Posted by Jeff from d53-237-236.try.wideopenwest.com (64.53.236.237) on Tuesday, January 28, 2003 at 0:41AM :
In Reply to: Responses posted by Jeff from d53-237-236.try.wideopenwest.com (64.53.236.237) on Tuesday, January 28, 2003 at 0:39AM :
Assyrian Chaldeans are committing national suicide...
[ Chaldeans Discussion Forum ]
Written by NIKKO on 28 Jan 2003 02:29:20:
As an answer to: Assyrian Groups: Will fight the rising Iraqi Chaldean Nationalist Movement written by Chaldean News Agency on 27 Jan 2003 05:05:39:
Many Chaldean Catholics worldwide - but especially in the USA - who do not even understand the meaning of nationalism, are committing cultural and national suicide.
Nationalism means that people who share a common history, ancestry, language, culture, traditions and homeland are one group and deserve to be seen as such.
Let me see: Chaldeans, Assyrians and Syriacs all come from northern Mesopotamia (Assyria)... their continuous unbroken chain of history can be traced back to ancient times during the Assyrian Empire... all their churches stem from the same tradition and use the Syriac language (Syriac is a Greek and Latin abbreviation of the word Assyrian)... today all these groups speak dialects of the same language... throw any one of these groups in one of the others' festivals or celebrations and they will fit in almost perfectly because the musical traition is the same, the dances are the same and the traditions are the same...
This means that they are ONE nation and deserve to be seen as such by the outisde world. Assyrian nationalism is already there... it has already been created and has the functioning mechanisms and institutions to work for this nation.
Why do the Chaldeans want to reinvent the wheel? Why do they want to further divide this nation and jeopardise its future in Iraq? Why do they see a need to glorify the work of people who are in fact being paid by the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)?
The Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) is already working in northern Iraq. It has established schools (including many in Chaldean villages) where the Syriac language is taught in every subject. Is it the ADM's fault if Chaldean church leaders close them down or force chaldean parents not to send their children to these schools lest they magically transform into "athornaye"? I would call it biting the hand that feeds them!
The ADM and the Assyrian Aid Society have supported Chaldeans returning to their villages and they have tried to help them build the infrastructure necessary for their remaining in their villages... examples include: Hizarjot, Tillan, Azakh, Harmash, Levo, Ainkawa, Bersivi, Malla-Birwan, Avzerok-Shanno, Shiez, Inishk, Daoudiya, Badarrash, Komane, Araden, Simel, Malla-Arab, Nafkandala, Margasora... etc... The ADM has also worked hard for the return of stolen Chaldean lands to their proper owners - examples include Bersivi and Peshabour (Faish-Khabur)... etc. The ADM has also opened centers in Chaldean villages and towns such as: Ainkawa, Inishk, Zakho, Simel, Shaqlawa...etc... and many of its members are Chaldeans.
Should I add that former president of the Assyrian Womens Union, Rabi Soriya, is a Chaldean from Daoudiya educated in France. Also there is Yonan Hozaya (from Zakho) who is an MP in the regional parliament, and Rabi (Kak) Salim who is from Ainkawa and is high up in the ADM's politburo. These and many more are proud Chaldeans and are all proud members of the ADM.
Assyrian organizations in the homeland have not showed any difference between the members of the Chaldean church and Nestorians. In addition, members of the Assyrian Democratic Organization in Syria are for the most part members of the Syriac Orthodox Church. This shows that those supporting and working in the Assyrian nationalist movement are not only members of the Nestorian church!
The best thing diaspora Chaldeans can do if they want to ensure their people's future in post-war Iraq is to support Assyrian organisations already working (should I add for Chaldeans too!) and not try to undermine them. Undermining them would only serve to undermine the Chaldean cause.
If there are only 800,000 Chaldeans in Iraq so what? If you add the Assyrians and Syriacs the number becomes well over 1 million. The name that joins them - and is true to where their ancestral villages lie - is Assyrian.
I spent 3 months in northern Iraq and I am proud to say that I openly support the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM), because they are truly representative of all our people and were chosen by our people. It is a party born by our people for our people. Unlike the Chaldean Democratic Union which was created by the KDP to serve their own interests...
To Ghassan and all other Chaldean separatists... what you are doing is just plain wrong and I hope God will pay you back for all that you are doing against your nation, and I will try to forgive you for undermining your children's future in tomorrow's Iraq.
I just hope and pray that one day people like you will wake up and see the TRUTH.
N.
-- Jeff
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