GERMANY: European Syriac Union remembers martyrs of Sayidat al-Nejat Cathedral of Iraq

GÜTERSLOH, Germany — The European Syriac Union (ESU) and the Bethnahrin Women’s Union (Huyodo d’Neshe d’Bethnahrin, HNB), Germany Branch, remembered the 12th anniversary of the massacre of Sayidat al-Nejat (Church of Our Lady of Deliverance), in the Church of Mar (Saint) Luke in Gütersloh, Germany.

In 2010, six suicide bombers targeted Sayidat al-Nejat in Baghdad, killing dozens of parishoners, two priests, and several bystanders.

The commemoration event began with a minute of silence in honor of the massacred martyrs and martyrs of the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people.

Head of the Mar Luke Church Council Tanios Yousef delivered a speech and priest of the church Father Issa Akar held a prayer for the souls of the martyrs.

After that, ESU Co-Chair Fehmi Vergili delivered a speech via video in which he expressed the need to stand in the face of massacres targeting the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people in their homeland of Beth Nahrin (Mesopotamia).

He also called for uniting efforts and forces amid the difficulties that the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaledan) people are facing.

HNB Germany Branch official Ibtisam Gouriye delivered a speech in which she explained the importance of preserving the values ​of martyrdom. She stressed the HNB’s willingness to cooperate with other institutions of the Syriac (Aramean–Assyrian–Chaldean) people in the pursuit of their collective rights.

The event concluded with the screening of a segment by Suroyo TV about the Sayidat al-Nejat massacre.