Aramean Churches and institutions in Iraq under Attack

Hanna Dolabani

3-3-2010: Exodus of the Arameans of Mosul continues undiminished: According to UN report already 720 Aramean families (4320 people) have left Mosul

1-3-2010: Peaceful demonstration on Sunday 28^th of February 2010 by the Aramean Orthodox and Catholics in Baghdeda (Qaraqosh), northern Iraq

27-2-2010: Council of Churches in Iraq appeals to the government to protect the Aramean people in Mosul, Iraq

26-2-2010: The Arameans of Mosul: A new Exodus and Ethnic cleansing is going on

18-2-2010: The Arameans of Iraq again victim of killings and bloodbaths:

24-12-2009: A Christmas “message” for the Arameans of Mosul: Four Aramean Churches attacked and one Aramean killed

26-10-2009: Exactly one month and one day after the dramatic appeal of Iraqi President to the United Nations, two car bombs were detonated in the neighborhood of the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq

1-9-2009: Arameans of Iraq: The East- Aramean Chaldean bishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk sounds the alarm bell

29-8-2009: Totally unfounded or has it a grain of truth in it? Greater- Israel and the ethnic cleansing of the Arameans of Mosul and surroundings in Iraq

14-7-2009: The Special UN envoy to Iraq, Mr. Ad Melkert, wants extra protection for the Aramean Christians in Iraq

13-7-2009: Seven Indigenous Aramean Churches in Baghdad (Iraq) attacked by car bombs

4-5-2009: Aramean blood continues to flow in Iraq…

15-11-2008: Iraq: The bloodshed of Aramean people and bombardment of churches continues undiminished

27-10-2008: Attempt of ethnic cleansing Mosul: The Aramean Srebrinica. Who is responsible and why?

14-10-2008: Aramean indigenous nation of Iraq: Removal of article 50, exclusion, killings, persecutions, displacements and ethnic cleansing in Mosul erea

2-9-2008: Again two Arameans killed in Iraq

Killing of Priest Yusuf Adel Abudi

4-5-2008: Again a Aramean spiritual leader is killed in Iraq. This time: The West- Aramean Syrian orthodox priest Yusuf Adel Abudi in Bagdad

11-4-2008: Through all the misery: Miracles happens in Iraq

6-4-2008: Funeral of the West- Aramean Syrian Orthodox Priest Yusuf Adel Abudi

Killing of Mgr. Faraj Raho

1-3-2008: East- Aramean Chaldean bishop of Mosul, Mgr. Paulus Faraj Raho was abducted on 29-2-2008 in Mosul.

13-3-2008: The East- Aramean Chaldean bishop Paulus Faraj Raho killed in Mosul

14-3-2008: Friday 14-3-2008: Funeral of Mgr. Faraj Raho in St. Addai Church in Karemlesh

16-3-2008: Mgr. Paulus Faraj Raho: A Great Spiritual Leader and a Worthy Sheppard in Charge of Jesus Christ

23-2-2008: Aramean centre for art and culture has been opened in Ankawa, northern Iraq

7-1-2008: Aramean Churches and institutions in Iraq under Attack

22-8-2007: AINA: The international lie- and hate machine and the cause of killing, persecution and decline of the Arameans of Iraq

Killing of Priest Ragied Aziz Gannie

3-6-2007: East- Aramean Chaldean priest Ragied Aziz Gannie brutally murdered in Mosul along with three deacons by Muslim extremists

25-5-2007: Terror against Arameans (including "Assyrians" and Chaldeans) of Iraq. Ethnic cleansing of the Indigenous people of Iraq

Killing of Isoh Majeed Hadaya

22-11-2006: The West- Aramean Isoh Majeed Hadaya killed by terrorists in Iraq

Killing of Priest Paulus Iskandar

12-10-2006: Aramean priest Iskandar beheaded in Mosul (Iraq)

Aramean people: Aramean people (not to be confused with ‘Armenians’) speak Aramaic, the language spoken by Abraham, Moses and Jesus. They are the indigenous people of what was called in ancient times Aram- Nahrin, in our days it is called ‘Mesopotamia’.

Some Arameans today identify themselves with “Assyrians”, because of the spiritual colonial hate generating activities of the Western missionaries and diplomats in the Middle-East in 16th and 19th centuries. Other Arameans became known as “Chaldeans”. However all of them are Arameans.In Turkey, the Arameans are called: Süryani. In Arabic they are called Al- Suryan.

