Syriac MP Yusuf Aydin: Christians should be recognized as an indigenous people of Syria

STOCKHOLM – The Christian Syriacs (Arameans-Assyrians-Chaldeans) of Iraq and Syria have had to endure quite a lot in the last few decades. They have this in common with other population groups, of course, but for the Syriacs the situation is even more dire, as is evident from the words of the American vice president J.D. who this week uttered the words “The consequence of our invasion of Iraq is that we destroyed one of the great historical Christian communities in the world. We don’t want to allow that to happen again [in Syria].” The number of Syriacs in Iraq and Syria as a percentage of the population has fallen drastically in the last 25-35 years to a mere few small percentage points.

Syriac Member of Swedish Parliament Yusuf Aydin (Christian Democrats) refers to the situation of Christians in Syria as ‘crucial times’, he tells Swedish newspaper Dagens. He is referring to the recent massacres of Alawites and also Christians in Syria’s west coast region. It is yet another harbinger of dark clouds over the existence of non-Muslim populations, and it recalls the evil deeds of Islamic State. The terrorist organization brought disaster and destruction on non-Muslims in the 2010s.

For the Christian Democrat, who holds the dossier of persecuted Christians for his party, the coming years will be defining. Will Christians, Syriacs, Yezidis, and other non-Muslim groups live in a democratic Syria in which they can live their identity and religion, and manifest their economic, cultural, and political potential, or will they live on the margins of society as ‘dhimmis’, second-class citizens under a Muslim president, in a Syrian “Arab” Republic. The recent declaration for a new constitution points to the latter. “I think it is worrying and problematic. If you delimit upfront who can be elected president and indicate that Sharia law is primary, that in itself can be discriminatory. How will minorities be treated and included then?”, Yusuf Aydin asks rhetorically.

The MP points out the importance of Christians in Syria (which are majority Greek (Rûm) Orthodox, Melkite Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox) having influence on the current constitutional process, i.e. they should be fully involved in the drafting of the new constitution as it determines their future too. Aydin also states that Christians should be recognized as an indigenous people in Syria, which brings certain rights and helps their survival in their thousands of years old homeland.

Related: Syriac-Aramean MP Yusuf Aydin calls on Swedish government to take timely action to protect minorities in Syria

The dark clouds however, do not bode well. For Yusuf Aydin, who himself fled the Syriac homeland of Tur Abdin in Turkey after his father was killed in a landmine explosion, the greatest risk is that Christians will continue their exodus from the region because of the latest events. If nothing is done, we could soon have a Middle East without Christians, he says. He therefore calls on the Swedish government to urgently acknowledge that Christians in Syria are persecuted and at risk of disappearance. And, also to seriously work on democracy in Syria, to use all means at its disposal – both bilateral and international – to continue to exert pressure on the Syrian transitional government. If not, the Swedish government’s stated objective of advocating international religious freedom is a showpiece.