When They Return Home

Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
~Benjamin Franklin

Recently, a package arrived at our office in Washington D.C.  It contained an American flag, a letter, and the certificate shown above.   The letter was from Chicago.  It read: "Please find an American Flag that my brother, Lt. Colonel Dan P. Dagher, flew over Iraq on Flag Day, June 14th.  As the mission ended well after midnight, they printed the certificate the next morning.  My brother wanted to make sure Zinda Magazine receives this.  Keep spreading the truth."

Pfc. Christopher T. Riviere,21, killed 9/26/06, while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in Anbar Province.

The text of the certificate shown above reads:  "This is to certify that on 15 June 2006, this American flag was flown on a C-130 Hercules combat missions over Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to all of these locations:  Balad, Qayarrah West, Tall Afar and Al Taqaddum, Iraq.  This flag represents our dedication and steadfast devotion to duty in the fight against Global Terrorism.  This flag is presented to Zinda Magazine by Lt. Col Dan P. Dagher, Commander, 777 EAS, Dueling Dragons.  LSA Anaconda, Balad Air Base, Iraq.  In Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pfc. Nathan J. Frigo, 23, Killed when a makeshift bomb exploded near his vehicle in Baqubah.

The certificate is signed by Major Jeffrey A. Grimes, USAF (Aircraft Commander); Senior Sergeant Darrell R. Forbes, USAF (Loadmaster); Major James D. Pederson, USAF (Co-Pilot); Master Sergeant Philip M. McQuade, USAF (Flight Engineer); First Lt Brian J. Robinson, USAF (Navigator); and SrA Joshua P. Thompson, USAF (Loadmaster).

Both the American Flag and the Certificate adorn a wall of an interior Zinda office in Washington.  Next to these are an Assyrian flag, a calligraphic depiction of the word "Zinda" in Assyrian by Master Essa Benyamin, and several ancient and modern maps of Assyria.  They all point to a single moment in future when the truth, courage, and vision of the early fathers of Mesopotamia and the liberators of Iraq align in the time-space continuum of history and materialize into a new reality called "Assyria", born of dreams and determination.

To date some 50,000 American servicemen have been killed or injured serving in the military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.  Over 2830 of them were killed in Iraq.  How many of us would be willing to volunteer to be flown to a foreign land and sacrifice our lives, the lives of our loved ones at home, so that a people of another faith and creed are saved from the fangs of their dictators?  Most of us will not.  But many in America and dozens of other countries did.  They are still serving in Iraq and every day many of them are killed in the line of duty.  Then how much more should we be wiling to sacrifice knowing that this land and these people are what we left behind.  We, too, must act!

Chief Warrant Officer John R. Priestner, 42, killed on 11/6/06 as this editorial was beging prepared; of injuries suffered when an AH-64 Apache helicopter crashed.

The time to dream has come to an end.  With every minute of our indifference 14-year-old sons of Assyria are kidnapped and beheaded and school girls are snatched away from their mothers, cruelly raped and then their beaten bodies thrown in front of their fathers' stores.  This is the result of our apathy and our silence.  When we could speak and write, we kept quiet.  Damn these editorials a thousand times if none of my readers are moved to action.  What then I ask is the purpose of a television program, a newspaper, and an Internet magazine if they cannot galvanize a nation to unite in a single voice and fly the banner of Assyrian nationalism?

Many of our Zinda readers are American soldiers in Iraq.  They have lived among the Assyrian people, know of "Christian Iraqis", and have come in contact with "the Ashouries".  They send us photographs of themselves eating at Assyrian events, praying in Assyrian churches, playing baseball with the Assyrian boys, and my favorite - dancing our circle dances.  They ask questions about our history, how to say "I love you" in Assyrian, the significance of our rituals, and even about our desire to have photos of themselves taken with Assyrians.

What will happen after these soldiers leave Iraq and the American pilots no longer fly over Balad, Baghdad, and Baquba?

The package we received one October afternoon was a precious gift from an Assyrian-American soldier who believes in his purpose in Iraq and in the future of his people.   The American flag was flown over Bet-Nahrain.  The flag that will not be permanently flown over the homeland of Assyrians. 

The package was more than a gift.  It was also a forecast of future, a prognostication most of us continue to ignore.  Because of this, many of our Assyrian sisters and brothers will continue to pay dearly with their lives in Iraq.  Unless we act now!

Mass Burial of 1915 Genocide Victims Discovered in Turkey

Courtesy of the PanArmenian News
4 November 2006

(ZNDA: Mardin)  Turkish Gendarmerie (police) has instructed local villagers of a southeastern town to keep silence about a mass grave, discovered on October 17, that might contain remains of the 1915 genocide.

According to a Kurdish newspaper, Ulkede Ozgur Gundem, published in Turkish, villagers from Xirabebaba (Kuru) were digging a grave for one of their relatives when they came across a cave full of skulls and bones of reportedly 40 people.

The Xirabebaba residents assumed they had uncovered a mass grave of 300 Armenian villagers massacred during the Genocide of 1915. They informed Akarsu Gendarmerie headquarters, the local military unit.

Turkish army officers, according to the Kurdish newspaper, instructed the villagers to block the cave entrance and make no mention of the remains buried in it. The officers said an investigation would take place. The newspaper reported on the developments and the Turkish military's attempt to hide the news. Journalists, who had arrived to obtain more information, were denied access to the cave.

As the mass burial made news, local Gendarmerie made another visit to the villagers. The latter were pressed to report the name of the person who leaked the mass burial discovery to the press.

The villagers were warned not to show anyone directions to the cave.

The victims of the mass grave, according to Sodertorn University History Professor David Gaunt, most likely consist of 150 Armenian and 120 Assyrian males from the nearby town of Dara (now Oguz) killed on 14 June 1915, reports Asbarez.

Four Assyrians Killed in Mosul and Baghdad

14-Year Old Boy Beheaded for Carrying a Christian ID

As reported on Ankawa.com

(ZNDA: Baghdad)  On 29 October, Mr. Marvin Emmanuel Khazmi, 22, was kidnapped in Baghdad and his body was found the next day at the mortuary with a bullet in the head.

Mr. Khazmi was a third year student at the University of Baghdad, College of Agriculture.

On the same day in Mosul another Christian, Ziyad Abdulla Ajaj, also 22, was murdered in the Christian quarters of al Sa'aa by a group of armed men as he left home on his way to work.

Ayad Tariq, 14. was the sole provider for his family.  His father was too old and weak to work for his family of 6 sons and two daughters.  Ayad was forced to quit school, and instead to work and provide for his family.  He had a simple job.  All he had to do was to turn on and off an electric generator and attend to it while on his 12 hours shift.

