Christian Homeland in Iraq: Nineveh Plain Province Is Solution ‘Beyond Genocide’

The National Catholic Register ^ | 6/19/16 | Victor Gaetan

[marshmallow]

In Defense of Christians Convention Aims to Preserve Christianity in the Middle East

WASHINGTON — “Time is running out for Assyrian Christians,” declared Michigan-resident Nahren Anweya, 34, speaking to the Register at the third annual convention of In Defense of Christians (IDC) held in Washington Sept. 7-9.

Born in Iraq, Anweya vividly remembers being slapped in the face by her first-grade teacher in Baghdad, for describing herself as a Christian — signifying the second-class citizenship suffered by the faithful there long before the current crisis.

“We are disappearing literally by the week,” she said, estimating the total number of Christians in Iraq today as fewer than 300,000 (a figure cited by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, down from 1.5 million before the 2003 invasion).

But activists like Anweya are unwilling to concede defeat to the Islamic State (IS or ISIS).

“We want an internationally protected region in our own ancestral lands. We don’t want to disperse an ancient people around the world. We want to stay in our homeland, preserve our Aramaic language and preserve our Christian faith,” Anweya, a member of the Assyrian Church of the East, told Fox News last month.

She is not alone.

Semi-Autonomous Province

The Nineveh Plain, located in northern Iraq, is a multiethnic region. It’s the historic homeland of the Assyrian people, who mainly follow three Christian faith traditions — Chaldean Catholic, Syriac Orthodox and Church of the East — as well as other ethnic and religious groups such as the Turkmen (roughly divided between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, a minority are Catholic), Yazidis and Shabaks.

Growing numbers of well-informed authorities on the plight of Christians have concluded a semi-autonomous province, within a decentralized Iraq, is the answer to the question: What specifically can we do to protect our excruciatingly punished sisters........

[sagar]

One half in this battle is funding the Sunni jihadists, as lead by Saudi Arabia, ISIS, and Turkey, and the other half is fluffing the Shite terrorists lead by Iran, Hezbollah, and Syria. Christians and Yehzidis suffer in the middle.

[Lent]

>We don’t want to disperse an ancient people around the world. We want to stay in our homeland, preserve our Aramaic language and preserve our Christian faith,” Anweya, a member of the Assyrian Church of the East, told Fox News last month.

Unlike the Muslims flocking to Europe who want to commit Jihad and take over Europe. One civilized. The other savages.