SUP Co-Chair Barsoum: Recognition of Sayfo Genocide essential pillar of SUP and necessary for recognition of our rights

ZALIN (QAMISHLI), Syria – In an interview with SuroyoTV on Thursday, Sanharib Barsoum, Co-Chair of the Syriac Union Party (SUP) in Syria, explained the party’s stance on the Sayfo Genocide and its importance for the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people and the struggle for the recognition of their rights.

The SUP seeks, through the Sayfo, international recognition of the rights of the Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people of the Middle East and to ensure their presence in their homeland, said Barsoum.

Officially recognizing the Sayfo is the first step towards preventing the recurrence of a similar genocide, he added.

Mr. Barsoum stated that the issue of the Sayfo is an essential pillar of the SUP and its struggle. The genocide resulted in the loss of their demography, land, and rights, he said.

“During the Syrian war, the [Islamic State] was trying to commit new genocides against us, but the SUP, in partnership with the Beth Nahrin National Council and the Syriac Military Council were able, through alliance with the active national forces in North and East Syria, to stop and ward off the danger of ISIS,” said Barsoum. “Thus, we were able to protect the majority of our Syriac-Assyrian people in the region.”

This recognition and action will contribute in the future to building a democratic Syrian society and ensuring the full security and equal rights of all the country’s peoples, he concluded.

There is currently a petition started by the European Syriac Union (ESU) urging the European Parliament to recognize the Sayfo Genocide.