Syriac patriarchs: international community must act to liberate Mosul
June 16, 2016
The patriarchs of the Syriac Orthodox Church and the Syriac Catholic Church have issued a joint statement on the second anniversary of the fall of Mosul, Iraq, to the Islamic State, and the flight of tens of thousands of Christians to the Kurdistan region.
The Syriac Orthodox Church is an Oriental Orthodox church that ceased to be in full communion with the Holy See following the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451; the Syriac Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See.
“Two years after the calamity that was brought upon our people, the decision-making countries and the international community remain silent and inactive towards the ethnic cleansing of a historical people who founded the civilizations of the area,” the patriarchs said in their statement.
“We welcome the decision of certain countries to recognize these terrorist acts as a genocide against Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities,” they added. “However, we strongly denounce the absence of serious actions from the part of the international community and the Iraqi government to step up the liberation of Mosul and the villages of the Nineveh Plain from the terrorist groups.”
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