to challenge these claims. Some of these very writings are found inscribed on patriarchal tombs in churches and monasteries throughout many parts of Middle-East today, several of which still exist in Iraq as exemplified by Prof. Harrak. Other examples listed by

Dr. Amir Harrak holding the gift presented to him by ACSSU (L to R: front row: Ninara, Sandy, Mariam, Dr. Harrak, Alhan, Alda, Sargon. Back row: Lydia, Sargon, Ramen, Renya, Ashorina)

Prof. Harrak included several colophons; notes written at the end of a manuscript describing events occurring at the time they are written, and a very detailed book explaining Kurdish grammar and Biblical passages written in Syriac. Dr. Harrak also emphasized that our language had survived all hardships and it is shameful for us to begin to lose it now. He also asked our youth to pursue careers in teaching Syriac history to be able to academically pass the torch down to the following generations. After the lecture, a question-and-answer period allowed some of the audience to raise some very interesting questions, in turn answered by Dr. Harrak.

"Presented to Dr. Amir Harrak..."

The evening was concluded by presenting Dr. Harrak with a symbolic gift as a token of our appreciation for his time and support. The following stanzas by Mar Aprim (4th century) were engraved on the gift:

O God grant learning to him who loves learning
Make the teacher who teaches skillfully great in your kingdom
He who loves learning is ever diligent
But the one who loves idleness will never be studious

The impressive turnout and appreciative attendees were just further motivation for us to work even harder to serve our objectives in encouraging education, awareness and enlightenment of our culture, so rich with history and pride.

ADO Easter Greetings

For Immediate Release

ADO Political Bureau
Syria
15 April 2006

On the occasion of Easter, the Assyrian Democratic Organization extends its warmest greetings and congratulations to our Assyrian Syriac Chaldean people in the homeland and in the Diaspora, as well as to our national and religious establishments, wishing all success, happiness and well being.

It further extends special congratulations and appreciation particularly to our people in the bleeding Iraq, who despite the difficult and hazardous circumstances, they are still celebrating Easter as they celebrate, with their brothers and sisters all over the world, the First of April, challenging all forms of killing, kidnapping and terrorism, reaffirming their adherence to their ancestral lands and the homeland and sacrificing all for their existence and freedom.

Once again we congratulate our brothers and sisters on the occasion of this happy Easter, hoping that our people and establishments would draw from its symbolism represented by the pains, death and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as well as the meanings of sacrifice, love and hope, lessons and examples of unity, unity of stance and struggle for the sake of protecting their identity and legitimate rights on their ancestral homeland under a system based on democracy, freedom and the laws of human rights .

Happy Easter and best wishes to all our people.

Assyrian Imprisoned in Afghanistan, Has Plans to Return

Courtesy of the San Francisco Gate
18 April 2006
By Matthew B. Stannard

(ZNDA: Afghanistan)  As he walked from San Francisco's Ferry Building into the heart of the bustling downtown, Sargon Heinrich was still getting used to the feeling of freedom.

Freedom to walk past a white car without worrying that it would suddenly explode. Freedom from ubiquitous men carrying AK-47 assault rifles. Freedom to stroll down the street, drinking in the dust-free air, talking to whomever he chooses.

Oh -- and freedom from a Kabul jail cell, where the Bay Area entrepreneur -- who just turned 41 -- spent nearly two months before being acquitted of gun-smuggling charges he believes were a thinly veiled kind of extortion.

Sargon Heinrich, born in Chicago to a German father and an Assyrian mother.  Photo by Mike Kepka.

Now -- after surviving repeated interrogations, two trials and one bad night when Taliban prisoners came looking for him with sharpened sticks -- he's back at work, meeting with investors to prove he's still both alive and sane and getting ready to leave in a few weeks for a big overseas business trip.

Right back to Kabul, where all his troubles began.

"I'm back there in 20 days," he said. "Success for my partners, success for myself is going to be my best revenge for what came to pass."

But it's more than personal success Heinrich seeks. He sees his work overseas as a partner in a construction firm employing hundreds of Afghan workers as not just a profitable venture, but an essential part of the struggle against terrorism -- fighting hatred with opportunity.

"When people have food in their stomachs, they don't get filled in the mosques with all kinds of venom," he said. "Afghanistan is so much closer to where we want it to be than people think. It just takes a little, little more effort."

To Heinrich, returning to Kabul is not just a business trip -- it's a continuation of a professional and personal odyssey rooted in his childhood.

He was born in Chicago to a German father and an Assyrian mother who named him for the ancient ruler of a broad swath of the Middle East.

His father, at one point dean of students at UC Riverside, took a job at San Francisco's Bechtel Corp., and the young Sargon spent part of his youth in places like Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Dubai.

