31/08/2022

On International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, European Syriac Union demands release of Syriac personalities

BRUSSELS — On 30 August marks the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the European Syriac Union (ESU), via Twitter, shed light on forcibly disappeared Syriacs (Arameans–Assyrians–Chaldeans), including religious and political leaders in Syria and Turkey.

“On 22 April 2013, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Holeb [Aleppo] Youhanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Boulos Yaziji were kidnapped by unidentified gunmen,” the ESU stated to SyriacPress. “Furthermore, nine years have passed since the disappearance of Syriac leader of the Syriac Cultural Association in Syria, Saeed Malki, who was arrested by the security services of the Syrian regime on 12 August 2013, and his fate is still unknown.”

The ESU also pointed to the disappearance of Hormuz Diril and his wife Shmuni, parents of Chaldean priest in Istanbul Father Ramzi Diril. The Dirils were kidnapped in 2020 in the Hakkari Region in Turkey. The body of Shmuni was later found near her village. No information about the fate of Hormuz has been made public.

The ESU condemned the kidnappings and arrests that have targeted Syriacs (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people in Syria and Turkey and called on the authorities in both countries to clarify the truth and reveal their fate.