On Saturday 21 October, around 6:00 a.m., while Ayad was just about to enter the premises of his fenced work area, a group of Islamist extremists confronted him and asked for his ID. When they discovered that he was a Christian, they began to scream "kafir, kafir" (Arabic infidel). They push him to the ground, holding each of his arms and legs and a fifth man held his head, put the knife to his neck and cut Ayad's throat while screaming "Allah Akbar. Allah Akbar" (God is Great).

Concern Expressed about Iraqi Minority Religious Groups

Courtesy of Ekklesia
10 November 2006

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan, independent federal agency, has written to Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky to express concern about the dire situation of members of Iraqi religious minority groups that have fled their country, particularly ChaldoAssyrians and Sabean Mandaeans.

"The Commission urges Under Secretary Dobriansky to create new or expand existing options for allowing members of Iraq's ChaldoAssyrian and Sabean Mandaean religious minority communities to access the US refugee programme, and to urge UNHCR to resume full refugee status determinations for all Iraqi asylum seekers and assess all claims without delay," said USCIRF Chair Felice D. Gaer.

"The United States has not made direct access to the US Refugee Programme available to Iraqi religious minorities, taking the position that ChaldoAssyrians and Sabean Mandaeans are subject to generalized violence in Iraq. This position is not supported by the facts."

Iraqi ChaldoAssyrians and Sabean Mandaeans represent approximately 40% of the refugees who have fled Iraq over the past three years, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), although they constitute less than 3% of the Iraqi population. Numbering approximately 500,000, these refugees are dispersed through Jordan, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.

USCIRF noted in its 2006 Annual Report that "minority communities, including Christian Iraqis, are forced to fend for themselves in an atmosphere of impunity, and lack any tribal or militia structure to provide for their security.

The result is that members of these communities continue to flee the country in the face of violence, in an exodus that may mean the end of the presence in Iraq of ancient Christian and other religious minority communities that have lived on those same lands for 2,000 years."

Kanna Joins Baghdad Delegation for Reconciliation Conf.

Members of the Iraqi National reconciliation delegation, Iraqi Parliamentary Yonadam Kanna, left, and Faleh Fayyad head of the delegation, second left, Iraqi Ambassador to Jordan Saad Al-Hayany, second right, and Nasser Al-Ani, right, sit together during their meeting with representatives of the Iraqi insurgents at the Iraqi Embassy in Amman, Jordan, Monday, Oct. 30, 2006. (AP Photo/Nader Daoud).

(ZNDA: Amman)  On 30 October a delegation of Iraqi parliamentarians which included Mr. Yonadam Kanna, met with a newly formed group of Iraqi political activists in the Jordanian capital and agreed to hold a national reconciliation conference in November.

The conference will take place on November 15 in Baghdad under the auspices of the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

The movement was formed by both Sunni and Shiite Muslims, and includes Iraqi politicians, former military officers, former leaders of Saddam's Baath party, intellectuals and tribal chiefs representing most of Iraq's ethnic and religious factions.

Created in Amman in August, it is headed by prominent tribal leader Hamid al-Gaoud of Anbar province — where many insurgents are based — and aims at helping maintain Iraq's unity and ending the bloodshed.

Choosing the Right Policy for Assyrian National Rights in Iraq

Part II

“Sometimes I wonder whether Assyrians deserve a political party. They are happier with their churches keeping them separate, singing songs of the Umta and the Eta, happy having to sing Saddam Hussein’s name one day, the next day, for Sarkis Aghajan, and forever dancing and celebrating that Kurds have half our land, the Arabs the other half, and we go on, kha reesha’d khigga,[1]celebrating our separateness while the Patriarchs retain their seats of power. And if a political party DARE come along to ruin this order of things…”[2]

The policy idea and background

The Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) began in Iraq 1979. The budding political party began underground activities to create a nationalist movement among Assyrians in the then Ba’athist Iraq – risking their lives. They made many alliances, many partnerships, many enemies, and many decisions – many of them wrong in hindsight, some of them mismanaged. Regardless of their internal fighting and problems, the ADM maintained its identity and now they have managed – with the help of Diaspora Assyrians – to put a representative, Yonadam Kanna, in the Iraqi Parliament. In Baghdad in October 2003, a conference was sponsored by the ADM and the Assyrian Democratic Organization of Syria. Present were; Chaldean Bishops, the Assyrian Patriotic Party, Representatives of the Maronite Patriarch, Assyrian and Chaldean-Assyrian Delegations from Europe, Canada, San Jose, Detroit, Chicago, the Assyrian Liberation Movement, Assyrian delegations from Syria, Australia and Iran. They met to discuss the future of the Assyrians in Iraq after the “liberation” – of all denominations. For reference, here are some of the resolutions that came from the “Chaldean Assyrian Syriac” conference:

• The conference stressed unity of Iraq
• The conference stressed: “Unity of our people regardless of all the appellations currently in circulation as ‘Chaldean Assyrian Syriac’ since they are the names of one entity that we revere and are proud of”
• “The Conference highlighted the importance of concurrence on one unified national appellation that is consistent with our situation in Iraq. The participants agreed on the appellation ‘ChaldoAssyrian’ to designate our people and the appellation ‘Syriac’ to designate our language and culture.
• The Conference stressed the need for “an Administrative Region for our people in the Nineveh Plain with the participation of other ethnic and religious groups, where a special law will be established for self-administration…”

This sums up some of the policies of the ADM agreed upon by major players of Assyrians from all denomination backgrounds.

What is the ADM (Zowaa) doing now?

Seemingly, the ADM has been working toward the goal of the administrative unit since the resolution in 2003. In reality, they have not offered a public platform on the issue. They tried and succeeded in getting approval from the Iraqi Minister of the Interior to create a police force in the Nineveh Plains made up of Assyrians and Shabaks, replacing KDP police forces from outside of the area. The Kurds managed to block the effort.

The Assyrian Democratic Movement is, apparently, working “behind the scenes” for the Nineveh Plains, careful of their “timing” in the unstable region, not wanting to – apparently – incur the wrath of the Kurds who have their eye on the region and want to annex it to Kurdistan.

The Policy Strengths

It is difficult to discuss the policies of the ADM since they are unclear. Rather, I would like to discuss the actual party itself.

Mobilization of the youth:

One of the strengths of Zowaa is its ability to mobilize the youth - in this they have spent their time and money very wisely.  They have rallied young Assyrians to be either pro-Zowaa or anti-Zowaa - not a single other party, person, or Patriarch has managed to mobilize the youth and get them excited and interested in events in the homeland the way that Zowaa has.  In my brief observations, it seems that much of the youth - at least in North America, leans in favor of the party, while the ones that do not either place their religious identity over their ethnic one (therefore making them more involved in what Patriarchs are doing) or simply have family that lean towards one side so they go with the trend.  However, there is one trend that is undeniable: I have met plenty of youth who dissent with their anti-Zowaa families and support the ADM:  I have yet to meet youth who dissent with their pro-Zowaa families and work vehemently against the ADM.  There may be some, but they are outnumbered the other way. The future, it seems, will belong to Zowaa, and they invested wisely.

