ishtartv.com - breitbart.com
By
Edwin Mora7 Aug 20171
The
president of northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, in commemorating the
84th anniversary of the former Iraqi kingdom’s massacre of thousands of
Christians in the country, declared that history would not repeat itself in an
independent Kurdistan, vowing that the Kurds will protect the “demands and
rights” of Assyrian Christians.
“Now
that the nation of Kurdistan is taking steps toward independence, the demands
and rights of Christian brothers and sisters in Kurdistan will be protected in
all stages, fraternity and coexistence in Kurdistan will be stronger,” wrote
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani in a statement
issued Sunday to mark the anniversary of the 1933 Assyrian Christian massacre,
according to Rudaw.
“The
only medicine for all our pains and the only guarantee to ensure that disasters
are not repeated is to take steps toward independence,” he added.
In
September, the KRG will hold an independence referendum vote that is expected
to pass in favor of an independent Kurdish country.
Kaldo
Ramzi, a Chaldean Christian who serves as the media director for the Assyrian
Democratic Movement, highlighted the possibility of internally displaced
Christian people participating in the referendum.
Thousands
of Christians, along with other minority groups, flocked to the KRG, fleeing
deadly persecution at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
Ramzi
pointed out, “We [Christians] have emphasized [to President Barzani] that our
name, symbols, and language haven’t been incorporated into Kurdistan. We do
need some people to participate [in the referendum], but they shouldn’t feel
obligated to participate.”
Some
Yazidis have accused the KRG of trying to coerce them into supporting the
independence referendum.
The
anniversary of the August 7, 1933, kingdom of Iraq genocide that killed nearly
3,000 Assyrian Christian fell close to the day commemorating the 2014 invasion
of Christian lands by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).
“On
occasion of the 84th anniversary of this disaster which is concurrent with the
third anniversary of the ISIS brutal attack on Christian brothers and sisters
and other communities in Nineveh plains,” he added, “I reiterate that Christian
brothers and sisters along with all the other communities of Kurdistan in the
past, now and in the future, times of pain and success, have been involved and
share the same destiny.”
Northern
Iraq’s Nineveh plains, a region in the country’s Nineveh province, is the
historical homeland of the Iraqi Christian community, considered one of the
oldest in the world.
Nineveh
province was once the home to the largest concentration of ethnoreligious
minority groups in Iraq, including Christians.
While
some Assyrian Christians have accused the KRG Kurds of stealing their land in
northern Iraq, many others fled to the Iraqi Kurdistan region, seeking refuge
from ISIS.
The
United States considers the KRG’s Peshmerga forces to be one of the most
effective troops against ISIS jihadists.
Officials
from the U.S. and United Nations have acknowledged that ISIS engaged in a
genocide campaign against various ethnoreligious groups in Iraq, including
Christians and Kurds.
“The
Simele massacre [of Assyrians] is part of the hardship and calamities which
happened to all the people of Kurdistan,” proclaimed KRG President Barzani,
referring to the 1933 incident. “It is also strong evidence that partnership
has been meaningless in the state of Iraq, genocide, extermination, and
massacres have been the share of social and religious makeup of the country.”
Prior
to ISIS, an estimated 400,000 Christians were living in Iraq, including the KRG
region.
Only
about half that many Christians remain in Iraq now, with the vast majority of
them having fled to Lebanon, Sweden, Australia, and other western states,
reports Rudaw, citing community leaders.
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