Assyrians Observe Martyrs Day

A few days ago our friends at Assyrian International News Agency shared about the recent gathering of Assyrians who observed Martyrs Day.  Here's part of their report:

The Assyrian Martyrs Day which is commemorated on the "Seventh of August" was designated by the Assyrian Universal Alliance as the international Memorial Day for victims of the Assyrian Genocide. Over 750,000 innocent Assyrian victims were slaughtered by the Ottoman Turkish army during and after World War I because of their ethnicity and faith. On this day Assyrians also memorialise those Assyrians who were heartlessly martyred by the Iraqi Army in August 1933, only a year after Iraq declared its independence.

The Master of Ceremonies, Miss Edora David, started the program by calling on Mr Hermiz Shahen, the Regional Secretary of the Assyrian Universal Alliance for Australia and New Zealand. Mr Shahen welcomed the audience and thanked Rev. the Hon. Fred Nile MLC for hosting the conference and for all his help and support during the past several years. He also welcomed Dr Anahit Khosroeva, An Assyrian born in Armenia, who is a member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars along with Dr Panayiotis Diamadis, Director, of the Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He commended them both for their courageous stance which has resonated throughout the world to fight the evils of genocide. Mr Shahen indicated that because of the continued persecution and intimidation by the successive dictators and brutal regimes that have ruled the occupied Assyrian lands till this day, unlike the Armenians, the helpless Assyrians have been late in lobbying for recognition of the Genocide perpetrated against them by the Ottoman Turks in 1914-1918. Equally is the fact that the government of modern Turkey has continued in ignoble denial and refusal to acknowledge its Ottoman predecessor's involvement in these crimes against humanity.

Click here for the full report.