AINA reported that Mar Delly chastised the Iraqi government, as well as "all those in power who did nothing and are doing nothing to stop this tragedy." One observer told AINA, "not only aren't the Americans helping us, but they are fueling the reprisals against us by operating out of Babel College."

Although some concentrations of Assyrians remain in the Baghdad area, AINA reported the vast majority of the population in the country has been decimated. According to the United Nations, more than half have already left the country entirely, with still more joining the ranks of the internally displaced.

AINA reported that in Basra, Iraq's second largest city to the south, the Christian community has almost entirely vanished. In Karkuk, Assyrians live under political pressure from Kurdish groups and the ongoing fear of civil strife. In Mosul, rising fundamentalism and sectarianism have caused many to flee.

In the only relatively stable area to the north, many Assyrian Christians are settling in the ancient historic heartland of Assyria, in the Nineveh Plain. But here as well, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) paramilitary forces intimidate and sometimes assassinate Assyrian leaders not toeing the KDP line.

AINA reported that one leader said, "The KDP has opportunistically used the current crisis to squash any independent Assyrian political expression and representation." Assyrians are referred to as "Christian Kurds," and assistance is contingent on agreement to incorporate the last remaining Assyrian region into a wider Kurdish occupied region.

Forced to choose between Islamist terror and Kurdification, the overwhelming majority of Assyrian Christians have chosen to leave the country. With over half of the population now gone, AINA reported that the word genocide has slowly begun to creep into the war's lexicon.

AINA reported that Jackie Bejan, a prominent Assyrian American activist, said, "There are many who think that we are now witnessing another cycle of genocide, very similar to the one inflicted upon our people in 1915 by the Ottoman Turks (and Kurds) ...What is happening now to the Iraqi Christians and other minorities is certainly and rapidly approaching all requirements and measurements of the most horrific crime against humanity, genocide."

There is widespread concern about the real danger that the community will ultimately be unable to sustain itself. AINA reported that one observer lamented, "By design or by neglect, the net effect is the same, the potentially irreversible loss of the indigenous Christian community in Iraq. Unless something is done and quickly, the lasting legacy of this war will be the genocide of the Christians and other minorities of Iraq."

Assyrian leaders are demanding immediate assistance to the besieged Dora residents. AINA commented that if U.S. and Iraqi forces are genuinely unable to secure the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, then Assyrian Christian residents wanting to flee ought to be assisted with a secure evacuation for resettlement in the Nineveh Plain in an Assyrian secured safe haven or administrative area free of KDP occupation with adequate resources to allow them to remain and survive within the country.

© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission

Original publication date June 5, 2007