NINEVEH PLAINS: Syriacs unable to celebrate Akitu as Kurdish authorities keep roads closed in Nineveh Plains

NINEVEH PLAINS, Iraq – Syriacs in the Nineveh Plains and the Kurdish Region of Iraq were unable to celebrate the Babylonian-Chaldean-Assyrian New Year Akitu after Kurdish regional authorities closed roads in and to the Nineveh Plain, allegedly as a measure over the corona-pandemic.

The Bethnahrain Patriotic Union had organized festivities at Alfaf on the plain opposite to the Syriac Orthodox Mor Mattai Monastery in the Nineveh Plain. Erbil authorities however, closed roads between Syriac cities like Bartella and Baghdede in the Nineveh Plain and Ankawa in Erbil. Because of the closing of roads, many Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian residents were unable to attend the planned festivities at Mor Mattai.

Salient detail is that the Kurdish authorities did allow free movement during and to the recent Kurdish Newroz festivities in the Kurdish region of Iraq. A cynic could argue that Kurds are immune to the coronavirus, and Chaldeans-Syriacs-Assyrians are not.

Article in Syriac see SyriacPress Syriac