Although Islamic State has been defeated in northern Iraq, the "Islamist mindset" that persists in the region has made Christian refugees from the region "afraid to return", according to one of Iraq's most senior Catholic Bishops.
More than three years on from the defeat of Daesh (ISIS), Islamists in Iraq are as determined as ever to rid their towns and cities of Christians -- according to a senior bishop, who has warned of a surge in extremism.
The Nineveh Governorate has come to a grinding halt because of COVID-19, impacting the ability of returnees to maintain whatever life they had developed post-ISIS. The militias are providing the structure used to enforce stay-at-home directives, possibly strengthening their role in the governorate post-ISIS.
Often overlooked in the discourse concerning the atrocities committed by the Islamic State against the Assyrian people is the destruction of cultural heritage. In this report, we analyze the destruction of Assyrian tangible and intangible cultural heritage in the Khabour Region in northeast Syria as a significant aspect of the Islamic State's policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Turkey's Association of Protestant Churches has released its 2019 "Human Rights Violations Report" detailing the state of religious freedom in the country. The report sheds light on problems Protestant Christians faced in Turkey in 2019.
Member of Parliament and Chair of the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities, John Alexander has signed an Affirmation of Support joining the Joint Justice Initiative launched by the Armenian-Australian, Assyrian-Australian and Greek-Australian communities.
Iraq is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world. Before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 there were around 1.5 million Christians in the country. The number has dropped precipitously to only 250,000 today.[1] While war and conflict have been a part of Iraqi life for almost two decades, certain groups have suffered disproportionally.
Around 85,000 prisoners and political prisoners have been temporarily set free to avoid overcrowding and potential COVID-19 outbreaks in Iran. One prisoner, in particular, is 35-year-old Ramiel Bet Tamraz, an Assyrian Christian who was serving a four-month sentence at Evin Prison for his participation in house churches.
(AINA) -- The body of Şimoni Diril was found today in Turkey, 70 days after the elderly Assyrian couple vanished. The couple was kidnapped on January 11 from their village of Mehr, Kovankaya in the province of Sirnak. The body was discovered in a river near her village of Mehr. Her husband is still missing.
The Nineveh Plains Protection Unit (NPU), an Iraqi Christian militia, is implementing the decision to install a curfew and travel restrictions for people living in the al-Hamdaniya district. The lockdown is meant to address rising concern regarding the coronavirus.
ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that does investigative journalism, isn't known for religion coverage. Why, I have no idea, as the field is indeed rich. But earlier this month, it published a piece on Iraqi Christians that calls out the duplicity of the Donald Trump Administration for calling Iraq too dangerous for Christians on one hand, while deporting hapless Iraqis from the United States...
Attacks on Christian cemeteries in Turkey have deeply shaken the embattled community in recent months. Twenty of the 72 gravestones in the Ortaköy Christian Cemetery in Ankara were destroyed on Feb. 14, according to news reports. Six people who carried out the attacks were briefly detained and then released.
(AINA) -- The body of Şimoni Diril was found today in Turkey, 70 days after the elderly Assyrian couple vanished. The couple was kidnapped on January 11 from their village of Mehr, Kovankaya in the province of Sirnak. The body was discovered in a river near her village of Mehr. Her husband is still missing.
Phoenix (AINA) -- The Arizona House of Representatives read resolution HCR 2006, Assyrian Genocide Remembrance Day. The resolution was introduced by Representative Nancy Barto (R) and was co-sponsored by Representatives Jennifer Jermaine (D) and Frank Carroll (R). The Assyrian Genocide Research Center and local Assyrian organizations played a significant role in sponsoring this resolution.
Chicago (AINA) -- In September of 2014, Attorney Robert DeKelaita was indicted for helping a handful of Assyrian (also known as Chaldean or Syriac) asylum seekers obtain asylum. The government, represented by the US Attorney's Office, alleged that the means used to obtain asylum for the handful of the witnesses chosen to testify against DeKelaita was fraudulent.
(AINA) -- On May 4-5 the Salahaddin University in Erbil, Iraq and the French Institute of the Near East (IFPO) organized a workshop titled Christianity in Iraq at the turn of Islam. Its aim was to discuss important institutional changes for Christians in areas of the collapsed Persian Empire and retreated Byzantine Empire which were conquered by Muslims.
During the years of World War I 75% (750,000) of the Assyrian population in the Ottoman Empire was systematically murdered. That genocide of Assyrians at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 is a fact, but it has largely been forgotten by the world.
(AINA) -- When speaking about the Ottoman Empire and Turkey today, it is not their contribution to civilization that comes to mind. Instead it is human rights violations, confiscation of land and property, genocide and genocide denials that are most frequently discussed in the public discourse. Today's Turkey is still far from being ruled by democratic principles.
There is more to the Declaration of Independence than "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." Further down the parchment, the future Americans list reasons why the king of Great Britain is an unfair and unsuited ruler for America.
Dr Bleda Düring deemed it was time for an archaeological approach on the imperialisation of Assyria. 'While there are lot of archaeological studies of Assyrian sites, they are not really trying to address this broader picture of imperialism and how this imperialisation actually worked.