A cross is staked into rocks looking over into Mount Lebanon. Photo:
wiki commons.
It’s time for journalists, human rights activists and church leaders in the
U.S. to confront the prospect of Christianity’s destruction in the region of
its birth.
That’s the message that came out of a one-day conference that took place in
Framingham, Massachusetts on Jan. 21, 2012. The conference, titledThe
Persecuted church: Christian Believers in Peril in the Middle Eastwas
sponsored by the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
(CAMERA), which is celebrating its 30thanniversary
in 2012.
Andrea Levin, CAMERA’s executive director said the goal of the conference
was to draw attention to the plight of Christians in the Middle East.
“If the media shines a light consistently and clearly on the persecution of
Middle Eastern Christians, that can make a crucial difference in restraining
potential violence,” she said. “Silence on the other hand may do the
opposite.”
Walid Phares, an American scholar born in Lebanon who advises the U.S.
Congress on issues related to terrorism, said Christians and other
minorities have been the victims of violence for decades. “I lived through
it in the 20thcentury.
Now we’re all living it, trying to witness for it,” he said. “We have
crossed the threshold of a new century and yet it’s still happening.”
Attendees of the conference heard testimony from Juliana Taimoorazy, founder
of the Iraqi Christian relief council and Egyptian human rights activists
Cynthia Farahat. Taimoorazy, who reported on the plight of Assyrians in
Israq stated that since June 2004, churches in Iraq have been bombed more
than 80 times. Sometimes, multiple churches would be bombed at the same time
as part of a coordinated attack.
“Most of these attacks happened on Fridays, marking the day of Islamic
prayer,” she said. Clergy have been routinely kidnapped and killed on a
regular basis. Even children have been killed by Islamists, Taimoorazy
reported.
“In October of 2006 – in the 21stcentury
– a 14-year-old boy was crucified in Basra, in the center of the city,” she
said.
Farahat reported that Copts are second-class citizens in their homeland
“But for me, as a woman and a Copt, I am a fourth-class citizen,” she said.
“The first class citizen is the Egyptian Sunni Muslim male, the second class
is the Sunni female. The third is the Christian male. The fourth is the
Christian female. I’m a fourth-class Egyptian citizen with absolutely no
legal rights.”
The plight of religious and ethnic minorities in Muslim and Arab majority
countries in the Middle East has largely been ignored because of an
obsession with the Arab-Israeli conflict, Phares said during his keynote
address. Phares first witnessed this after immigrating to the U.S. from
Lebanon in the 1990s.
“In the 1990s, if there as an incident in the West Bank, the son-in-law, the
mom, the uncle of both sides would be interviewed and the psychologists
would come in and talk about the deep roots of the conflict,” Phares said.
“At the same time, two villages were burned in Egypt or the Kurds would be
gassed. Zero [coverage] in the New York Times.”
Franck Salameh, assistant professor of Near Eastern Studies at Boston
College, echoed Phares’ complaint.
“There’s clearly a prevailing hierarchy in the media’s treatment of Middle
Eastern violence,” he said. “Some victims get airtime on prime time, all the
time. Others simply don’t. Middle Eastern Christians are not a top priority.
Those uncouth, cross-wearing primitives are not cause for curiosity. They
are too Christian in a world plagued by political correctness, cultural
relativism and a false conception fo the Middle East as an Arab Muslim
preserve.”
Documenting attacks on Near Eastern minorities is not fashionable, Salameh
said, because it is viewed as being anti-Arab and anti-Muslim and part of a
Western attempt to divide a cultural and linguistic monolith. If this
thinking were applied to North America, no one would talk about the plight
or fate of Native Americans because it would be regarded as subversive to
the Anglo-European paradigm.
“Middle Eastern minorities, Christians and Jews, are the native Americans of
the Middle East,” Salameh said. “The dominant Arab-Muslim culture is indeed
the colonizing intruder culture here.”
Richard Landes, associate professor of history at Boston University and
author ofHeaven
on Earth: The Varieties of Millenial Experiencereported
that Islamists have worked assiduously to disarm Westerners by
engaging in cognitive warfare against democracies. This cognitive warfare is
pursued, Landes explained, by using self-criticism and concern for the other
to undermine the ability of democracies to defend themselves. “The purpose
of cognitive warfare is to turn your own people into patriots and your
enemies into pacifists,” Landes said.
This strategy has had “staggering success” over the past few years, he said.
The success is due to “an unholy marriage between pre-modern sadism and post
modern masochism,” Landes said.
“The pre-moderns accuse us of the most vicious things in the world and we
say, ‘You’re right, I’m sorry,” Landes joked.
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News /
VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU
Photo: AA
Turkeywould
provide no benefits to the Syriac community, as we have no parish left,” Mor
Melki Ürek the metropolitan of the eastern province of Adıyaman, told the
Hürriyet Daily News.
A large of proportion of Turkey’s Syriac population has already emigrated
abroad due to problems in their homeland, according to Ürek.
“We have maintained our silence for too long on every matter. We could not
seek our rights. The Syriac Church is a universal church, butTurkeydid
not appreciate the significance of this invaluable asset. Everyone is
responsible for bringing about the current state of our church,” Ürek said.
The Ancient SyriacOrthodoxPatriarchate
remained in service for six centuries. Initially located in the southern
province of Antakya, it moved for some time to the southeastern province of
Diyarbakır, and finally to the Deyrulzafaran Monastery in the southeastern
province of Mardin. When the Patriarchate was abolished in 1930, its last
leader, Patriarch Mor Ignatius III Ilyas Şakır, was also deported.
“The Syriac Patriarchate might decide [to relocate to Turkey] due to the
ongoing [political] turmoil in Syria.Turkeymight
also derive some merit for itself from this. Meetings could be underway, but
it is the substance [of the meetings] that matters,” political scientist
Professor Doğu Ergil told the Daily News.
Ürek, however, denied any link between the decision to move and the unrest
in Syria. “I do not think there is any direct connection because as far as I
know, the meetings have been going on for five years,” he said.
“Turkey might be trying to put some new squeeze on the patriarchate because
the Syriac Church bears the ecumenical title. As such, the Turkish Republic
might be [trying to avoid] a new problem, similar to the example of the
Fener Greek Patriarchate. If the invitation truly sprang out of Turkey, that
is very important and meaningful,” Ergil said.
The meetings to move the patriarchate back toTurkeyhave
been taking place since 1997, Tuma Çelik, head of theTurkeybranch
of the European Syriacs’ Union, told the Daily News. The return of the
patriarchate back to its homeland bears great spiritual significance, he
added.
“If the Turkish Republic wants to take this step, it will not amount to
granting a favor. Let us assume the patriarchate moved back to Turkey. Is it
not going to be strange for the patriarchate to gain legal status when
Syriacs inTurkeyare
still lacking an official status themselves?” David Vergili, a member of the
European Syriacs Union, told the Daily News.
Before a month we turned out
the year of 2011 that was a year with great changes,
developments and risks. The manifestations and falling
regimes with Arab awakening, economic crisis and the natural
disasters were among the priorities. We are witnessing very
important periods in century that we will see and observe
their effects and influences in the future. The world face a
new era.
ESU from first day until now,
with great attention and confidence observe the new dynamics
and offering new policies and activities to be ready for the
processes and maintain solution for our people everywhere in
the world.
Today, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian
people are the period of transition at the all present
countries. The situation in Syria is in front of our eyes.
With the important population present at the soul of Syria,
the CSA people must be ready for the new period and their
rights and demands have to be accepted. National, regional
and international actors have to take account of CSA
people during the re-establishment of new order in Syria.
In Iraq following the US troops
attacks continue and federal government is no more attentive
to our demands. The same for Turkey, regardless to economic
success, minority rights are far from the priority of
government and democratic waves looks far for ever.
ANKAWA, Iraq—It is commonly known
as the language of Jesus and is the root of both Arabic
and Hebrew. But what's less widely known is that Aramaic
is still spoken, and is in fact thriving in some parts
of Iraq.
"We're very proud of our
language," says Sister Jermine Daoud, a nun originally
from Baghdad who grew up speaking the language and who
now lives in Shaqlawa, in northern Iraq, one of the few
places in the world where Aramaic is still spoken on the
street. "After the war so many [Aramaic speakers] left.
But I'm not worried about the language disappearing."
For years, extinction looked like
a real possibility for Aramaic, especially after the
Anfal campaign that lasted from 1986 to 1989, in which
Saddam Hussein's government is believed to have
destroyed more than 4,000 Kurdish, Christian and other
minority villages in Northern Iraq, where Aramaic was
widely spoken, in an attempt to "Arabize" the country's
minorities.
This push was halted with the
imposition of the no-fly zone in Iraq in 1991, and the
subsequent establishment of the Kurdistan Regional
Government in 1992, as Aramaic was increasingly taught
in Christian churches. Then, in 2003, following the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Syriac—the classical written
version of Neo Aramaic—along with Kurdish, Arabic and
English classes became part of the curriculum of many
schools.
Today, with the increased
stability in the country's Kurdish region, and the
subsequent move north by Christians fleeing
inter-communal violence elsewhere in the country, the
ancient language is making a comeback in the area. Of
the estimated 30,000 people world-wide who speak a
dialect of Neo-Aramaic, most live in Iraqi Kurdistan.
While the classical language is
being taught in classrooms in Iraqi Kurdistan, the
modern language is being broadcast from satellite
stations. Two of the most popular stations that feature
Aramaic are Ishtar, a privately funded station based in
Ankawa, and Ashur, funded by the Assyrian Democratic
Movement party.
Ishtar, which started in 2005,
has a world-wide audience, broadcasting on five
different satellite networks. "This was the first
professional [media] experience for our people in Iraq
and abroad," says Ishtar founder George Mansour, who set
up the station in response to demand from the local
community. "We worked to make Ishtar a bridge connecting
[Aramaic-speaking] Christians from Iraq to those outside
Iraq."
There is debate among both
speakers and academics as to whether to call the
language Aramaic or Syriac, or whether they're two
separate languages or dialects. In general, people tend
to refer to the spoken language as Aramaic and the
written as Syriac. Regardless of its name, all seem to
be in agreement about its cultural significance and the
need to preserve it through education.
These days it is seeing an
increased interest from students and parents. "We're
planning on opening more classes," says Galawish Touma,
a Syriac teacher in Shaqlawa, where students learn the
language at state schools up to the age of 14. "As long
as the [Syriac] church is here, the language will stay.
If we stay, the language will stay."
Iraq's Kurds, who now run a
state-within-a-state, managing their army, judiciary and
oil wealth, have been eager to present themselves to the
West as protectors of minorities, including Christians.
According to the ministry of
religious affairs in Erbil, the provincial capital of
Iraqi Kurdistan, there are 140 Christian villages in the
province. At least 70 of their churches have been
renovated by Sarkis Aghajan Mamendo, who helps in the
production and funding of Ishtar. An Iraqi-Assyrian
politician who previously served as minister of finance
and economy, he is considered controversial by some
because of his close ties to Kurdish politics. Mr.
Mamendo now lives in Ankawa, a suburb of Erbil, whose
population has doubled to 20,000 since 2003 because of a
large influx of refugees from the south.
At two schools in Ankawa, all
teaching is in Syriac. There, Shwan Kakona teaches his
third-grade students what he says is "the modern version
of what Jesus spoke." In the class, the children learn
grammar and read Assyrian fables.
But the language is caught in
struggle between preserving it in its classical form and
encouraging a modern version suitable for day-to-day
use.
"Writing is taught strictly in
classical Aramaic, which is barely understood by modern
speakers of Neo-Aramaic," says Daniel Kaufman, an
adjunct professor of linguistics at the Graduate Center
of the City University of New York. "When younger people
want to write in Aramaic they use an improvised
orthography in the Arabic script. This can then be
considered a case of a classical language having a
suffocating influence on its modern descendant."
