Beth Nahrin Patriotic Union calls for respect and privacy of Christian component in Iraq during holiday season

BAGHDAD — On Monday, Iraqi TV outlet Huna Baghdad conducted an interview with Deputy President of the Beth Nahrin Patriotic Union (Huyodo Behnahrin Athroyom, HBA) Josef Sliwa spoke about the political and social situation of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people in Iraq.

Former MP Joseph Sliwa began by congratulating the Christian peoples of Iraq, and all Iraqis, on the advent of Christmas and extended his blessings for the New Year.

He wished for the New year to be prosperous for the Christians of Iraq and called for their privacy to be respected during the festive season. Security is essential for Christians to safely practices their faith during the Christmas season, said Sliwa, calling on all levels of government to be extra vigilant and ensure security and peace through the New Year.

Beyond the holiday season, Sliwa called on Iraqi government officials to take actual steps to respect Christians as an equal component of Iraq and to put their words of solidarity and respect into action.

“The Iraqi government must first stop hampering the ability of the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian people of Iraq, an indigenous people of Beth Nahrin [Mesopotamia], to election their political representatives, and, secondly, they must legislate laws that protect their privacy and not impose laws on them in the name of Arabism and Islamic law,” he said.

Sliwa also called for the end of the persecution of political parties and personalities representing Christians in Iraq and to stop the creation of political puppets affiliated with other political parties which claim to represent the Chaldean–Syriac–Assyrian and Armenian components while in fact are merely using the political puppets to win electoral seats set aside for minorities to implement their own agendas.

He appealed to the United Nations, the international community, and loyal Iraqi politicians in the current Iraqi government to pay serious attention to the issue of Christian emigration and stressed the need to listen to their demands and transform the Nineveh Plains into an autonomous region, and possibly later into a separate entity all together.