WCA speaks at UN in Geneva: Help Christians in Syria and Turkey
On Tuesday, 18 May 2014, the WCA delivered its second statement during the 25th Session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) of the United Nations in Geneva. In the morning, the WCA had addressed the HRC regarding the crisis in Syria (click here). In the afternoon, during the General Debate, the WCA reminded the international community of the ongoing struggle for survival by the Aramean people in Turkey and Syria. The WCA reiterated its grave concerns concerning the gloomy future of the Christians in Syria, and once again asked the UN for support in the case of the abducted bishops of Aleppo.
Click here to download the statement in PDF or click here to watch the statement given by the WCA President (Mr. Johny Messo) on the UN Webcast (under number 32).
Thank you for recognizing us, Mr. President.
For the survival of the native Aramean Christians of Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Lebanon, it is crucial for both the Aramean people and for the peace, stability and ethno-religious diversity of these countries that they must stay in the lands of their ancestors.
However, as critical as this struggle may be for the threatened Arameans, this ancient people continues to be abandoned and neglected by the international community.
We receive more and more signals from the Aramean community that its members begin to lose their faith in the international community and its sincerity towards its core values like democracy, freedom of religion, human rights and equality before the law.
1. In Southeast Turkey, for instance, the numbers of the native Arameans have dwindled from more than 500,000 a century ago to less than 3,000 souls at present.
2. In Iraq, there are less than 400,000 Aramean Christians left compared to the 1.4 million in 2003.
3. In Syria, the Christians who represented 10% of the population in 2011 have almost halved down to 5% in the last three years.
The Syriac Universal Alliance continues to speak on behalf of the Aramean people. Therefore, we once again seek the urgent support of this forum and ask your attention for the following.
In Turkey, the Arameans are in urgent need of recognition as a distinct ethno-religious people. After more than 90 years, it is high time that Turkey officially recognizes the Arameans as a ‘minority’ under the Lausanne Treaty and in line with international treaties on minority rights that are especially embraced by the United Nations.
We further ask Turkey to end the delays of legal cases, which ancient Aramean monasteries, villages and proprietors are facing and to stop the illegal expropriation of huge amounts of land that historically and legally belong to the Aramean people.
In Syria, the Arameans are experiencing an unprecedented humanitarian disaster that has already become worse than the recent experience in Iraq. Here we are witnessing an ethnic cleansing of Syria’s ancient Christian population by militant Islamists who receive the support of certain external actors who are well-known to the Commission of Inquiry on Syria, but not explicitly named in the Report it had presented this morning.
Finally, we ask your attention for the abduction case of the Syriac and Greek Orthodox Metropolitans of Aleppo, H.E. Gregorius Hanna Ibrahim and H.E. Boulos al-Yazigi. They were kidnapped on 22 April last year. Yet, we are still waiting to receive any sign of life or on their whereabouts. The silence and inaction of the international community is inexplicable. Therefore we ask your urgent support in this critical question as well.
Thank you Mr. President.