The best idea for the Nineveh Plains Administrative Unit…we think...

Since the declaration of an autonomous administrative region for Assyrians in 2003, ADM has made little public relations effort to show just exactly how they plan to achieve this goal. In the last two weeks, Assyrians around the world heard from two ADM members; Galawesh Hanna, one of the ADM representatives in the KRG, and Pascale Warda, respond to recent announcements by Kurdish Government Ministers (specifically Sarkis Aghajan) that the Nineveh Plains should go to Assyrians, but be tied to Arbil – an interesting declaration since the Nineveh Plains does not belong to the Kurds, and it is strange and suspicious that a regional government believe it can negotiate sovereign Iraqi land into their territory over and above the heads of the central government…strange and suspicious indeed.

Ms. Hanna and Ms. Warda both proclaimed the desire of the Assyrians in Iraq to have an autonomous unit tied to Baghdad, not the KRG. Ms. Hanna made clear in her short interview on ankawa.com that while the ADM respect their neighbors, Assyrians have every right for an autonomous state within Iraq – not within “ Kurdistan”.

Ms. Warda said similar things in an interview with Jackie Bejan on Ashur T.V. – in the words of Jackie Bejan, “why be a piece of a piece, when we can be a piece of the WHOLE?” I would like to underscore that the most vocal of the ADM in recent weeks, it seems, are female representatives.

So, it seems, the ADM is still adamant about the Nineveh Plains as an Autonomous Administrative Unit, although the absence of the Secretary General’s opinions is suspicious and politically un-savvy.

Critical presence in Iraq with dedicated members, regardless of disagreements with the current General Secretary:

Put quite simply, the support of the Diaspora and the sheer number of ADM members and supporters in Iraq were enough to help them win a seat in the Iraqi Parliament. None of the other Assyrian Parties (Bet-Nahrain Democratic Party, Assyrian Patriotic Party, Assyrian Liberation Party, etc.) have any type of real presence or support in Iraq. As a matter of fact, the BNDP, one of the larger Diaspora parties, was started outside of Iraq, in the U.S., with the intent of creating a “Diaspora Government” that would one day be transplanted to govern the Mosul Region. How, when, and with what army they were planning on achieving this goal is unknown to this author.

The ADM is a working political party with internal problems – such as bad PR and discontent with the current Secretary General – but Secretary Generals come and go. The ADM is determined to stay, and they by far are the most recognized Assyrian party among non-Assyrians in the world (to the Iraqis and Western Media, mainly).

The Policy and Party Weaknesses and Criticism

Zowaa’s silence is their biggest weakness. Their policy – if it is to gain the Nineveh Plains, is a good one – if we knew that’s what it was. It is understandable that Assyrians are trying to negotiate without anything in their corner, and understandable that the ADM does not want to disclose all of their strategy, which is perfectly legitimate. This silence, however, on taking ANY sort of public stand, is hurting the ADM more than they may think.  When the other side is talking, and the ADM stays silent, people will start to listen with those with the loudest voice - even if that voice speaks rubbish.

Accountability:

It seems that the ADM doesn’t have any. What separates the ADM from Sarkis Aghajan (and other Kurdish appointed Assyrians) and the clergy of the churches is a pivotal difference:  Assyrians can voice their opinions to the ADM on what they do wrong, and we can demand accountability.  The others must be followed blindly, as Patriarchs are believed to be infallible and Sarkis Aghajan works for Barzani, not Assyrians.  The ADM has a distinct quality - the ability to be independent and proactive according to the needs of Assyrians, and the people have the right to react to the ADM. Give and you shall receive - stay silent and secretive and eventually you will fade away.  Answering critics isn't hard - to the contrary, being open about your plans and platform will begin making critics look spiteful and jealous rather than right.  It's fairly easy to do.

The ADM in Diaspora:

The ADM in North America has caused much damage to the reputation of the ADM in Iraq, and unfortunately they cannot be separated. They have the reputation of being closed, unresponsive to criticism, and being involved with church issues – something the leadership may not represent, but did little to diffuse the situation. In the interest of the ADM, a major criticism is to reign in ADM representatives in the Diaspora and get them on message.

The “name”:

It is the fault of the ADM for the complete failure to make clear what the use of the name "ChaldoAssyrian" was, and for allowing thoughtless and irresponsible Diaspora organizations adopt the name with the ADM’s (seeming) blessing. The ADM and others at the 2003 Baghdad Conference came up with ChaldoAssyrian, with the full support of Assyrians and Chaldean-Assyrians present, including Bishops, for the purpose of legal jargon and census taking, so that while we continued the name issue internally, external factors, like Kurds and Arabs, would not be able to split us up and claim Assyrians "Made a majority nowhere" and therefore could not have their own state.  It has happened before.

Failure to make the name issue clear to the Diaspora - the fact that we would never change our name from "Assyrian" anymore than Chaldeans would change their name to Assyrian - led people to believe the ADM was bowing to the Catholics, rather than learning from the mistakes of our ancestors and nipping the "name" problem in the bud.  But again, those who did not know better attacked, claiming the ADM was changing the Assyrian identity.  And now, the Iraqi Constitution now says "Assyrian, Chaldean. Syriac".  In a last ditch effort, many organizations have realized that "oh, right, I suppose it is necessary that we include Chaldeans and Syriacs when discussing land rights...I guess we can just say 'AssyrianChaldeanSyriac' to nip the name problem in the bud".  Foolish, and too late.  But the fact that no one understood what the ADM was doing was 50% the fault of Assyrians for not having the foresight to see its necessity, and 50% of the ADM for not launching an aggressive campaign to educate the Assyrian public this was no threat to their identity: it was a "free" weapon against those external forces that would love to separate us by religion and therefore not grant us land.

Policy Suggestions – Countering the weaknesses

Increase visibility and PR.  Much of the opposing political parties are trying to "change the subject" from the Nineveh Plains because they have a fear that the ADM will someday be given credit for gaining an Assyrian area.  It is a mistake Assyrians have made continuously in the last century - "Either I am the one who does it, or no one else can".  It has landed us in the position we are in today - scattered around the world, fighting with each other, and vying for political power not for the good of the nation, but for the good of ourselves.  I would say the same about the ADM, did I now know that employees of the ADM work for almost nothing, refuse to be bought by their former Kurdish allies, and live each day risking their lives and the livelihood of their families to do what they can for the Assyrians of Iraq.  Members of the ADM have nothing to gain and everything to lose - even their reputations to hard-hearted Assyrians in the West, and they stay, and they work, and they refuse to stop.  The Assyrians in Iraq, fortunately, support the ADM more than some Diaspora Assyrians like to admit, but there are many others who have fed into the "spin cycle" of bastardizing and discrediting more than 30 years of work.

