The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

Edward I. Baba
California

An open letter to Qasha Emanuel Youkhana.

History repeats itself. Preventing the destructive repetition of history, our youth are armed with the weapon of education. They are well aware of the tragedies that occur from theocracies and refuse to have you or your patriarch define their political destinies.

Western civilization has prospered with the placement of separation of church and state. A line between these two very different entities is fragile, but should not be crossed. Religious figures are on that very same line and they should not even attempt to frolic over it.

I don’t recall any clergymen shedding blood and losing lives in defense of the Assyrians in Iraq under the vicious Baathist regime. I, however, recollect the lives Zowaa members lost in protection of the Assyrian communities within Iraq. Zowaa faced these harsh realities and they faced them head on with absolute refusal to succumb to oppression and with the idea of unconditional protection for our people. Your attempts at becoming a successful clergyman were futile, what makes you think you can do a politician’s job? And what makes you think you can do that when you aren’t even facing the same realities the Assyrians in Iraq are facing every day of their lives?

Your appearance at the European Parliament to discuss the future of the Assyrians in Iraq seemed fruitless because of inabilities of getting your points through. No one really knew what to respond because no one really understood what you said. If you attempt to take on the role of political representation in a governmental arena as the European Parliament, it would be necessary for you to quit mumbling and enunciate properly in order for people to comprehend the ideas you are endeavoring to put through.

I’d like to begin to address some of your recent comments of comedic relief in regards to Assyrians supposedly having a “phobia” of Kurds. What are they, spiders? Do we have Arachnophobia? Our ancestors would destroy empires, why would we fear an ethnicity that has no diplomatic relations with the surrounding majority of the Middle East?

There’s an old saying of the pot calling the kettle black and I believe it fits this perfectly. When Massoud Barzani was interviewed by Arabia TV last year, he repeatedly failed to use our Assyrian name by referring to us as “Messiaheens” in attempt to conceal our identity. Mullah Bukhtyar, as well, kept deceptively imposing the belief that Assyrians had no relation to the land. You were so vocal and hasty to falsely call out Assyrian “phobias” yet you failed to speak out against this deceit. Your pen is a sword, why didn’t you use it?

While Assyrians in Iraq are burning and yearning for a breath of freedom, you boast with audacity the idea that thrusting Assyrians under Kurdish control would ultimately be their best decision. Are you merely using this as a guise for your own ulterior motives of KDP satisfaction? Or have you been living under a rock for 30 years?