ASSYRIAN PLIGHT
Today in modern history and the so-called ‘human rights era’, the Assyrians in Iraq are in worse living and social conditions than in the past. The Assyrians are being killed, raped, kidnapped for ransom, ransacked, having their churches bombed, and the like. Now they are trying to flee Iraq, leaving everything behind to find refuge wherever they can. Why doesn’t one nation care? Why is everyone silent? This is what Turkey did in 1914 and no one cares. People of Iraq, along with the rest of the nations, should know that Assyrians are not Arab Christians- they are the indigenous people of Iraq with a legitimate right above everyone else to own that land. They were in Iraq, specifically Mesopotamia, for at least 6,000 years before other settlers came to that region. The Assyrians embraced the newcomers with open arms and assimilated them into a new culture and civilization; now the same people that they helped and nourished are trying to oust them out of their own country.
I think it is time that the Assyrians should start thinking out of the box. No one is going to help us; forget about the West, who is only interested in their own agenda and using the Assyrians for their own cause. Even our allies are only thinking for themselves. In my opinion, the only country that can help us today is Turkey. You might be saying, “But these are the people that massacred us”. Yes, we are still paying for what the British did to us. However, we should negotiate with them, with an open but firm dialogue, and see how they feel about this. We can shikvana.blogspot.com forgive them for the genocide if they can help us establish a safe haven in Iraq.

Simone Nouri
August 28, 2011