Vatican accuses Turkey over Syrian Christians abduction
A prominent bishop on
Wednesday accused Turkey of preventing Christians from fleeing Syria
while allowing terrorists responsible for their persecution to cross its
border unchecked.
Jacques Behnan Hindo, the
Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Hasakeh-Nisibi, made the claim on Vatican
Radio, a day after the ISIS group abducted at least 150 Assyrian
Christians from villages which had been under the control of Kurdish
forces.
"Every day, families are emigrating from Damascus by plane because of the blockade we have around us," the bishop said.
"In the north, Turkey allows
through lorries, Daesh (ISIS) fighters, oil stolen from Syria, wheat and
cotton: all of these can cross the border but nobody (from the
Christian community) can pass over."
The abducted Christians were
part of Syria's tiny Assyrian community, which is mostly based in
Hasakeh province near the Turkish border.
There were just 30,000 Assyrians in Syria before the country's conflict erupted in March 2011.
At that point Syria had an
estimated total Christian population of around 1.2 million people. Pope
Francis is among those who have voiced fears the community could be
decimated by mass emigration as a result of the conflict.
Control of Hasakeh is currently divided between Kurdish forces and ISIS fighters.
The bishop said he was hopeful
the ISIS offensive which led to the kidnappings would soon be over
"because the Kurds are gathering their forces to go and fight them."
But it is reported that ISIS
militants are planning to murder 150 Christian hostages they kidnapped
after sweeping through villages in Syria if the U.S. does not stop air
strikes, it has been reported.
Nearly 1,000 Assyrian
Christian families have fled their homes in northeastern Syria after
terrorists kidnapped dozens of members of their community, an activist
said on Wednesday.
Osama Edward, director of the
Sweden-based Assyrian Human Rights Network, said they had fled in fear
after terrorists from the ISIS group took the Assyrian Christians
hostage early this week.
Source: ABNA
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