The Director General of Syriac Culture and Arts in the Kurdistan Regional Government confirmed that the Directorate serves the Syriac culture and literature in the region and Iraq as well as the neighboring countries that witness the presence of our people, indicating that this comes through direct support by the Kurdistan Regional Government for the Syriac cultural scene, especially from the State of the President of the Regional Government Mr. Masrour Barzani.
This came during a dialogue meeting organized by the Syriac League in Beirut, titled “Challenges of Survival for Our People”, Tuesday, June 6, 2023, in which it hosted the Director General of Syriac Culture and Arts, Kaldo Ramzi Oghanna .
Ogna began his speech by praising the role of the Syriac League, which he considered a home for all activists in the field of human rights and the struggle of our people in the East and in alienation, then he touched on the massacres that our people were subjected to in the East more than 100 years ago, indicating that the statistics are shocking, as we are facing a series of tragedies that began From Sefu 1915, to Semel 1933 to ISIS 2014.
Oghanna stressed that the perception of the East without diversity, with religious or national unilateralism, is a frightening feeling, indicating that the contribution of our people to the renaissance of Iraq is insignificant, adding, “We are minorities and we are proud that we are not part of the destruction or corruption in Iraq.”
Oghanna diagnosed a fundamental problem that lies in the fact that the Iraqi constitution stipulates that Islam is the religion of the state and a basic source of legislation, and this paragraph dropped our identity and equality as citizens and caused the emigration of hundreds of thousands outside the country, pointing out that the number of our people before 2003 was nearly one and a half million, and today the churches are almost empty.
Oghanna praised the situation of our people in the Kurdistan Region, which he described as “good”, as a model of peaceful coexistence, noting that the number of our people in Ankawa, which was a district and now has become a district of approximately 75,000 thousand people, stressing that we must preserve our situation, and work together to develop what we have achieved. gains in the region.
The Director General of Syriac Culture and Arts continued that the Syriac language is a national language in Iraq and the region and is considered an official language in areas where speakers constitute a dense population, and this is a gain for us, adding that we have 50 schools that teach the mother tongue, but this is not our ambition, indicating that we want rights More, and we also have to say that we have space and space to work in the Kurdistan Region through real institutions that work on the ground, especially the General Directorate that serves the Syriac culture in the region and the rest of the areas of our people’s presence.
Oghanna touched on a number of points to face the challenges facing our people, especially supporting the rest of them in Iraq by paying attention to the cultural aspect and heritage as well as spreading awareness among the current generation to cling to and stay in their land and create job opportunities, stressing the readiness of the General Directorate to cooperate with all Syriac cultural and artistic institutions. In the world.
At the end of the dialogue meeting, the door for discussion and interventions was opened, which was presented by a group of interested and activists in the Syriac cultural field.