Meanwhile, despite the apparent
academic renaissance of the language, there is still the
problem of finding Assyrian-speakers qualified to teach
academic subjects at higher levels. Nizar Hanna,
director of Assyrian education in the KRG, says that
"the lack of academic specialists in the field creates a
clear limit on the instruction."
Mr. Hanna has long been
campaigning for a Syriac department at the ministry of
higher education in Kurdistan, to organize and regulate
the language, and introduce quality control in teaching.
So far, he says, his requests have failed—the ministry
has said there aren't enough specialized staff to make
it viable.
Advocates argue that the need to
keep the language alive in Kurdistan is even greater
because it is dying out elsewhere. "I can see it right
in front of my eyes vanishing in [the] diaspora," says
Ghaith Hadaya, who grew up in Karada, a once largely
Christian district of Baghdad and now works as an Arabic
translator at the United Nations in New York, says: "My
aunt and her husband came to the States in the late
70's. Their kids were taught the neo-Aramaic; after
going to school they were more focusing on learning
English. For young people, learning Aramaic isn't a
priority."Mr. Mansour, founder of the Ishtar satellite
TV station, is also well aware of the vulnerability of
Aramaic, even with its historical ties to the region. "I
think the fact that it is an ancient language means that
it demands a lot of linguistic attention to bring [it]
to the modern-day level," he says. "Its roots are in
Iraq, and I hope it can remain here."
Syriacs frustrated by trial deciding fate of
monastery
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News /
VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU
The trial on the Mor Gabriel Monastery, or ‘Deyrulumur’
in Syriac, was filed in 2008
Photo: Hürriyet
Syriac Christians living both in Turkey and abroad are
growing weary over an ongoing trial about the fate of their
most revered place of worship, the 1,700-year-old Mor
Gabriel Monastery in the southeastern province of Mardin.
The case is presented to the public as if it were merely a
simple suit filed by villagers, whereas in truth, the trial
has transformed into a political one, Evgil Türker, the head
of the Federation of Syriac Associations, recently told the
Daily News.
“There are currently a total of five more lawsuits that were
filed by the Forestry [and Waterworks] Ministry, [the
Directorate of Land Registry and] Cadastre, the Treasury and
[one trial] against the administrators of the Mor Gabriel
Foundation, in addition to the current trial that seems as
if it were opened by villagers [but] is backed by locals,”
Türker said.
The current trial regarding the Mor Gabriel Monastery, or
“Deyrulumur” in Syriac, was filed in 2008, and the next
hearing is scheduled for Jan. 10, 2012, in Mardin’s Midyat
district.
“We very much would have wanted the trial to reach a
conclusion in Turkey. Lands that had been ours for thousands
of years were expropriated. We wanted the trial to reach a
resolution very much but to no avail,” Türker said, adding
that they could not file any suits to retrieve thousands of
hectares of expropriated land due to fear and financial
constraints.
The Forestry Ministry claims the monastery lands constitute
a forest, he said. Syriac representatives have consequently
brought the case before the European Court of Human Rights,
though the first hearing is yet to be held.
As more and more villagers began settling on the lands in
question, the monastery was gradually encircled by the
communities. The inhabitants of the villages of Yayvantepe,
Çandarlı and Eğlence subsequently filed a suit against the
monastery in 2008 on the grounds that it was occupying their
lands.
“Our sanctity was violated with this case. What Jerusalem
means to the Christian world, Mor Gabriel means that to
Syriacs,” Tuma Çelik, the head of the Turkey branch of the
European Syriacs Union, told the Daily News.
The Supreme Court of Appeals overturns the decisions of
local Midyat courts that rule in favor of the Syriac
community, Çelik added.
Syriacs were caught in the crossfire during clashes between
government forces and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party
(PKK) in the southeast during the mid-1980s. Many of them
have consequently left for abroad while the current Syriac
population in Turkey is estimated to be in the thousands.
“They ask us why we blow the monastery case out of
proportion. They advance the decision made by the Swedish
Parliament regarding the genocide of 1915,” Çelik said in
reference to the alleged Syriac genocide.”
ESU condemns the Eradication of
Christianity in Iraq
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
December 10.
2011
The
attacks against Christians and other minorities now started in the Northern
part of Iraq.
The first attack took place on December 2nd. Islamic Kurds in
Zakho following the Friday Prayer and with the instructions of the Imam
attacked and destroyed all Christian owned businesses from liquor stores to
beauty salons plus the Chinese owned massage shops. The
following days
these attacks
spread to other cities of Northern
Iraq.
Since
a heavy security presence in the Nineveh Plain, the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian
(CSA) people are concerned, because this can be a laying of groundwork for
eventual annexation by the Kurdistan
region. Kurds came into villages where exclusively Christians live.
This
year an assembly of political parties and organisations delivered an
official request concerning a province project in the Nineveh Plain for
Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrians. With this province a solution for the situation
of Christians and other minorities would be finding. Although the official
request has been sent to representatives of the Iraqi government, it has not
been responded until today.
Referred
to latest statements of Kurdish leaders, Christians would be better off
joining the Kurdistan region, because of
more protection and free practicing of their religion.
But latest
developments show us, that even in the “secure North Iraq” Christians are not in security. Latest attacks
against Christians determined a big lack of confidence and security.
Especially the latest decision of Masoud Barzani concerning the contingent
of minorities in the Kurdish parliament is a cause of concern on the rights
of minorities. Five Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian and one Armenian member of the
Kurdish parliament and the assembly of political parties and organisations
showed a reaction on the decision of the Kurdish parliament. Also they wrote
a letter to Barzani to not undersign this decision. Unfortunately last days
Barzani signed this letter, so that now this contingent has been reversed.
The
situation of
Christians in theMiddle
East is
very alarming.The
Northern part of Iraq
was seen
as a secure place for
Christians and other minorities.
But latest outcomes show that even there a future for Christians is not
guaranteed.
During last decade,
we have been observed the escalation of violence against Christians in the
Middle East countries. The annihilation policies are conducted to eradicate
the Christian presence from the concerned countries. The ongoing policies of
Western countries remain weak and passive to protect autochthon
Christians minorities of Middle East and preserving their existence in the
region.
At the
current process the developments of Iraq
and Syria
are related to each other. The potential of our people could emerge
on surface within this context. Especially Syria has very great importance
for us. In order to avoid the wave of migration also in Syria from now on,
the conditions should be prepared for our people.
The
presence of Christians and other minorities in the
Middle East is crucial and vital for the establishment of
democratic, humanism and open society. Therefore, our call is clear;
Christians of Middle East have to be protected and new policy toward them
has to be realized.
European
Syriac Union (ESU) is highly concerned about the future of Christians in the
Middle East and asking to the Western powers, where can
Christians continue to their existence and which measures have to be taken
in order to secure Christians in the region.
European Syriac
Union demands that regional and federal governments have the obligation to
bring the responsible of these barbarous in front of the justice,
compensating all damages caused during the attacks.
ESU
condemns firmly the latest attacks against Christians at the Northern Iraq and demands to the regional and federal
governments to take necessary measures to prevent similar attacks and create
the atmosphere of security. Finally, on the basis of the Federal
Constitution, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people have to acquire the right of
the autonomy as soon as possible in order to continue to flourish their
existence and culture as autochthon people of the region.
Archbishop fears for Christians in Middle East
Friday, December 9. 2011
BBC News UK
Dr Rowan Williams
says some Christians
in the Middle East
are under "constant
threat"
Christians in
the Middle East are
"more vulnerable" than
they have been for
centuries, the
Archbishop of Canterbury
has warned.
Dr Rowan Williams
said that many
Christians were leaving
countries such as Iraq
and Egypt in the face of
persecution.
Many others had been
forced to retreat to
enclaves for their
safety, he said.
Dr Williams added
that the treatment of
Christians would be the
"litmus test" of the
success of the Arab
Spring.
The head of the
world's Anglicans made
his claims in the House
of Lords.
He said: "At the
present moment the
position of Christians
in the region is more
vulnerable than it has
been for centuries.
"The flow of
Christian refugees from
Iraq in the wake of
constant threat and
attack has left a
dramatically depleted
Christian population
there."
Segregated
Those who chose to
stay in the country had
often withdrawn to
segregated enclaves for
their safety, he said.
The Archbishop
says Coptic
Christians living in
Egypt are facing
persecution
"Many recognise with
heavy hearts things may
come to such a pass that
there are few, if any
other options that will
actually guarantee the
safety of Christians
there," the Archbishop
said.
"But they still feel,
surely rightly, that the
creation of enclaves
would be the yielding of
a vitally important
principle."
Besides Iraq, Dr
Williams lamented the
fact that many Coptic
Christians were leaving
Egypt, despite the faith
having had a presence in
the country for many
centuries.
He said: "In a way that
would have been
unthinkable even a very
few years ago, they are
anxious about sharing
the fate of other
Christian communities
that once seemed
securely embedded in
their setting."
Turning to the impact
of the Arab Spring in
the Middle East, Dr
Williams said: "My
contention has been that
the security and
wellbeing of the
historic Christian
communities in the
region is something of a
litmus test in relation
to the wider issues of
the political health of
the region."
He added: "No-one is
seeking a privileged
position for Christians
in the Middle East, nor
should they be.
"But what we can say,
and I firmly believe
that most Muslims here
and in many other places
would agree entirely, is
that the continued
presence of Christians
in the region is
essential to the
political and social
health of the countries
of the Middle East."
Mardin Artuklu University
InstituteofLivingLanguages
20-22 April 2012, Mardin
Turnbull and Fitzgibbon among seven Australian MPs to call for Genocide
recognition
The Peak Public
Affairs Committee of the Armenian-Australian Community
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
CANBERRA - News.am
Australian MP, Hon.
Malcolm Turnbull
CANBERRA: In an
unprecedented
development, seven
Federal Members rose
in the House of
Representatives on
November 21, 22 and 23
to affirm the
historical reality of
the Armenian, Greek
and Assyrian Genocides
and call for
Australian recognition
of these crimes
against humanity,
reported the Armenian
National Committee of
Australia (ANC
Australia).
MPs Craig Kelly,
Malcolm Turnbull,
Michael Danby and Joel
Fitzgibbon – new
supporters of this
fundamental issue of
humanity – added their
voices to long-time
friends of the
Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian communities
in MPs John Alexander,
Joe Hockey and Paul
Fletcher and paid
tribute to the victims
of the first genocide
of the 20th
century.
The speeches coincided
with the visit of a
delegation of ANC
Australia, the
Australian Hellenic
Council (AHC) and the
Assyrian Universal
Alliance of Australia
(AUA) to Canberra to
further the cause of
genocide recognition
as part of ANC
Australia’s Advocacy
Week 2011.
In his first
parliamentary speech
on this issue, the
Member for Hughes,
Craig Kelly, spoke in
detail about the
genocidal policies of
the Ottoman Empire
against its Armenian,
Greek and Assyrian
populations.
“The Armenian Genocide
and the related
Assyrian and Greek
Genocides were the
result of a deliberate
and systematic
campaign against the
Christian minorities
of the Ottoman Empire
between 1914 and
1923,” Kelly said.
“Aside from the
deaths, Christian
minorities of the
Ottoman Empire had
their wealth and
property confiscated
without compensation.
Businesses and farms
were lost, and
schools, churches,
hospitals and
monasteries became the
property of the
Ottoman Empire.”
The Member for Hughes
underlined the
importance for
Australia to recognise
this crime against
humanity.
“It is now time for
our parliament to join
other parliaments
around the world and
recognise these
genocides for what
they were,” Kelly
stated.
The Member for
Wentworth, Malcolm
Turnbull, also
delivering his first
parliamentary speech
on this issue,
welcomed the
representatives of ANC
Australia, AHC and AUA
in the public gallery
of the Chamber of the
House of
Representatives.
