Patriarch Youssef
The Recent Attack on Al-Hasakah villages The tragedy of thirty-fiveAssyrian villages
28 2 2015
The Recent Attack on Al-Hasakah villages
The tragedy of thirty-fiveAssyrian villages
· Patriarch Gregorios III telephonedMorYacubBehnanHendoof the Syrian Catholic Church to ascertainabout the situation in Hasakah.
· His Beatitude also called MarAframNathanielof the Assyrian Church on 25/02/2015to express his condolences, solidarity and prayersfor the safety of the people there. Mar Afram told His Beatitude about the situation there, as follows:
§ The attack took place on 23/02/2015 at 3:30 a.m.and about nine hundred (900) families were displaced from thirty-five(35) villages around Al KhaburRiver.
§ About three hundred (300) persons werecaptured
§ Formerly, the number of habitants there was five thousand(5,000) families, but many had emigrated, the majority to Europe and Lebanon
§ Fifteen hundred (1,500) familiesstill remained there, some of whom had been allocatedhouses abandonedby their owners when they themselves had been displaced to Hasakah and Qamishli
· On 26/02/2015Patriarch Gregorios heard that one hundred and twenty(120) Assyrian persons (including men and women, the elderly and children) had been kidnapped and killed
· Therefore, His Beatitudeagain called MarAfranNathaniel and asked him about the validity of those reports, but to date they remain unverified.
· “When will the whole world, both overseas and Arab countries, unite and stand together in order to eliminate this epidemic that is a shameto humanity in the 21st. century?”wonders Patriarch Gregorios.
· “This issue has gone beyond the Syrian crisis and its tragedy and the war on Syria.
· “Ithas become a global earthquake! That is why I am trying to solve it not only as a pastor and spiritual father but as a human being and citizen…In the words of theSecond Vatican Council,'The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.'”
· So with these feelings,His Beatitude launches this appeal:
· “Shame on countries’ powerlessness to stem these crimes!
· “Shame on the European Union for its inaction!
· “Shame on the League of Arab States for its inaction!
· “Shame on Christians and Muslimsfor their indifference!
· “Shame on the International Community for being incapable of defeating takfiris, those barbarous and inhumane extremists, and for refusing tostop arming and supporting them.
· “Is there an international conspiracy?Or widespread falsehood?
· “It is impermissiblefor these criminals to continue terrorising everyoneand making our God-created world a world of sin, killing, and terrorism and reducing humans to slavery to greed and malice.
· “As theHoly Fathersaid in his Lenten message, there is a'globalization of indifference,'so we have to work together as His holiness said toward a globalization of solidarity and of Arab solidarity. So we appeal with hope: 'Countries of the world, uniteto save human civilization,the civilization of love!'
· “God willing we will overcome this epidemic of hatred with love!”
The tragedy of thirty-fiveAssyrian villages
· Patriarch Gregorios III telephonedMorYacubBehnanHendoof the Syrian Catholic Church to ascertainabout the situation in Hasakah.
· His Beatitude also called MarAframNathanielof the Assyrian Church on 25/02/2015to express his condolences, solidarity and prayersfor the safety of the people there. Mar Afram told His Beatitude about the situation there, as follows:
§ The attack took place on 23/02/2015 at 3:30 a.m.and about nine hundred (900) families were displaced from thirty-five(35) villages around Al KhaburRiver.
§ About three hundred (300) persons werecaptured
§ Formerly, the number of habitants there was five thousand(5,000) families, but many had emigrated, the majority to Europe and Lebanon
§ Fifteen hundred (1,500) familiesstill remained there, some of whom had been allocatedhouses abandonedby their owners when they themselves had been displaced to Hasakah and Qamishli
· On 26/02/2015Patriarch Gregorios heard that one hundred and twenty(120) Assyrian persons (including men and women, the elderly and children) had been kidnapped and killed
· Therefore, His Beatitudeagain called MarAfranNathaniel and asked him about the validity of those reports, but to date they remain unverified.
· “When will the whole world, both overseas and Arab countries, unite and stand together in order to eliminate this epidemic that is a shameto humanity in the 21st. century?”wonders Patriarch Gregorios.
· “This issue has gone beyond the Syrian crisis and its tragedy and the war on Syria.
· “Ithas become a global earthquake! That is why I am trying to solve it not only as a pastor and spiritual father but as a human being and citizen…In the words of theSecond Vatican Council,'The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties of the men of this age, especially those who are poor or in any way afflicted, these are the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the followers of Christ.'”
· So with these feelings,His Beatitude launches this appeal:
· “Shame on countries’ powerlessness to stem these crimes!
· “Shame on the European Union for its inaction!
· “Shame on the League of Arab States for its inaction!
· “Shame on Christians and Muslimsfor their indifference!
· “Shame on the International Community for being incapable of defeating takfiris, those barbarous and inhumane extremists, and for refusing tostop arming and supporting them.
· “Is there an international conspiracy?Or widespread falsehood?
· “It is impermissiblefor these criminals to continue terrorising everyoneand making our God-created world a world of sin, killing, and terrorism and reducing humans to slavery to greed and malice.
· “As theHoly Fathersaid in his Lenten message, there is a'globalization of indifference,'so we have to work together as His holiness said toward a globalization of solidarity and of Arab solidarity. So we appeal with hope: 'Countries of the world, uniteto save human civilization,the civilization of love!'
· “God willing we will overcome this epidemic of hatred with love!”