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Christians in Iraq
Between their historical roots in Mesopotamia and the war for genocide???
(A look into reality and a vision to handle)
By: Dr. Tayseer Abdrl Gabbar al-Alousy
Academic, political analyst and Human Rights Activist
Currently, the terrorist attacks are clearly directed to Iraq's historical heart, to repeat the traditional suppressive action practiced before against the sons of the Mesopotamia. The invaders' aim is usually to own everything on the land they conquest , animals, inanimate, as well as the humans who live on the land to take them as low-priced prisoners of the brutality of time.
What the political authority had imposed compulsorily constitutes a series of crimes committed against the sons of the Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations, those who are the first inhabitants of the Mesopotamia and their civilization created as a shelter for humanity and an enlightened school for the free and stable life and a base for positive development.
This crime was based on the concept of attempting to kill, assassinate, terrify and intimidate to subjugate the majority to the minority that govern with extreme power. Those who learn the history lessons remember the historical Ninawa's massacres in which thousands of Assyrians in the first of Iraq conquest, and other massacres during the contemporary history. Simel's massacre was just an episode in the series of this deliberately committed crimes.
Christianity in ancient, middle and modern Iraq is a settled fact in history. In terms of the origins of the religious ethnic groups in the Mesopotamia, Sumerians are not from the Jezeera, they are Iraqi people, with independent personalities. The immigrants that followed them have integrated through thousands of years in the Sumerian entity, till the Sumerian language have became the official language for more than five decades and is the daily life language as well as in Babylon
The point is the privacy of the Iraqi existence, constituted in the independent people who refused to obey as a political authority, state's sovereignty, civilization, philosophical structure or belief. They derived their religious belief from their own perceptions. Christianity was a majority in the Mesopotamia by neither sword nor violence, none of the original inhabitants were forced to give up their beliefs, they hold it just as Mandeans(1), Yazidism(2) and others. The different ethnics and religions lived peacefully and stably. That is how our national Iraqi history was formed on the base of the Iraqi social unity and its diverse nature and the state of friendly understanding the Other. They stood together in the defense of their right to live with dignity, their high national interests and their sovereignty. The pure bloods of sacrificing flooded in the Iraqi life.
What are the motives of today's crime against Christians in Iraq? Who is behind? Why do they make all these extensive attacks? The answers of these questions will confirm the Iraqis national unity, show how they are all targeted, and how they must unite in the struggle against the crimes committed in the Mesopotamia.
The most basic issue in the attack on the churches, which are the symbol of Christianity in the nation and assassinating Christians is not only intimidating Christians and the genocide committed against them, but also forcing them to leave the nation to lead Iraq to captivity and make it a hostage in the hand of the political Islam and also a base for it.
Hence, the claim that the crimes against Christianity are similar to the crimes committed anywhere else and not targeting churches only is a claim that serves the crimes and the perpetrators' goals.
First, the plan to terrify Christians, who are the second majority after Muslims, will go further. Second, this will deliver a message to the other religious and ethnic minorities. It not about the religious side only, as Christians are not a religious entity, the issue has a patriotic nature as well. To handle the committed crime, we have to remember patriotic personality of the Assyrians, Armenian, Chaldean and Syrians.
If the pressure of terror increased, that would create a disorder in the diversity structure in Iraq, as the targeted national Iraqi selection would have more than one dimension in the contemporary Iraq's future and will present a dangerous soil for the racial ethnic fascism that is the most appropriate soil for the crime of making Iraq an allegedly Arab Muslim nation. That Iraq would be a terrorist Muslim nation that endangers the region and the whole world, and before all, its citizens.
It is very important to look into the religious genocide to understand what is committed against the Christians. At least, from the perspective of mutual benefit, all parties should collaborate to face this crime, because being silence about the crime supports it and to prop up the criminals.
However, the our principals, we the Iraqi people, is the absolute defense for the Iraqi citizen, whatever his/her religiously or nationally. It is important, while handling the case, to emphasize that stopping the attacks on the churches and killing the Christians is a political priority.
