Assyrian Christians congratulate Trump and ask support to return to Iraq

Jardine Malado Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Iraqi priests hold the first Sunday mass at the Grand Immaculate Church since it was recaptured from Islamic State in Qaraqosh, near Mosul, Iraq, Oct. 30, 2016. | REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

An Assyrian Christian group wrote to President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him and ask for his help in returning to their ancestral lands in the Nineveh Plains in Iraq.

In an open letter to Trump, Carlo Kooktapeh Ganjeh, chapter secretariat of the Assyrian Universal Alliance Americas Chapter, raised the issue of genocide committed by ISIS against Christians and other indigenous people of Iraq, Syria and Turkey.

The letter urged the president-elect to support the Assyrians in their bid to return to their homes in the Nineveh Plains and help them in their training to defend themselves.

"The Assyrian people need your support to return to their ancestral lands and remain a viable segment of the fabric of the Middle East, especially in Iraq and Syria. We need your support to equip and train the Assyrians in Northern Iraq to defend themselves and their homes on their ancestral lands in the Nineveh Plains in a self-governed Assyrian province," the letter stated.

It also asked Trump to support the establishment of a special zone for indigenous people in the Nineveh Plains. The letter also stated that the region should not become the battleground in the conflict between the regional powers and the Kurds who are fighting for independence.

"We need your support to encourage the Iraqi government to approve the creation of the Nineveh Plains province and rebuilding it so that the displaced Assyrian people may return to their homes and live free on their ancestral lands in a self-governed Assyrian province," it concluded.

Assyrian Christians had been appealing for the establishment of an autonomous province in the Nineveh Plains.

According to a report from Al-Monitor, over 250,000 Christians left the Nineveh Plains when ISIS took over the region in 2014. Some Christians have said that around 120,000 are now ready to return to their hometowns.

Before the election, Iraqi Christians who just returned to the newly-liberated town of Qaraqosh have complained that outgoing U.S. president Barack Obama failed to protect them against ISIS. They have expressed their hopes that Trump would help them and bring a different approach to the crisis faced by Iraqi Christians.