Since the conference in 2003 brought about the resolution of the Nineveh Plains Administrative Unit (and hence the rhetoric began in the West) the ADM has made even some of their staunchest supporters incredibly angry and disappointed.  Reason and logic in the Diaspora Assyrians has been replaced by hatred and spitefulness.  And the ADM has allowed it to happen.  It is the fault of the ADM.

It does not matter how difficult it is to maneuver politically in Iraq.  Some information regarding ADM plans MUST come out, and they must start answering the babble.  It is a wonderful start that Galawesh Hanna, the ADM rep in the KRG said in an interview last week that while it was lovely that Sarkis Aghajan is asking for an Assyrian state, the disclaimer that it be in Kurdistan is not acceptable.  This should have been the Secretary General's speech the very following day.

It is wonderful that Pascale Warda met with US officials and openly discussed a Kurd-separate Assyrian autonomous region in Iraq, and came to speak to American Assyrians to promote investment in their native land to help them in their (quest) for the Nineveh Plains. It should have been followed with a Press Release from the General Secretary.

It is clear, as it has always been with the Assyrian nation, that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, to parties/people/Patriarchs actions.  The ADM is not doing a good enough job of making it very clear to Assyrians - everywhere - that this is not a game of "who gets bragging rights for saving the Assyrian nation".  This is a civil war in Iraq, a chaotic Iraq, an Iraq with the world's focus on it, an Iraq who has opened herself to opportunity for Assyrians in the first real way since the 1915 genocide - as a matter of fact, even more now.  This is Assyrians vs. Kurds vs. Arabs - not in a warlike manner - but in a "we need to survive among each other" manner.  Assyrians have nothing and they are asking for something. The ADM would not have a seat in the Iraqi Parliament were it not for Diaspora Assyrians – our support matters. You need our help. We need your silence to be broken.

Notes:

1  An Assyrian dance
2  From a conversation this author overheard between two Assyrian men

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A Lamassu Productions Project

Bishops, Commission Plead for help for Iraqi Christians

Say half a million have fled their homes because of Muslim attacks

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal agency, has asked government officials to address the "dire situation" facing members of Iraqi religious minorities who have fled their country, especially the Chaldo Assyrians and the Sabean Mandaeans.

Officials said the letter went to Under Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, and followed by just a few days an earlier expression of concern over the same issue by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Policy, whose members wrote Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

The Iraqi Christians are facing, officials said, beheadings, rapes, crucifixions, and other torture.

"The Commission urges Under Secretary Dobriansky to create new or expand existing options for allowing members of Iraq's Chaldo Assyrian and Sabean Mandaean religious minority communities to access the U.S. refugee programme, and to urge (the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) to resume full refugee status determinations for all Iraqi asylum seekers and assess all claims without delay," said Felice D. Gaer, the chairwoman of the USCIRF.

Iraqi ChaldoAssyrians and Sabean Mandaeans represent approximately 40 percent of the refugees who have fled Iraq over the past three years, according to the UNHCR, even though they make up less than three percent of the Iraqi population. Half a million have gone into Jordan, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon.

USCIRF said in its 2006 annual report that "minority communities, including Christian Iraqis, are forced to fend for themselves in an atmosphere of impunity, and lack any tribal or militia structure to provide for their security."

The result is that members of these communities continue to flee the country in the face of violence, in an exodus that may mean the end of the presence in Iraq of ancient Christian and other religious minority communities that have lived on those same lands for 2,000 years.

A car bombing with a dozen fatalities, a priest beheaded and a teenager crucified – all recent attacks against the historically Christian Assyrians in Iraq – also recently prompted the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on International Policy to seek help from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

"We deplore the sectarian violence engulfing the Shi'ai and Sunni communities in Iraq," that letter said. "We are especially and acutely aware of the deliberate violence perpetrated against Christians and other vulnerable minorities."

The attacks have left the Christian population there, estimated at about 1.2 million before the war, in the range of about 600,000 now, officials said.

"The growing and deliberate targeting of Christians is an ominous sign of the breakdown in Iraqi society of civil order and inter-religious respect and represents a grave violation of human rights and religious liberty."

The bishops committee noted a recent beheading of a Syriac Orthodox priest in Mosul, the crucifixion of a Christian teenager in Basra, the frequent kidnappings for ransom of Christians including four priests – one of whom was the secretary of Patriarch Delly, the rape of Christian women and teenage girls, and the bombings of churches.

All those attacks are "indicators" that the situation has reached a crisis point, the committee said, which said it would like to see a new "administrative region" in the Nineveh Plain Area that would "provide Christians and other minorities with greater safety and offer more opportunity to control their own affairs with assistance from the Central government."

A review of the economic reconstruction aid as well as the refugee policies also could ease some of the problems, the bishops said in a letter signed by Bishop Thomas G. Wenski of Orlando, Fla.

The Assyrian International News Agency said the attacks "escalated explosively" during the recent Muslim Ramadan events, with the contending parties Shia-Muslims, Sunni-Muslims and Kurds.

"In the middle of the chaos … there is another war, or to be correct a hunt, going on. The ones that are being hunted are the defenseless Christians," the report said.

Such instances:

On Oct. 4, 2006, a car bomb detonated in a Christian area and killed nine people. Among the killed was Georges Zara, member of the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac National Council.

Father Paulos Eskandar, of Mor Afrem Syriac Orthodox Church, was kidnapped on Oct. 9, 2006, by fanatic Muslims. Two days later the Muslims had decapitated the priest. They did this although the Christians fulfilled their demands by posting a text on the church doors that condemned the pope's statement about Islam.

A 14-year-old boy was murdered in a barbaric manner in Albasra. He was crucified and after that the barbarians stabbed the boy in the stomach, just as it was done to Jesus.

On Oct. 21, 2006, in Baquba a group of veiled Muslims attacked a workplace where a 14-year-old boy named Ayad Tariq worked. The men asked the boy for his identity card. After seeing in his identity card that he was Christian the men asked Ayad whether he was a "dirty Christian sinner." Ayad answered: "Yes, I am Christian, but I am not a sinner." The rebels yelled that he was a dirty Christian sinner and continued to grab him and to scream "Allahu, Akbar! Allahu, Akbar!" After this Muslim ritual they decapitated him in the most brutal and disgusting way, the report said.
The news agency said the Christians in the region speaking Aramaic, profess Christ and are the only indigenous people of Iraq, having lived in their ancestral lands in North Iraq since 5000 B.C.

