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| Iraq |
| Kurds Block Assyrians, Shabaks From Police Force in North Iraq |
| 2006-07-03 |
| Earlier this year, at the request of the local Assyrian (also known as Chaldean and Syriac) and Shabak communities of the Nineveh Plain, and the local police force of the Hamdaniya and Telkaif districts, the Ministry of Interior gave the order to assign approximately 800 new policemen from the local communities in the two Nineveh Plain Districts. This was long overdue as these two districts have a substantially low number of policemen to maintain security in the region. In addition, over fifty percent of the anemic police force in this region is made up of Kurds from outside the area who are loyal to the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP). The first order from the ministry was handed down on March 14th, 2006. With a second official order dated April 6th, 2006, the approved applicants were asked to report for duty immediately. However, the Provincial Council of Nineveh, headed by Police Chief Wathiq Muhammad Abd Al-Qadir, has continually delayed the implementation of the ministry's order in the hopes of maintaining KDP control over the region. The Provincial Council of Nineveh is dominated by the Kurdish KDP even though the majority inhabitants of the area are Sunni Arabs, Shiite Shabaks, and ChaldoAssyrian Christians, After several complaints from the locals, the order was finally implemented on June 14th, 2006, but with the modification that the Nineveh Plain approved applicants report for duty not in their Nineveh Plain hometowns but instead in the most troublesome neighborhoods in the city of Mosul. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #6 Turkey, Kurdistan, Iraq, and Iran have all practiced depradations against the Assyrians and other minorities. The Turks continue to enlist the aid of Kurds to drive Surian Christians from villages around Urfa. The Surians, few as they are, become pawns sacrificed in a political battle to appease Kurdish tribal leaders. "Drive these guys out, and we'll give you their land if you behave." If the world isn't going to turn back the clock on this and related land, money, and power grabs, then logically speaking, no one should have any objection to the Isrealis keeping their place in the sun. There's a good account of this in Dalrymple's 1997 book, "From the Holy Mountain" (he's no fan of Israel, but inadvertantly argues for that country's ultimate success). Ironically, it's only in Syria that Middle Eastern Christians are reasonably treated anymore. The minority Alawite government uses the multi-denominational Christian minority plus the Druze and Shiite minorities to buttress its numbers against the Sunni majority. "Do anything you want, so long as you stay out of politics." |
| Posted by: Snirt Jesh4074 2006-07-04 00:13 |
| #5 Ancient manuscripts tell of very early Christians bravely venturing into Koordestan to spread the news to vicious cannibals, and even the Apostle Paul was warned away from the area. The Kurds must be genetic cousins to the Afghans who charged tanks on their horses and skinned people alive. With such ancient prejudices, how can they ever grasp such concepts as equality and true justice? |
| Posted by: Danielle 2006-07-03 11:02 |
| #4 Kurds and Assyrian Christians are traditional enemies. While everyone knows about the massacre of Armenians, the Kurds killed about half the Assyrians in Iraq in the early 1920s while the Brits ignored it. This is disappointing, sincee I had heard that the Kurds were actually paying Christians to move into Kurdistan. Al |
| Posted by: Frozen Al 2006-07-03 10:16 |
| #3 Hear, hear TW. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-07-03 06:41 |
| #2 This seems more to be that the Kurds, so long a persecuted minority in Iraq, are taking the opportunity to discriminate against an even smaller minority. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-07-03 06:36 |
| #1 Nonetheless, the KDP got most votes in the election in Nineveh province (38%) and as more Kurds expelled by Saddam return (and as the constitution specifically states they can), will doubtless increase it's vote. More whining by the losers. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-07-03 01:02 |