Iraqi Government Ministers: ‘Assyrian Christians and Yazidi minority both welcome to form their own province within Iraq’ 

By Michael Ireland
Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News ServiceBAGHDAD, IRAQ (ANS) – A radio and television commentator whose passion is helping raise awareness for the downtrodden Assyrian Christians of Iraq, says the Yazidi believers in Iraq should be treated as brothers by fellow Christians.

A radio and television commentator whose passion is helping raise awareness for the downtrodden Assyrian Christians of Iraq, says the Yazidi believers in Iraq should be treated as brothers by fellow Christians.Ken Joseph Jr. was born and raised in Japan and has been a model and a regular commentator on radio and television around the world. He has maintains a tireless campaigning on the behalf of Assyrian Christians in Iraq.

Following an ambush on a bus carrying both Christians and Yazidi believers, 23 of whom were removed from the vehicle and shot in a nearby village, Joseph said he knows about the Yazidi believers from his time working among Assyrian Christians in Iraq.

“I have met their Chief. Essentially they are the Assyrians that worship Satan. There are two views — one that they never became Christians when Addai brought the gospel to the Assyrians and another that they fell away from the faith,” Joseph explained in an e-mail to ANS.

“The Yezidis are our brothers,” said Joseph, director of the website www.Assyrianchristians.com.

“As fellow Assyrians we stand by them in their time of sadness and need and acknowledge together that such incidents make it even more clear that the most pressing need for the Assyrians and others in Iraq is for the formal establishment of the Assyrian Province in Northern Iraq agreed to by the Iraqi Government under the constitution.”

Joseph also said the recent statement just days ago by the Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki and his support for a Province within Iraq for the Yazidis, “show(s) once again that even the government recognizes that the only way to stop this and similar incidents from happening again is for the Assyrians and the Yazidis, our brothers, to establish the province where as in Kurdistan there can be security and freedom.”

In a wide-ranging interview with Joseph, Prime Minister Maliki said of Iraq’s Assyrian Christian population: “I have a bias towards the Assyrian Christians. They are the indigenous people of our country and our most nationalist and good people.”

He added: “We want them to be inside the country and active and able to retake their rights. We will do all we can to help them. At the same time, if they feel they need an area, a province of their own as the Constitution provides, I support this fully.”

Reacting to large numbers of refugees in neighboring countries, Maliki said: “We do not consider them refugees. They are displaced, and we are doing all we can to create a situation where they can return. They are our responsibility and we do not need help from others to take them in — they will return home.”

Maliki was addressing questions concerning the minorities, many of whom are in neighboring countries, including an estimated nearly 500,000 Assyrian Christians who have fled the country.

Assyrians Free to Form Iraqi Province

Meanwhile, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshitar Zebari says that Assyrian Christians should return and form their own Province in Iraq and help rebuild the nation.

Speaking publicly as well as privately Hoshiyar Zebari refuted claims that the failure to find Weapons of Mass Destruction meant the war was not justified and encouraged minority Assyrian Christians to return and form their own province in Iraq and help rebuild the nation.

Referring to the Assyrian Christians, who estimates say up to 100,000 have left the country due to fears about the Islamic drift of the country, Zebari put out a welcome.

“They are free to organize a province or regional government. It should not be just because we have Kurdistan, but should be organized around an area. If they can do it in three provinces or even one it should and can be done,” Zebari said.