Christians Archives

Iraqi Christians denied asylum in US, facing looming expulsion

October 1, 2015 By administrator

The Chaldeans being held at Otay have numerous supporters in El Cajon and throughout San Diego County. (Courtesy: East County Magazine/Miriam Raftery)

By Hollie McKay

Nearly two dozen Iraqi Christians who fled ISIS and crossed into the U.S. from Mexico seeking religious asylum have been denied protection and could be booted from American soil within days, a federal official said.

Some 27 Iraqi Christians, known as Chaldeans, were held at the Otay Detention Center in San Diego since entering the U.S. in April and May. Seven have already been extradited, and five more criminally charged with making false statements. In all, 22 have been ordered out of the U.S. and five still have asylum applications pending, according to Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Diego.

“This is extremely disturbing and wrong,” Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International, told FoxNews.com. “I’ve never seen anything like this and I’ve been doing this work for more than 20 years. Western governments should allow persecuted minority Christians asylum within their borders. This should be a priority over other asylum seekers.”

“This is extremely disturbing and wrong.”

– Jim Jacobson, president of Christian Freedom International

Jacobson and other critics say the Obama administration has turned its back on Christians in the Middle East, whose numbers have dwindled in the face of ISIS, which forces Christians to convert, pay a special tax or face execution in the territory it controls within Iraq and Syria. A Gatestone Institute report notes that since the start of this year, more than 4,200 Muslims have been admitted into the U.S. from Iraq, but only 727 Christians – making it a ratio of around 5 to 1 – despite the fact that Christians are a heavily targeted “infidel” minority.

Mack insisted that the Iraqi nationals in question have not and will not be sent back to their war-torn home country, but instead “repatriated” to “agreed upon” countries like Germany and Sweden.

San Diego is home to the largest population of Chaldeans in the U.S., and several of the 27 held at Otay have family members willing to take them in.

“Until this decision, having a family sponsor has always been a huge positive factor in adjudicating asylum cases,” said Jacobson. “Christians are facing unspeakable torture and atrocities at the hands of ISIS.”

Yet Mack said that there are legal immigration protocols that need to be followed for family sponsorships, which, in this case, were not adhered to by the Chaldeans. Under international law, asylum is only granted in specific emergency situations in which an individual or group requires protection from persecution. A select few of the criminal complaints against the Chaldeans, provided to FoxNews.com by ICE, contain statements and allegations that at least some of them – although born in Iraq – held German passports and had been living there for a number of years. In interviews with officials, some applicants allegedly admitted that their claims of family threats were “fabricated” to assist with their applications. Details regarding the remaining Chaldeans could not be discussed due to the confidentiality of their applicants.

American Center for Democracy CEO Rachel Ehrenfeld pointed out that all refugees – regardless of religion – should be heavily scrutinized by officials before being granted entry into the U.S.

“I’m not surprised by ICE ruling, especially since it seems several, if not all, lied on their asylum application,” she said.

But Jacobson said the process may “make it impossible for any Christian man, woman or child facing persecution because of their faith” to gain entry and holds grave fears for the religious minority. No one disputes that the Chaldeans are originally from Iraq, and given that they can’t return to their homeland, Jacobson wonders why they can’t live with family in the U.S.

Iraq’s Christian population is one of the most ancient in the world, but is teetering on extinction amid Islamic extremism and government corruption – dwindling from around 1.5 million in 2003 to well below 200,000 now. Under the reign of ISIS, Christians in the region have been brutally persecuted and intentionally crucified, with their own churches reportedly used as torture chambers in which they are given the grim option of converting to Islam or being slaughtered.

“I feel like my world has been turned back to 100 years ago,” one Christian farmer who fled Mosul, Iraq, during the ISIS takeover told FoxNews.com. “That day was like Armageddon. ISIS is killing us slowly.”

The militant group has also destroyed countless time-honored Christian monasteries and holy sites in a twisted attempt to eradicate the faith. In Defense of Christians, a persecution watchdog group, earlier this month lobbied on Capitol Hill for lawmakers to pass a resolution characterizing ISIS’s targeting of the Christian minority as “genocide.”

Source: FOXNEWS

Pope Francis: Armenians were persecuted just for being Christians

September 8, 2015 By administrator

Armenians were the first nation to convert to Christianity and were persecuted just for being Christians, Pope Francis said after Mass on Monday morning celebrated with Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, His Beatitude Gregory Peter XX Ghabroyan.

“The Armenian people were persecuted, chased away from their homeland, helpless, in the desert.” This story – he observed – began with Jesus: what people did, “to Jesus, has during the course of history been done to His body, which is the Church,” His Holiness said, the Vatican Radio reported.

“I would like, on this day of our first Eucharist, as brother Bishops, dear brother Bishops and Patriarch and all of you Armenian faithful and priests, to embrace you and remember this persecution that you have suffered, and to remember your holy ones, your many saints who died of hunger, in the cold, under torture, [cast] into the wilderness only for being Christians.”

Pope Francis remembered the broader persecution of Christians in the present day that continues amid “the complicit silence of many powerful world.”

Turkey seeking minor benefits in big game by fighting Christians – Ara Papyan

August 31, 2015 By administrator

Expert in Turkic studies Ara Papyan spoke of the regional developments at a meeting with reporters on Monday.

He dwelt on the current developments in Turkey. He pointed out the importance of a pro-Kurdish party’s election to Turkey’s Parliament as the Kurdish movement is entering a new stage.

“If we view the situation in the context of Armenia’s interests, it is quite favorable for us as Turkey is increasingly dealing with its own problems. Therefore, its role in the south Caucasus developments, particularly in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, is diminishing,” Mr Papyan said.

On the other hand, Turkey’s relations with the west are getting worse.

“It is obvious that, taking advantage of the struggle against the Islamic state, turkey is seeking its minor interests in a big game – struggling against Christians,” Mr Papayan said.

Speaking of the upcoming elections in Turkey, Mr Papyan said that the nationalist movement will be gaining strength, with more anti-Armenian statements.

“Let us wait until November, an anti-Armenia and anti-Christian wave,” he said.

Speaking of Azerbaijan, Mr Papyan sad that the situation that state and its leader Ilham Aliyev are in is hardly enviable.

“Azerbaijan is seeing obviously growing discontent. They are well aware that, if they resort to military operations, they have to do it within a year. However, they cannot,” the expert said.

According to him, a negative attitude to Azerbaijan is being shaped in Turkey.

“Turks are aware the Azerbaijani are only ethnically identical to them, whereas they are different in all other respects.”

Over 15,000 Christian Families Northeast Syria at Risk of Turkish invasion

August 11, 2015 By administrator

The Assyrian Church of the East in Lebanon bishop says that over 15,000 Assyrian Christian families remaining in Syria are at risk from the ongoing crisis.

BEIRUT, August 10 (Sputnik) – Over 15,000 Assyrian Christian families remaining in Syria are at risk from the ongoing crisis, the Assyrian Church of the East in Lebanon bishop said Monday.

On Friday, ISIL jihadists abducted 230 Assyrian Christians in Homs province during an offensive to seize the town of Quaryatayn in a reprise of a similar kidnapping earlier this year.

“My personal sources say there are about 15,000 families left in Syria. Of course, they do not live in the villages captured by militants, but were able to temporarily relocate to nearby towns,” Bishop Yatron Koliana told RIA Novosti.

He said the resettled families still face uncertainty, but an estimated 3,500-strong Assyrian diaspora in Hasakah, Qamishi and Tall Tamr was able to accommodate an estimated 1,500 internally displaced families.
Koliana added that over 550 Christian refugees have received shelter in Lebanon since March before the government banned refugees entrance into the neighbouring country in May.
An agreement with the church allows Assyrian Christians passage into Lebanon provided they display the needed documentation.

