Simele massacre 1933 & exodus of Niniveh plain in Iraq

During the history of Iraq, indigenous people Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrians had been incessantly had been target of destructive policies by the state authorities and recent years with the attacks of non state actors that flourished in the region.

On 7th August, 1933, following the Iraqi independence and establishment of the whole political, social and economic system in the Iraq, the Simele Massacre had been committed against Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people in the Northern Iraq with the sole objective of ethnic cleansing. In August 1933 Iraqi forces massacred civilians in Simele and at the villages of Dohuk and Mosul. According to different sources around 3000 civilians had been killed and residential areas had been destroyed. During the massacre man, women, children and elders had been victim without any distinction. The remnants of 1915 Sayfo Genocide under Ottoman-Turkish rule had been once again object of genocide. To note, well known lawyer Raphael Lemkin had been inspired from these two events in order to coin the term of “genocide”.

On the other hand, during the first week of August 2014, Islamic State, IS took control of the historical homeland of Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian in Nineveh Plains and villages in the region causing the exodus of around 150 thousands of civilians including women, children and elderly. At the same time, IS took hostage Christian women and girls as hostages as they did with the Ezidis people massively. Following the control of Mosul and Nineveh Plains regions, IS undergone massive genocidal destruction of Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people and their millennial cultural, historical and religious heritage by demolishing churches, monasteries and historical sites.

There is historical and moral responsibility for Iraq, regional and international community and institutions namely United Nations to stand with the vulnerable groups, recognize genocides against them and support them by accelerating the liberation of Nineveh Plain and supporting safe zone, autonomy in the region which will open the way to self administration. In this regard, we welcome recent crucial conference organized by US State Department lead by Special Advisor Knox Thames and Ambassador David Saperstein.

In these tumultuous times, Chaldean-Syriac-Assyrian people dispersed in different regions should stand with their brethren in the homeland in Iraq and Syria and raise their voices for the existential demands on the historical homeland of Bethnahrin.