Moving to the Bay Area in 1984, Heinrich earned a bachelor's degree in political science and economics at St. Mary's College in 1986 and a master's in organizational development at the University of San Francisco in 1988.

Around the same time, he followed his father's path to Bechtel, where he spent 13 years -- once filling up two passports in one year, and moving to Kuwait after the first Gulf War to spend two years working in reconstruction and troubleshooting.

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When he left Bechtel in 1998, Heinrich took with him a long and varied resume and a conviction about the role U.S. businesses like Bechtel could play in the world.

"I have a very core belief that business has to be a force for good," he said.

"I call it the rubber-band effect. ... When one part of the world has progressed so far and another part has not progressed at all, that rubber band is either going to pull the backward people forward or it's going to pull the forward people backward."

Heinrich didn't get into that kind of business right away. He started a software company that he sold in 2001, and launched a holding company with diversified interests in media, high tech and retail.

But by the end of 2001, tired of dealing with lawyers, Heinrich's interests returned to the basics. At the same time, the Sept. 11 attacks returned his eyes to the link between commerce and international relations. He decided to get to business in war-torn Afghanistan.

"This is a four-pronged battle in Afghanistan," Heinrich said, beginning an explanation he offers with the ready words of frequent repetition.

"You've got the military side, which is a battle in itself for security. You've got the political side, which is a battle to keep a fledgling democracy going. ... There is an economic side, in which you're trying to build businesses so that people actually have futures and hope. And then there's a social side.

"I characterize myself as taking on the economic side."

At the time, a lot of the business in Afghanistan was big contract work, Heinrich said -- huge reconstruction projects financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Heinrich wanted to try a different tack.

"I said, ... 'I'm going to go to Afghanistan, I'm going to invest in a small company and I'm going to build a pure Afghan company, with the idea being I can leave in two years and it will last forever and employ a lot of people.' "

It seemed like a good plan. But the reality of Kabul when Heinrich arrived in February 2004 -- to a welcome wagon of guards rushing to dress him in body armor at the airport -- seemed daunting.

"I've lived and worked in 162 countries. And I've never seen anything like what I saw when I landed in Kabul," he said. "It's destitute and (has) a real medieval feeling. Like going back in time. That was my first impression."

Afghanistan seemed a country broken by 40 years without hope, Heinrich said -- a place where everybody seemed to be worried only about what they could get from you here, now, and forget about the future.

It was an impression quickly counterbalanced, he said, by his new business partner, Habib -- for security reasons, Heinrich declined to give his partner's last name or the name of their company in Afghanistan.

"When I met him, I was really just bowled over by the enthusiasm," he said -- and impressed by the maturity his new partner showed despite his mere 25 years of age.

"I could see he had really moved far from hauling gravel in the back of a rented car and selling it, to building a drywall company to starting a construction company," Heinrich said. "He was the only person I ever met who reinvested in his company. ... I got to see the opposite side of Afghanistan."

For a while, Heinrich said, things went great -- tapping back into his experience with startups and reconstruction, he and Habib soon landed contracts ranging from constructing the interiors of Kabul's first five-star hotel to building bases for NATO and private security firms.

The work quickly employed 120 Afghans and was soon profitable, with some fat contracts -- like the one in October that brought in a $250,000 deposit to a Kabul bank.

Two days later, Heinrich said, 40 armed men -- police, about half in uniforms -- burst into the hotel restaurant where he was sitting down for a game of dominoes with fellow expatriate businessmen.

Sargon Heinrich spent nearly two months in a Kabul prison, before being acquitted of gun-smuggling charges. Photo, 2005, by Claudio Von Planta.

"None of them had badges," Heinrich said. "And they started rounding everybody up and beating the hell out of them. ... I had a gun put in my mouth. It was a pretty rough night."

It wasn't clear what the men wanted, Heinrich said. One asked him where the guns were, and he handed over a holstered pistol that a U.N. pilot had insisted Heinrich take after an incident in Iraq where a helicopter was shot down and the survivors killed.

"Is this it?" they asked. "That's it," he said. They took him away.

"We were brought in and interrogated for three days where nobody knew where we were," Heinrich said. "Three days in a police station, interrogation rooms, sleeping in a chair, handcuffed. It wasn't pleasant."

Then came the demands for money for his release, beginning with a demand for $250,000 -- a figure he found to be an interesting match to his company's recent deposit -- then lower figures. Heinrich said he refused to pay, telling the police he was a "nonperforming asset" best divested.

"I couldn't live with myself if I had paid," he said. "What kind of example am I setting for the company that we're trying to build if I had paid?"

Eventually, the international community -- law enforcement, business associates, the embassies -- learned where Heinrich was being held along with three other businessmen, two Englishmen and an Indian. But the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan -- which declined to comment on the case, citing federal privacy laws -- was in a difficult situation, he said.