The report said they've lived for centuries under severe persecution by Muslims, and since 630 A.D. there have been about 30 recorded episodes of genocide against Assyrians by Muslims.

Today, it continues, the report said:

Sept. 25, 2006: Two Assyrian churches attacked in North Iraq in response to Pope's speech

Sept. 24, 2006: St. Mary's Cathedral in Baghdad, home of the Patriarch, is bombed

Jan. 29, 2006: Four Assyrian churches bombed in Baghdad

Nov. 29, 2005: Joseph Nabil Ishmael and George Brikha Youkhana are shot and killed in North Iraq

Sept. 23, 2005: 4 Assyrians Killed in Assassination Attempt on Former Iraq Assyrian Minister

Sept. 13, 2005: Anita Tyadors is brutally murdered by Muslim extremists in North Iraq

Aug. 27, 2005: Nabil Akram Amona murdered By Kurdish militia in North Iraq

March 24, 2005: Zahra Ashour (female student) is beaten to death by Mehdi army personnel in Basra

Dec. 21, 2004: Three Assyrian churches bombed in North Iraq

Dec. 7, 2004: Two Assyrian churches bombed in Baghdad

Nov. 8, 2004: Two Assyrian churches attacked in Baghdad

Oct. 16, 2004: Five Assyrian churches bombed in Baghdad

Aug. 26, 2004: Nabil Akram Ammona is gunned down by Kurds

Oct. 16, 2004: Five Assyrian churches are bombed

June 7, 2004: Four Assyrians murdered in a drive by shooting in Baghdad
An organization called AssyrianChristians.com is working to help the Assyrians.

"The Assyrian Christians are one of the last remaining Christian communities in the Middle East," said Rev. Ken Joseph Jr., of the Assyrian Christians organization.

Department of Social Development and World Peace
3211 Fourth Street
Washington, DC 20017-1194

October 26, 2006

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C. Street, N.W.
Room 7327
Washington, DC 20520

Dear Madame Secretary:

On behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, I am writing to you to express our deep concern and growing alarm at the rapidly deteriorating situation of Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq.

We deplore the sectarian violence engulfing the Shia and Sunni communities in Iraq. We are especially and acutely aware of the deliberate violence perpetrated against Christians and other vulnerable minorities. Christians continue to decline from a pre-war population of over 1.2 million to a current estimate of about 600,000. The growing and deliberate targeting of Christians is an ominous sign of the breakdown in Iraqi society of civil order and interreligious respect and represents a grave violation of human rights and religious liberty.

The recent beheading of a Syriac Orthodox priest in Mosul, the crucifixtion of a Christian teenager in Albasra, the frequent kidnappings for ransom of Christians including four priests-- one of whom was the secretary of Patriarch Delly, the rape of Christian women and teenage girls, and the bombings of churches are all indicators that the situation has reached a crisis point. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that approximately 44% of Iraqi refugees are Christian, even though they represent only about 4% of the total population of Iraq.

While thousands have fled to Syria, Jordan and Turkey, the remainder in Iraq are increasingly
leading lives of desperation. Many no longer feel safe gathering in churches and Christian
institutions, resulting in the closing of parishes, seminaries and convents. Others are fleeing to
the north of Iraq in search of some measure of safety and sanctuary.

The vulnerability of Christians and other religious minorities is dramatic evidence of the serious and growing security challenges facing the entire nation of Iraq. Efforts must continue to end all sectarian violence and to make Iraq secure for everyone. At the same time, we also urge you to take several specific measures to improve the particular security situation of Christians and other minorities in Iraq. First, we hope that the U.S. government will consider the creation of a new “Administrative Region” in the Nineveh Plain Area that would be directly related to the central government in Baghdad. This could provide Christians and other minorities with greater safety and offer more opportunity to control their own affairs with assistance from the central government. Since the Kurds are key to any real efforts to stabilize Iraq and many Christians and other minorities are fleeing to the north of Iraq, we ask that the U.S. government work with Kurdish authorities to ensure the safety of Christians in the Plain of Nineveh and to provide adequate protection and assistance for religious minorities in areas controlled directly by the
Kurds.

We also believe that an urgent review of economic reconstruction aid programs is needed to make sure that the aid is distributed fairly so that all elements of Iraqi society are able to rebuild their communities. Finally, we urge the U.S. government to adopt a more generous refugee and asylum policy, including the possible resettlement of at-risk cases to the United States, and to work with the governments of Turkey, Jordan and Syria to grant visas to allow Iraqi Christians and others compelled to leave Iraq access to economic, health and other necessary assistance and help until they are able to stabilize their own situation, return to Iraq or make other plans for their future.

Thank you for your attention to this important concern. We would be happy to meet with you to discuss this urgent and dangerous situation further.

Sincerely yours,

Bishop Thomas G. Wenski
Bishop of Orlando
Chairman, Committee on International Policy

Turlock Elects An Assyrian Mayor

John Lazar, newly elected Mayor of Turlock

(ZNDA: Turlock)  Last Tuesday nearly sixty percent of the voters in the city of Turlock elected John Lazar to the office of the Mayor.   Mr. Lazar is the first Assyrian to be elected to the office of Mayor of any U.S. cities.

All other Assyrian candidates were defeated in the remaining elections involving an Assyrian candidate. 

Here's a quick review of last week's election results. 

Zinda Magazine endorses all Assyrian candidates.  In 2006 our technical staff developed election websites for two candidates:  Mr. Kanno and Mr. Elias as our contribution to their candidacy.

AUA on Recent UNPO Meeting in Taiwan

For Immediate Release

Taipei, Taiwan
31 October 2006

As part of its intensive campaign to promote the Assyrian cause on the international level, a delegation of the Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) attended the General Assembly of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) in Taipei, Taiwan from 27 to 29 October 2006. Assyria's delegates were Mary Younan (Canada), Hermiz Shahen (Australia), and Youra Tarverdi (United States).

During the 3-day meeting, the Assyrian Universal Alliance delegates presented the critical conditions of the Assyrian people in the Middle-East, with particular focus on Iraq.

The Assyrian Universal Alliance introduced a resolution (included below) that calls the UNPO General Assembly to support an autonomous status (self-administered region) for the Assyrians in Iraq. The resolution triggered a comprehensive debate on the issues it was presenting and was adopted unanimously by the UNPO General Assembly.

Also, the General Assembly received overwhelmingly the World Peace Network (WPN) project as introduced by the delegation. Established in 1997, the WPN is a communication system that would enable different ethnic and indigenous groups to share and preserve their culture and working as a social and economic platform to UNPO's 65 members.

The AUA would like to take this opportunity to thank the previous UNPO Steering Committee and wishes the newly elected Presidency all the success in its forthcoming mandate to foster the knowledge, cause and struggle of unrepresented and oppressed member nations.

