Archbishop: Turkey blocks Christians fleeing ISIS
Says Erdogan government closes border to believers, lets jihadists cross
image: http://www.wnd.com/files/2015/02/mideast_christians_pray.jpg
The government of Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan was accused today
of contributing to the deaths of Syrian Christians attempting to flee
massacres at the hands of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militants.
The claim, made on Vatican Radio by Jacques Behnan Hindo, a prominant
Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Hasakeh-Nisibi, came just a day after
ISIS fighters abducted at least 90 Assyrian Christians from villages
near the Turkish border that had been under the protection of Kurdish
military forces, reported Agence France-Presse.
“Every day, families are emigrating from Damascus by plane because of the blockade we have around us,” Hindo said.
“In the north, Turkey allows through lorries, Daesh (ISIS) fighters, oil stolen from Syria, wheat and cotton: all of these can cross the border but nobody [from the Christian community] can pass over.”
Syria’s Assyrian Christian population was estimated at 30,000 four years ago when the current conflict began, a small minority of the then-estimated total Christian population of around 1.2 million.
WND reported that despite hardships imposed on minority Christians in the region by resurgent Islam and the brutal public torture-killings inflicted on Christians by ISIS, the White House has adopted a policy on fleeing Christians similar to that reportedly imposed by Turkey.
Administration plans call for up to 10,000 Syrian refugees, most of them Sunni Muslims – like ISIS – to be resettled in cities throughout the U.S. in 2015, with that figure expected to surge to near 75,000 over the next five years.
No such plans exist for their targeted Christian population.
The State Department’s December announcement was careful to explain that the U.S. will take in only those Syrians who are “persecuted by their government.” Christians in Syria are being killed by ISIS and other Muslim rebels, not by “their government,” but the Sunni Muslims are being killed by the Shiite-led government.
Greek Catholic sources have said more than 300,000 Syrian Christians are among the refugees driven from their homes. But neither the United Nations nor the Obama administration has shown a willingness to bring large numbers of Christian Syrians to the United States, focusing instead on Muslim refugees who pose a greater security risk.
The Canadian government said in December that it was considering giving priority to Christian and Yazidi refugees fleeing Syria and has since come under strong condemnation from the U.N. and non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International. Canada’s left-leaning Liberal Party also roundly criticized the plans by conservatives to focus on non-Muslim refugees.
“As far as global needs go, the Middle East has plenty of safe refuges for Sunni and Shiite Muslims; it has none for Christians and Yazidis,” writes Daniel Greenfield, a New York-based journalist and fellow at the Freedom Center who focuses on radical Islam. “It only makes sense that the West should fill the need for safe refuges that don’t exist in the Muslim world for non-Muslims, while the Muslim world takes in its own refugees.”
With Syrian Christians unable to depend on their Turkish neighbor or the U.S. as a safe haven, Archbishop Hindo is placing his hope elsewhere to save the Christian community.
“The Kurds are gathering their forces to go and fight them,” he said.
The government of Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan was accused today
of contributing to the deaths of Syrian Christians attempting to flee
massacres at the hands of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria militants.“Every day, families are emigrating from Damascus by plane because of the blockade we have around us,” Hindo said.
“In the north, Turkey allows through lorries, Daesh (ISIS) fighters, oil stolen from Syria, wheat and cotton: all of these can cross the border but nobody [from the Christian community] can pass over.”
Syria’s Assyrian Christian population was estimated at 30,000 four years ago when the current conflict began, a small minority of the then-estimated total Christian population of around 1.2 million.
WND reported that despite hardships imposed on minority Christians in the region by resurgent Islam and the brutal public torture-killings inflicted on Christians by ISIS, the White House has adopted a policy on fleeing Christians similar to that reportedly imposed by Turkey.
Administration plans call for up to 10,000 Syrian refugees, most of them Sunni Muslims – like ISIS – to be resettled in cities throughout the U.S. in 2015, with that figure expected to surge to near 75,000 over the next five years.
No such plans exist for their targeted Christian population.
The State Department’s December announcement was careful to explain that the U.S. will take in only those Syrians who are “persecuted by their government.” Christians in Syria are being killed by ISIS and other Muslim rebels, not by “their government,” but the Sunni Muslims are being killed by the Shiite-led government.
Greek Catholic sources have said more than 300,000 Syrian Christians are among the refugees driven from their homes. But neither the United Nations nor the Obama administration has shown a willingness to bring large numbers of Christian Syrians to the United States, focusing instead on Muslim refugees who pose a greater security risk.
The Canadian government said in December that it was considering giving priority to Christian and Yazidi refugees fleeing Syria and has since come under strong condemnation from the U.N. and non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International. Canada’s left-leaning Liberal Party also roundly criticized the plans by conservatives to focus on non-Muslim refugees.
“As far as global needs go, the Middle East has plenty of safe refuges for Sunni and Shiite Muslims; it has none for Christians and Yazidis,” writes Daniel Greenfield, a New York-based journalist and fellow at the Freedom Center who focuses on radical Islam. “It only makes sense that the West should fill the need for safe refuges that don’t exist in the Muslim world for non-Muslims, while the Muslim world takes in its own refugees.”
With Syrian Christians unable to depend on their Turkish neighbor or the U.S. as a safe haven, Archbishop Hindo is placing his hope elsewhere to save the Christian community.
“The Kurds are gathering their forces to go and fight them,” he said.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/02/archbishop-turkey-blocks-christians-fleeing-isis/#ExXlGq6U15CLhkgv.99
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