The Bishop underscored the Assyrians’ desire to return to their homeland, but said their security largely depends on “strong countries that in one way or another affect the Syrian crisis.”
“We very much hope that countries such as Russia and the United States will hear our call for help from their Christian brothers in the Middle East,” the Bishop emphasized.
The latest abductions follow a similar attack on Assyrian villages in Hasakah province in late February and early March, when IS militants have taken over 250 Christians captive. Dozens of the inhabitants were killed, their homes and churches were looted.
Religious leaders in Lebanon and the Vatican classified the acts as genocide.
Assyrians are an ethnic group whose historic home lies in southeast Turkey, north Iraq and northeast Syria, and are considered the earliest group to adopt Christianity.
Syrian government forces are in the fourth year of a military standoff with several independence and extremist groups, including IS and the Nusra Front.

Assyrian refugees begin streaming into Lebanon

March 3, 2015 By administrator

Assyrian refugees begin streaming into Lebanon

BEIRUT: More than a dozen Assyrian Christians fleeing an onslaught by ISIS in northeastern Syria have entered Lebanon since Monday night, a General Security official told The Daily Star.

Gen. Nabil Hannoun Tuesday also refuted allegations that the fleeing families had been blocked or prevented from crossing into Lebanon.

“There is the regular routine administrative procedures which they have to follow in order to enter Lebanon, but no blocking,” Hannoun said.

He said no Assyrian was stranded on the border Tuesday and that many have been allowed into the country Monday night.

Hannoun did not give a figure for how many Assyrians have crossed into Lebanon, but the state-run National News Agency said Tuesday that 17 entered last night.

Earlier Tuesday, security sources told The Daily Star that 23 Assyrian refugees fleeing the violence in Syria’s province of Hassakeh were waiting at the Masnaa’ crossing on Lebanon’s eastern border, to be given permission to enter the country.

The sources said a Lebanese Assyrian cleric has contacted General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, asking for his assistance in facilitating their entry. Hannoun could not verify those details, but denied that Lebanese authorities were denying entry to Assyrians refugees.

Lebanese officials have generally welcomed calls to allow Assyrians to enter Lebanon from Syria despite a months-old ban on accepting new refugees.

Free Patriotic Movement chief and MP Michel Aoun called on the Lebanese authorities to facilitate the entry of Assyrian Christians in a news conference Tuesday, warning that Christians are being systematically uprooted from the region.

“I implore the world’s conscience to help resolve the conflict which is threatening the existence of Christians,” Aoun said.

“We do not want [Christians] to take refuge in Europe or anywhere else… It is a felony to treat in that way the people who have lived in the Levant (for centuries). Today there is a systematic uprooting of Christians from the Orient,” he added.

Aoun, who made the comments after a meeting with a delegation of Christian Maronite archbishops, said a special committee will be set up to provide assistance to the displaced Assyrian families and facilitate their residence in Lebanon.

He urged the Lebanese administration to facilitate entry and residence paperwork, rather than blocking the fleeing families.

“History witnessed many instances of eradication of Christians (in the Levant) and today the tragedy is recurring through displacement,” Aoun added.

Around 220 Assyrians were abducted from their homes when ISIS militants seized 11 villages in the Hassakeh province in northeastern Syria two weeks ago. Thousands more have fled their homes to avoid capture.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 29 of the kidnapped were released, while others are to be tried by ISIS’ Sharia court.

– See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Mar-03/289422-aoun-urges-lebanon-to-facilitate-assyrian-entry.ashx?utm_medium=email&utm_source=transactional&utm_campaign=Newsletter#sthash.ZxM3vHjh.dpuf

Syrian Kurds cut IS supply line near Iraq as fears for Christians mount

February 25, 2015 By administrator

Kurdish militia pressed a big offensive against Islamic State in northeast Syria on Wednesday, Feb 25 cutting one of its supply lines from Iraq, as fears mounted for dozens of Christians abducted by the hardline group that recently beheaded 21 Egyptian Copts, Reuters reports.

At least 90 Assyrian Christians were seized from villages in Hasaka province in a mass abduction coinciding with the offensive in the same region by Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict.

The Syriac National Council of Syria put the figure as high as 150. Hundreds more Christians have fled to the two main cities in Hasaka province, according to the Syriac council and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is tracking the conflict.

Islamic State has killed members of religious minorities and Sunni Muslims who do not swear allegiance to its self-declared “caliphate”. The group last week released a video showing its members beheading 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya.