"I always sympathized with them," he said. "They didn't know if I was guilty or not guilty. ... They weren't there to get me out of jail."

Still, as days stretched into weeks, there were times he wondered if he could hold out. The other prisoners were beaten and interrogated with electric shock, he said, and he narrowly escaped being killed by a group of Taliban prisoners who came for him two days before his trial, beating on his door with sharpened wooden sticks.

Finally, after 56 days and two trials, the charges against Heinrich were dropped for lack of evidence by a judge who chastised the prosecution for legal errors and illegal detention and said he was taking the expatriates' goals of helping Afghanistan into consideration.

But to be freed, Heinrich was told, an Afghan would have to provide his bail until the prosecution decided if it would appeal. Habib, his young partner, and Habib's family combined their property assets for the bail, he said.

"They take you being their responsibility very seriously. They consider me part of the family," he said. "On multiple occasions, (Habib's) 87-year-old father requested that he be put in jail and have them let me out."

The three men incarcerated with Heinrich received suspended sentences and fines for possessing unlicensed firearms and reportedly have been released. Heinrich is scheduled for a final appearance before Afghanistan's Supreme Court in May to make the acquittal permanent, he said -- a court date he plans to make, partly to ensure that Habib's family does not lose his bail.

In the run-down prosecutor's office near Kabul's chaotic central courts, Heinrich's prosecutor, Haji Bahlol, insisted that his original case was strong and legitimate, but added that while the case remained with the appeal court, he expected Heinrich to remain free.

"I suggest that in the case of Heinrich they will forgive him with the time that he has already served for possessing a gun illegally," he said. "I think that because of their relationship with the international community, the court has asked for them to be released."

Even without the legal issue, Heinrich said, he would return to Afghanistan. For despite the danger and scorn from those who decry Bechtel and its like as war profiteers, he believes that U.S. business can help defuse global tension.

"We're in a struggle that is global, and it really affects every American. Every person I employ is another person that is not going to pick up arms against American soldiers," he said. By the end of the year, he hopes to double the number of Afghans his companies employ to 800.

It's a struggle, Heinrich believes, that cannot be waged with mailed checks and phone calls, but has to be waged with boots on the ground -- boots belonging to soldiers, civilians and entrepreneurs.

"There's a lot of mothers and fathers losing their children in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have to sacrifice. There are a lot of people who aren't these big mega 'war profiteers' who are investing there. There are a lot of Afghan Americans who are going back there and risking their lives," Heinrich said.

"We all risk. It's a question of what we risk for."

Down to 6 Finalists... 'Assyrian Superstar'

Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune
21 April 2006
By Robert K. Elder

(ZNDA: Chicago)  Yousip Bet Rasho has never seen "American Idol." The Chicago-based singing competition "Assyrian Superstar" that he executive produces was inspired by "Lebanese Superstar," which he saw during a visit to Beirut in 2004.

For years, Rasho -- director of Chicago's Assyrian Media Center -- has promoted local musicians but had difficulty cultivating a new generation of Assyrian singers.

"This is going to solve the problem," Rasho says he thought after visiting Beirut. "We had to push the singers to do something new."

Or, at least, something tried and true.

Like Britain's "Pop Idol" and its across-the-pond sister, "American Idol," "Assyrian Superstar" pits contestants against one another in front of voting audiences and three judges. All the songs are performed in Assyrian, a modern version of Aramaic, the language scholars say Jesus of Nazareth spoke.

For Assyrians -- predominantly Christians from modern-day Iran, Iraq and Syria -- Chicago is "Hollywood," says "Superstar" executive producer Ather Daniel Yokany.

Rasho says there's even an Assyrian saying: "If a singer can't make it in Chicago, he can't make it anywhere else -- not even back home in Iraq."

Though 14,000 Cook County residents checked "Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac" on the 2000 Census, community leaders estimate the population to be as high as 100,000.

Chicago has produced some of the most famous Assyrian singers, including Sargon Gabriel, often called "the Assyrian Elvis Presley."

The finals, being held Friday at the Assyrian National Council in Skokie, will narrow the field to one superstar, who will have a CD produced and pressed by Prestige International Recording. The winner will be announced at a grand finale May 27.

"The Assyrian Superstar Committee was founded really to preserve and protect the Assyrian culture worldwide," Yokany says. "The Assyrian song contains our music, poems, the unique rhythms . . . and we're losing that."

Finals will be held on Friday at 7 pm at the Assyrian National Council at 9131 Niles Center Rd., Skokie.  Tickets: $20 at the door.  The winner will be announced at a final show May 27, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.  For more information: www.assyriansuperstar.com.