Mesop higlight – Seyfo: Assyrian-Syriac Genocide continues

By Lorin Sarkisian / Roni Alasor

Brussels, 5 May 2014 – Ararat News (ANP) – The genocide against Assyrian-Syriac-Chaldean, Armenian, Greek-Pontius and Kurdish Yezidis which started in the end of 19 century and reached its culmination point in 1913-1920, still continues today in Iraq and Syria.

Speaking at a seminar in Brussels dedicated to Seyfo (the deportations and mass killings of Assyrian-Syriacs in the Ottoman Empire), David Vergili, journalist and member of the European Syriac Union recalled the tragic events in 1915 when Assyrian-Syriac-Chaldean, Armenian, Greek-Pontius and Kurdish-Yezidi innocent people were massacred and deported in accordance with the Turkish Jihadist-Islamic policy of the Young Turks and later of the Turkish Republic. Later this mass killing-racist policy was directed against the Kurdish population in modern Turkey, for example the Dersim massacre in 1937 when 40 000 Kurdish civilians were killed, noted Mr. Vergili. “On the eve of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Genocide, it is our responsibility and moral obligation to work in cooperation, hand in hand, and to achieve recognition of the crimes against our peoples, Assyrian-Syriac-Chaldeans, Armenians, Greek-Pontius and Kurds”, concluded Mr. Vergili.

Belgian politicians, Syriacs, Armenians, Kurds and Greeks-Pontius also attended the Sayfo seminar. The Committee for Defence of the Armenian Cause joined the call for common efforts and cooperation between Assyrian-Syriac-Chaldean, Armenian, Greek-Pontius people for recognition of the 1915 Genocide. More about Seyfo Genocide : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_genocide