The abductions in Syria follow advances by Kurdish forces against Islamic State in areas of the northeast near the Iraqi border – an area of vital importance to the group as one of the bridges between land it controls in Iraq and Syria.

“They want to show themselves strong, playing on the religion string, at a time when they are being hit hard,” said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the British-based Observatory, speaking by telephone.

The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, backed by U.S.-led air strikes, last month drove Islamic State from the Syrian town of Kobani, since when further signs of strain have been seen in the group’s ranks.
Photo: AP
Related links:
Reuters. Syrian Kurds cut IS supply line near Iraq; fears for Christians mount

ISIS Releases Video Purportedly Showing Beheading of 21 Egyptian Christians

February 15, 2015 By administrator

Hasani Gittens

The terrorists known as ISIS released a video on Sunday that seems to show the militant group beheading 21 Egyptian Christians kidnapped in Libya.

The Egyptians, dressed in orange jump suits, were beheaded after being forced down on the ground on a beach. An early caption in the video says the location is “Wilayat Tarabulus by the Mediterranean Sea,” which suggests that it was filmed near Tripoli.

Each of the victims, who are all male, is paired with a masked, knife-wielding terrorist and, after a brief statement by the ISIS leader, they are all beheaded.

The video is called “A Message signed with blood to the nation of the cross” and was released by the group’s Al-Hayat Media Center, according to Flashpoint Intelligence, a global security firm and NBC News consultant.

The video appeared on the Twitter feed of a website that supports ISIS.

At least 160,000 Iraqi Christians flee Mosul: Iraqi MP

December 13, 2014 By administrator

At least 160,000 Iraqi Christians have been forced out of their homes in the city of Mosul after the ISIL Takfiri terrorists seized Iraq’s second-largest city in June, a Christian lawmaker says.

“Christian families have been displaced from the city because of violence and death threats from this terrorist group,” the parliament member, Emad Yukhana, said on Saturday.

He added that few European countries had taken in some of the displaced Iraqi Christians.

“The majority of Christians have taken shelter in [northern Iraqi semi-autonomous] Kurdistan [region],” the lawmaker said.

Thousands of Iraqi Christians have been forced out of their homes in the city of Mosul in July following an ultimatum by the ISIL terrorists to them to convert to Islam, pay taxes or face death.

ISIL militants took control of Mosul in a lightning advance on June 10, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of the capital, Baghdad. Tikrit has been reportedly retaken by the Iraqi army.

The militants have since been controlling some areas in northern and northwestern Iraq, committing crimes in those areas including mass execution of civilians as well as army troops and officers.

Some 1.2 million Christians were living in Iraq before the US-led invasion of the country in 2003, which overthrew longtime dictator Saddam Hussein. The figure has since dwindled to about 500,000.

The Takfiri militants have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations and crucifixions, against all Syrian and Iraqi communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds and Christians.

Erbil Christians torn between arming themselves or leaving

September 3, 2014 By administrator

The second and final visit of the Lebanese delegation to Iraq, headed by Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, was in Erbil. The delegation discussed how Lebanon can help Iraqi authorities with the displaced who fled the land occupied by the Islamic State (IS) in Mosul, the eastern and western parts of Iraq and some parts of the Ninevah Plains.

A member of the Lebanese delegation told Al-Monitor that the senior Kurdish officials, whom the delegation met with, seemed more interested in the issue of IS and its movements on the ground, as if they were militarily responsible for the current battle. The capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was threatened before the US Air Force intervened. At the beginning of the discussions, a senior official in Erbil did not hide his surprise at the IS attack on the Kurdistan Region.

At the political level, the authorities in Erbil were never on good terms with the authorities in Baghdad that IS declared war on. At the sectarian level, the senior Kurdish official noted his surprise at the IS war on the Kurds, as the overwhelming majority of Kurds are Sunnis, just as the IS fighters are. So why did they attack Erbil? There is no easy answer to this question.

