MESOP REPORT : Bishop Slams Turkey for Abandoning Syrian Christians to ISIL

A prominent Syrian bishop says Turkey is complicit in the abduction of dozens of Syrian Christians by ISIL terrorists.Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Hasakah-Nisibi said on Wednesday that Turkey is to blame for the recent abduction of at least 150 Assyrian Christians from villages in the border areas.

Jacques Behnan Hindo, who was speaking with the Vatican Radio, said Turkey is openly cooperating with ISIL Takfiri terrorists when it comes to transferring oil, wheat and cotton stolen by the terrorists. “In the north, Turkey allows through lorries, Daesh (ISIL) militants, oil stolen from Syria, wheat and cotton. All of these can cross the border but nobody [from the Christian community] can pass over.” He strongly criticized Turkey for its refusal to permit entry to the Christians who have been exposed to the threat of ISIL militants. “Every day, families are emigrating from Damascus by plane because of the blockade we have around us,” the bishop said. More than a million Christians lived in Syria before the foreign-backed militancy erupted in the Arab country in 2011. Members of the Assyrian community, with a population of around 30,000 people, are mostly based in the northeastern Hasakah Province near the Turkish border. Pope Francis (pictured above) has repeatedly expressed concern about the mass emigration of the Assyrians from Syria, which, according to him, could decimate the community of the Assyrians in the country. Kurdish forces along with government troops and ISIL militants control parts of Hasakah. The Kurds, who have made considerable gains in operations against ISIL in the border areas between Turkey and Syria, have vowed to purge the Takfifi militants from the region. http://www.presstv.ir