Syriac Women’s Union Ilham Matli; ‘the Syriac woman is the granddaughter of Zenobia, Shamiram, Ishtar and Inanna’

NORTH AND EAST SYRIA – In an interview with Syriac satellite channel Suroyo TV, Syriac Women’s Union in Syria official Ilham Matli emphasized the important role of the Syriac woman in the current Syrian conflict and in the national struggle. Matli stressed that since the outbreak in 2011 of the Syrian revolution, which later turned into a popular movement and then a long years war and affected all Syrian regions, the Syriac women took upon herself many responsibilities.

“The Syriac woman has proven her role effectively by forming the Bethnahrain Women’s Protection Forces (HSNB) on August 30, 2015. The Syriac woman took up arms, defended her land and people, and proved to the whole world that women are strong and capable of doing what men do. They also worked with the women from the various components of North and East Syria to prove the role of women in society.”

Matli appealed to the long history of the Syriac people and compared the Syriac woman with female role models from the ancestral people of the Syriacs, i.e., the Arameans, Chaldeans, and Assyrians;

“the Syriac woman is the granddaughter of Zenobia, Shamiram, Ishtar and Inanna. These are the strong, wonderful, and leading women who have been immortalized in our history. Today’s Syriac woman has entered the political, economic, social and military fields in their footsteps.”

Matli concluded her speech by calling on all the women of the Syriac people to engage in the national struggle together and prove their strength and set their position in society, because women are the ones who build the nation and the state.