Furthermore, the same official told the Lebanese delegation that IS had scored a victory involving morale in its war against its enemies, before any military achievements on the ground. He said, “We were defeated in terms of morale before the battle had even started. We have been scared and panicked, just as the people have been terrified watching the news on the mass crimes committed [by IS]. In Qaraqosh [also known as Baghdeda], which is the largest Christian town in the Ninevah Plains, the residents left even before IS gunmen headed toward the city. As soon as they heard unofficial and unconfirmed news about the IS advancement, the residents of Qaraqosh packed their belongings and fled toward the north to Ankawa, the Christian neighborhood in Erbil.”

The same Kurdish official acknowledged that IS has become a de facto state. He told the Lebanese delegation that the area controlled by IS is almost 200,000 square kilometers (77,000 square miles) — contrary to what the media estimated, which is 130,000 square kilometers (50,000 square miles) — with a population of nearly 10 million people. He even estimated that IS acquired in a few days about 1,500 armored vehicles of various types, and armored troop carriers and tanks they seized from the Iraqi army that collapsed in the northwestern parts of Iraq.

Yet, according to the same Kurdish official, the most dangerous part is that IS gunmen are coming from all over the world. He told his Lebanese guests that a few days ago, the Kurdish peshmerga forces ambushed and hit an armored vehicle carrying IS gunmen, and found out that one of the gunmen was a non-Iraqi Arab, while the remaining four were European nationals.

The opinion of the Kurdish official intersects with that of the officials in Baghdad on one issue, namely, who will actually fight to eradicate IS? The official does not have an answer to this question. Yet, he revealed to the Lebanese delegation that the Kurdish forces are determined to restore areas occupied by IS in the Ninevah Plains. These are originally the disputed areas between Baghdad and Erbil, and this issue has been unresolved for 10 years now.

Nevertheless, the Kurds are connected to these areas for economic and strategic reasons. Therefore, the senior official in Erbil said that his forces will expel IS gunmen from the plains within weeks. He added, “With the support of the US Air Force, of course. We will enter the areas where [the US Air Force] conducts [air] raids, while the situation will remain the same in the areas where it does not [conduct air raids].”

What about the Christians in Erbil? The Kurdish official confirmed to the Lebanese that he is open to arming them and providing them with everything necessary that helps reassure them until an armed unit that consists of the Christians of Iraqi Kurdistan is established, as part of the peshmerga forces. They can have a special status within the peshmerga — such as a Christian fighters unit — but only under the peshmerga’s military command because any particular armed unit could raise problems, just as happened several times in the Iraqi-Kurdish history.

The same official did not seem convinced that Christians are determined to fight. He feels that they are completely defeated, and defeated in terms of morale. They are now waiting for the opportunity to emigrate to the West, and that what is stopping them today is that most of the displaced do not have an identity card or passport, as IS gunmen took these during the tragic displacement. Thus, Christians are waiting for the arrangements, either by the Erbil authorities or international organizations, that would give them temporary IDs. Traveling to the West would then be their first choice, thus turning the page of a long history on this land after the tragedy they suffered.

The Kurdish official came across as being certain in his evaluation of the situation of the Christians in Erbil — he seemed aware that the Iraq he knew no longer exists, and will never return.

Belgium 4000 people pray for the Christians of the East

September 1, 2014 By administrator

Four thousand people attended a prayer vigil for the persecuted Christians of the East, which was held Sunday night at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, according to Tommy Scholtes, Press Secretary of the Episcopal Conference of Belgium.

The evening, chaired by Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard, archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, was entitled “Eastern Christians united with Western Christians: the same faith, the same prayer, the same solidarity for life and peace in the East “.

“This vigil was symbolically unique as ever national basilica was filled with so many different people from religious persuasions. Young Muslims also came to show their sympathy. Anglican bishops, Orthodox and Catholic, Eastern and Western, all gave the blessing at the end of the ceremony, united in a common cause and in a very quiet moment, “said Father Tommy Scholtes.

Clergy of the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches (Syriac, Chaldean, Melkite and Armenian) also attended the prayer vigil mainly devoted to the Christians of Iraq and Syria threatened and persecuted.

Of political figures were also present, including Celine FREMAULT, Brussels Minister of the Environment (CDH), Isabelle Durant, MP Denis Ducarme Brussels and Ecolo, MP.

Belga News Agency