Ninety nine years ago, Ottoman Turks and their Kurdish allies ravaged the towns and villages of the Assyrian communities in Ottoman Turkey and Iran; the outcome hundreds of thousands Assyrians being massacred or marched to their deaths by the Ottomans. In recent days, armed fighters believed to be part of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have seized the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh launching an assault on the provincial capital of Mosul, a city many Assyrians call home, engaging in combat with troops and police.
“For Turkey to continue to denounce the actions taken place almost 100 years ago places a blind eye on justice”, said James Issakhani, Los Angeles Executive Director of the Seyfo Center. “I outright condemn the attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) in the Nineveh Province in last couple days. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Nineveh and the families of the victims who have suffered tremendously in these attacks, it seems like history is repeating itself”.
Seyfo Center along with numerous other political and humanitarian Assyrian based organizations will hike to the Hollywood Sign at the top of Runyan Canyon and release black and red balloons in recognition of the blood spilled and martyrs lost.
