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Honouring the
memory of our brave Assyrian Martyrs
Sargon Levi Gabriel
To hundred of thousands of innocent Assyrians, farmers, priests,
authors, teachers and doctors that were slaughtered, assassinated
and our beautiful mothers and daughters raped by Turks and Kurds
between 1914-1918, we salute you today.
They were slaughtered and we are forbidden to forget. Our martyrs
did not die a natural death. Most were uprooted in the prime of
their lives.
7th of August of every year marks the Assyrian martyr’s day, is a
day that every patriot Assyrian has to remember and be present when
an Assyrian group is celebrating it. This is the day called Parmany
di-Simele. That pogrom was engineered by Prince Ghazi, with the
connivance of Hikmat Sulaiman (Minister of Interior) a member of
left-wing Al-Ahaly party, Rashid Ali Al-Gailani and instigated by
General Baker Sidqi a Kurd who directed the grisly operation in the
cruelest manner, the worst human rights violation in the history of
mankind. May his memory be erased forever.
On this day the 7th of August every proud daughter and son of
Assyria will mourn the fate of our martyrs and must not forget the
terror campaign of slaughter and rape of 3000 Assyrian men and women
in Simele and surrounding villages by Iraqi Army and Kurds.
“Suddenly and without the least warning the troops opened fire upon
the defenseless Assyrians. Many fell, including some women and
children, and the rest ran into the houses to take cover. (Their
opponents were helpless as they had no weapons to fight with.)
Machine gunners set up their guns outside the windows of the houses
in which the Assyrians had taken refuge, and having trained them on
the terror-stricken Assyrians in the crowded rooms, fired among them
until not a person was left standing in the shambles. In some other
instances the blood lust of the troops and tribal Kurds took a
slightly more active form and men were dragged out by the tribal
Kurds shot or bludgeoned to death and their bodies thrown on a pile
of dead.”
All Baghdad turned to greet Prince Ghazi, Bakir Sidqi, and Rashid
Ali Al-Gailani, on their return to Capital from a ceremonial parade
of army in Mosul. Almighty God punished the perpetrators of Simele
Massacre, Bakid Sidqi was assassinated in 1936 by army officers, and
in 1936 Prince Ghazi was killed in a freak car accident, and Rashid
Ali Al- Gailani was kicked and spat on in Abu Ghreb detention centre
in 1958, I was there and saw it all. He was tried and hanged.
This is a day when all Assyrians the purest and the oldest civilized
race that God had created are together. On this day when we all
stand together before our God, God will have an interest in us. Let
us all stand together and unite.
The importance of unity is something we must keep in mind it is what
God demands. Expressing extreme opinions may win headlines, people
may listen more, but the price is polarization and disunity.
We have a wonderful generation of educated Patriot Assyrians who are
willing to make sacrifices for the good of our Assyrians in the
world. They are full of motivation to better the lot of the entire
Assyrians worldwide.
Religious and secular Assyrians need to connect. Assyrianism,
combined with universal humanism can bridge the division among our
Assyrian Organizations, Associations, Political Parties and our
People and Churches. Tribalism and clanism must be erased for the
good of all.
LEST WE FORGET
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