Call for support for Assyrian Christians and Kurds under heavy attack by ISIS today

We thank the European Parliament for its focus on our dire situation. Today you will vote on a resolution addressing the existential threat we face and therefore we need to inform you of the following immediate urgency.

At this very moment defenders of the Syriac Military Council, YPG and others are fighting very hard to protect our peoples. ISIS is now attacking the Assyrian town of Tel Tamer and nearby villages and last Sunday was the last time our defending forces got air support in this battle.

Tel Tamar and nearby villages are all part of the Khabur River Valley and the target of ISIS since 22 February when ISIS abducted hundreds of Assyrian Christians.

We all know that if ISIS wins here it will go after all our peoples and kill or enslave them and put them through horrors. ISIS has proven this time and again. We face death and fight to live.

We beg the EP to take a stand with us and voice clear support for all our peoples and all our defenders. Without very urgent political and practical support for our defence all words will become hollow as all human dignity and human rights will be destroyed by force.

Therefore we repeat our immediate needs:

  • Lifting embargo on the Jazeera / Gozarto canton.
  • Official recognition of the cantons Jazeera, Afrin and Kobane, which had been put in place with the will of people.
  • Official visit to the Jazeera / Gozarto cantons from European Union (there is a safe area around Qamishli).
  • Military support to Syriac Military Council, Sutoro and Nineveh Plain Forces. Immediate air drop of ammunition in the Khabur region. Immediate continuation of air support in the battle for Tal Tamer
  • Political support to the organisations of Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people.
  • The support from the EU for the minorities (Syriac-Assyrian, Yezidi and Turkmen) in Iraq to become their partner in negotiations with the Iraqi Kurdish Regional Government and Iraqi Central Government in achieving a reasonable and needed degree of self-defence and self-government as expressed in the Common Declaration of these three peoples which has been presented in the European Parliament at 19 November.

The ultimate goal of ISIS is enforce a breakthrough towards Iraq, confirming that a defeat of ISIS in Iraq is insufficient if it is not defeated in Syria. Furthermore the ISIS policy of extermination of minorities is the same in Iraq and Syria. Again we call that the Democratic-Self-Administration can become a partner in the war against ISIS as it stands for the same human and democratic values as the EU and US by showing a concrete alternative to both ISIS and Assad.

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