MESOP FOCUS TODAY : THE NIGHTMARES OF ASSYRIANS IN KURDISTAN

A Demand For Action representative Suzan Younan’s report from Iraq / ‪#‎DemandForAction – ‪#‎SafeHavenNow

“We arrived into Erbil on Sept 14th, we had a sense of what we would witness, but nothing comes close to the devastation that is going on. The current ethnic cleansing of the indigenous people of Iraq is not only happening by ISIS, but our own Arab and Kurd neighbors who so easily sold us out and fled their checkpoints.

Our first stop was at the headquarters of Assyrian Aid Society (AAS), where we were debriefed on the current situation. I am happy to report all of our people now have been taken in. Literally every hall, church, cultural center, vacant homes, dormitories, stores, schools, have been switched into homes for our people. AAS Iraq have been able to register majority of them. Their work is 24 hours 7 days a week. They are taking care of every problem as much as they can. Since ISIS entered Iraq, 600,000 total people have been displaced into Dohuk, Erbil and neighboring villages. They are everywhere you look. Everywhere. Below is a list of the towns and the number of Assyrians that have fled:

Mosul almost 10,000 families

Telkepe 300 families

Badnaye 9,000

Telescop 27,000

Sharafeya 70 families

Alqosh 19,000

Baghdede/Qaraqosh 52,000

Qaremlesh 8,000

Bartela 20,000

Basheeqa 5,000

On Sept 15th we travelled to the Simele region. Assyrian Democratic Movement is taking care of 937 families. Below is the breakdown of the Simile region, with the names and number of our villages who have taken in our people:

Cheyoz 492 families

Mansooreya 85 families

Sorka 90 families

Simile 120 families

Shkeft Deleh 30 families

Horesk 79 families

Auzarook 41 families

We were able to visit some of these sites, and document their stories. Every single person has their own horrific story. Every face I saw has the same look of despair and pain. Yet, a glimmer of hope, a hope that they would return to their lives, and carry on. Many of them ran in the middle of the night, with only the clothes on their back. Mothers told me they told their children they were going on a little vacation, so that they would not scare the young ones. Even upon fleeing they were stopped, ISIS made sure they had nothing on them, some of them even had their crosses ripped of their necks. And as they ran, they remember hearing ISIS yell “don’t come back here, this is not your home anymore.” And so they left, not knowing where they were going. Some in cars, many on foot, because ISIS didn’t even let them take their cars. Tired, hungry, thirsty and broken. Some of the women even covered themselves with a hijab as they ran, so that ISIS wouldn’t abduct them. Upon arriving into the main cities of Dohuk and Erbil, many of them collapsed. Drained in every way possible.

The first several days were complete chaos. The Assyrians in Dohuk and Erbil immediately started working to get our brothers and sisters help. Imagine hundreds of thousands of people arriving. The devastation is way bigger then we can imagine. No picture of video can explain it. Seeing it with our own eyes is unbelievable. I still think I’m in a horrible nightmare.

Every person we have come across asks for the same thing. We need international supervision, we need to arm ourselves. We need protection. If this does not happen, then our nation will disappear. We cannot let this happen again. We cannot let these people go back to their homes (if their homes are still there, many have been vandalized and burnt to the ground) and live in fear. We have the manpower to protect ourselves, but it is imperative that we create a safe haven with international intervention to oversee until we are able to stand alone. The Kurds and Arabs abandoned our people. They ran out of our villages even before our own people did. They left them to die.

All the men I spoke with said they would die for this nation; they would give their lives to make sure our people are secure and safe in our homeland. We are at the cross roads of extinction. It’s now or never. If we do not rise up and help our people in Iraq then our history will be just that, history. We will be a story that people will read 100 years from now, a story of a people who once were, and no longer are.

I felt helpless and broken. I felt a sadness that overcame every ounce of my being. But the more I spoke with our people, even in these horrific situations, I gained strength. They gave me hope. Their faces etched with the scars of pain and despair still smiled and laughed. They still believe in their future. They refuse to leave their land. If anything this has made their assyrianism stronger. ISIS may have taken their villages, but they have not taken away their dreams. Even as they lay their heads down at night, in cramped quarters, they still dream of their future, our future as a nation.

The last feeling I expected from our brothers and sisters was hope. But they have it. And they continue on. Brave and strong, they carry on. And that makes my heart complete. My pride for our nation is overwhelming. We will prevail. We will survive. We will return. Our people here are the root of our nation, and nobody can destroy that. Nobody.”

‪#‎DemandForAction – ‪#‎SafeHavenNow