“They are assembled
here, as we are, to
lament what was one of
the great crimes
against humanity, not
simply a crime against
the Greeks, the
Assyrians and the
Armenians but a crime
against humanity—the
elimination, the
execution, the murder
of hundreds of
thousands of millions
of people for no
reason other than that
they were different.
This type of crime,
this sort of genocidal
crime, is something
that sadly is not
unique in our
experience,” Turnbull
said.
The Member for
Wentworth reflected on
the Ottoman Empire’s
record of
multiculturalism of
which these genocidal
crimes constituted an
aberration.
“We lament today great
crimes but also the
loss of diversity and
the loss of
tolerance,” Turnbull
said.
The Member for
Melbourne Ports and
Chairman of the Joint
Standing Committee on
Foreign Affairs,
Defence and Trade,
Michael Danby,
affirmed the
historical reality of
the Armenian Genocide
during a debate in the
House of
Representatives on a
motion related to the
1995 genocide in
Srebrenica.
“… Adolf Hitler, said
on 22 August 1939, on
the eve of
perpetrating another
genocide, 'Who
remembers the
Armenians?', referring
to the failure of
anyone to react to
Turkey's genocide of
two million Armenians.
It is because he was
able to say that in
Europe in the 1930s
that further tragedies
engulfed Europe,” said
the Member for
Melbourne Ports.
Danby emphasised the
need to acknowledge
and remember past
genocides in Armenia,
Rwanda, Darfur and
Srebrenica to prevent
such horrible crimes
from recurring.
The Member for Hunter,
Joel Fitzgibbon voiced
similar sentiments in
his first public
statement on this
issue.
“We should
collectively spend
more time recognising
that between 1915 and
1923 hundreds of
thousands of Armenians
had their lives cut
short for no other
reason than for their
ethnicity,” said
Fitzgibbon.
“The best and most
effective way to heal
the wounds carried
still by Armenians
today is to recognise
and acknowledge both
the events of the past
and the motivations
behind them. Only then
will the global
community collectively
be able to offer the
Armenian people and
others sufficient
empathy. And only then
will the international
community be able to
genuinely claim an
unqualified
determination to
identify and eradicate
genocide in any and
every corner of the
globe.”
The Member for
Bennelong, John
Alexander, reaffirmed
his support for the
recognition of the
Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian Genocides
during an adjournment
speech on November 21.
Recalling the 1948
United Nations’
Convention on the
Prevention and
Punishment of the
Crime of Genocide,
Alexander said: “From
the eyewitness
accounts of ANZAC
soldiers and survivors
there is little doubt
that the massacre of
an estimated 1.5
million Armenians, one
million Greeks and
750,000 Assyrians fits
this definition.”
Alexander called upon
the Australian
government to join the
wave of international
recognition of the
Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian Genocide.
“I urge the government
to follow in the
footsteps of so many
nations in formally
recognising these
genocides. The actions
of members of this
parliament will help
to solidify the global
movement to identify
these atrocities for
what they are.”
The Member for North
Sydney, Joe Hockey
emphasised the strong
connections between
Australian history and
the genocide that
began in 1915 during
an adjournment speech
on November 21.
“Our country has a
strong association
with the events
beginning in 1915. The
Ottomans began their
genocide of the
Armenian people on 24
April 1915—the day
before the first
Australian soldiers
landed at Anzac
Cove—and many
Australian soldiers
witnessed the tragic
events the Armenian
race suffered at the
hands of the
Ottomans.”
Hockey firmly called
for an official
Australian recognition
of this crime against
humanity.
“We as a nation should
no longer fail to
recognise the truth of
history—truth that was
recorded even by the
Australian media as it
was occurring, at the
beginning of the 20th
century—and so I
officially call on our
parliament again to
recognise the genocide
of the Armenians,
Greeks and Assyrians
that occurred in
Ottoman Turkey between
1915 and 1923.”
The Member for
Bradfield, Paul
Fletcher once again
affirmed the
historical reality of
the Armenian Genocide
and called for its
official recognition
by the Australian
government during a
constituency speech on
November 22.
“Consistent with the
definition of
genocide, these deaths
took place with the
clear intent of
destroying Armenians
as an ethnic group.”
“Some 20 countries
around the world have
declared these events
as genocide. These
countries include
Canada, France and
Germany. It is time
that the Australian
government also
recognised what
happened in the early
decades of the last
century as genocide,”
stated Fletcher.
The seven Federal
Members join Shadow
Minister for
Immigration Scott
Morisson, Senator Nick
Xenophon and Senator
Lee Rhiannon, who in
recent months called
for recognition of the
Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian Genocides by
the Federal government
of Australia.
The Canberra leg of
Advocacy Week 2011
concluded with a
first-ever
presentation to the
Joint Standing
Committee on Foreign
Affairs, Trade and
Defence on the
historical reality of
the Armenian, Greek
and Assyrian
Genocides, its ongoing
implications, its
links to Australian
history and the
importance of official
Australian recognition
of this crime against
humanity.
The presentation,
entitled “Consequences
of an Unresolved Crime
against Humanity”, was
delivered by ANC
Australia’s
international guest
for Advocacy Week
2011, Chairman of the
ANC World Council
Hagop Der
Khatchadourian and ANC
Australia Executive
Director Varant
Meguerditchian.
“The progress we were
able to make in
Canberra over the last
two days has been
outstanding, with
several Federal
Members placing on
public record their
support for Australian
recognition of the
Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian Genocides and
a first ever
presentation delivered
to the peak foreign
affairs body of the
Australian government
on the urgency of this
issue,” said
Meguerditchian.
“Working together with
our colleagues in AHC
and AUA, we have been
successful in
garnering support for
this important issue
of humanity from all
sides of the
Australian political
spectrum and have no
doubt built an
irreversible momentum
across the political
spectrum for
Australian recognition
of the Armenian, Greek
and Assyrian
Genocides,” he noted.
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News /
VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU
Surp Pırgiç Armenian
Hospital Foundation
is among ones that
retrieve properties.
Photo:
Hürriyet
Representatives of
Turkey’s minority
communities have begun
filing lawsuits to
retrieve confiscated
property, following the
recent enactment of a
new foundation law.
“We have had numerous
gains due to the
government of the
Justice and Development
Party (AKP). We are
going to solve our
problems regarding [our]
appropriated lands
through dialogue,”
Bedros Şirinoğlu,
president of Yedikule
Surp Pırgiç Hospital
Foundation, told the
Hürriyet Daily News.
Certain Armenian and
Anatolian Greek
foundations, however,
had already started
recovering some of their
property before the new
law went into effect.
Turkey’s Armenian
community took the
lion’s share in
retrieved property,
including the Selamet
Han building in
Istanbul’s Eminönü
district, which was
granted to the Yedikule
Surp Pırgiç Hospital
Foundation by Kalust
Gülbenkyan, the founder
of the Gülbenkyan Museum
in Lisbon.
“There is nothing to be
done about it, even if
only a miniscule payment
was made during
nationalization. We are
only going to request
compensation for
[property that was
confiscated] without
following due legal
processes,” Şirinoğlu
said.
The Anatolian Greek
community also retrieved
a historical school
building in Istanbul’s
Galata district, while
Anatolian Greek schools
that remained shut due
to lack of attendance
were also allowed to
obtain revenue before
the law went into
effect.
“Many more appeals have
to be issued for all the
minority foundations to
retrieve their rights,”
Laki Vingas, the
spokesman for Anatolian
Greek foundations and a
member of the
Foundations General
Council, told the
Hürriyet Daily News.
The process for
retrieving confiscated
property is taking shape
normally, as it should
be, Vingas said.
Members of the Syriac
Christian and Bulgarian
foundations also
followed suit and took
legal action, even
though the new law is
relevant only for
Turkey’s Armenian,
Jewish and Anatolian
Greek communities, which
constitute the three
officially recognized
minorities as defined by
the Lausanne Treaty of
1923.
Unterschriften-Aktion für Syrisch-Orthodoxes Kloster
19. Oktober 2011
Daniel
Sieveke MdL im schwedischen TV
Bereits im letzten CDU-Journal haben wir von der Initiative
zur Bewahrung des Syrisch-Orthodoxen Klosters Mor Gabriel in der
Türkei berichtet.
Die laufende Unterschriftensammlung wurde von unserem
Landtagsabgeordneten Daniel Sieveke initiiert, Schirmherr ist Elmar
Brok MdEP.
Daniel Sieveke und Carsten Linnemann hatten zuvor bereits Gespräche
mit Vertretern Syrisch-Orthodoxer Gemeinden in Deutschlandgeführt.
Daniel Sieveke: „Bis Ende Oktober werden wir wohl die Grenze von
5.000 Unterschriften überschreiten.“ Bisher liegen dem Paderborner
Landtagsabgeordneten bereits Sendungen unterschriebener Listen zum
Beispiel aus Hamburg, Köln, Süddeutschland und Österreich vor, die
Aktion läuft jedoch mittlerweile auch in der Schweiz, in Schweden,
Norwegen und seit kurzem auch in Belgien. Ende des Monats fliegen
Daniel Sieveke und Ibrahim Cicek, aramäischer Christ und Mitglied
des CDU-Stadtverbands Delbrück, in die schwedische Hauptstadt
Stockholm, um die Aktion dort in Live-Sendungen bei zwei aramäischen
Satelliten-TV-Sendern vorzustellen und im Fernsehen mit
Syrisch-Orthodoxen Geistlichen sowie Vertretern
christlich-demokratischer Parteien aus dem schwedischen
Nationalparlament die Sachlage zu erörtern und die Initiative noch
weiter öffentlich bekannt zu machen.
Die Listen liegen zur Unterschrift weiterhin im CDU-Center Paderborn
bereit.
Australian Senator calls to officially recognize Armenian, Greek
and Assyrian Genocides
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
CANBERRA - News.am
Australian Senator
Nick Xenophon
Australian Senator
Nick Xenophon reaffirmed
the historical reality
of the Armenian, Greek
and Assyrian Genocides,
paving the way for the
Upper House to
officially recognize
these crimes against
humanity.
Speaking in the
Senate on October 12
Xenophon declared: “From
1915 to 1923, the
Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian people were the
victims of one of the
first modern genocides.
The exact figures are
not known, but it is
estimated that over 3.5
million people died as a
result of deliberate,
systematic actions by
the Ottoman Empire.”
According to him, the
Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian communities in
Australia and around the
world deserve to have
these past atrocities
acknowledged as what
they were: genocide,
armenia.com.au
website reported.
The Senator also paid
tribute to the Armenian
National Committee of
Australia (ANC
Australia) and the
Australian Hellenic
Council (AHC) for their
efforts at raising
awareness of the
Armenian, Greek and
Assyrian Genocides.
“In the coming months
I will be working with
the Armenian National
Committee and the
Australian Hellenic
Council to formulate a
motion to put to the
Senate, and I will
encourage all of my
colleagues to support
it,” he added.
Xenophon recalled
that Australia had not
formally acknowledged
this genocide because of
our diplomatic
relationship with
Turkey.
“If we do not
acknowledge this history
for fear of offending
another country, where
do we draw the line?
When is an event or
issue serious enough for
us to take the risk? It
is time for Australia to
choose a position.
Either we acknowledge
these genocides, or we
refuse to. If we do not
take a stand on this
issue, we need to
consider what it says
about our country,”
emphasized the Senator.
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News /
VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU
Turkey’s Syriac Christian community has secured approval from
officials for the construction of its first church. The church, planned to
be constructed in the Yeşilköy neighborhood, is expected to host 17,000
Syriacs who live in Istanbul
Prominent Syriac
community leader,
Kenan Altınışık (C)
says the
construction is set
to begin as soon as
suitable lands for
the new church
building are
allotted.