Lastly, the AUA wishes to thank the Government of Taiwan for the hospitality and in particular the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy for supporting and sponsoring this successful UNPO VIII General Assembly.

ASSYRIA - RESOLUTION

Whereas, in recognition of the needs of the Assyrian people in their historical homeland (Assyria), expresses its concern about the political, national and human rights situation of the Assyrian people,

Recalling the beheadings, kidnappings, assassinations, exodus, and internal displacement of the Assyrian people in Iraq,

Recalling the bombings of Assyrian churches, kidnappings and killing of religious figures,

Recalling that Assyrian national rights are not constitutionally recognized in Iraq,

Expressing concern of Iraq’s new constitution because of the absence of secularism, rights and freedom of the Assyrian people as per international declarations and covenants,

Recalling that Iraq’s constitution fails to assign a quota of seats in the national assembly for the Assyrian people nor the right and guarantee of having self-chosen representation in the government,

Recalling the prevention to vote in recent elections in certain Assyrian populated cities,

Reaffirming the Assyrian people are the indigenous people of Iraq,

Reaffirming the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Iraq,

Expressing our strong condemnation of acts of terrorism,

We hereby resolve that international support should be granted for:

1. An autonomous status (self-administrated region) to the Assyrians on the land of their ancestors “Assyria” in the north of Iraq (the territory located between the greater Zab and the Tigris River), under the jurisdiction of the central government of Iraq and the protection of the United Nations.
2. Specific attention to Assyrian human rights abuses, specifically in Iraq and generally in the Middle East.
3. Monitoring the upcoming census in Iraq by international and human rights organizations to safeguard the rights of the Assyrian people.
4. Specific measures to ensure the restoration of Assyrians villages and churches.
5. The Assyrian rights to return to their homes and villages in Iraq.
6. The guarantee of the right of autonomy and self-determination for the Assyrian people as per international declarations and covenants.
7. The establishment of a unified, democratic, secular, pluralistic and parliamentarian government in Iraq that will guarantee human rights and equality for all citizens, which is multi-ethnic and based on the rule of law and free from all militias.
8. The allowance, practice and preservation of the Assyrian language, culture and customs, without any form of persecution.

Assyriska No Longer in Superettan League

By Afram Barryakoub, reporting from Sweden

(ZNDA: Stockholm)  The Assyrian football (soccer) team Assyriska FF lost its premier standing in the Superettan League last Sunday, Sweden's second national football league.

The final blow came during last Sundays game against Bunkeflo IF, a game Assyriska failed to win. An individual in the last minute of the game entered the arena and tried to knock down the referee.  The incident was soon followed by the arrival of the police and halting of the game for thirty minutes.

According to the Assyrians in the audience the referee had been acting unprofessionally and has been known for making fatal misjudgments against Assyriska in the past, thus provoking the Assyrians in the audience.

The incident has made big headlines in the Swedish media and rendered a blow to Assyriska's otherwise good reputation in Sweden.

In the next season Assyriska will play in Sweden's Third League in the First Division. The team has thus stepped down two years in a row, first from Allsvenskan (First League) and now from Superettan.

The turbulence and bad performance of the team is now backlashing on Assyriska's board of directors. In a long letter on svenskafans.se the board is criticized heavily by prominent fans who accuse the board members of bad management and lack of genuine interest for the club, demanding the resignation of the entire board.

Australian Fugitive Wants to go to Iraq

Courtesy of Fairfax Digital
10 November 2006

(ZNDA: Sydney)  Accused murderer Raphael Joseph, wanted for an execution-style killing in Australia almost four years ago, asked to be deported to Iraq, US authorities say.

It was a request that made officers from America's Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency curious.

Accused Murderer, Raphael Joseph

At the time of his arrest in San Diego, ICE officers were unaware Joseph, 30, was the focus of a worldwide manhunt for the December, 2002, killing of a man outside Sydney's Sefton Playhouse hotel.

The gangland murder of Dimitri Debaz led to a spate of retaliatory crimes in Sydney's south-west, including drive-by shootings, kidnappings and attempted murders.

At first, ICE thought Joseph was only an illegal immigrant in the US.

"When we first arrested him, he was given his deportation options," ICE spokesperson Lauren Mack told AAP.

Joseph, she said, was keen to leave the US with little fuss.

"He wanted to be expedited, in lieu of court, to be deported to Iraq," Mack said.

"He was eager to get out of our country.

"It was kind of curious."

When US authorities examined Joseph's fingerprints and checked with Interpol it was revealed he was wanted on suspicion of murder in Australia, and was one of the most wanted men in NSW.

Joseph's arrest came after America's Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) tipped off ICE that he could be an illegal immigrant.

ICE, which is the US Department of Homeland Security's investigative arm, raided the San Diego coffee shop on October 20 and took Joseph, who allegedly told officers his name was Tony Toma, into custody.

Toma, 33, is currently on remand at Sydney's Long Bay Jail after his arrest by Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad detectives for drug offences in June.

When contacted in Sydney, surprised police said Toma had spent the past four months in jail and asked US authorities to email a photograph of their prisoner.

That photograph and subsequent fingerprints confirmed Joseph's identity.

Joseph was charged with immigration violations after admitting he was in the US illegally, Mack said.

"He told the agents he had been smuggled from Iraq to Mexico and from Mexico to the US border.

"He said the pipeline he came through was from Iraq, to Turkey, to Greece to Thailand and Mexico."

Joseph also allegedly told US authorities he paid a Mexican smuggling organisation $US3,000 ($A3,910) to get him across the US border.

It is believed Joseph had been working in his brother's San Diego liquor store.

Joseph is being held at the ICE Detention Facility in San Diego and is expected to appear in a US Immigration Court next week.

The US plans to deport him to Australia, although Joseph could choose to fight his deportation.

"He has been placed in deportation proceedings," Mack said.

"He does get due process here in this country to contest any deportation charges."

If Joseph agrees to be deported, he could be escorted back to Australia by Australian authorities in "three to four weeks".

"Once an order is granted, we are planning to turn him over to Australian authorities," Mack said.

Joseph and a co-accused, Ramon Youmaran, were named in 2004 as being the subjects of arrest warrants for the alleged murder of Mr Debaz.

Youmaran, 28, of Mount Pritchard, was arrested in June this year in a drug raid in Sydney, and charged with Mr Debaz's murder. He has been remanded in custody.

Joseph has been linked to a Sydney Assyrian crime syndicate known as the "dlasthr" (the last hour) gang.

105-year-old Assyrian Realizes Dream of Citizenship

Courtesy of the Los Angeles Times
26 October 2006
By Teresa Watanabe

(ZNDA: Los Angeles)  Sona Babai counts good health, a loving mother-in-law and 10 children as the biggest blessings of a long and fruitful life.