Iraqi parties, even those who have religious concerns, should have in their mandate the task to defend the Christians' lives and their religious freedom. The isolated ethnic dimension should be let off, and the religious ethnic party should be formed. These actions will not be done not only by ending the state isolation, but also by collaborating with the other powers on a public national bases.
It is also very crucial for the political religious powers to start the process of raising the awareness of the Iraqi person about the public national values and the importance of diversity, to start a positive interaction with him, and to enhance the background of peaceful dialogue in any new thought, belief or programmatic perception.
The rules of work in a new Iraq can not be sound without being enhanced with the positive peaceful interaction, which should be one of the current most needed priorities. If this priority is neglected, that would serve only the crime, and thus indirectly contributing in it.
It is not enough, though necessary, to have a conviction evidences, we must include the priority of defending the freedom of the Christians to be in their nation that history proves that it is theirs. We also have to seriously act against the committed crimes as well as providing the needed protection not only for the churches, but also for the Christians Iraqi citizens, their life style and their life options with all their details.
This is crucial to assert our refusal to the project of Islamizing Iraq on the Afghani Taliban's way, the Iranian way, or any other theocratic retarded way, as Islamizing Iraq would obstruct our way towards progress, development, and democratic, federal, diverse and rotated Iraq.
It is more essential to handle the existence of Cheldeans, Assyrians, Syrians and Armenians, in other words, Christians, within the political authorities and the Iraqi state's organizational gatherings and its civil society institutions with more privacy than the way it is being dealt with today in terms of the ethnic battles which depicts Iraq only in its Islamic picture.
As identifying the new republic of Iraq (or the Fifth Republic) as a federal with two wings, Arabs and Kurds, to eliminate the negative depiction of Arab majority and Kurds minority. Patriotism abolishes numbers and rates, which is so correct. It will be more correct to abolish the idea of qualitative portions on all levels, of which the first is the religious level. Iraq should have the two wings of Muslims and Christians, which suggests a federal parliament for Christians (Cheldeans, Assyrians, Syrians and others) and provide them with privacy that does not need a search for a spot of Iraqi land for this federal parliament.
The whole Iraq will be owned by Muslims and Christians. Notably, this federal parliament will have religious and national features, but supports the national and religious rights of Christians nationals, the word national here means the Cheldaneans, the Assyrians, the Syrians and the others.
This suggestions should be adopted by all the national Assyrian, Cheldaneans parties as well as the Syrians civil society organizations. The members of this parliament could be elected in the next public legislative elections. On the minimum level, a parliamentary coalition that has the right to privately gather should be formed, as well as a parliamentary committee that has a certain national personality.
I had suggested a ministry of nationals, for its importance in tackling many issues in a new diverse Iraq. The National General Assembly could be formed by the aforementioned parliament and the national council.
Will we stop terror by taking an urgent necessary measures, will we put an end to a human bloody massacre, the Iraqi Christians are assassinated once by killing and other by forcing them to leave their home nation. Or we will continue debating to loose the historical opportunities one after another without strictly acting towards what is going on?
Will we move directly and strategically on the long run to support the solution? Or we will keep making statements in vain.
We need more than one action, more than statements, we need to take a typical action to put an end to the tragedy of the Iraqi Christian citizen who is killed while some voices emphasize on the security under false pretexts.
The required is to hold a conference in which all the Iraqi Christians groups are invited to identify their projects, perceptions, programs and tools of solutions, to clarify the matter and to give the opportunity to the Iraqi citizens from the different religious and national trends to present their projections and to interact with their equals Iraqi Christians.
Our unity will be enhanced through our mutual respect, and we will loose the whole of our Iraqi existence if we neglected the horrible crimes committed against the Iraqi Christians depending on the claim of unimportance of the matter, in fact, it is obvious that this matter is on the top of our priorities in our current situation, as the issue of the Iraqis' security does matter, doesn't it?
(1) The only surviving Gnostic religion, now with no more than 20,000 adherents, living in southern Iraq and southwestern Iran. Their main city is Nasiriyya
(2) http://i-cias.com/e.o/uyazidism.htm
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