Aramean Churches and institutions in Iraq under Attack

Dutch Version

Sunday 6^th of January 2008 seven churches and charity organizations in Baghdad and Mosul were targeted. So far, no deaths or injures reported.

The targeted churches and organizations include:

East- Aramean Chaldean Church St. Paul in Mosul.

Nunnery of Dominican sisters in Mosul

East- Aramean Chaldean Orphanage of Chaldean sisters in Mosul.

West- Aramean “Melkitic” orthodox Church in Baghdad.

East- Aramean Chaldean St. Gorgis Church in Gadir district in Baghdad.

East- Aramean Chaldean Church St. Paul in Zahranya district in Baghdad.

East- Aramean Chaldean nunnery in Zafranay district in Baghdad.

The Arameans of Mesopotamia, also made known as “Assyrians” and “Chaldeans”, are the indigenous people of Aram-Nahrin, today a significant part of Iraq. The Arameans speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus, and are present since thousands of years in the area which also became known as “the cradle of civilization”.

Although all the Iraqis suffer terribly under daily insurgences and hardship, yet the situation of the Christian Arameans, including “Assyrians” and “Chaldeans”, is extra pressing. In contrast to other groups, the Arameans have no means to defend themselves. Because of terror, threats, blackmail, confiscation of their properties by gangs and terror groups, who apply and resort themselves to the law of the jungle, many Arameans and other Iraqis are forced to leave the country for Syria and Jordan.

On 22-8-2007 the Aram-Nahrin Organisation sent a letter to President Bush and Sarkozy and Premiere Brown to ask for their attention to the fragile situation of the Arameans of Iraq. On 29-8-2007 again our Organization sent a letter to the President, the Premiere and the Minister of Foreign affairs of Iraq and asked for their attention to the situation of the Christian Aramean people in Iraq and to help them to stay in Iraq.

To ask for the international attention to the terrible situation of the Iraqi people and Arameans, our organization made a oral statement on 2-8-2006 during the UN meeting of the Working Group of the Indigenous Population in Geneva in Switzerland.

These coordinated attacks were apparently meant to demoralize and break down the Arameans, also known as “Assyrians” and “Chaldeans”, to force them to leave the country so that the areas ethnically can be cleaned of the original inhabitants of Iraq.

IRAQ: 01/06/2008 14:47

(http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=11177&size=A)

Coordinated attacks against Christian Churches in Baghdad and Mosul

The targets were three Christian Churches and three convents belonging to religious orders. No deaths have been reported so far but serious damage has been done. Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk: the attacks could be part of a coordinated plan aimed at sending a clear message to the community.

Baghdad (AsiaNews) – “They represent a clear message and are probably part of a coordinated plan” the attacks which took place today, the feast of the Epiphany, against numerous churches and Christian institutions in Iraq. The Chaldean Archbishop of Kirkuk. Loiuis Sako is convinced of this who confirmed to AsiaNews that the car bombs did not provoke any deaths, but only one injured and material damage. The targets hit in the capital are : the Chaldean Church of St George in the Ghadir quarter, where Patriarch Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly had just finished celebrating mass; a Greek- Melchite Church and a convent of Chaldean sisiters in Zaafraniya. In Mosul, the car bombs targeted the Chaldean Church of St Paul, an orphanage run by the Chaldean sisters in Alnoor and a convent of Domenican nuns in Mosul Aljadida.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/06/content_7375202.htm

Bomb attacks target four churches in N Iraq

08:15, January 07, 2008

Insurgent groups attacked on Sunday four churches for Iraqi Christian minority in the city of Mosul, the capital of Nineveh province, a provincial police source said.

A car bomb parked near the Maryam al-Adhra' Church northeastern of Mosul detonated, wounding four people and damaging parts of the building, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

Another booby-trapped car parked near the Mar Yousif Church in the Muhandiseen neighborhood in northern the city detonated and damaged outer fence and parts of the church, the source said.

In western Mosul, an explosive charge went off in a monastery in the Mosul al-Jadida neighborhood, damaging part of the deserted building without human casualty, he said.

A fourth bomb attack took place in the Meskantah Church in the Khazraj neighborhood in central the city, causing damages in the building, added the source.

The attacks against the Christian minority came as part of the religious and sectarian violence that ravaged the Iraqi cities, including Mosul, some 400 km north of Baghdad.

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