But there was one more thing she wanted: American citizenship.

Sona Babai and her son, Antoine.  Sona was 14 years old when the Assyrian Genocide took place in Iran (then Persia) and Turkey.

So the native of Iran placed her hand over her heart, pledged allegiance to the flag and Wednesday became one of the nation's newest citizens to be sworn in.

At 105 years old, she is also one of the oldest.

Before a stage festooned with American flags, Babai joined 7,000 others from 132 countries who became American citizens at naturalization ceremonies Wednesday at the Pomona Fairplex. But the petite woman with clear brown eyes and snowy white hair cut a distinctive figure as several news cameras recorded her slow walk to the front of the cavernous hall, stooped but steady, unassisted except for a cane.

When a ceremony official announced, "Excuse me, we have a lady that's 105 years old — and she's walking!" the crowd erupted in claps and cheers.

Babai said she wanted to naturalize as a sign of gratitude to America for embracing her children, four of whom live here, and allowing their families to thrive as restaurateurs, business consultants, architects, engineers, dentists and other professionals.

"America is a big umbrella that lets a lot of people underneath to be safe," Babai said in her native Azari language, which was translated by her son, Antoine Babai. "Because of the good hearts of American people, I want to be part of them."

Marie Sebrechts, spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, said research indicated that Babai was the fourth oldest person ever to naturalize. The oldest, she said, was a 117-year-old Armenian immigrant who became a citizen in Los Angeles district ceremonies in 1997.

Antoine Babai said his mother still threads needles, has 20/20 vision and needs no hearing aid. Her mind is still so sharp she can tell her daughter in Tehran in exactly which cabinet in which room to find a particular household item, he added.

Both nature and good nurturing account for her longevity, the family said. Her eldest brother lived to age 117, and her younger siblings range in age from 95 to 101.

Growing up in the unpolluted environment of a rural farming village in northwest Iran also helped, Antoine Babai said. In her native Gharahbagh, a 400-person village of vineyards and almond trees, Babai's family grew their own food, slaughtered their own livestock for meat, churned their own butter and heated their ovens with patties of animal dung.

"There were no preservatives, no chemicals, nothing," Antoine Babai said. "I believe one reason she's lived this long is that the foundation of her life was natural."

Babai herself says as much when asked the secret of her longevity. "Clean air, fresh food and good family," she said.

But Babai also endured hardships. She lived through three major political upheavals in Iran, including the Islamic Revolution that she criticizes for using religion to justify such acts as seizing private property. Many of her relatives were killed in the eight-year Iran-Iraq War, she said.

As a child, she used to hide in water wells to escape murderous tribes who would ravage her village.

She was even kidnapped at age 12 as a bride for a distant relative smitten by her beauty, according to her son. But the adventure had a happy ending. She produced 10 children over an 84-year marriage and grew to love her mother-in-law so much that she still kisses her picture every night at bedtime.

Her link to America began as it has for so many immigrants: through a desire to give her children a first-class education and unlimited opportunities.

Neither Babai nor her husband Mokhtar, who died in 1991 at age 103, ever learned to read or write. But they knew the value of an American education, so Antoine and another son came to the U.S. to study advertising design and engineering, respectively, at Louisiana State University.

The two brothers eventually settled in Palm Desert and opened a French restaurant. Two sisters followed and settled in Irvine. Today, Babai boasts six children, 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

The children obtained a green card for their mother and brought her to Palm Desert six years ago, after their father died in Tehran.

Her request to become a citizen surprised Karan Kler, executive director of Coachella Valley Immigration Service and Assistance Inc.

But he said Babai told him: "By becoming a citizen, I can show to the world that it is never too late to give back."

Because of his client's medical conditions, Kler managed to obtain waivers excusing her from the English and civic tests required of most prospective citizens. But Babai sailed through her interview with immigration officials — telling them, among other things, that she would bear arms to defend the United States.

War was not on her mind Wednesday. Asked what she would do as a new citizen, Babai replied:

"I'm an American. I'm going to vote."

It Is Time to Arm Iraq's Christians

Peter BetBasoo
Chicago

The sectarian violence in Iraq has a nameless victim: the Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs). Possessing a unique cultural, religious and linguistic identity, being ethnically distinct from others, speaking Aramaic, professing Christ, looking to Nineveh in the north -- the Assyrians are the only indigenous people of Iraq, having lived in their ancestral lands in North Iraq since 5000 B.C.

Because of their uniqueness, and of their faith, Assyrians have lived under severe discrimination and persecution at the hands of Muslims for 14 centuries. Since 630 A.D. 33 genocides against Assyrians have been committed by Muslims -- that's one every 50 years on average. The latest and most significant one was in World War One, when Turks and their henchmen the Kurds slaughtered 750,000 Assyrians -- 75% of the population.

Assyrians today commemorate their Memorial day on August 7 of every year, because on that day in 1933 the Iraqi army, under the leadership of Bakir Sidqi, a Kurd, killed 3000 men, women and children in the village of Simmele and its surroundings. This was one of the first acts of the new Iraq, having gained its independence from the British in 1932.

It continues in Iraq today:

October 21, 2006: Ayad Tariq, a 14 year old Assyrian boy, is decapitated at his place of work
October 12, 2006: Paul Alexander, an Assyrian priest, is decapitated in north Iraq
October 9, 2006: a 14 year Assyrian old boy is crucified in his neighborhood in North Iraq
September 25, 2006: Two Assyrian churches attacked in North Iraq in response to Pope's speech
September 24, 2006: St. Mary's Cathedral in Baghdad, home of the Patriarch, is bombed
January 29, 2006: Four Assyrian churches bombed in Baghdad
November 29, 2005: Joseph Nabil Ishmael and George Brikha Youkhana are shot and killed in North Iraq
September 23, 2005: 4 Assyrians Killed in Assassination Attempt on Former Iraq Assyrian Minister
September 13, 2005: Anita Tyadors is brutally murdered by muslim extremists in North Iraq
August 27, 2005: Nabil Akram Amona murdered By Kurdish militia in North Iraq
March 24, 2005: Zahra Ashour (female student) is beaten to death by Mehdi army personnel in Basra
December 21, 2004: Three Assyrian churches bombed in North Iraq
December 7, 2004: Two Assyrian churches bombed in Baghdad
November 8, 2004: Two Assyrian churches attacked in Baghdad
October 16, 2004: Five Assyrian churches bombed in Baghdad
October 16, 2004: Five Assyrian churches are bombed
June 7, 2004: Four Assyrians murdered in a drive by shooting in Baghdad

The Assyrians are defenseless against this violence. They are outnumbered and outgunned, but it was not always so. In previous times, when Assyrians were armed and controlled their own regions, they would stand up to Muslim aggression, even when outnumbered. The famed -- or infamous -- fighting prowess of the Assyrians is not exaggerated. Historically, Assyrians have held their own in battle even at ten-to-one odds.