After years of
tussling and
hairsplitting, Turkey’s
Syriac Christian
community has secured
approval from both the
prime minister and the
president for the
construction of its
first church in the
Yeşilköy neighborhood on
the European side of
Istanbul.
“Half of our
community lives in and
around Yeşilköy. We rent
churches for Sunday
rites, but we can only
start morning mass at
11:30, whereas we are
supposed to finish our
Sunday rites before
10:30 in accordance with
our tradition,” Kenan
Altınışık, a prominent
Syriac community leader,
told the Hürriyet Daily
News via e-mail.
The church site will
be allocated to the
ancient community by the
Istanbul Metropolitan
Municipality, while
construction expenses
will be paid for by the
Syriacs. An official
from Istanbul
Metropolitan
Municipality, who wanted
to remain anonymous,
told Hürriyet Daily News
that they are searching
for a suitable location
for the new church.
The church
architecture is planned
to bear traces of the
Syriac’s
thousands-of-years-old
culture, while the
construction is set to
begin as soon as
suitable lands are
allotted.
Community
representatives held a
series of talks with
Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan,
President Abdullah Gül
and EU Minister Egemen
Bağış regarding their
problems concerning the
new church, including
the allocation of land
for its construction,
Altınışık said.
“Afterward, we also
met with the head of the
Istanbul Metropolitan
Construction Affairs
Committee upon a
directive issued by the
Istanbul metropolitan
mayor,” he said, adding
they have no
communication problems.
“We presented several
files to the head of the
construction affairs
committee and he offered
a few places, but they
were not suitable for
us,” said Altınışık, a
businessman and head of
the Syriac community’s
Foundation for the
Church of Mother Mary,
which is located in the
Tarlabaşı neighborhood
in central Istanbul.
The community holds
the title deed to the
Church of Mother Mary
and the metropolitan
center that houses it,
Altınışık said, adding
that about 17,000
Syriacs live in Istanbul
with scant numbers still
living in the southeast
as well.
A metropolitan center
acts as a higher
institution for an
orthodox church. Many of
Turkey’s Syriacs
migrated to Europe
during the mid-1980s,
when there was political
turmoil in the
southeast.
The information
pertaining to the
merging of the
Syriac church with
the Armenian church
in the school
history book is also
incomplete,
according to the
report. AA photo
Representatives of
Turkey’s Syriac Christian
community have claimed that
a section in a 10th grade
history course book
pertaining to events around
the time of World War I
misrepresents their history
and fans the flames of
enmity toward them.
“A classroom textbook
ought to be [written] in a
way that [reinforces] the
unity of citizens. The text
in this book has been penned
in a way that would cause
the people in this country
to view Syriacs in a
different [light],” Syriac
writer Markus Ürek said.
The text claims the
Syriacs revolted against
Ottoman rule at the
incitement of both European
states and Russia during
World War I, a claim
rejected by Syriacs. The
text goes further to state
that a great majority of the
Syriacs left Anatolia after
the failure of this
uprising.
“It is said a so–called
Syriac genocide was
committed in 1915. The
Syriacs became a party to
World War I by supporting
the Russians. Conflict with
the Syriacs occurred under
the circumstances of war. As
such, there is no genocide
to speak of. Syriacs have
conducted their religious
and social activities
without facing any
problems,” read an excerpt
from the course book. The
course book also said the
Syriacs were counted as
citizens of the Turkish
Republic in accordance with
the Treaty of Lausanne and
that the emigration of
Syriacs has increased in
recent years due to economic
reasons. “Syriacs who have
emigrated abroad in
particular have become
instruments in the hands of
the political and religious
interests of [Western]
states so that they can
[share] in their economic
prosperity,” the book said.
During the political and social
movements of last months, our region and the world had
witnessed the slow but sure transformation of the Middle
East countries which were the centre of undemocratic
systems. These social movements reversed some long lived
regimes and the other still persist at the places.
Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people are
passing very important period also as the other nations in
the region. In Iraq, our people are target of systematic
attacks and their presence becoming alarmist. Today the
situation in Syria also is very important for our people.
For this, establishing of democratic and modern systems in
the region is the key for the future.
Our organisation, ESU, held the 4th
Congress during the period of the social unrest which
squeezes the region and the systems. Our Congress finished
with great success and will the powerful solution to the
period. To be ready and to give answer to the new process,
ESU and with all relevant institutions and delegates are
with the consciousness of the importance of the process and
the works to be done.
Our region and the world are living
difficult but necessary periods in terms of social,
political and economic issues. The transformation of Middle
East countries must bring democratic, open and pluralistic
systems at the future.
Finally, I present all my deep
gratitude to all my friends and delegates which accords me
their confidence to take forward our organisation, ESU.
Turkey's minorities condemn ‘Our
Pledge’ but fear speaking out
Monday, August 15, 2011
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News /
VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU
Members of Turkey’s minority communities criticize
Turkey’s “Our Pledge”, recited by school children every
morning, yet say they are hesitant to speak out their
thoughts
All children attending Turkey’s
primary schools are expected to read aloud the “Our
Pledge” every morning when they come to schooll. DHA
photo
Representatives of Turkey’s minorities are critical of
Turkey’s “Our Pledge,” the oath recited every morning by
primary school students, but are hesitant to voice their
opinions on the matter, according to community
representatives.
Many commentators who spoke to the
Hürriyet Daily News on the issue asked for their names to
remain anonymous, fearing they could face a serious backlash
in case they openly propagate their views as members of the
Kurdish political movement have done.
“[The pledge is] an assimilating
slogan that [aims for] uniformity; it is rhetoric that
causes the individual to draw away from his or her own
culture, starting in childhood. This situation is causing
damage to the people’s [sense of] self,” B.Ş., a prominent
Syriac Christian, told the Hürriyet Daily News by phone.
“Everyday I was forced to say ‘I am a
Turk,’ whereas I had storms brewing in me not to say that I
am a Syriac. Once, I yelled that I am a Syriac. For that
reason, I was attacked with the [derogatory term] ‘gavur.’
This state of affairs has to come to an end,” B.Ş. said.
Protests against the pledge
All children attending Turkey’s
primary schools are expected to read aloud the “Andımız”
(“Our pledge”) every morning when they come to school. The
oath begins with the phrases, “I am a Turk; I am honest; I
am hardworking. Let my entire being serve as a gift to
Turkish existence.”
The recitation of the pledge has been
protested by pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP,
leader, Selahattin Demirtaş, who said that he did not want
his children to recite the oath.
Armenian and Greek community leaders,
however, said they have no opportunity to express their
thoughts as comfortably as the Kurds.
“I am irritated by all pronouncements
pertaining to nationalism. We cannot express our thoughts as
comfortably as the Kurds. If we did that, we would
completely attract all the wrong attention,” E.O., a
prominent figure within the Armenian community, told the
Daily News.
E.O. also said he experienced great
difficulties during his military service, just as in school.
If someone from his own community had requested him to take
the oath “Let my entire being serve as a gift to Armenian
existence,” he would still object to it, E.O. added.
A.P., who spent about 40 years of his
life as a lecturer in Greek minority schools, agreed. “If
you ask me whether it is necessary or not, I do not think it
is right for [the oath] to be recited every day; not in
terms of nationality, [but because] I do not think it
contributes anything to the child in terms of [their]
education,” A.P said.
Meanwhile, B.C., the manager of a
minority school who preferred not to publicly reveal his
community identity, said there were more pressing concerns.
“We have much deeper issues than [whether] to recite [the
oath] every day. Our priority is to solve those issues
[first.],” he said.
On the other hand, Marissa Gormezano,
a Turkish citizen of Jewish descent, who became a deputy
candidate from the opposition Republican People’s Party, or
CHP, during the 2011 general elections but was not included
on the final election list, disagreed with other minority
representatives.
“When [modern Turkish founder Mustafa
Kemal] Atatürk said, ‘Happy is the one who calls himself a
Turk,’ he was defining everyone who is a Turkish citizen.
The opposing stance [rests on] a narrative that corrupts
[Kemalist] nationalism,” Gormezano told the Daily News.
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News /
VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU
Greeks, Armenians and Syriac Christians in Anatolia
are observing a grape fast by refraining from eating from the
new harvest until the fruit is consecrated in church on Sunday
and Monday. Churches across Anatolia will be celebrating the
festival with special masses on Aug 14 and 15
Baskets of grapes blessed in churches will be
distributed among the people on the day of the mass,
after which time the fast is broken.
Christians throughout Anatolia
are preparing to celebrate the Grape Festival and the
Assumption of Mary on Aug. 14 and 15 with a variety of
activities that stretch back into the pre-Christian era.
Churches across Anatolia will be
holding mass for the occasion, including the Church of
the Virgin Mary in Ephesus, Sümela Monastery in Trabzon,
the Syriac Deyr ul-Zafaran Monastery in Mardin and the
Surp Asdvazsazsin Armenian Church in Vakıflı, Anatolia’s
last remaining Armenian village, which is located in the
southern province of Hatay. During the celebrations of
mass, newly harvested grapes will receive blessings as
part of the festivities.
Assumption Day celebrates the
ascent into heaven of Mary in accordance with Christian
tradition. The roots of the festival, however, date back
to the polytheistic era prior to Christianity; when
Anatolian peoples were Christianized, new year
celebrations and the vine harvest festival of the
ancients were replaced by the Assumption Day and the
Grape Festival, respectively.
Greeks, Armenians and Syriac
Christians in Anatolia observe a grape fast and refrain
from eating from the new grape harvest until grapes are
consecrated in church. Ostentatious celebrations are
also held in churches across Greece, as well as in the
Central Armenian Apolostic church of Etchmiadzin in
Armenia, the seat of the Catholicos of all Armenians.
Baskets of grapes blessed in
churches are distributed among the people on the day of
the mass, after which time the fast is broken, according
to tradition, by eating blessed grapes mixed with
non-consecrated grapes. The grapes also symbolize
fertility and abundance.
Different Stories
There are several stories in
circulation regarding the origins of the Grape Festival
and Assumption Day. According to a story that has been
transmitted through the ages within the Armenian
community, when some children were poisoned by eating
grapes that had not yet become ripe, the founder of the
Armenian church, Surp Krikor Lusavorich (Saint Gregory
the Illuminator), issued a ban on eating grapes until
harvest time.
Such traditions have been
preserved intact for centuries by being transmitted from
generation to generation among the many Christian
Anatolian peoples. This year’s celebrations will begin
in the morning hours and last until around noon on Aug.
14 and 15. Baskets full of grapes will decorate sacred
tables in churches.
Visitors are welcome to any
number of Greek, Armenian and Syriac churches in
Istanbul on Sunday and Monday to observe the vine
harvest festivities during mass.
Syriacs outline problems to EU, ask
for removal of obstacles
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News /
VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU
A Syriac group recently presented a report on the problems of
Syriac community in terms of ethnic, linguistic, religious and
other rights, as well as the right of return
The total population of Syriacs who emigrated to the
European Union numbers around 250,000, according to
figures provided by the European Syriac Union, or ESU.
Turkey should remove obstacles preventing Syriacs from
returning to the country and provide constitutional
protection for their status and identity, according to a
Syriac group that presented a report detailing the
community’s problems in Turkey to the European Commission
last week.
“Our message is clear. The obstacles
that lie before the return [of Syriacs to Turkey] must be
removed. An atmosphere of trust has to be established.
Syriacs did not willingly desert the lands where they lived
for centuries. Syriacs sought a solution abroad because they
ran out of choices,” David Vergili, a spokesman for the
European Syriac Union, or ESU, an umbrella organization that
brings together 11 Syriac organizations based in Europe,
recently told the Hürriyet Daily News by email.
