IRAQ: Former MP Joseph Sliwa accuses Bagdad and KRG of ongoing policies of cleansing Iraq from its indigenous Syriac people

ANKAWA ܥܲܢܟܵܒ̣ܵܐ Iraq – Former Syriac Member of Iraqi Parliament Joseph Sliwa accuses the central Iraqi government and the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of ongoing policies of ethnic cleansing against Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians. According to Mr. Sliwa in a press statement addressed to the public opinion, open-minded free Iraqis and Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians all over the world, the central Iraqi government and the KRG continue the policies of ethnic cleansing which started with the 1933 Simele massacre, up to the present day. These policies, he says, have not ceased but have continued from 1993 onward, throughout and after the fall of the dictatorial Baath regime in 2003, up to the present day.

By sometimes open and sometimes subtle actions and ministerial nominations, Mr. Sliwa claims that the central Iraqi government and the KRG try to ally Christian Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian politicians and clergy to these policies. By nominating Syriacs to weak ministerial positions is to create a false impression and a legitimization that Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians are involved in the governance and administration of the country and the KRG. In their window-dressing, the central and KRG governments in public appearances and diplomatic travels take with them some of their affiliated Christian Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people to make up nice pictures.

In his statement, Mr. Sliwa urgently calls on Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians not to accept any ministerial positions. Not from the Iraqi central government and not from the Kurdish Region in Iraq. Mr. Sliwa, who currently heads the political party al-Warqaa Democratic Block, states that such nominations have led to zero result or gain other than:

• The Kurdification and Islamization of Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian heritage;
• Forced displacements and killings of the indigenous Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian component;
• Demographic change executed by the KRG and the Shia dominated government;
• Acquisition of vast Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian lands and properties in the Kurdish Region in Iraq and the areas under Shiite rule;
• Formulation of strict Islamic laws that threaten Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian existence in the areas administered by the two governments;
• Adoption of a strict religious discourse by some Muslim clerics;

According to Joseph Sliwa, it is a conscious and targeted policy of deleting everything that belongs to the indigenous Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people and not representing them in the symbols of the Iraqi state and the Kurdish Region in Iraq. Especially in the Kurdish Region of Iraq where neither the flag, the name of the region nor the anthem bears any reference to Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians. It is all reserved for the Kurdish people only.