Quite recently the world community began discussing the problem of the Assyrians as a dying nation but it is doing nothing to prevent the tragedy, syas Anahit Khosroyeva, researcher from the History Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia.
According to her, today the Assyrians living in the Middle East are suffering from a real genocide. Their cultural and historical monuments are being destroyed. In Syria alone, ISIL fighters forced out as many as 100,000 people from 35 Assyrian villages – many of them were killed. In Iraq things are no better.
“The United States is showing a strange policy: it is refusing to recognize the genocide of Christian Assyrians but has recognized the genocide of Muslim Yazidis. Last year they granted visas to almost 100,000 Muslims who were not victims of any repressions, while they keep denying entry to Christian Assyrians. This discriminatory policy is strange,” Khosroyeva says.
One more problem here is the conflict between the Assyrians and the Kurds. “The Kurds are seeking to create their own state in territories of Iraq and Syria and are trying to force Assyrians of their homes. In this light, I would like to urge the Kurds to remember that both nations should fight their common enemy, ISIL, instead of forcing each other from their territories,” Khosroyeva said.
President of the Assyrian Association of Armenia Arsen Mikhaelov has joined Khosroyeva and urged the Armenian authorities to organize an Assyrian-Kurdish dialogue and also to make the problem of the Assyrian genocide known to the world community.