Last week, the ESU presented a report
to the European Commission’s Directorate-General for
Enlargement on Turkey detailing a number of problems
experienced by Syriacs in Turkey in terms of ethnic,
linguistic, cultural, religious and other rights, as well as
the right of return. The ESU also addressed the contentious
topic of the “Seyfo” – the name Syriacs give to what they
claim was genocide perpetrated against them by the Ottomans
in 1915. The report is expected to make its way into
Europe’s agenda in September.
“The Syriac [community] was plundered
during World War I, and [they] were subjected to genocide
like other Christian peoples. There are many reasons why no
ventures were ever undertaken to seek their rights until
this day. Contrary to the official narrative and literature,
Syriacs in Turkey could neither become first-class citizens
nor take advantage of their rights granted to them by the
[Treaty of] Lausanne. Constitutional guarantees must be
given back first,” Vergili said.
“The case [of the Syriac Mor Gabriel
Monastery in the southeastern province of Mardin] is still
underway. The monastery bears great significance for
Syriacs. As the European Syriac Union, we recognize that
this process is a political, rather than a judicial one.
This view is further clarified both by the feudal village
guard organization that makes itself felt in the region, as
well as by the lack of enthusiasm in Ankara’s attitude. The
Mor Gabriel Monastery case is a test of democracy, good will
and the project to live together,” Vergili said.
In 2008, the nearby villages of
Yayvantepe, Çandarli and Eğlence filed a lawsuit claiming
that the 1,700-year-old monastery was occupying the land of
adjacent villages. The case is still underway.
“Dozens of villages were evacuated;
people were displaced. A huge wave of emigration took
place,” Vergili said in relation to the troubles faced by
Syriacs during the 1990s when the Kurdish problem was at its
height. Many people became the victims of unresolved
murders, he added.
‘We left unwillingly’
News about the return of Syriacs in
Europe back to Turkey were frequently circulated in the
press several years ago, but contrary to expectations, no
one has returned, save for a few exceptions, he said.
The total population of Syriacs who
emigrated to the European Union numbers around 250,000,
according to figures provided by Vergili. The number of
Syriacs in Turkey, on the other hand, amount to around
15,000 people, official figures indicate, with most Syriacs
being concentrated in Istanbul.
“The nationalist wave mounting across
Europe is also affecting us negatively. These problems are
mainly issues [we] face in daily life, rather than being
systemic [problems,]” Vergili said, adding that the Syriac
community stood up against problems not just in Turkey but
also in Europe.
The fact that Syriac had entered
UNESCO’s list of World Languages in Danger pointed to a
vital problem, he added.
“Our community of 15,000 in Istanbul
cannot set up schools and has to make do with a single
church. Our region has been the center of attraction for
repressive, outdated policies of annihilation and denial for
decades,” he said.
Turkey’s Syriac community also cannot
use their Syriac last names due to the Patronymics Law
enacted in 1934, Vergili said. “Syriacs have begun using
Turkish names for a lack of any other options.”
A Turkish citizen of Syriac descent,
Favlus Ay, filed a lawsuit last year to change his first and
last names to Syriac. Ay requested permission to change his
last name to “Bartuma” and his first name to “Paulus.” The
suit was filed to annul a provision in the Patronymics Law
of 1934 that bars Turkish citizens from adopting foreign
names. The case was first brought before a court in Mardin’s
Midyat district before being passed to the High Court where
the appeal was rejected, with eight judges voting in favor
and nine against.
A Book came out about the History of Mor Gabriel Monastery
20 July 2011
A book which explains the lonq history of over 1600 years old of the
Monastery of Mor Gahriel, one of the most important religious centers of
Syriac Christianity, is published in the beginnings of July 2011. The
work which is entitled Mor Gabriel Manastırı:
1600 Yıllık
Gelenek (Mor Gabriel
Monastery:1600-Years-Old Tradition)
is written by
Yakup Bilge who is known with his works related to Syriac people.
The book that relates the Monastery of
Gabrial which is known as the Second Jerusalem by Syriac People and
draws the attention with
its saints, religious man, scribers and
calliqraphers, contains the historical details of the monastery starting
with its foundation in 397 through its long history to our day.
Drawing the attention to the fact that the monastery is one of the few
oldest functioning monasteries in the world, it is also explained in the
book how the monastery is an important building of the region, of Turkey
and of the World Cultural Heritage.
The book aims at relating to those readers
and the guests who want to learn the details of the history of the
Monastery of Mor Gabriel which is expressed in millennia, to hear its
extraordinary effective founding story, to learn about its splendid
church and its other buildings from a close, to see the beauty of the
mosaics which one may find only in the cathedrals of big cities and to
know and feel the atmosphere of the terraces, corridors and domas with
other antique buildinqs from a close.
The first book on Mor Gabrial Monastery was
written by late Bishop of Mardin Philoxenos Hanna Dolabani in Syriac and
was publisbed in
1959; its Turkish translation was publisbed in 1971.The work entitled
'Mor Gabriel Manastırı:
1600 Yıllık
Gelenek'
which is published by "Gerçeğe
Doğru
Kitapları"
may be obtained from some publishing houses, from ''Gerçeğe
Doğru
Kitapları"
and
from Mor Gahriel Monastery.
The features of the latest terrorist attack
against the Christian churches in Kirkuk began this Tuesday morning.
These attacks became more and more apparent from the frequency of
information coming from there. According to informed sources in Kirkuk
that reported to the site of Ankawa.com, the terrorists wanted today the
bombing of three churches at the same time. The sources said the third church that was a
target by a car bomb at the same time with the other churches is the
Eastern Assyrian Church of St. Georges which located in Almass area in
the city.
The sources added, the terrorists parked
the car bomb, that dismantled by the security forces, at the back of the
church near the school attached to the church because they failed to
parked it directly in front of the church. The sources confirmed that a joint Iraqi and
US forces discovered the presence of the car and defused the explosive
that were inside before burning it.
The Church of the Holy Family of Syriac
Catholic was attacked this morning by a car bomb. The attack resulted in
wounding dozens of people by various injuries, including a baby and the
priest of the church. The blast caused great damages to the building of
the church and the nearby buildings and houses. In addition, the
security forces were able to dismantle a third car bomb that was
intended to explode in front of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in
the area of Almass.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A car bomb exploded
outside a Syrian Catholic church in the northern Iraq city of Kirkuk
leaving at least 20 people injured.
The early morning attack Aug. 2 was the first time the Holy Family
Syrian Catholic church had been a target, Vatican Radio said.
Police defused two other car bombs -- one in front of a Christian school
and another in front of a Presbyterian church.
Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk told Vatican Radio that the
blast set nearby cars on fire and damaged not only the church, but also
about 30 surrounding homes.
Most of those injured were in their homes at the time of the blast.
The archbishop said he visited the injured in the hospital.
"It's terrible," he said, as both Christians and Muslims were wounded in
the attack. Many of the injured had been released by the end of the day,
according to reports.
Reports said Aug. 2 that a nun and two priests were among those injured.
"We hope this is the last act of violence," Archbishop Sako said.
The bombing and planned attacks caused a great deal of sorrow because it
happened just after the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, "a
holy time of fasting and prayer and conversion," Archbishop Sako told
the Rome-based AsiaNews Aug. 2.
"Christians are sad and in shock" because such a sacred place and
innocent people were targeted, he said.
He said, "We are shocked because Christians play no role in the
political games" in Kirkuk -- an oil-rich city rife with tensions
between ethnic Arabs, Turkmen and Kurds.
"We are always for what is good, for dialogue, and we have good
relations with everyone," he added.
Anayasa Mahkemesi'nin, Favlus Ay isimli
Süryani vatandaşın anadilinde bir soyadı almasını engelleyen yasayı
Anayasa'ya uygun bulan kararıyla beraber Türkiye'nin 'normali' ve
'hâkimi' tekrar tespit edilmiş, mevcut sorun derinleştirilerek yeniden
üretilmiştir.
Anayasa
Mahkemesi (AYM) iki hafta önce 'Favlus Ay isimli Süryani bir
vatandaşın, anadilinde bir soyadı (Bartuma) almasını yasaklayan yasa
hükmünü' inceledi ve bu hükmü, anayasaya
uygun buldu. Bu, Anayasa Mahkemesinin 'soyadı' konusunda verdiği
ikinci tartışmalı karar. Hatırlanacak olursa Mahkeme 'kadınlara,
evli olduğu erkeğin soyadını taşımak zorunluluğu yükleyen yasa hükmünü'
de anayasaya uygun bulunmuştu (*).
'Soyadı' başlığı altında birleşen bu
iki karar, aslında farklı bağlamları varmış gibi görünse de, sosyolojik
olarak hâkim kimliğin hukuksal olarak tescilinden ibarettir. Yani bu
kararlardan, mesela şu mesajı almak garipsenmez: Kadın,
erkeğe, etnik azınlık, çoğunluğa tabidir.
AYM'nin verdiği bu karar, farklı
boyutlarla ele alınmaya müsait görünüyor. Ancak dağıtmamak adına
şimdilik hukuk ve etnik bağlamla sınırlı bir incelemeyle yetinebiliriz.
Soru: Türk, Kimdir?
Türkiye'de azınlık hakları
meselesinin bağrında yatan bu soruya Anayasa'nın 66. maddesi yanıt
veriyor: "Türk Devletine vatandaşlık bağıyla bağlı olan herkes,
Türktür."
Bilindiği gibi bu maddeye yönelik
farklı kesimlerden itirazlar yükselmiş, ancak tartışmanın doruk noktası,
2004'te vatandaşlık için 'Türk' yerine 'Türkiyeli' kavramını öneren
Azınlık Hakları Raporu'nun yayımlanması ve hocalarımız
Baskın Oran ve İbrahim Kaboğlu'nun yargılanmaları olmuştu. Hal böyleyken
o meşhur raporu hatırlamakta yarar var. Rapor konuşuyor:
"Bir millet olarak
Türklerden söz ederken, "Türk" teriminin aynı zamanda bir etnik (hatta
dinsel) grup anlamına geldiği görülmemektedir (...) Osmanlı
İmparatorluğunda üst kimlik 'Osmanlı' iken, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nde
'Türk' olarak belirlenmiştir. Bu üst kimlik, vatandaşı ırk ve hatta
dinle tanımlama eğilimindedir. 'Türk' sayılabilmek için ayrıca
'Müslüman' olmak gerektiği, gayrimüslim yurttaşlarımıza 'Türk' değil,
'Vatandaş' denmesinden bellidir. Türkiye'de hiç kimse, örneğin bir Rum
veya Musevi yurttaştan söz ettiği zaman 'Türk' dememektedir, çünkü
Müslüman olmayan bir yurttaştan söz edilmektedir."
Yine hatırlanacak olursa o dönemde,
bu tespitlerin geçersiz olduğu, 'Türk' kelimesinin asla etnik anlam
taşımadığı, Türkiye'deki bütün yurttaşların hangi dili kullanıyor, hangi
dine inanıyor, hangi etnik kökenden geliyor olursa olsun vatandaşlık
bakımından 'Türk' olduğu ve aralarında herhangi bir ayırımcılık
yapılmadığı iddia edilmişti. Geçen haftaki AYM kararı ne yazık ki bunun
böyle olmadığının çelişkili biçimde kabulüdür.
Yasa ve AYM konuşuyor:
"Soyadı Kanunu madde
3: Rütbe ve memuriyet, aşiret ve yabancı ırk ve millet
isimleriyle umumi edeplere uygun olmayan veya iğrenç ve gülünç
olan soyadları kullanılamaz."
"Soyadının, bir kimsenin
kimliğini belirleme işlevi yanında ailesini ve soyunu belirleme, kişiyi
başka ailelerin bireylerinden ayırt etme ya da kişinin hangi
kökene, topluluğa veya ulusa ait olduğunu belirleme işlevi de
bulunmaktadır. Bu işlevleri nedeniyle yasakoyucu (...), ulusal birliğin
sağlanması, dil ve dil kimliğinin korunması gibi sebeplerle soyadı
kullanımını yasal düzenlemelerle kural altına almaktadır (...) Kural,
yeni alınacak soyadını yabancı ırk ve millet ismi
olarak almak isteyen herkese ayrım gözetmeksizin uygulanmaktadır."
