In autumn 2022 I was lucky enough to interview Mar Awa III Royel, Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East in Rome for Agenzia Fides. It is a Church that now it is small from a numerical point of view, but has a long history, and represents a direct heir of that Ancient Eastern Church which in the first centuries of Christianity was at the center of an extraordinary missionary adventure.
Turkish forces continue their month-long offensive across the northern fringe of Iraqi Kurdistan. As of July 15, 2024, Turkish jets and drones have carried out more than 380 bombardments and burned more than 250 miles of farmland. The Turkish attacks have been especially hard on the region's Christian-Assyrian community.
Midyat, Turkey (AFP) -- Through a basement door in southeastern Turkiye lies a sprawling underground city -- perhaps the country's largest -- which one historian believes dates back to the ninth century before Jesus Christ.
With the restoration of Cardinal Louis Sako as the official head and patriarch of Iraq's Chaldean (Eastern rite Catholic) Church, the dwindling Christian minority has reason to hope for a better future in their own homeland, say Church leaders.
Some might suggest that a doorstopper about "the influence of the horse on human history" couldn't possibly be interesting. Neigh, say I. Neigh. In fact, Timothy C. Winegard's "The Horse" is fascinating, offering a fresh perspective on how crucial horses were in human development. And it almost didn't happen.
Closing their annual synod meeting the Chaldean bishops highlighted the persecution of Christians and the scourge of seemingly unending conflict in the Middle East, calling on the Iraqi government to do more to protect Christians and calling for a two-state solution to end the Israel-Hamas war.
As one enters the Christian villages in Al-Amadiyah, Berwari, and Nahla regions in the far reaches of Duhok governorate, a palpable sense of fear and terror looms over the residents due to ongoing clashes between the Turkish Army and PKK militants.
Baghdad -- A crescendo of attacks and an increased presence on the ground, suggesting an attempt to 'reconstitute' itself as a group in order to strike back and conquer more and more ground. The United States is sounding the alarm to the government in Baghdad, faced with the danger of the return of the Islamic State to Iraq and Syria, in the tenth anniversary of the rise of the jihadist movement...
On Thursday, Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani voiced support for the Chaldean Church Synod Conference, in its annual session, in Baghdad. According to a statement from the PM's office, "Al-Sudani welcomed Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako and bishops, expressing support for holding the Chaldean Church Council conference in Baghdad.
Chaldean Catholic bishops have urged their flocks worldwide to show "unity and togetherness," in a message sent from their synod meeting in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. In the July 17 message, the bishops encouraged the more than 600,000 members of the Chaldean Catholic Church to remain firm in faith, despite the severe trials they have experienced in recent years.
Archaeologists have unearthed intriguing details about the daily life in ancient Anatolia, thanks to tablets found in the Kültepe-Kaniş-Karum ruins of Kayseri in Central Türkiye. These documents dating back 4,000 years, reveal the existence of a unique cheese known as "Kültepe Cheese.
In June 2014, Mosul and the Nineveh Plains area of northern Iraq were conquered by so-called Islamic State. The terrorists left a trail of destruction in their wake, and a quarter of the population, primarily Christians and Yazidis, fled the city. The memory remains painful despite the liberation of the city three years later.
Paris (AINA) -- On April 29, 2024 the French National Assembly adopted a resolution recognizing the 1915 Genocide committed against the Assyro--Chaldean people by the Ottoman Empire. The resolution was adopted with an overwhelming majority of 110 votes in favor and 10 abstentions. None voted against the resolution.
(AINA) -- The Senate of France passed a resolution on Monday recognizing the Turkish genocide of Assyrians in World War 1, which killed 750,000 Assyrians (75%), as well as one million Greeks and 1.5 million Armenians. The vote was 300 in favor and 2 against. Turkey condemned the resolution, calling it "null and void.
(AINA) -- On July 12 Iraqi president Abdul Latif Rashid repealed the decree recognizing the appointment of Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako as head of the Chaldean Catholic Church and which appointed him to the office of the waqf (وقف), the endowment which oversees all church property. The details of the events leading up to this action are exhaustively covered in this report by MEMRI.
(AINA) -- In early December, Patriarch Awa spoke on the possible reunification of the Assyrian and Chaldean Churches, expressing opposition to any form of "uniatism" in the process. Patriarch Sako responded first on December 31 and then more fully on February 28.
(AINA) -- On February 21, the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq ruled on a set of cases pertaining to the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) electoral law. The Court declared that the 11 parliamentary reserved seats for minorities were unconstitutional. So too was the KRG's single electoral district model.
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.
Midyat, Turkey (AFP) -- Through a basement door in southeastern Turkiye lies a sprawling underground city -- perhaps the country's largest -- which one historian believes dates back to the ninth century before Jesus Christ.
Some might suggest that a doorstopper about "the influence of the horse on human history" couldn't possibly be interesting. Neigh, say I. Neigh. In fact, Timothy C. Winegard's "The Horse" is fascinating, offering a fresh perspective on how crucial horses were in human development. And it almost didn't happen.