Survival under Despotism
Members of the international community are either inept or do not
want to indulge themselves lest they offend the hierarchy, or their
Arab Muslim “friends”. The world has a moral obligation and equally
responsible role to play in reporting the truth about the deplorable
conditions under which the Assyrian people live worldwide.
In Iran, the Assyrians, Armenians and Baha’is have been pushed to
the limit in compromising their culture in order to survive the
rigid Islamic regime. Their attempts to restore their identity and
survive in an ever-suffocating atmosphere, loaded with tension of
Islamic fervour, have reached a desperate point. While in Iraq,
survival of the Assyrians and other Christian minorities is at the
mercy of Saddam Hussein, his clique and his petty tyrant sons Ouday
and Qusay.
In Turkey, since 1986, hundreds of ‘Suroyo’ Assyrian villages have
been burnt down, and over eighty churches destroyed and their
farmlands and properties taken away by the Muslim Turks. Over one
hundred thousand Assyrians, residents of Turkey, have since fled to
European countries such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden
and the Netherlands. The reason for all this is ignorance or
indifference of the world body of Nations to the Assyrian tragedy.
In Syria, in the Tal-Tamir and Khabur region of Al-Hasaka Province,
there are over 34 Assyrian villages and towns dotting the riverbanks
of the Khabur River. This river is their lifeline. The villagers
depend on its water for drinking, for domestic use and irrigation of
their farmlands and vegetable gardens. Recently, the Khabur waters
have almost dried up. The Syrian government has, for sometime been
diverting its watercourse to irrigate lands owned by Arabs. In
addition, Arab villagers have drilled thousands of artesian wells
that have led to exhaustion of the waterbed. Consequently, the level
of water has dropped frighteningly low. Its dried up bed has
devastated the villagers. Only bodies of water in pools of natural
land depressions and swamps, remain. They are unfit for human and
animal consumption.
Water has become a rare commodity. Potable water has increased
sharply in price, and is beyond the reach of the average
householder. Assyrian villagers had earlier approached the Arab
Syrian government and sought its advice and help. The government
promised to look into the matter to resolve the problem, but did
not. The problem remained unresolved. It escalated and reached
crisis point.
In sympathy with their brethren in Syria, Assyrian communities in
America and Europe donated funds to buy several water tankers to
supply the villages with their need of water as a temporary relief
measure. This humane deed aroused the jealousy of certain selfish
elements in the Arab Syrian Government. They were upset and
criticized the project and accused the Assyrian committee, in Syria,
of profiteering and nepotism.
In June 1997, the Syrian security forces arrested several prominent
members of the Assyrian committee on charges of extortion and
conspiracy and threw them in jail. No wonder that UN agencies and
members of the international community do not hear of such a
situation. The safety and well being of the Assyrian people has
never been much of an issue or concern to media outlets or any body
else. To the outside world, it is a domestic matter for they are
considered Syrians.
The mass media know how to trick themselves out of such a sensitive
issue, and play down the seriousness of the matter. The United
Nations allocates funds to drill artesian wells to supply villages
in developing countries with potable water. It prides itself on
rendering humanitarian service. Assyrians deserve such assistance
but do not receive it. Islam does not extend humanitarian assistance
to non-Muslims in their countries. Islam considers such assistance
as charity. Charity to non-Muslim according to the Islamic Shari’ah
is unlawful (“Haram”). If so, the UN has constitutional right to
interfere and rescue the stricken people. They are struggling to
survive against barrenness of their farmlands, drought and scarcity
of water.
The responsibility of the media is to lay bare the facts and spell
out the truth, and report the events honestly and with impartiality.
As a mirror, they should reflect the true image of the event rather
than distort and falsify facts. The Assyrians have the right to
their share of the media column in order to tell their side of the
story. The media need to alert the right agencies to the plight of
the Assyrians that humanitarian agencies may look into their
grievances to gain adequate support. World news agencies have never
taken the Assyrian issue seriously. Journalists have completely
ignored the Assyrian deplorable state in the Middle East in their
press reports. Western printed press is indifferent to their plight.
The Assyrians have no access to share in the news column to attract
world attention to their problems. The press has repeatedly declined
to report events relating to Assyrian issues.
Since the Iraq-Iran War of the 1980s and later the Iraqi invasion of
Kuwait in 1990, the world has heard about the state of every ethnic
group and faction living in the Middle East: the Arab Sunni, She’ah,
Alawi, Druse, Kord, Turkuman, Persian Baha’i, Mandaean and Iraqi
Yezidis. Yet, not one single word has been uttered about the
Christian Assyrians. Why, has the Assyrian person in the Middle East
become so insignificant to the Westerner that his/her life as a
human being no longer means much?
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