Should the Assyrians get a say in the New Iraq?

I believe Assyrians should get a say in Iraq. I am not saying it because I am Assyrian, I am saying because they have been on that land for more the 6000 years and in the last 1000 years they have gone threw many genocides because of their Christian faith. Without a say in the new Iraq Assyrians will die out.  They are the cradle of civilazation.  They have played a major role in human development.  Just because they make up around 5% of the Iraqi population doesn't mean they should get a say on land they have lived on for more then 6000 years.  The least they should get is an Adminstrative region so that they can govern themselfs and practice thier christian faith freely with our being killed. 

Today 11/20/04, A family of 4 Assyrians(Father, Mother, 9 year old boy, 11 girl) were dragged in the streets of Iraq.  Reason why.  The 9 year old boy's cross on his neck was showing.

Why would he be?
Tons of Iraqi bloggers don't have this problem, nor do the miltant groups bgroadcast their execution videos on the net.

This should be moved to interlectual disscussions btw.

In an ideal world - every citizen of Iraq should have some say in how the country is rebuilt.  There are many of us who hope that the new Iraq will be governed by people who are tolerant and that an oficial statement of freedom of religion will allow Sunni, Shiite, Jew and Christian to each practice their own religion.  Just as we hope that all minority groups will be allowed to maintain their independent customs.

The reality may be somewhat different, however, particularly for a people who have spent so long being repressed by their government.  Sadly - many times when a repressed people take power - they proceed to repress all who are not like them.  I fear that this will be the case in Iraq.    AGuy7 - what is the feeling there?  Is there hope that the old tensions will resolve?  Or is there a feeling that, once in power, the majority will again repress all minorities?  How hopeful are the Assyrian and other minority communities that the new Iraq will benefit them?

 

Cywr - I agree - topic could be moved to Intellectual Discussions - but there is currently no Mod on this board.  Do you want to ask Cyrus or shall I?

There's a reason why the Turkish army was there. The Turks accuse the Greeks of targetting Turks ethnically. The Turkish government responded by sending in troops to protect Turkish citizens (and they account for 25% of the island population which is no less significant than the Grecian 75%).

Before the Turkish army came, Greeks and Turks are living together. Now they're living separated from each other with hostilities against each other. I would say that the Greek Cypriots are largely responsible for this condition as well.

In an ideal world yes, probably, no. Like most powers in the middle East, the Iraqi government has to balance the needs of many powerful groups - moderate Sunnis and Shia, Fundamentatlist Sunni and Shia. But face it, the Chaldean and Assyrian Chrstians (as well as the other minority Christians) are simply too small to do anything. Much of Lebanon is quite open and free for Christians, not surprising if a quarter to a third of your population is Christian.

The Assyrian cause has my full support.

Nobody still knows how many Assyrians thier are in Iraq today.  The Kurds in Iraq denie Assyrians of their ethnicity. They consider the Assyrians in Iraq "Christian Kurds".  The Arabs also denie Assyrians of their ethnicity. The arabs call them "Christian Arabs".  Some sources today range from 20% of Iraq is Assyrian to 1%.  Nobody will no until the elecetions at the end of January.  Many Assyrian Villages are considered to be Kurdish villages so thier number goes toward the Kurdish population.  When the Assyrian churches are asked how many members they have (not including kids) they claim to have well over 4 million members. And yes the Assyrian are the peaceful ones, they dont blow up mosques or take muslims hostage and make them convert to christianity.

Edited by AssyrianGuy7

If I recall, three quarters of the 'Arab' population in America are Christians. Many of them, like yourself dont consider themselves Arabs.

Another fact, the mojority of the the people who left iraq and are leaving it is Assyrian.

That's true of most of the Arab world. There are more Maronites than Lebanese citizens for example.

 

One question Assyrianguy7, do you consider the Orthodox Church of Antioch, the Maronite Orthodox Church or the Syrian Catholic Church Assyrian as well? As far as I know, they all have Syriac/Aramiac as their liturgical language.

The Assyrians/Chaldeans/Syriacs are an Aramaic/Syriac speaking people, known in post-Saddam Iraq by the official name �Chaldo-Assyrians�, who were one of the first peoples to convert to Christianity. They still speak Aramaic/Syriac, the language spoken by Jesus.

They are members of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Syriac Orthodox or Syriac Catholic Churches, these refugees from Iraq, Turkey, Syria or Iran claim to be descendants of the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia. They were the first to evangelise China and Mongolia during the Golden Age of the Arabic Empire. In 1915, together with the Armenians, they were victims of a genocide and many fled to Australia, Europe and the United States.

There are still more than 700,000 Assyrians/Chaldeans/Syriacs in Iraq today and the Assyrian Democratic Movement, one of their political organizations, is working to help to maintain their culture. Nowadays they are threatened by Islamic extremists, and in fleeing toward Western countries they run the risk of loosing the culture and traditions that they have managed to preserve until now. They are asking today for a small Administrative Area in Northern Iraq where they can be free to pray and govern themselfs.