Iranian Assyrians Condemn ISIL Atrocities

Date: 13 March 2015 - 19:49

News ID: ۱۲۰۰۱

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- The Iranian Assyrians have held a demonstration here to protest against the atrocious crimes perpetrated by the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group against religious minorities in Iraq and Syria.
Hundreds of them gathered in front of the United Nations headquarters in Tehran to condemn the heinous killings of civilians, especially Assyrians, in the ISIL-held areas of Iraq and Syria, urging the international community to take action against the ongoing "genocide” in the two Arab countries.
The protesters also deplored the destruction of the ancient sites belonging to the Assyrian civilization in Iraq at the hands of ISIL extremists.
"What has happened to the Assyrians in Iraq and Syria over the past year is unparalleled in history,” said the statement which was read aloud by Yonathan Betkolia, the representative of Assyrians in Iran’s parliament.
The ISIL’s ideology is in line with the oppressors who consider as legitimate the atrocities against Shia Muslims and Palestinians in other parts of the world, the statement added.
The demonstrators also called for "an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in coordination with international human rights organizations and the European Parliament”, stressing that the world body must mobilize all forces to secure the release of the Assyrians from ISIL captivity.
Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said Iran’s assistance to Iraq to fight the ISIL prevented the terrorist group from invading other countries in the region.
"If Iran had not helped Iraq, ISIL would have invaded other countries in the region,” Larijani said at a press conference held at the end of his visit to Qatar.
"Iran stood in the face of the ISIL to help Iraq and also the (other) countries of the region, although the main responsibility rested on the shoulders of the people of the country,” he said.