Yani esasen dava konusu olay, 'Bartuma'
soy isminin, 'yabancı' sayılıp sayılmayacağı veya daha özel olarak
Anadolu coğrafyasında çok uzun zamandan bu yana yaşayan bir etnik kimlik
olarak Süryaniliğin 'Türk' kavramı içinde görülüp görülmediği noktasında
düğümleniyor. AYM'nin ise bu düğümü, Türk kavramını etnik Türklerle
sınırlı olduğu, Süryaniliğin ve ona dair unsurların Anayasadaki 'Türk'
kavramının içinde yer almadığı biçiminde bir yorumla 'körleştiriyor.'
Yani Süryaniler, yine yeniden 'yerli yabancı' sayılıyor.
Gözden Kaçanlar ve Karşı Oylar
Anılan paradoksa rağmen, karara
sekiz üyenin karşı oy yazmış olması, ehveni şer sayılabilir. Örneğin "Dil,
din, etnik ve ırk farklılıkları millet olmaya engel değildir. "Yabancı
ırk ve millet isimleriyle" ibaresindeki "yabancı" kelimesi Türkiye
Cumhuriyeti vatandaşları arasında çoğunluğu oluşturanlardan farklı etnik
ve/veya dini topluluklara mensup olanları ima edecek şekilde
anlaşılmamalıdır." şeklindeki karşı görüşler, ne olursa olsun
teselli edici nitelikte.
Diğer taraftan karar, uluslararası
hukuk bakımından da eleştiriye açık durumda. İnsan Hakları Avrupa
Mahkemesi (AİHM); insanların soyadlarını, onların özel hayatlarına ve
aile yaşamlarına saygı hakkının bir parçası olarak kabul eder. Bu konuda
devletlerin bu hakların sınırlanabilmesi konusunda takdir yetkisi olduğu
kabul edilse de, İnsan Hakları Sözleşmesi asgari bir standarttır ve
Sözleşme'ye taraf devletler, bu hakkı geliştirmekle yükümlüdür.
Ayrıca kararda Süryanilerin, bir
insan hakları metni olarak Lozan Antlaşması bakımından 'azınlık grubu'
niteliğinde olduğu dikkate alınmamış, Birleşmiş Milletler (BM) Çocuk
Hakları Sözleşmesi Medeni ve Siyasal Haklar Sözleşmesi, Avrupa Güvenlik
ve İŞbirliği Teşkilatı (AGİT) Oslo Tesviyeleri, Ulusal Azınlıkların
Korunması için Çerçeve Sözleşme gibi metinlerde kişilerin ve
azınlıkların isim haklarının açıkça güvence altında olduğu göz ardı
edilmiştir.
Diğer taraftan karar gerekçesinde,
meselenin eşitlik ilkesi bakımından da tartışıldığı görülüyor. Ancak
AYM'ye göre 'Türkler', kendi dillerinde bir soyadı alabilirler.
'Türklük' dışında bir etnik kimliğe sahip vatandaşlar ise mensup
oldukları kimliğin parçası olan bir soyadını alamazlar. Bu tespitin
kendisi eşitsizlik yarattığı açık... Bu bakımdan BM Her
Türlü Irk Ayrımcılığının Ortadan Kaldırılmasına İlişkin Sözleşmesi'ne
aykırılık söz konusu.
Son olarak kişilerin soyadları,
Anayasa'nın "kişinin dokunulmazlığı, maddi ve manevi varlığı hakkı"
bünyesindedir. Anayasa'da ise bu hakka yönelik anılan şekilde bir
sınırlama öngörülmemiştir.
Hal böyleyken anılan kararının
özgürlükçü, insan haklarını geliştirici bir nitelik taşıdığı söylenemez.
Dahası bu karar, AYM'lerden beklenen çatışmaları uyumlaştırma işlevine
de son derece 'yabancıdır'.
Sonuç itibariyle bu kararla beraber
Türkiye'nin 'normali' ve 'hâkimi'
tekrar tespit edilmiş, mevcut sorun derinleştirilerek yeniden
üretilmiştir.
* Bu
yazı yazıldıktan sonra Ankara 11. Aile Mahkemesi'nin AYM'den daha ileri
bir kararla evli kadınların tek başına bekârlık soyadını
kullanabileceğine karar verdiğini öğrendik. Bkz. 17.07.2011 tarihli
Radikal. Yerel mahkemelerin cesareti umut verici. (TŞ/ŞA)
* Tolga Şirin, Marmara
Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi'nde Anayasa Hukuku Anabilim Dalı öğretim
görevlisi
The riddle of the
Syriac double dot: it’s the world’s earliest question mark
Manuscripts
written in Syriac, an ancient language of the Middle East, are
peppered with mysterious dots. Among them is the vertical double
dot or zagwa elaya. A Cambridge academic thinks that the zagwa
elaya is the world’s earliest question mark.
Cambridge
University manuscript specialist, Dr Chip Coakley has
identified what may be the world’s earliest example of a
question mark. The symbol in question is two dots, one above
the other, similar in appearance to a colon, rather than the
familiar squiggle of the modern question mark. The double
dot symbol appears in Syriac manuscripts of the Bible dating
back to the fifth century.
Syriac is a language of the Middle
East with a large Christian literature and its golden age
was in the centuries before the rise of Islam. Syriac
studies are blessed by the survival of a collection of very
early manuscripts, the remnants of one derelict monastery
library. In the 1840s, the British Museum stumped up almost
£5000 to buy them, and scholars have lived off this purchase
ever since.
Manuscripts of the Bible are not
even the majority of the collection now in the British
Library, but they have their special points of interest. One
of these is the way that the graceful and flowing Syriac
script is peppered with dots. Some of these dots are well
understood, but some are not – some, indeed, probably not
even by the scribes, who did not copy them consistently. All
this made for a confusing picture, and it needed a patient
scholar to start to make sense of it.
One step at least has been taken
by Dr Coakley, a manuscript specialist at Cambridge
University Library who teaches Syriac to students in the
Divinity and Middle Eastern Studies faculties. “When you are
sitting round a table reading a Syriac text with students,
they ask all kinds of questions – like what the heck does
this or that dot mean – and you want to be able to answer
them,” said Dr Coakley. “In addition, as I’ve got older I’ve
got fascinated by smaller and smaller things like
punctuation marks.”
The double dot mark, known to
later grammarians as zawga elaya, is written above a word
near the start of a sentence to tell the reader that it is a
question. It doesn’t appear on all questions: ones with a
wh- word don’t need it, just as in English ‘Who is it’ can
only be a question (although we use a question mark anyway).
But a question like ‘You’re going away?’ needs the question
mark to be understood; and in Syriac, zawga elaya marks just
these otherwise ambiguous expressions.
“Reading aloud, the same function
is served by a rising tone of voice – or at least it is in
English – and it is interesting to ponder whether zawga
elaya really marks the grammar of the question, or whether
it is a direction to someone reading the Bible aloud to
modulate their voice,” said Dr Coakley.
Question marks in Greek and Latin
script emerged later than in Syriac, with the earliest
examples dating from the eighth century. It is likely that
these symbols developed independently from each other and
from Syriac. Hebrew and Arabic, close neighbours of Syriac,
have nothing comparable. Armenian, another neighbour, has a
similar mark, but it seems to be later.
Last month Dr Coakley presented
his theory that the question mark is a Syriac invention
“rather nervously” at a conference in the United States. But
so far none of his fellow scholars has come up with an
earlier question mark in any other ancient language.
Dr Coakley is quietly thrilled by
his finding. “I’d describe it as a significant footnote in
the history of writing,” he said. “And it’s satisfying to
have made sense of some of those weird dots.”
I’d describe it as a significant footnote in the
history of writing."
— Dr Chip Coakley
Source:
Saving Christians in Iraq
History is at heart of current
effort to fortify the faithful
PROVO
— When Saddam Hussein's regime toppled in 2003 there were about
1 million Christians in Iraq.
Now there are about 300,000.
But this exodus of Christian refugees
isn't a matter of a foreign religion being forced out of an
Islamic country. It is a cleansing of interlopers and Western
influence.
"Christianity is not just something
Western, but originally it was something Eastern," said Herman
Teule, chair of the Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at
the Netherlands' Radboud University Nijmegen. "So Christianity
is at home in Iraq. Christianity is older than Islam. You cannot
understand Islam unless you understand the early development of
Christianity in that region."
U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher
Nelson walks beside a Christian church on patrol in Tal
Kaeef, Iraq. (Associated Press)
And
knowing the history of Christianity in Iraq opens a
window into how missionary-minded churches grow and die.
It explains why Iraq Christians are fleeing their
country to places like San Diego, but also why keeping
Christians in the Middle East may be important for the
future of the world.
Teule spoke on June 7 at BYU's
David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies on
"Christians in Contemporary Iraq: Current Plight and
Future Prospect," which meant he had to first explain
what happened in the past.
The other branch of
Christianity
Many
Western Christians have a vague understanding of
Christian history. That history follows the missionary
efforts of the Apostle Paul and the spread of Jesus'
teachings through the Roman Empire, eventual acceptance
by Rome, and then progress north throughout Europe and
from there out to the rest of the world.
But this understanding of history
isn't entirely true.
Christianity also spread in other
directions. East for example. East into Mesopotamia
including what is modern-day Iraq. This growth was at
the very beginning of Christianity — during the first
quarter of the second century — the 100s.
And it flourished.
It developed its own
liturgy. It developed schools, universities
and monasteries. It sent out missionaries.
It built churches and religious centers. And
all this while most of Europe was yet to be
converted and Islam was yet to be founded by
the Prophet Muhammad.
It became larger than
its Roman Christian cousin. But its glory
wouldn't last long — only about 1,000 years.
The eastern branch of
Christianity is usually called the Church of
the East or, more precisely today, the
Assyrian Catholic Church of the East
("Catholic" meaning "universal").
A
Christianity of martyrs
At the start, the
Christians got along well enough with the
Arsacid dynasty of the Parthian Empire. But
governments don't last forever and with the
rise of the Persian Sassanides in the 3rd
century, Christians came under hard times.
They didn't get along
as well with the new official state religion
Zoroastrianism.
"They didn't fit in,"
Teule said. "They became a Christianity of
martyrs."
One of the problems
they had is a problem Christians face today
in Iraq. The majority suspected that the
minority Christians had more loyalty to
their religion than to their own country.
The Persian Empire worried they would align
themselves with Christians in enemy
countries. To counteract this, the Church of
the East showed its independence by having
its own Catholicos or Patriarch.
Around the 6th
century, some Christians came from the West
and established their own group now called
the Syrian or Syriac Orthodox Church (Also
called "Jacobites" after Jacob Baradaeus,
Bishop of Edessa from that time). The
theological differences between the Syriac
Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Catholic
Church of the East were slight — but enough
to cause tension.
Then the world
changed.
Enter Islam
The Persians were
defeated in 635 by the Muslims at the Battle
of Qaddasiyyah. A new government was in
town.
Zoroastrianism was
out. Islam was in.
Teule said in many
ways, this was a golden age for the Church
of the East. By 781, the new capital,
Baghdad, the center of the church.
Christians proudly identified themselves as
Arabs. They had prominent government
positions. They sent out missionaries and
had established Christian communities as far
flung as Tibet, China and Afghanistan. They
translated the writings of Greek
philosophers into Arabic and engaged in deep
discussions with Muslims.
Everything wasn't
rosy, of course, but when the Mongols came
and destroyed Baghdad in 1258, things got
bad. The Church of the East found itself in
the mountains of modern day Kurdistan. It
had lost its power, its schools and
developed a tribal form of governance.
