I am a novelist. When I write, I don’t calculate the consequences of what I’m writing. I just surround myself with the story.
Mosul, Iraq — She was running errands after leaving the local internet office when Anita Tyadors, 21, an Assyrian college student, was murdered by roaming thugs in the Zohoor region of Mosul, Iraq on August 5, 2005.
Many bloody chapters in the history of the Balkans have already been written. Byzantine political intrigue, followed by four centuries of enslavement and brutalisation under Ottoman Turkish rule, left an indelible mark on the national psyches of the predominantly Orthodox Christian nations of the Balkans, such as Greece, Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria.
Less than one week after the deadly Assyrian Church bombings in Baghdad and Mosul (photo gallery), Iraq, Assyrians once again will gather to commemorate Assyrian Martyr’s Day. August 7 marks the memorial day for legions of Assyrian (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) victims of massacres, pogroms, and genocide in general, but in particular commemorates the fateful day in 1933 when the newly established Iraqi army massacred upwards of 3000 Assyrian civilians in and around Simmele, Northern Iraq (account of the massacre).
The rooms in Istanbul’s Sisli courthouse are tiny. There is barely space for a single wooden spectators bench squeezed between battered metal filing cabinets.
The rapid disintegration of Iraq’s armed forces at the conclusion of Operation Iraqi Freedom created a disastrous vacuum in authority and security for the people of Iraq. In Baghdad alone, news coverage of widespread looting and near anarchy were matched only by Kurdish terror raids into Mosul and Karkuk that erupted into full fledged ethnic firefights.
On the morning of June 7th a civilian sedan containing four masked men drove into the Christian Assyrian Quarters (Hay Al-Athuryeen) of the Dora district of Baghdad, where the masked men opened fire on Assyrians on their way to work.
Less than one week after the deadly Assyrian Church bombings in Baghdad and Mosul (photo gallery), Iraq, Assyrians once again will gather to commemorate Assyrian Martyr’s Day. August 7 marks the memorial day for legions of Assyrian (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) victims of massacres, pogroms, and genocide in general, but in particular commemorates the fateful day in 1933 when the newly established Iraqi army massacred upwards of 3000 Assyrian civilians in and around Simmele, Northern Iraq (account of the massacre).
The World Maronite Union and its affiliate the American Maronite Union strongly condemns the attacks against five churches in Baghdad today. At 4 AM, on Sunday, the churches of Mar Yussef (St Joseph), Mar Yacoub (St Jacob), Mar Geries (St George), Mar Roum (St Roum) and Mar Tuma (St Thomas) were attacked with explosives.