Page 11 - AECA.org.uk ¦ Koinonia 65

My Christian people in many villages faced upheavals that followed
World War II. Before that, we were victims of acts of genocide at the hands of
the Ottoman Turks during the Massacre of Safar Ber Lik, what they call Seifo,
in 1915 and then the Massacre of Semele in 1933 at the hands of the Iraqi army.
During the Kurdish Uprising in 1961 and the Soriah Uprising in 1969, we were
forcibly evicted from the numerous villages and towns and resettled in Bagh-
dad and Mosul.

The acts of genocide, both organised and arbitrary, as well as displace-
ment continued unabated starting from Basra, Baghdad, Mosul and Kurkuk in
the aftermath of the last regime change in 2003. They were crowned by the
Massacre of the Church of our Lady of Salvation in Baghdad in October 2010,
during which the Christian worshippers were killed in cold blood. This was
followed by acts of terrorism and displacements in June and August 2014, the
year that witnessed the worst acts of genocide experienced by us in our home-
land. We are now facing the extinction of Christianity as a religion and as a
culture from Mesopotamia.

Brothers and sisters, during the past year more than 125,000 Christians
have been forced to ?ee from their villages only because they choose to remain
Christians and refuse the conditions Daesh imposed on them. They had to
leave at night, under the cover of darkness. Many of them trod their own path
of Golgotha for long hours, having left everything behind, other than their
bare clothes. Arriving on foot, they sought refuge in the relatively secure region
of Kurdistan, having no idea as to whether they would ever be able to return to
their life-long homes. The political designation that is used to classify these
brothers and sisters is “displaced”. If they decide to cross an international bor-
der, they will be classi?ed as “refugees”.

These days the displaced among us have been hearing sad news, reports
of the acts of pillage and looting of their homes and the destruction of some of
them as a result of military operations. They realise well that the military lib-
eration of these areas is not the same as political liberation. We are waiting to
know that our villages are safe and secure. We believe that the dear Lord will
allow us to see that day; and on that day we will return to deserted and ruined
houses, empty schools and hospitals. As for our precious churches, it is heart-
breaking for us to imagine what they will look like when we return. But we can
and we could rebuild it.

Today, we have families that are relying completely on the charity of
others. Less than a year ago, these same families were in their own houses and
were self-supporting, with su?cient or abundant regular incomes. These days,

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