Emptying Baghdad of Assyrians, One Region at a Time
By: Ashur Sada. May. 25, 2007
Not too
long ago, it seemed like the serious violence in Baghdad, wasn’t a serious
deterrent for Assyrians to leave their homes in the Iraqi capital and depart. In
fact, even now, it takes much more than violence and threats of killing and
kidnapping to drive the resilient Assyrians from their homes, in mostly Sunni
Western Baghdad. With the city of Dora being the epicenter of this new violence
against Assyrians and Christians, things have been moving at a very rapid pace
in the last few weeks. Although Sunni insurgents have been the dominant force in
this formerly peaceful region of Baghdad, things have changed dramatically.
Unless serious action is taken against these insurgents and terrorists groups,
Dora and other parts of Baghdad could risk becoming empty of Assyrian
inhabitant. This could mean a serious blow to decades, even centuries old of a
beautiful mix of different ethnic Iraqi groups living in one city.
It all started about a few weeks ago, when terrorists groups led by Al-Qaeda
elements, started giving the Assyrians in the area three choices: to either
leave and not collect any of your belonging. Or stay, and pay a monthly Jizya
(Islamic protection tax from the times of the Khalifat and Abbaisen rule) Or you
can stay, be protected and pay no protection tax, but pay the ultimate price for
your soul: convert to Islam from
"If not stopped
immediately, this could eat into the very unity and foundation of the Iraqi
society"
Christianity. You wonder what would give these
groups these extra powers to rise and demand this of the Christians in the
region. Last time I checked, Dora is in the city of Baghdad, the same city where
there has been a 3-month old security crack-down between US and Iraqi security
forces. It is mind-boggling that extremists and Jihadists would be left to roam
in the area freely, as it is it an island on its own. Dora is not a small city,
relatively speaking. But it deserves every bit of attention from Iraqi and
coalition forces, to pacify it and declare it back to its rightful owners and
the Iraqi government.
Assyrians may have to leave the city or parts of the city for now. But there
will come a time, when these inhabitants who have lived in this city for
decades, are returned home and be given all that they owned and had before.
Moreover, the same goes for our churches in the area, which have been abandoned,
and its crosses and other of its religious symbols removed and ransacked. Again,
last time I checked, we are living in the 21st century, and in the city in
question is part of Baghdad. So when will the US military turn its attention to
this city? A city whose recapture is vital to the victory in Baghdad, and a huge
psychological boost.
Things continue to deteriorate. Assyrians and Iraqis alike, living outside of
Iraq, feel helpless. But there is a few things we can do. For one, we have to
raise the voice of reason, and let the world know about what is happening.
People have a general idea about the violence in Iraq and Baghdad, but can’t be
bothered by the specifics of it and who the victim of this violence is.
Assyrians need to raise hell and pressure the US and Iraqi government to do
something. Sooner or later, we will need to build not one, not two but three or
more Baghdad Walls, to separate amongst all of its various ethnic and religious
communities. Ironically, this is also a time for our churches to come together
and unite, because this hits home and close. More can be done by the Sunni
community itself as well. A lot of pressure has to be put on Sunni states
neighboring Iraq, especially Saudi Arabia, to denounce such terrorist and racist
acts. As well, pressure has to be put on Harish al-Thari, the influential Sunni
head of the ‘Association of Muslim Scholars’ who has ties to the insurgency. A
simple public denouncement from him against the acts of violence against
Assyrians, can go a long way. Al-Thari has been out of Iraq for over a year now,
and is wanted by Iraqi authorities on charges of supporting the insurgency.
The threat is real and serious, and some have expressed concern that Christians
in Iraq today, could become the Jewish of Iraq from last century: both going
extinct. There are many differences between the two, which will not make a total
exit of Christians from Iraq, a very likely future scenario. But it is serious
enough for the UN, Iraqi government, US government and world governments
everywhere to do something. Iraqis have also got to realize that this violence
against Christians has already been committed against Shiites and other ethnic
groups. Shiites have largely and long abandoned the Dora region. So if anything,
this concerns all Iraqis, because their very national unity is at stake. If not
stopped immediately, this could eat into the very unity and foundation of the
Iraqi society As I
write about the damage being done to Assyrians and their churches in the Dora
region, I could feel my father shaking in his grave: he happens to be the
Assyrian engineer who built the beautiful St.George church in Dora.
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