Stockholm (AINA) -- "It's obvious for me that when the Kurdish Regional Government [KRG] disarmed Assyrians (AINA 2014-08-14) and then didn't defend the Nineveh Plain [when ISIS attacked], this amounted to treason against the Assyrian people." These are the words Lars Adaktusson, member of the European Parliament from the Swedish Christian Democratic Party, issued in an recent article. Adaktusson's comment was published by the Christian newspaper Världen Idag on July 14 in response to questions from Assyrian groups on his recent involvement in the future of Nineveh Plain in Iraq conference held in Brussels.

Related: Assyrian Confederation of Europe Rejects Brussels Conference
Related: EU Conference on Nineveh Plains Favors Kurds, Marginalizes Assyrians

Adaktusson is the first EU-parliamentarian to openly charge the KRG and its Peshmerga for treason against an ethnic minority, an accusation few western politicians have dared to raise.

Both Assyrian and Yazidi groups accused the Peshmerga of disarming their people in the Nineveh Plain and Sinjar weeks and days before the arrival of ISIS. They further accused the KRG forces of making a calculated withdrawal in the middle of the night without warning the Assyrian and Yazidi civilians, effectively exposing them to the full onslaught of ISIS terrorists. According to the Assyrians and Yazidis, the KRG's motives were to cause maximum demographic changes in the Nineveh Plain and Sinjar in order to facilitate their annexation into the Kurdish region ahead of declaring Kurdish autonomy.

Mr. Adaktusson further stated that "many have rightfully criticized the KRG for this treason," before revealing he himself criticized Masrour Barzani, chairman of the KRG's security council, during his visit to the EU-parliament in November 2014. "I have myself highlighted this treason, among other times when the leading Kurdish politician Masrour Barzani visited the European Parliament," said Mr. Adaktusson.