It has been a brutal last few days in what seems to be coordinated campaign by Chaldean clergy members - and others - on Assyrian church, history and culture. I am sure most of you are familiar with what happened, but let me go through a timeline of these attacks:
As you can see, these three vicious attacks happened so close to each other, that you can't help but question if they are not coordinated, at least the two from the church clergy. Then sandwiched in-between was the attack from Yousif Aziz, whom I have followed for a while and although respect as a talented artist, he has shown an extreme anti-Assyrian rhetoric for years now, bordering line hate for anything Assyrian. Of course, this extreme behaviour exists on both sides, as we have our own sick Assyrians who despise the Chaldean name and so on. It is sad honestly, at a time when we should be all united, or at least not hating and attacking each other. But doesn't help when those at the top are spewing the hate, and even falsifying the bible, just to serve their Anti-Assyrian views and hate.
With full respect to the good Chaldean people out there, as I have personally seen how outraged a lot of them were, against the the attacks above.
Coming up in the next post, I will talk about the outpouring of outrage and condemnation against thee above, the like of which I have honestly never seen.
- It all started with the Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako a week ago, just before the start of the "Rogation of the Ninevites" (Baoutha D'Ninwaye) , in which he made several shocking claims, including that the whole store of Jonah in the old testament is made up, that he (the prophet) was confused etc. You can see the whole video for yourself. This is in attempt to rename the whole thing and remove the reference to 'Nineveh' and keep it as 'Baoutha' only. Not shocking of course, given his holiness staunch anti-Assyrian stand, which is not secret to anyone.
Link to the sermon: https://www.facebook.com/reel/4238441113064843
- But unfortunately, wish that was it. As they say, a few days later, a Chaldean archbishop from Kerkuk (Archbishop Yousif Thomas) said "hold my beer"! He not only doubled down, he went much further by stating that the Assyrians were brutal, that the Assyrian Empire was the ugliest empire known to history, and even as far as considering the story of the Prophet Jonah a fictional tale with no connection to the city of Nineveh (just like his boss stated a few days earlier)
Link to the sermon: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17yYtU33sU/
- In-between these two, there was a third and somewhat unrelated attack. Let me give you the background on that. Assyrian Facebook show "Noqza" interviewed a prominent singer and activist from Alqosh named "Danny Asmaro" about his efforts to rebuild old Alqosh and make it into a prominent cultural and even tourist site for people to come and see. Although the interview was general and neutral and focused mostly on Alqosh as a town, and unrelated to Assyrian or Chaldean identities, some Chaldean ultras and hardcore activists took the whole interview the wrong way, including Australian-based singer Yousif Aziz. Mr. Aziz - whom I respect a lot as an artist - who took the whole interview to mean that Danny Asmaro was promoting Assyrianism at the expense of the Chaldean identity and history of Alqosh. In an online post, in which he doesn't directly name Mr. Asmaro, he attacks the latter and goes on and on about how no effort by Danny Asmaro or Assyrian activities and parties can erase or take away from Alqosh's chaldean identity. For the record, the two singers have not only collaborated on a song and other musical projects in the past, I believe they are even related from distance. Out of anger for these attacks against him from Yousif Aziz, Danny Asmaro came out to only respond and defend himself, he even posted a picture of a winged bull, saying he will erect a statue of the Assyrian winged bull at the entrance of the site of Old Alqosh which he is personally working on. Of course, he didn't mean this literally, and it was a figurative attempt at those attacking him and questioning his loyalty to his Chaldean background, to benefit Assyrians instead.
As you can see, these three vicious attacks happened so close to each other, that you can't help but question if they are not coordinated, at least the two from the church clergy. Then sandwiched in-between was the attack from Yousif Aziz, whom I have followed for a while and although respect as a talented artist, he has shown an extreme anti-Assyrian rhetoric for years now, bordering line hate for anything Assyrian. Of course, this extreme behaviour exists on both sides, as we have our own sick Assyrians who despise the Chaldean name and so on. It is sad honestly, at a time when we should be all united, or at least not hating and attacking each other. But doesn't help when those at the top are spewing the hate, and even falsifying the bible, just to serve their Anti-Assyrian views and hate.
With full respect to the good Chaldean people out there, as I have personally seen how outraged a lot of them were, against the the attacks above.
Coming up in the next post, I will talk about the outpouring of outrage and condemnation against thee above, the like of which I have honestly never seen.
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