Assyrian Minister in Kurdish Government Resigns in Protest

17/8/14

(AINA) — The Minister of Transportation for the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in North Iraq, Johnson Siawesh, has tendered his resignation to protest the KRG’s lack of action in defending Assyrian Christians against ISIS and in providing assistance to the Assyrian refugees who fled from the towns and villages in the Nineveh Plain and Baghdede to Ankawa, a city north of Arbel. Ankawa has seen its population swell from 30,000 to more than 100,000, with nearly all of the refugees being Assyrian.

Mr. Siawesh, who is Assyrian, resigned in protest of the deteriorating situation of Christian citizens in Mosul and the Nineveh Plains.

Ankawa is an Assyrian town and the more than 70,000 refugees who have come there are mostly Assyrians. They lack food, water and shelter. International NGOs have been providing assistance but it is woefully inadequate. The KRG has provided no meaningful aid to these refugees.

Since capturing Mosul in June 10, ISIS has driven all Christians out of Mosul and destroyed, occupied or converted to mosques all Christian institutions in Mosul (churches, monasteries and cemeteries), numbering 45. All non-Sunni Muslim groups in Mosul — Shabaks, Yazidis and Turkmen — have been targeted by ISIS. 200,000 Assyrian have fled from Baghdede (Qaraqosh), Bartella, Karamles and dozens of Assyrian villages and towns in the Nineveh Plain north of Mosul. 150,000 Yazidis have fled from Sinjar and Zumar. 40,000 trapped on Shingal mountain. Thousands have died from exposure and thousands have been killed by ISIS.

See Timeline of ISIS in North Iraq

© 2014 Assyrian International News Agency.

Source: