Syrian Christian activists and parties have called for a general and comprehensive national conference to evaluate what has happened with the Assyrians and Christians in Iraq, the possibility of the same experianece being repeated in Syria, and options to save the Christians in the region, Italian AKI news agency reported.
The agency said that activists have called on all the Assyrian and Christian political, national, religious, economic and civil parties, organizations and institutions inside Syria and abroad to participate to study and evaluate what happened and its dangerous consequences on the Christian existence in the region.
The Kurdish parties and coordination committees responded positively to the call to hold a general and comprehensive Assyrian and Christian conference. The Assyrian Democratic Organization, the Coordination Committee of Assyrian Syriac Youth and other Syriac and Assyrian coordination committees, in addition to many Syrian Christian political activists, have responded positively to the call.
AKI said that the Assyrian Democratic Organization supported the call and stressed that the Islamic State in Iraq are committing "dangerous terrorist crimes against humanity".
The Organization believes the goal of the IS is to eliminate the existence of Christians in the Middle East, and asked all the Christian forces, parties and church institutions to hold a general national conference to plan how to "deal with this existential danger".
Some activists suggested holding the conference in Lebanon, while others preferred to hold it in a western European country.
Some other Syrian Christian politicians warned of the consequences of holding such a conference, and stressed that it will not be useful now and may perhaps "furthr increase extremism. Those politicians said that the best substitute for such a conference is to hold it under the "umbrella of citizenship and invite the political, social, religious, national, cultural and tribal activities".
Syrian Christians have expressed their "deep resentment" towards what is being committed against their brothers in Mosul by the fighters of IS last month. Syrian Christians asked for a "safe shelter under international protection" inside Iraq in Ninawa plain.
Translated and edited by The Syrian Observer
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