WCA brings Kidnapping and Oppression of Arameans in Northeast Syria by PYD-YPG Kurds to attention of UN Commission on Syria

On 23 September 2021, WCA President Johny Messo informed the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria about the ongoing oppression and kidnapping by the PYD/YPG Kurds of a prominent Aramean member of the Church Board in Qamishli, Northeast Syria, earlier this week. During this 48th regular session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the below oral statement was presented (text and video) .

Thank you, Madam Vice President,

We would like to bring to the immediate attention of this Council the ongoing attempts by the Kurdish YPG militia to erase the presence of the indigenous Arameans of Northeast Syria.

Recently, these ultranationalists and their Christian proxies have again tried to impose their own teachers and political curriculum on Aramean schools in the region under their control. After their unsuccessful threats, last Tuesday they resorted to terror by kidnapping a prominent member of the Church Board in Qamishli who resists their demands.

The World Council of Arameans (Syriacs) has frequently reported on the YPG’s human rights violations against the defenseless Arameans. From kidnappings and tortures to confiscating lands and properties as well as assassinations.

Therefore, it is misleading to regard the self-declared “Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria” in what Kurds incorrectly call “Western Kurdistan” as a model of governance or a safe haven for persecuted Christians.

Also, there is nothing ‘democratic’ about the so-called “Syrian Democratic Forces” who receive support from certain Western countries but who are run by the YPG.

We find it inexplicable and inacceptable how this non-state actor continues to be armed and empowered. Because this Syrian branch of the PKK, which itself is listed as a terrorist organization, keeps tyrannizing and jeopardizing the future existence of the Arameans in their ancestral homeland.

For the sake of Syria’s peace and unity, we call upon UN Member States to condemn the actions of the YPG Kurds and to help stop the ongoing oppression of Arameans and other vulnerable groups at their hands.

Thank you, Madam Vice President.

 

Download the statement here in PDF or click on the image below for the VIDEO.