At first the Mongols
were sympathetic with the Christians (they
hoped for an alliance with the Western
Christians). But this changed, and when it
did the results were disastrous for the
Christians.
In the late 1300s the
central Asian warlord Timur destroyed
hundreds of Christian churches. "It was a
dark night for Christians," Teule said, "and
for Muslims as well."
But the Christians
survived.
The Church of the
East divided in the end of the 1500s when
three bishops broke off and then aligned
themselves with the Roman Catholic Church.
This new split is now called the Chaldean
Catholic Church — and is today the largest
group of Christians in Iraq. A similar split
happened around that time to the Syriac
Orthodox Church, creating the Syriac
Catholic Church.
These four churches,
The Assyrian Catholic Church of the East,
Syriac Orthodox Church, Chaldean Catholic
Church and Syriac Catholic Church are now
the main Christian traditions in Iraq. They
survived 2,000 years of history in Iraq —
but some experts do not think they will
survive new challenges.
Theology of
extinction
In 2008, historian
Philip Jenkins wrote "The Lost History of
Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age
of the Church in the Middle East, Africa,
and Asia — and How It Died." Jenkins argued
that the Iraqi churches need to face the
inevitable and develop a "theology of
extinction;" a way of coping doctrinally
that the churches are dying. The consolation
prize is that at least Christianity itself
will go on, even if their ancient branch of
Christianity doesn't.
"These Christians
don't think about extinction, but are trying
to survive and have a future in Iraq," Teule
said.
A Christian
homeland
One of the strongest
voices in Iraq for Christians, according to
Teule, is Sarkis Aghajan. Aghajan fought
with the Kurds against Saddam and even had a
place in the Kurdish government after the
new Iraq Constitution was adopted. He hopes
for a semi-independent homeland for the
Christians in Northern Iraq and has worked
to establish Christian cities and towns
where Christians can flee violence.
And there has been
violence.
Two-thirds of Iraq's
Christians have fled the country. Many have
fled their homes and found new homes in the
relative peace of Kurdistan in Northern
Iraq. But many of these refugees are not
suited for life in the mountains. "You can
have safety, but if there is no work what
good is that?" Teule said. "But if they can
adapt there is a possibility of building a
future there."
Part of the
difficulty in building a future, and
something that Aghajan is working against,
is the reluctance of the different churches
to have all Iraqi Christians think of
themselves as one ethnic identity. In the
19th Century, one identity began to rise up
as archeologists unearthed the ruins of the
huge pre-Islamic Assyrian civilizations.
Christians began to think of themselves as
the heirs to these glory days and identified
themselves as ethnic Assyrians and less as
Arabs. But the churches resist this because
it is a more secular identity and lessens
their direct control.
Teule worries that
without a unifying identity, the Christians'
influence is divided and lessened.
Fleeing Iraq
But the biggest
danger is that the remaining 300,000 or so
Christians in Iraq will also flee the
country like those who have moved to Jordan
and surrounding countries as well as those
who went to Europe, Australia and the United
States.
Bob Montgomery, the
executive director of the International
Rescue Committee in San Diego, is on the
receiving end of many of those refugees who
have fled Iraq. They come to San Diego where
there is a large community of the Chaldean
Catholic Church. The flow of refugees picked
up following several attacks on Christians
in December last year. The process to be
resettled in a new country can take years.
"When refugees get to
the United States they are coming to an
economy that is not great and it presents
new challenges," Montgomery said. "But they
don't have the luxury to wait until the
economy gets better. They are in dire
straits now."
But even though Teule
recognizes the cultural and economic
pressures that are pushing individual
Christians to flee the home of their
ancestors, he worries the exodus has broader
implications for the fate of the Middle
East.
"I think it would be
a disaster if Iraq is emptied of its
Christian population," Teule said in an
interview with the Deseret News. "It would
mean the division of the world into two
blocks. An Islamic Middle East and a
so-called Christian West." Teule said this
would create a true clash of civilizations
and go against a history where Muslims and
Christians have had long periods of peaceful
co-existence. "It would make Islam an almost
monolithic thing — something it has never
been before. It has always been open to
other ideas and open to the Christian
minorities. It has always been the reality
in Iraq that there was interaction between
Christians and Muslims. It would be a pity
if that would disappear."
Breaking News: U.S. House Foreign Affairs
Committee Urges Turkey to Return Christian Churches
House Foreign Affairs Committee Passes
Berman-Cicilline Amendment Calling on Turkey to Return Christian
Churches
Amendment based on the “Return of Churches”
resolution introduced by Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Ed Royce
(R-CA)
Armenian, Greek and Assyrian American
communities mobilized in support of landmark religious freedom measure
urging Turkey to allow freedom of worship
WASHINGTON – With a vote of 43 to 1, the House Foreign
Affairs Committee today overwhelmingly adopted the Berman-Cicilline
Amendment, calling on Turkey pressing Turkey to return stolen Christian
churches and to end its repression of its Christian minority, reported
the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA).
“Today's overwhelming vote represents a
powerful victory for religious freedom, and a step toward the rightful
return of the thousands of Christian churches and holy sites stolen by
Turkey through genocide,” said Armenian National Committee of America
Executive Director Aram Hamparian.
“Ninety six years after the genocide
perpetrated against the Armenians, Greeks, and Assyrians, the Turkish
Government has destroyed or confiscated the vast majority of their holy
sites and places of worship. The Foreign Affairs Committee today sent a
powerful message to Turkey that it must come to terms with this brutal
legacy, respect religious freedom of surviving Christian communities,
and return the fruits of its crimes.”
House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking
Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA) was joined by Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI)
in offering the amendment to the State Department Authorization bill,
based upon language from H.Res.306, the “Return of Churches” resolution
spearheaded by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) and Howard Berman (D-CA), both
senior members of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Armenian Americans across the U.S. made
thousands of phone calls to their Representatives in support of the
measure, following a week of action alerts issued by the Armenian
National Committee of America.
Similar calls to action have been issued by
Archbishops Moushegh Mardirossian and Oshagan Choloyan, Prelates of the
Armenian Apostolic Church of Western and Eastern United States,
respectively. His Eminence Archbishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Archbishop
Vicken Aykazian, Fr. Sarkis Aktavoukian, Fr. Oshagan Gulgulian, Fr.
Mesrob Hovsepyan, and Fr. Hakob Gevorgyan were in attendance at the
Committee offering their support for the passage of this legislation.
The measure has also received broad-based
support from the Greek and Assyrian American communities, with the
American Hellenic Education and Progressive Association (AHEPA), the
American Hellenic Institute, and the American Hellenic Council issuing
statements calling their community to action. “This resolution stands
in the proud American tradition of championing religious freedom around
the world,” stated AHEPA Supreme President Nicholas A. Karacostas. “If
adopted, this measure will further reinforce our nation’s commitment to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and also build upon the
passage by Congress of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
and many other pieces of legislation promoting religious freedom
abroad.”
The ANCA
Webcast the proceedings live on its website –
http://www.anca.org.
Additional coverage of speeches offered by Committee members will be
provided in the upcoming days.
Turkey’s Syriacs demanding right to own names
Thursday, July 13, 2011
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News / VERCİHAN
ZİFLİOĞLU
Turkey’s Syriac community, who
adopted Turkish surnames, now want their original surnames back.
Yet, a top cour says that the laws don’t allow such a move.
This file photo shows members of
the Debasso family, who have been living in Sweden,
attending a ceremony in Midyat distrcit of the
southestern city of Mardin last year.
Members of Turkey’s Syriac Christian
community are leading a legal struggle to adopt last names that
reflect their identity despite a Constitutional Court ruling
earlier this year that barred one Syriac from altering his last
name.
“As with every other citizen of the
Turkish Republic, we also adopted Turkish last names with the
advent of the Surname Law [in 1934.] Naturally everyone would
want to bear names and last names that are in accordance with
their own culture,” Mor Grigoriyos Melki Ürek, the Syriac
Metropolitan of the eastern province of Adiyaman, told Hürriyet
Daily News in a telephone interview.
On March 17, 2011, Turkey’s
Constitutional Court ruled against the abrogation of the Surname
Law of 1934 that forbids Turkish citizens from adopting foreign
last names in a lawsuit filed by Favlus Ay, a Turkish citizen of
Syriac descent, who wanted to change his name to Paulus Bartuma.
Ay first appealed to a court in Midyat, a district in the
southeastern province of Mardin, but the suit was then sent to
the Constitutional Court which rejected the appeal by a very
small margin, with eight judges ruling against the law and nine
in favor.
Citizenship bond
“Politicians say the important thing is
the bond of citizenship, whereas the laws are forcing everyone
to become a Turk. It is not only Turks who live in Turkey; this
is an extremely chauvinistic attitude,” Ahmet Fazıl Tamer, a
lawyer working for the Human Rights Association, or the İHD,
told the Daily News by phone.
Another Syriac Christian, İskender Oktay,
who holds both Turkish and Swedish citizenship, did not
encounter any problems when he appealed to the court to change
his last name to Debasso.
“The reason why the suit filed by
İskender Oktay came to such a rapid conclusion was because he is
a Swedish citizen; the possibility of this issue entering
Europe’s agenda was surely taken into consideration,” Tamer
said. “The important thing is to prove that the last name you
want to adopt truly belongs to your family. Plus you have to
explain well the meaning [of your name...] I guess the course
that a lawsuit will take depends on the court of the province
where your name is registered, the discretion of the prosecutor
and the civil registry,” said Tuma Özdemir, the president of the
Mesopotamia Culture and Solidarity Association, or Mezo-Der, who
acted as a court witness on Debasso’s behalf.
Even though they encountered no problems
in altering Debasso’s last name, some members of the Syriac
community face hardships when they attempt to change both their
first and last names, Özdemir added.
“An individual bears no such
responsibility in terms of explaining or proving anything. A
person should be able to adopt any first and last name of their
choice in a democratic system,” Tamer said.
Such appeals to the İHD by people who
want to change their names have become more frequent, with the
largest number of appeals coming from Kurds, he said. Ay could
also bring his case before the European Court of Human Rights,
based on the sixth and eighth articles of the Human Rights
Treaty, he added.
Debasso said he had been living in Sweden
for 35 years and that he had changed his last name while
residing there. “I do not want anyone to be isolated because of
my ethnic roots. I am a child of Mesopotamia, of this land. I
did not immigrate back [into Turkey,] I [merely] stayed apart
and returned back to my country. I wanted to be here,” he said.
Kırklar Chapel’s Priest Gabriel
Akyüz attended the first lesson of Syriac language
courses started by Artuklu University in the
southeastern province of Mardin. DHA photo
Already providing Kurdish-language
education, Artuklu University in the southeastern province of
Mardin, or MAU, is readying to open an intensive course on the
Syriac language.
The courses will be provided by the
university’s Living Languages Institute. Also, a committee from
the faculty of letters is working on establishing a Syriac
Language and Culture Department.
MAU is also the first university to start
academic education on Kurdish Language and Literature.
“The Syriac language courses of the
university have received a keen interest from all corners of the
country,” according to the Deputy Rector and the Head of the
Living Languages Institute Kadri Yıldırım who said during his
attendance at the first lesson of the course that they would
also initiate efforts to start a post-graduate program with a
Syriac Language and Culture Department in September.
Yıldırım was accompanied by some 27
students as well as MAU Rector Serdar Bedii Omay and Kırklar
Chapel’s Priest Gabriel Akyüz at the first course.
“We have made another dream come true.
This is a very important progression to overcome the fear,
pressure and oblivion which have been continuing for two
centuries. Just like the Aramaic courses at Nusaybin Academy and
establishing the Kurdish Language and Literature Department,
Syriac course will make a great contribution to cultural life in
Turkey and the world.
The intensive course will last a month
and give basic education of Syriac language, alphabet and
grammar.
