Assyrian Democratic Organization's
Letter to the Pope

Nov. 7, 2007
Assyrian International News Agency

On behalf of the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac people living in their Homeland (Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Iran) and Diaspora, we are writing to you to express our deep concern and growing alarm at the rapidly deteriorating situation of our people in Iraq.

It is evident that this dramatic situation touches all Iraqi citizens. However, since the U.S. led invasion of March 2003, the escalation of violence against especially the Christians in Iraq is spreading terror and despair within this already ravaged, persecuted, and defenceless community.

Indeed, the Christians of Iraq are at present the victims of an infernal cycle. As a reaction to any military operation of the Multinational Force-Iraq (MNF-I) and /or Western-World initiated problems like the Danish Cartoons, Christians have to face a wave of coordinated church bombings followed by kidnappings and assassinations. According to recent reports (September 2007), 33 churches have been attacked and more than 500 Christians have been killed in deliberate, organized and horrific ways.

We would not disturb Your Holiness in mentioning all other regular forms of discrimination, extortion, confiscation, forced exile and threats; but we believe that these barbaric acts and attacks on the vulnerable Christian civilian population are perpetrated daily, targeting them for terror specifically because of their ethnic and religious identity. Attacks on these defenceless people are compelling them to leave their historical homeland and force them into the Diaspora.

The United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recent reports draw a very bleak picture of the current chaotic situation of the internally displaced people inside Iraq and refugees in neighbouring countries. These refugees are living in appalling conditions where they are neglected, and hardly receive sufficient aid or assistance from international organizations.

We witness this genocidal event even as we see hopes dim for the survival of the last world population using Aramaic, the oldest continuously spoken and written language of the Middle East.

The future of this indigenous people, known under various names (Assyrian, Chaldeans, Syriacs…..), reduced approximately to 600,000, is seriously under threat. They are given the unenviable choices of either: converting to Islam, being victims of a new announced pogrom of slow genocide, while their collective Memory is still haunted by the "Sayfo" Genocide of 1915 under the Ottoman rule in Turkey, the 1933 massacres in Simele and the 1969 massacres in Sorya, both occurring in Iraq, or forced deportation and the final exodus

It is high time that the International Community, mainly the Vatican, takes all necessary measures and concrete actions to put an end to the suffering and the long sacrifices of our people in:

* Providing needed assist to all Assyrian Chaldean Syriac people and other minority refugees, mainly in neighbouring countries and to facilitate their return and resettlement safely in their homeland.
* Protecting and guaranteeing the safety of the Assyrians Chaldeans Syriacs churches, establishments, towns and villages in Iraq and improving their security situation.

In the meantime it is extremely urgent that the Assyrian Chaldean Syriac people and other targeted minorities of the Nineveh Plain and surrounding areas be provided their save haven, a secure zone where they can freely practice their own way of life, protect and preserve their culture, their Syriac (Neo-Aramaic) language and to remain in their ancestral homeland, which can serve as a sanctuary for all refugees, those exiled in the past, and others who fled in previous waves, now in the Diaspora.

This save haven, which is part of the Iraqi Federal State, is not conceived of as an ethnic or religious ghetto or exclusivity, but rather as an autonomous administrative area the creation of which would prevent thousands of possible refugees leaving for Europe.

We would kindly ask Your Holiness to take an initiative to call for an International inter religious Conference concerning the situation of the Christians in the Middle East especially in Iraq, aiming to strengthen the principles of democracy, citizenship and cohabitation, based on dialogue comprehension and mutual respect among people and religions of this region .

The ultimate test for the International Community lies in the extent to which they can collectively implement a true effort for establishing pluralism, human rights and democracy in Iraq. The intended Save Haven entirely fits into the ideals of democracy and pluralism, advocated by the international community.

Confronting ethnic cleansing in all of Iraq's major cities, and forced exodus from major population centres, possibly precipitating a full-blown genocide, begs the question of whether it is still human to wait any longer before taking action?

Bachir Saadi
Chairman, Assyrian Democratic Organization