The Assyrian Democratic Organization
By Anders Gustafsson
US – AINA — Tomorrow the President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, and Pope Benedict XVI are expected to discuss the issue. The American President, George W. Bush, and Pope Benedict XVI, today will discuss the issue of an own area for the Christians in Iraq, according to Catholic news agency AsiaNews.
“The Vatican does not want to see such a solution. I have heard so from persons in high positions,” says father Bernardo Cervella, who is the editor of AsiaNews, to Dagen. AsiaNews is not an official spokesperson for the Vatican, but normally has credible sources there. Their contacts in Iraq claim that most of the Catholics of the country are not supportive of the desire of creating a separate region for Christians. It is mainly Assyrians, also called Syriacs and Chaldeans, who in exile take advantage of the persecution of Christians in order to pursue their own political agenda, AsiaNews claims. AsiaNews uses strong words such as “Assyrian ghetto” in order to describe the idea, which they mean will split the Christians of the country. But the question is whether that split is not already a fact. Dagen has previously reported about the plan to give the Christians some form of protectorate in the plains of Ninewe, on the border of the Kurdish ruled area in northern Iraq.
Demonstration in Sweden
Demonstrations in Sweden (among other countries), show that Sweden has a vigorous Assyrian community, and that most of its members would more than anything like to see such a solution. As late as last week, the Swedish Committee for Assyrians demonstrated in order to bring the issue up on the agenda. 1200 Assyrian leaders and intellectuals met in March in the Iraqi city of Erbil, in order to discuss the issue more deeply. And in October last year, American Catholic bishops brought up the matter in a letter to Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State for the United States of America. The Chaldean archbishop in Kirkuk, Louis Sako, says to AsiaNews, that there of course must be an en d to the persecution of Christians, but that he is unfamiliar to the idea of a Christian region. “The plains of Ninewe are surrounded by Arabs. Christians would then only act as a vulnerable cushion between Arabs and Kurds.” AsiaNews also quote Iraqi priests in Europe, who mean that one would then reduce the Christians into becoming an ethnic group, on the expense of the mission of the church — to bring out the gospel to all nations.
Strong reaction
Assyrians in Sweden react strongly to the interpretation of the situation by AsiaNews, says Margareta Viklund, president of the Swedish Committee for Assyrians. She has met enough Assyrians both in Iraq and Sweden, to not have a doubt that a wish for an area of their own lies deep in the heart of many Christians in the country. “The people I have met see it as the only possibility to live and remain in the country which is their own. It is their only dream and hope, and helps them endure their current situation.”
Sensitive issue
The sensitivity of the issue is illustrated by the fact that several people Dagen has spoken to, only want to analyze the question “off the record”. It is a question of power. Bernardo Cervellera states “According to our sources in Iraq, most of the people who advocate this solution live abroad. It is a campaign, driven mostly by Evangelical groups in the USA, some Iraqi Christians — both Protestants and Catholics — and Iraqi Catholics in the USA. But most Catholics in Iraq are against this idea. They will never move from their homes. They are traumatized, but do not see this as a solution. Their tradition has been co-existence between Christians and Muslims.” Dagen: But we have sources who claim that there is such a wish among Assyrians in Iraq.
“There are groups in Iraq who work for this idea, sure. But these are not the thoughts of the Catholic Church. And most people do not want to move from the places they have lived all their lives.” Dagen: You sit in Rome, how many contacts in Iraq do you have, in order to draw these conclusions?
“We have almost daily contact with at least twelve people in Iraq, all over the country. These individuals in turn of course have broad circles of contacts. Furthermore, we have contact with Iraqis in France, Italy and the USA.” Dagen has previously spoken to analysts, who have said that a Christian area in Iraq is not very probable. On the other hand, one can ask himself, how many people would a few years back have imagined that the Pope and George W. Bush would discuss this issue at all.
