The Iraqi Christian community,
at home and abroad, has long urged the local Church to take a stand against
the forced evacuation, rape, kidnap, paying a ransom, blackmail, scarring and
killing they suffer and the complete lack of protection from the local government
and coalition forces. And in the last two days, as the controversial plan to
install a secure zone for Christians in the Niniveh plain begins to take shape,
the terrorists have begun targeting the zoned area. “It’s almost
a political gesture – observes msgr Sako – as if to say: “we
can hit anywhere, nowhere is safe”.
The confessional based attacks are no longer just restricted to Baghdad and
Mosul, but now target small centres in the North. Yesterday a group of fundamentalists
executed 23 yazidi on the road linking Mosul to Ba’ashika, a majority
Christian village: they stopped a bus and after having made Arabs and Christians
alight they killed the faithful of this ancient religion, based on the strong
Good-Evil dualism. Today a car bomb close to a school in Tell-el-skop, a Christian
village, and 9 people died including 2 children; 60 were wounded. A convent
of Dominican nuns, which is nearby, was badly damaged in the blast.
“We can no longer be silent –explains Msgr. Sako by phone to AsiaNews
– we have to remind the world of the importance of the Christian presence
in Iraq, for the good of Iraq”. “Christians are one of the oldest
constituents of the Iraqi people –he explains in his statement–
Since the beginning they have incorporated with its other constituents like
the Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Sabea, and Yazedis; playing a pioneering role in
the building of the civilization of Iraq. In addition they defended their adherence
to the soil and integrity of Iraq courageously and together with their Moslems
brothers. Everybody witnesses their loyalty, honesty, wisdom and their desire
to live in peace and brotherhood with others. Christians have long lived with
Moslems whether Sunnis or Shias in mutual respect and shared the good and the
bad days together with them. They have been part of the Islamic culture for
the last 14 centuries, by large without problems. Today they want to continue
this existence in the spirit of love and under the charter of human rights”.
However in the current situation Christians are targeted as chief conspirators
to be exploited or eliminated. They cannot openly profess their faith, the veil
is imposed on the women and the crosses are taken down from their churches,
threats of kidnappings and extortion weigh heavily over all of them. Msgr Sako
lists the violence to which they are submitted on a daily basis: “now
a days Christians are suffering in certain areas and cities in Iraq from forced
evacuation, rape, kidnap, blackmail, scarring and killing. This unfamiliar behaviour
contradicts the Iraqi humanitarian and Islamic morals. Let everybody realize
that emptying Iraq of Christians will be disastrous not only for the Christians
but for all Iraqis!... Forcing Christians to leave their homes indicates deterioration
in the concept of conviviality and furthermore it destroys the cultural, civil
and religious mosaic of which Iraq is considered to be the very cradle”.
The appeal signed by Msgr. Sako urges all of the political, religious and cultural
communities of Iraq to remain united, because “there is no salvation without
our unity. Let the outsider whoever is he, leave and stay away so that the danger
of death and the risk of division disappear and vanish and thus permitting life
to return to what it once was; a river which flowed in harmony, a river of brotherhood
and close unity”.
(Source: http://www.christiansofiraq.com/bishopapealap237.html)