Christians of Iraq
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Christians of Iraq
Contact Links Historical articles Historical pictures Photos of Bombed Churches Home Only this link has access to all News articles
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Press Release.
The Assyrian Dutch politician Gamri visits the Assyrian's in Iraq during Ha b Nisan. April 20, 06
This is not the first time that Ms Gamri visits the Assyrian's in Assyria. She went in 2004 to see how the situation was for the Assyrian's after the reign of Sadam Hussein. Two years after her last visit she wanted to see what the regional parliament of Kurdistan have done with the result of the elections and to hear from the Assyrian's about their human rights situation in the region where the KDP has political power.
She visited ADM and NGO 's in the Nineveh province. She also visited the Assyrian schools in Bakhdede, Bartille and Ankawa. Ms Gamri was happily surprised about the books and lessons in the Assyrian language, the children can read and write Assyrian in the west and eastern dialect. She has tried to speak eastern dialect with the children, and they could understand her. Of course she visited the monastery of Mor Matay, and spoke with the bishop of the Syriac orth. Church Bishop Musa Bahzan. They get protection from the ADM guards the last few years. The bishop told her that they get many calls with the message: "leave this country or we will kill you ".
Gamri told the bishop Musa Bahzan( syr. ortho. ) that after 10 years the new generation of the Assyrian's can speak both dialects, thanks to the efforts of ADM. The analphabetism in the mother tongue will disappear in this way, thanks to the Assyrian schools established and maintained by the Assyrian Aid Society and the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM).
Attiya Gamri had a meeting with Mr George Mansour of Ishtar TV about the political roll Ishtar TV has, but does not take. She asked him why Ishtar TV never showed the political situation of the Assyrian's. She gave him a example she witnessed; the KDP policies officers sent most Assyrian's back on the second of April, they were not allowed to enter Arbil, without any reasons, the only word the policies officers said was " Christians ".
There is a lot of discrimination against the Assyrian's, but nothing about this discrimination is shown on Isthar TV.
Mr. George Mansour promised Ms Gamri, that in the future they will work on these issues and told her that the channel has been on air for 3 months and needs time to settle.
She also visited Ashur TV and asked about the Mohamed prints and threats they received. The workers of Ashur TV told miss Gamri that during the discussion about the Mohamed prints, they have had 4 to 8 threatening phone calls every week.
In Al Qosh she attended the Ha b Nisan celebration ( Assyrian New Year celebration), more than 15000 Assyrian's attended this festival. The security was realised by American soldiers, helicopters and tanks together with ADM soldiers. The Assyrian's have never felt free and recognize as at this Ha b Nisan. All the schools where off and it was a official a free day for the Assyrian's. Most political parties from the region attended the festival, and showed there respect for Ha b Nisan.
At the end of her trip, she visited Mr. Fuad M. Hussein, chief of staff in the region of Kurdistan presidential office Arbil, and told him about what she has seen and heard from the Assyrian's.
A few of the issues Ms Gamri discussed with Mr. Fuad M. Hussein where;
* Land problems in Sarsang, Dohuk en Arbil.
* Being a member of the KDP is a must
* Assyrian's are afraid to talk, no freedom for talking and writing
* Administrative rights of the Assyrian's
* Treatment during the elections , results of the elections
* A new Sadam is coming up in Northern Iraq with the name Barzani and a big Tariq Aziz with the name Sargis Agajan.
Ms Gamri asked mr. Fuad M. Hussein, whom she known from the Netherlands, and was also member of the political party PvdA, what he is going to do with these issues. Mr. Fuad M. Hussein promised Attiya Gamri that he will take them serious, and will talk about them with the President Barzani and asked her to visit Mr Sargis Agajan when she visits the region of N. Iraq to hear about the positive developments.
Ms Gamri also attended a meeting with 21 NGO 's in the province of Nineveh, and asked them to collect facts about the human rights of the Assyrian's in the province of Nineveh. "I need a letter 'from every Assyrian village in Nineveh province, about how many, where, why and whom has been discriminated, we need this every year".
As Ms Attiya Gamri said on Ishtar and Ashur TV, every Assyrian should visit Assyria during Ha B Nisan, to show solidarity with the Assyrian's and give a signal to the Kurds and Arabs that the Assyrian's in the Diaspora are the spoke men/women of the Assyrian's in Assyria.
Among the people of the delegation Ms Gamri was part of, there where also 3 Assyrian's from the USA and 1 from Canada.
The Dutch journalist M. Vrij went with the Dutch Assyrian politician to make reports about the human right situation of the Chaldo-Assyrians in the Nineveh province for the Dutch media.
Ms Gamri spoke with two EU parliamentarians of the PvdA and CDA last week about the bad situation of the Chaldo-Assyrians. They promised her to use her information for the resolution on Iraq. She will visit the European parliament on the 18th and 19th of April, and will try to put forward the issue about the money the EU sends to Iraq, and how much of this money is going towards the Assyrian's.
During this unstable situation of Iraq the delegation had been protected by the soldiers of ADM, Ms Attiya Gamri told journalists that she has been shocked about the human rights situation of the Assyrian's, she hoped that this would be better than 2 years ago, but the situation has worsened. There should be a lot more political pressure from the EU and USA on the Iraqi authorities.
After two years the right of Assyrian's to have political autonomy, to practice their own religion and culture, and give education in their own language should be respected.
If the situation of the human rights for the Assyrian's was the measurement for the democratic development in Iraq, the future looks bleak. If the discrimination and suppression of the Christian Assyrian's by the Kurdish authorities continues, we must be prepared that the last Christians in Iraq will revolt in mass. The discontented is great, and the Assyrian youth doesn't have a lot of patience left.