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Unfortunately clashes broke out at March 2nd between the KDP Peshmerga and the Yazidi YBŞ forces in Sinjar. We as Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people suffered the same fate as the Yazidi’s due to ISIS and we urge therefore the US and EU as well as the Government of Iraq and the KRG political parties to step in and prevent further escalation. No attack against the Yazidi people should happen and these attacks need to stop immediately.

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Early January Mr. Sanharib Barsom, a Syriac-Assyrian Christian and Mrs. Fawza Yousuf, a Kurdish woman, have been elected to lead the executive body of the Democratic Self-Administration. The Federation now encompasses 25% of Syria (twice the size of Lebanon) and has several million citizens. This means that a Syriac-Assyrian Christian and a Kurdish woman effectively give leadership to an independent administration of several million people in the heart of the Middle East.

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On Sunday June 19th, a suicide attack took place in the district of Quwetli in Qamishli – Syria, while the Patriarch of the Syriac-Orthodox Church, Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, was present for the commemoration of the 1915 genocide against the Syriac people. The Patriarch inaugurated a monument commemorating this genocide and lead afterwards a service in the Brotherhood of Mor Gabriel.

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European Syriac Union on the threatened situation of our people on Family7, March 2016

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We, Syriac-Assyrian Christians in northern Syria, have since 2013 created a common Democratic Self-Administration together with our Kurdish and Arab neighbours. By now the Self-Administration is a home for millions. Syriac Christians, Arabs, Kurds, Yazidi’s Turkmen and others live and work together.

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No Turkish intervention in Syria against the Democratic Self-Administration
We ask for peace but we will defend ourselves against a Turkish attack

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We thank the European Parliament for its focus on the Genocide of 1915 under Ottoman Empire. Today you will discuss and vote regarding the recognition of the 1915 Genocide against the Armenian people. We ask you kindly to recognize the genocide of 1915 against Armenian as well as genocide of Syriac-Assyrian and Pontiac Greek people.

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Syriac communities outside Turkey have reacted against recent remarks by EU Minister Egemen Bağış apparently denigrating the value of the Mor Gabriel Monastery. Bağış had said on June 21 that the historical monastery, an issue of contention between the government and Syriacs, was worth "even less" than the EU Affairs building in central Istanbul.

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SYRIA / The dramatic situation of Syriac Christians and the possible role of Turkey
Interiew with Mr. Evgil Turker

Persecuted by Assad, threatened by Jihadists, and fleeing the war that is raging in the country: this is the sad fate of Syriac Christians, a people living between Syria and Turkey. Recently, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Ankara has suggested granting citizenship to all Syriac Christians who have Turkish citizen as relatives and who are in danger from the revolution taking place in Syria. However, as noted by Evgil Turker, head of the Federation of Syriac Associations, "Turkey itself does not fully recognize the rights of our community, to the point that many of us have had to emigrate. The only solution is an intervention by the international community in Syria. I believe that NATO and the Arab League bear a great responsibility which must be addressed as soon as possible."

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Bassam Isaac, the Head of the Syrian Syriac National Council, called on different organizations in Syria to pay attention to the immigration of Christians, and stressed the importance of them remaining in the country.

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