A case in point is the Battle of Habbaniyya in May of 1941. An Assyrian contingent of 1200, part of the British Assyrian Levies of Iraq, engages a force of 12,000 regular and 5000 irregular Arab soldiers in Habbaniyya, 60 miles south of Baghdad. The Arabs were attempting to overthrow the King of Iraq, Faisal, and ally with Germany. The battle is a complete route, lasting only 30 minutes, and the Arab army is pursued by the Assyrians for 50 miles until it reaches 10 miles south of Baghdad (the present location of Baghdad International Airport). There the British Air Officer Commander, the famous General Glubb Pashah, commands the Assyrians to stop. They obey. Perhaps they should have continued and taken Baghdad then.

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The present situation for the Assyrians in Iraq is precarious; it is a powder keg ready to explode into full scale genocide. The Arabs and Kurds know the Assyrians cannot effectively defend themselves. They are the only unsupported group in Iraq. The Kurds have the Americans behind them, the Shiite's have the Iranians, the Sunni's have Syria, The Turkomen have Turkey. Whom do the Assyrians have? Is the West supporting them? Is any Christian country supporting them?

Assyrians are now targeted with impunity, by Kurds, by Sunnis, by Shiites. These groups know the Assyrians cannot respond for fear unleashing a genocide which they would not be able to stop because they are unarmed. As Iraq appears ready to fall into the precipice of a civil war, if not already in one, the danger to the Assyrians reaches an alarming level. Who will defend the Assyrians in the chaos of a civil war? Is the US ready to accept the moral responsibility for genocide of Assyrians because it failed to adequately equip them to defend themselves?

It is time to arm the Assyrians.

But arming is not enough, it is also necessary to establish an Assyrian self-administered area, a safe-haven to which Assyrians from all parts of Iraq may seek refuge. This area will be under the rule of an Assyrian regional parliament, with an Assyrian militia protecting it. It can and should be a federal state within Iraq -- what's good for Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis is just as good for Assyrians.

When speaking of partitioning Iraq, it is not enough to suggest a tri-partite Iraq -- where would that leave the Assyrians? If Iraq is partitioned, a fourth area must be set aside for Assyrians, and even a fifth for Turkomen, but they are not in the same danger as Assyrians, for they have Turkey as their protector.

Unless the US can absolutely guarantee the safety of Assyrians in case of a civil war or a break-up of Iraq, which is not likely or even possible given the dispersed Assyrian population, the US must undertake a program to establish an Assyrian administered area and to train and arm an Assyrian militia. If the US cannot defend Assyrians, then it should train and equip Assyrians to defend themselves. That is the least the US should do.

This was Genocide, but Armenians were not its Only Victims

Thea Halo
Tuesday October 31, 2006
The Guardian

Forgetting the Christians who were slaughtered is nearly as bad as denying it happened.

But the double standard Garton Ash mentions should include the mind-boggling omissions by the Armenian drafters of the bill, who make no mention of the co-victims of the Armenian genocide: the Pontic Greeks, who lost 353,000 out of their population of 700,000 in Turkey; and the Assyrians, who lost three-quarters of their population - some put the figure at 750,000.

Ms. Thea Halo is the president of the Sano Themia Halo Pontian Heritage Foundation.  he The three doves in the Foundation logo represent the Pontic Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians who lost their lives, their homes and their country during the Genocide in Turkey between 1914-23.  For more information click here.

There is also the matter of the other Asia Minor Greeks. At the Lausanne conference in 1923, Lord Curzon stated that 1 million Greeks had been slaughtered and 1 million more were exiled. These genocides took place at the same time and place as that of the Armenians: in Turkey between 1914 and 1923. The genocide was of the Christians of Ottoman and Kemalist Turkey. By age 10, my Pontic Greek mother had lost everyone and everything she had ever loved, including her name, on her own death-march to exile from Turkey in 1920. My father was Assyrian.The precursor to the Nazi Holocaust was not just the Armenian genocide of 1915-16, but the pogroms, or early stages of what would become a genocide, against the indigenous Greeks of Asia Minor in 1914. According to US Consul General George Horton, Greek businesses were boycotted and Turks were encouraged to kill Greeks and drive them out, reminiscent of Kristallnacht in Nazi Germany 24 years later. Thousands were slaughtered or sent to islands in the Aegean Sea. According to the US ambassador to the Ottoman empire, Henry Morgenthau Sr, the Young Turks were so successful in their campaign that they decided to target the other Christian "races" as well. Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) picked up where the Young Turks left off.The Armenian people are part of my extended family. My aunt was Armenian, as was the family who rescued my mother in Turkey. In Armenia, all victims of the genocide are honoured: Pontic Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians. But the framers of the French bill, along with numerous Armenian-descended historians in the US and elsewhere, prefer exclusivity.Thus, if the bill passes the upper house of the French parliament, perhaps we should first jail its Armenian drafters, as well as those who actively deny the other genocides.These co-victims had inhabited the territory of what became Turkey for three millennia. One must ask which is worse: genocidal denial, or being invisible as if one never existed? At least with denial, there is the possibility of debate. The expropriation by a single group of such a monumental evil serves to strip the other, "nameless" victims of that same evil of their rightful place in history - thereby assuring that their genocide is complete.

Thea Halo is the author of Not Even My Name, a memoir of her Pontic Greek mother, and has lectured for the International Association of Genocide Scholars.  For more information click here.

Professor Shabo Talay

Professor Shabo Talay in traditional Assyrian custom

Recently Dr Shabo Talay received the title of "Professor" in Semitic and Arabic studies in Germany.  The PhD thesis he defended dealt with the Aramaic dialects of the Assyrians of northern Syria.  Dr. Talay was born in 1968 in Turkey. He emigrated to Germany when he was 10.   He entered Heidelberg University in Germany to undertake Semitic Studies, Assyriology and Islamic sciences. In 1994 he began his dissertation studies on the subject of the Arabic dialect of Khatuniya in northeast Syria.  Dr. Talay studies Assyriology under Professor Deller, who recommended a concentration in the Semitic studies instead. Dr. Talay married Riem Hanna in 1993 and have two children. In April 1997 Dr. Talay delivered his thesis and began studying the Assyrians of the Khabour River region in Syria. 

Since February 2001, Dr. Talay has been working as an associate professor with Professor Dr. Otto Jastrow.  Together they have begun planning the Toroyo Language Dictionary Project at Heidelberg.  If approved by the German Research Council this five-year project will result in the most comprehensive study of the Western Assyrian language, both literary (leshana saapraya OR kthobonoyo) and dialectic.