Media outlets highlights letter of European Syriac Union regarding Lausanne Agreement  

BRUSSELS — Earlier, the European Syriac Union (ESU) issued a letter in which it stated that the Lausanne Agreement, which took place after the 1915 Sayfo Genocide, was not sufficient to heal the wounds of minorities in Turkey.

Turkish Media outlets talked about the ESU letter about the 100th anniversary of the Lausanne Agreement, which countries were supposed to monitor its implementation.

The ESU representatives Masoud Bar Malki and Suleiman Rhawi stated that the countries concerned with monitoring the implementation of the agreement did not abide by their commitment, especially with regard to the Syriac (Aramean-Chaldean-Assyrian) people and minorities in Turkey.

The two ESU representatives criticized the agreement, saying that it is based on protecting the rights of religious minorities, but it did not achieve that. On the contrary, the agreement allowed Turkey to establish its state, increase its attacks and pass its policy of obliteration and extermination of peoples and minorities.

Thus, the number of Syriacs decreased from one million people to 250,000 people after the Genocide, and they became a minority that does not exceed 20,000.

Rhawi criticized the preparatory committee for the centenary of the Lausanne Agreement, indicating that this committee is nominally composed of minorities, and it only highlights the Kurdish issue for the media.

The ESU representatives also drew attention to the work of the Bethnahrain National Council (Mawtbo Umthoyo D’Bethnahrin, MUB) regarding the demands of Syriac people rights, and called on Syriac people to support those demands so that such Genocide would not be repeated again, and international agreements would not be signed against them.

With the expiration of the Lausanne Agreement, which was unjust to minorities, representatives of minorities will hold events for concluding an agreement that guarantees the rights of minorities based on their national identity, and not based on their religious background.