أخبار عاجلة
الرئيسية / English / Lessons from the Massacres of 1915 and from the Tragedies of Today!

Lessons from the Massacres of 1915 and from the Tragedies of Today!

Today I am sharing my personal vision from my heart and mind, about the current situation in Iraq and of the Region with its current conflicts and their implications; it is an occasion to think about it and eventually to learn certain lessons.

Presently, we are remembering the first centennial anniversary of the 1915-1917 massacres. The number of Christian victims included a million and a half Armenians, more than one hundred sixty thousands Chaldeans, as well as Assyrians, Syrians and Greeks. And those who survived among them underwent the terrible tragedy of continuous displacement.

Inspired by the anniversary of this catastrophe and in the light of what the Christians of Mosul and those from the towns of the Nineveh Plain have suffered when they were uprooted by force and thinking about my recent visit, a few days ago, to southern Turkey (Diyarbakir, Mardin, Midyat and Deir Saffron and Tur Abdin and Dara and Nusaybin), a big question has to be raised: how is it that this beloved region once, Christian and wonderfully prosperous is close to ruins today, with its Christian character disappearing definitely? What a tragic, sad and painful anniversary!

Let us start by pointing out the fact that yesterday the Armenian Church canonized the victims of 1915-1917 as holy martyrs. It is in fact an example to be followed by other churches, I think, as martyrdom is the supreme expression of faith!

The voice of every one of us has a double impact, when it is joined by all other voices, forming then a loud cry before a world dominated by indifference. A cry gathering all voices around this question: How come the world did not deal with that horrible incident of massacres, in an appropriate way, a hundred years ago? And today, after a hundred years, despite the evolution of the media, why is the world is not seriously reacting neither towards the dramatic uprooting of 120,000 Iraqi Christians from their towns and homes, nor towards the Syrians’ tragedies and the crimes committed against the Copts and Ethiopians who were killed and slaughtered like sheep in Libya. These acts have indeed reached the level of crimes against humanity and were broadcasted.

On the other hand, since voices have a weak impact when isolated, here we are today as small churches lacking a common harmonious vision and an appropriate plan. At the political level, we lack a strong political authority enabling our people to take practical steps towards the vital challenges that threaten our existence. In this twenty-first century, we still endure restricting social limits and harsh rules (a glaring example of this: the Law of Personal Status). Besides all these, the current Immigration of Christians is seriously harming our existence and uprooting us entirely.

Faced with this, we are all deeply concerned that these acts of barbarism will not be repeated in the future. Actually, it seems that the conflict will continue, which invites us to be strongly united as a team in order to work for strengthening our existence and protect our nation and our rights on solid foundations; therefore I would suggest the following points for reflection and discussion:

1. To claim for constitutional legitimacy, with Human Rights as the main criteria, make it effective under a civil state which will be the sovereign authority, applying the law equally to everyone. Here I am considering the civil state in our neighboring Turkey, wishing that this country would follow its principles in a modern way; there, the state is separating religion from politics and giving the credit only to the common national identity. I would see in that, an example that can be imitated in accordance with Jesus Christ`s saying: “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” while Muslims repeat “Religion is for God and the homeland for all”. In this kind of state there is respect to religion as a matter which concerns every individual and every community providing that the country would be the principle umbrella for all.
Is not religion a personal relationship with God, based on stable principles? While politics is moving in accordance with different interests?
As a result, the freedom to choose which religion they may consider appropriate to them should be left to the people to decide; for there is no compulsion in religion! Religion should not be imposed by force, but rather by a shining and convincing testimony.
It would be greatly desirable that the Arabic Countries would follow the initiative of Tunisia and the Palestine Authority, in cancelling the rubric of religion in official documents!

2. A Secure zone: We are invited to encourage، by all means، a good awareness to of the need to respect diversity. It is really a promising factor to see that the constitution of the Central Government and of the Kurdistan region include articles that safeguard the rights of all of the components. This will enable them to exercise their specificities throughout different administrative divisions and provides Christians with a good opportunity to establish their presence on a legal basis for their own self-defense, to protect their history, heritage and identity. A secure zone would also allow Christians to find positive ways of living together with their fellow citizens, regardless of their different doctrinal denominations and religions. This would apply to all; either they are a majority or minority, enabling them to live in freedom, equality and dignity. History has shown how keen Christians are to the integral unity of their homeland, and how much they are committed to live in peace with their fellow citizens; all this would also encourage the expatriate Iraqis to carry out investment projects!

3. All of us have to persist in our efforts to ensure the return of displaced Christians with other ethnic minorities, after the liberation of their villages and lands, as well as compensating them for the damages caused to their properties; protecting their presence through a secure zone which would have clear boundaries in the Nineveh Plain; enabling them to administrate it alongside Yazidi, Shabak and others; providing the elements of a self-protection guaranteed from the Central and Regional Governments of Iraq, within an international safeguard, through a protocol established for this purpose.

4. The sad situation of these displaced people is calling upon the conscience of the world that this land is their land; it is a precious gift from God and they are rooted in it. Therefore, they should not look beyond their borders, since the emigration to different parts of the world and the fact of adopting the new social ways of life would gradually weaken the vitality of their existence and let them lose their roots, their history, as well as their linguistic, social and ecclesial ties!

عن Yousif

شاهد أيضاً

 Patriarch Sako to the new priests: The priesthood must take all your being, i.e. your thoughts, feelings and activity

 Patriarch Sako to the new priests: The priesthood must take all your being, i.e. your …

اترك تعليقاً

لن يتم نشر عنوان بريدك الإلكتروني.