Professor Abdulmesih Saadi, also an
academic at the University of Notre Dame in the United States,
is considered as the head of the Syriac Language and Culture
Department.
Caption: Kırklar Chapel’s Priest Gabriel
Akyüz attended the first lesson of Syriac language courses
started by Artuklu University in the southeastern province of
Mardin.
Gesellschaft für bedrohte
Völker (GfbV) hat zu dieser Stunde eine Mahnwache für das
Kloster Mor Gabriel in der Südost Türkei vor Ort begonnen
Göttingen/Tur Abdin, 06. Juli 2011
Der
GfbV-Nahostreferent Kamal Sido bei der Mahnwache vor dem
Kloster Mor Gabriel. Foto: Muzafer Duru
So eben hat eine Mahnwache der
Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker-International (GfbV-Int.)vor
dem ehrwürdigen assyrisch-aramäischen Kloster Mor Gabriel in der
Region Tur Abdin im Südosten der Türkei begonnen.
Die Mahnwache von Freunden der GfbV-Int. unter Leitung ihres
Nahost-Referenten Dr. Kamal Sido hat ein großes Banner mit dem
Slogan "Save the monastary Mor Gabriel" aufgerichtet. Sie will
das Zentrum der in der Türkei verbliebenen aramäisch-sprachigen
assyrischen Christen mit dieser Initiative unterstützen. Die
GfbV appelliert an die türkische Regierung, alle
Gerichtsverfahren gegen das Kloster einzustellen und endlich den
jahrhundertealten Besitz der umliegenden Klosterländereien
anzuerkennen.
Jeder weitere Versuch dieses Land zu
beschlagnahmen, beschädigt den Ruf der Türkei, gefährdet die
Glaubensfreiheit ihrer Christen und muss als Akt der
Diskriminierung der aramäisch-assyrischen Minderheit betrachtet
werden.
Dabei ist die Wahl des assyrischen 47 jährigen Rechtsanwaltes
Erol Dora als unabhängiger Kandidat in das türkische Parlament
ein erfreulicher Schritt nach vorn. Dora wurde von der
Kurdenpartei DTP unterstützt. Er möchte sich als "türkischer
Bürger für die Demokratie im Land" einsetzen.
First Syriac metropolitan building opened since Ottoman
times
Monday, July 4, 2011
ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News / VERCİHAN
ZİFLİOĞLU
Turkey’s ancient Syriac
Christian community celebrated on Sunday the opening
of the first new metropolitan services and cultural
center in many decades and the re-opening of a
long-unused church.
The ceremony was attended
by hundreds of Syriacs both from Turkey and from
abroad in the eastern province of Adıyaman. They
gathered to mark the opening of the first
metropolitan building since the end of the Ottoman
era. The ceremony also marked the opening of a
historical Syriac church that was shut in Adıyaman
for a long period of time has been re-opened for
liturgy after restoration work was completed.
“Lots of Christians live
in Turkey’s eastern provinces. This metropolitan
building will serve their needs first. Moreover,
[the building] will also act as a cultural bridge,”
said Laki Vingas, a Greek member of the Foundations
General Directorate Council, who traveled to
Adıyaman from Istanbul to attend the ceremony.
A consecration ritual was
also enacted prior to the liturgy on Saturday for
the Mor Petrus and Mor Paulus Church in accordance
with the laws of the ancient Syriac church. The
liturgy that took place between 10 a.m. and noon on
Sunday was administered by Adıyaman Metropolitan
Melki Ürek and Istanbul Metropolitan Yusuf Çetin.
The previous Adıyaman
Metropolitan building, with 800 years of history,
was already defunct when the Turkish Republic was
founded in 1923.
“There are also Armenians
besides Syriacs who are members of our metropolitan
church. It was quite difficult for us to provide
services to locations many kilometers away from the
Mardin metropolitan center,” Melki Ürek told
Hürriyet Daily News by e-mail shortly before the
liturgy was held.
The Syriac community
appealed to authorities nine years ago for the
metropolitan building to be opened, but they were
only able to achieve results after fighting a long
and uphill legal battle about 1.5 years ago,
Metropolitan Ürek said. Some 150 Syriacs and
Armenians live in Adıyaman and its vicinity, while
small numbers of Syriacs live in the city center, he
added.
The Syriac community has
four autonomous metropolitan centers across Turkey:
the Mardin Deyrulumur (Mor Gabriel Monastery) and
the Deyr-ul Zafaran in the southeastern province of
Mardin, with two more centers in Adıyaman and
Istanbul.
The metropolitan centers
act as a sort of higher institution for the church.
“Our churches and property
which were registered on the records of the Ancient
Syriac Community until the 1990s were then
registered upon the proprietorship of the
Foundations General Directorate. Is this an irony,
or is it a sign that our citizenship rights are not
quite where they are supposed to be? I believe that
our new government is aware of these flaws and will
bring about firm and lasting solutions with radical
decisions based on the law for Syriac citizens who
have been wronged,” Ürek said.
Ürek also drew attention
to the ongoing lawsuit regarding the historical Mor
Gabriel Church in Mardin and said the monastery
belongs not only to Syriacs but also to Arameans as
well.
“The injustice here was
incurred directly against us, not toward Mor
Gabriel. Whatever the expectations of all our
country’s people are from a free and prosperous
country, our expectations are no different,” Ürek
added.
A lawsuit was filed in
2008 regarding the Mor Gabriel Monastery, whereby
the adjacent villages of Yayvantepe, Çandarlı and
Eğlence claimed theird property was being occupied
by the 1700-year-old monastery. The case is still
ongoing.
“I do not approve of
governments that implement such measures because of
suggestions emanating from abroad. A country’s
government passes favorable legislation with the
happiness of her citizens in mind, [and] not because
somebody else wants it,” said Ürek, adding that it
was a major shortcoming that laws to relieve
Turkey’s Christians had not been passed yet.
First Syriac Mp in Turkey - Dora
Defines His Election as Historic Step
Monday, 13 June 2011
Turkey's first Syriac lawmaker said on Monday that
his election as a parliamentarian was an important
and historic step for brotherhood of nations.
Erol Dora said there were not any non-Muslim
lawmakers at the Turkish parliament, which he
defined as a deficiency in regard to democracy,
secularism and state of law.
"As our constitution says, all citizens are equal
under laws, and my candidacy was therefore
important," Dora told AA correspondent.
Dora was elected a parliamentarian from the
southeastern province of Mardin with the support of
the Peace & Democracy Party (BDP).
"I consider the behavior of Peace & Democracy Party
as important for Turkey's future," he said.
Dora said different groups and nations were living
in Turkey, and he was elected with votes of Kurds,
Arabs, Syriac, Mhallami and Yazidi people.
"My election as a common candidate is important for
the confidence and co-existence of people together,"
he said.
Dora also said his election was an important step
for return of Syriac people living away from the
region.
Source:
turkishweekly.net
Syriac candidate hopes to represent all of Southeast
Turkey
Monday, 13 June 2011
By VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU
ISTANBUL
—
Though poised to become the first
ever Syriac elected to Turkey’s Parliament, independent
Mardin candidate Erol Dora has stressed that his job
will be to represent the southeast rather than simply
his religious community.
“If I manage to enter Parliament,
I will become the voice of the Syriac community, as well
as all of the other ethnicities living in the
southeastern region,” Dora told the Hürriyet Daily News
& Economic Review.
An independent candidate for the
Labor, Democracy and Freedom bloc, which is supported by
the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, could
enter Parliament as the platform’s third candidate from
the southeastern province of Mardin to win in the June
12 elections.
Although Dora said he offered his
name for individual reasons, he acknowledged that the
Turkey’s Syriac community had been lending him support
in his campaign. “The support that I have seen makes me
happy.”
The candidate said the situation
in Turkey was changing, allowing for people from
previously unrepresented groups to join the race to
enter the legislature.
“Whatever his ethnic identity, if
a Turkish citizen displaying the moral courage wants to
have a voice in his country, there is nothing wrong in
that,” said Dora. “In previous years, the minority
communities living in Turkey were looked upon as
foreigners, nevertheless, with the European Union
accession process, this situation is changing.”
Turkey is moving from a system of
“compulsory citizenship,” in which only the country’s
Turkishness is privileged, to a conception of
citizenship that is more inclusive of diverse,
non-Turkish groups. “All of the ethnic cultures of
Turkey are” excited about this, Dora said.
Dora said he hoped that other
ethnic groups, and not just non-Muslim groups like
Syriacs, Armenians and Jews, would also run in politics.
“It is not important whether to
be chosen or not. The pluralist participation will be
the sign that everybody in Turkey has equal rights,” the
candidate said. “Our entrance into politics from the
bottom rung by showing effort … will certainly
contribute to the improvement of Turkey.”
Explaining his preference for the
Labor, Democracy and Freedom list, Dora said, “It was
something that happened spontaneously; the offer was
made and I accepted.”
The BDP had previously offered
Rakel Dink, the widow of assassinated Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, a chance to run as a candidate
for the bloc, but she declined the offer.
Syriacs returning
home
Syriacs, a Christian people, have
been living in Mardin and other areas in Mesopotamia for
millennia. Many Turkish citizens of Syriac origin,
however, were forced to emigrate to the EU, the United
States or the Middle East throughout the 20th century –
most recently due to the instability during the 1990s
due to the conflict in Southeast Anatolia, according to
Dora.
In recent years, however, there
has been a reversal of this emigration trend, Dora said.
“Thanks to the positive
developments occurred lately, Syriacs have been
returning. People who were forced out are now returning
willingly,” he said.
“We’ve been living in Mesopotamia
for hundreds of years. Our properties that are thousands
of years old are in dispute. The problems concerning the
1,700 year-old Deyrulumur Monastery, known also as Mor
Gabriel, are still continuing,” he said in reference to
a lawsuit filed against the monastery by the neighboring
villages of Yayvantepe, Çandarlı and Eğlence in 2008 in
which locals claimed that the church was occupying their
land.
If the ongoing case is decided
against Mor Gabriel, the monastery could lose a
significant amount of land.
Minority candidates
Dora is the not the only Syriac
running for Parliament in the upcoming elections; Ferit
Özcan, one of the founders of the People’s Voice Party,
or HSP, is also a candidate.
At the same time, two members of
the country’s Jewish community are also running for
other parties.
Seven people from the Turkish
Armenian community also attempted to run for the
Republican People’s Party, or CHP, the Justice and
Development Party, or AKP, and Labor, Democracy and
Freedom bloc for the elections but failed to appear on
the parties’ final lists.
ESU presents
Annual Report to European
Authorities
14/06/2011
Mr. Christos Makridis at the DG Enlargement of
Turkey Unit received ESU delegation composed
from ESU Secretary Rima Tuzun, member of
administrative committee Suleyman Gultekin
Brusssls —
A
committee from ESU meet with European Commission authorities
concerning situation of Syriacs in Turkey and presenting ESU
Annual Report about the situation of the Syriacs in Turkey.
Mr. Christos Makridis at the DG Enlargement
of Turkey Unit received ESU delegation composed from ESU
Secretary Rima Tuzun, member of administrative committee
Suleyman Gultekin and David Vergili.
ESU delegation presents
the annual report to Mr. Makridis and had opportunity to deliver
latest situation and expectations of Syriacs in Turkey.
At the discussed issues
Mor Gabriel trials took important places and ESU members
expressed their high concerns about ongoing trials. ESU members
declared that Mor Gabriel trials will be test balance for the Turkey for the future democracy and
living together.
Among discussed issues
the cadastral survey problems that face Syriacs and
constitutional change had been discussed during the meeting and
ESU delegate highlighted the importance of the new constitution
that will be prepared in Turkey.
Mr. Makridis express his
gratitude for the report and he declared that during the
preparation of EU Turkey Progress Report, they will take account
of ESU report.
