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Dokument #1282448
ACCORD – Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (Autor)
Nach einer Recherche in unserer Länderdokumentation und im Internet können wir Ihnen zu oben genannter Fragestellung Materialien zur Verfügung stellen, die unter anderem folgende Informationen enthalten:
Telkaif bzw. Tall Kayf liegt rund 20 km nördlich von Mosul (siehe multimap.com-Kartenausschnitt), damit befindet es sich nahe an der Grenze zum kurdischen Gebiet im Nordirak. (Grenzverlauf nördlich von Mosul=Musil siehe Karte von Al-Nakib)
Auf einer Website über Tall Kayf findet sich eine Aufstellung über die Bevölkerungsverteilung von 1968 in dem Ort:
„Telkaif is situated only 11 miles from Nineveh (Mosul). Most of the modern people of Telkaif are new comers, who began to settle in Telkaif from the 15th century until today. In 1968 the population of Telkaif was 7102, 93% of these i.e. 6604 are Christians. Out of these 6604, there were 5019 Catholics. From the total 7102 of 1968, the following are considered very new settlers: 551 Catholics, 1181 Church of the East, 548 Moslems.“ (Bizzi, 1969)
Der Mission Report von Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) vom November 2003 „The Chaldoassyrian Community In Today’s Iraq - Opportunities And Challenges“, beschreibt im Kapitel „The Chaldoassyrian Community in Post-Saddam Iraq“ die politische Wiedergeburt der assyrischen Volksgruppe:
„The ouster of Saddam Hussein and the Ba’ath party is an event of enormous importance to the Chaldoassyrian community in Iraq. After years of severe repression and exclusion from the country’s governance, the Iraqi Chaldoassyrians live through the exciting time of political revival and mobilization. Structures, which were clandestine six months ago, have come out as new legitimate players in the process of political reconstruction. The major shift came on September 14, 2002 when the US State Department called on the Assyrian Coalition and the Assyrian American League to formally request Assyrian participation in the next meeting of the Iraqi opposition parties. The Assyrian Coalition, consisting of the major mainstream Assyrian political organizations, designated as Assyrian representative Mr Yonadan Kanna, Secretary General of the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM). On December 9, 2002, President Bush designated five Iraqi groups as “democratic opposition organization - Assyrian Democratic Movement, [Aufzählung der anderen, RJ] to join the other six opposition groups previously designated [...] The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was inaugurated on July 13, 2003. Mr Yonadan Kanna was appointed to represent the Christian Chaldoassyrian community. The distribution of the twenty-five seats on the Council seeks to represent the demographic weight of all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq. On 1 September 2003, the Iraqi Governing Council announced the appointment of Iraq’s first post-Hussein cabinet. The new ministers are entrusted with the oversight of the day-to-day operations of Iraq’s 25 ministries. Behnam Zayya Bulis, a Chaldoassyrian Christian, is in charge of transport. These events are of crucial importance as the Chaldoassyrian community has been recognized as an indispensable part of the Iraqi opposition movement and a legitimate player in the future political reconstruction of Iraq. Within the context of this new opposition formula, “Assyrians may finally address grievances as well as minimal political aspirations such as constitutional recognition on a free, sovereign, secular and democratic Iraq”.” (HRWF, November 2003, Kap. II.1.)
Unter dem Kapitel “The Chaldoassyrian Community In Mosul” geht der Bericht von HRWF auf die Befürchtungen der assyrischen Bevölkerung ein, die in in der Grenzzone zwischen dem kurdisch kontrollierten Gebiet und dem Rest Iraks lebt:
„Mosul is another town with considerable Chaldoassyrian community. Moreover, Mosul is in the Ninevah plain, which is the ancestral homeland of the Assyrian people. Mosul, like Kirkuk, is a town that has remained outside of the de facto independent “Iraqi Kurdistan”. [...] Lying on the fault line between the Kurdish-controlled territory and the rest of Iraq there have been attempts to redraw the borders of Mosul administrative region. Human Rights Without Frontiers received reports reflecting the concerns of the Chaldoassyrians living in Alqosh, that “the redrawing of administrative lines would throw them and their children into Kurdish-controlled governmental systems and in particular, force their children into schools where Kurdish rather than Arabic forms the main language of instruction”. There is concern that “such a step would handicap those who have grown up with Arabic language schools, and in all likelihood make it more difficult for them to find jobs or enter higher education in most of Iraq where Arabic is used”. These concerns have been voiced in other places in Mosul-Ninevah provinces with Chaldoassyrian population as well. (HRWF, November 2003, Kap. III.3.)
Die Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) berichtet unter dem Titel „Kurdish Autonomy Proposal Threatens Iraqi Territorial Integrity” am 8. Jänner 2004 über einen kurdischen Vorschlag zu künftigen autonomen Gebieten:
„A recent Kurdish proposal to establish an ethnically based autonomous area even beyond the current occupied northern provinces has alarmed various Iraqi communities including Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs), Arabs, Turkman, and Yezidis within Iraq and abroad. The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan’s (PUK) Barham Salih recently declared that the Kurdish autonomous area ought to be extended beyond the three occupied and already diversely populated and contentious provinces of Dohuk (Nohadra), Arbil, and Sulaimaniya to include large portions of Diyala, Nineveh [=Ninawa, RJ], and Karkuk.” (AINA, 8.01.2004)
In einem von HRWF zitierten Artikel von Zenit vom 17. November 2003 mit dem Titel „Christians in Northern Iraq reportedly facing intimidation” finden sich Informationen zu berichteten Einschüchterungen christlicher Gemeinden in Mosul:
„Christian communities in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul are facing serious acts of intimidation, says Fides, the news agency of the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. "Last week a bomb was found in front of a Catholic school in Mosul; luckily it was defused before it could explode," Chaldean Catholic priest Father Nizar Semaan told Fides. [...] "Also last week a round from a Kalashnikov was fired against the residence of the Syro-Antiochian bishop in my city," the priest added. "This is probably the work of Wahabi extremists in Mosul." Wahabi Muslims are a puritanical sect from Saudi Arabia. "With these actions of intimidation extremists want to demonstrate their power, and what is more serious, to prevent the civil society from returning to normality," Father Semaan said." (Zenit, 17.11.2003)
Am 16. Mai 2003 berichtet die AINA unter dem Titel „Assyrians Call for End to Kurdish Terror Raids in Karkuk, Mosul” über Angriffe kurdischer Kräfte auf nicht-kurdische Bewohner von Mosul und Karkuk:
„The precipitous disintegration of Iraqi armed forces towards the end of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" led to a provocative advance of Kurdish forces into the cities of Mosul and Karkuk. The ensuing looting and terror raids against the majority non-Kurdish residents of those cities have led to increased ethnic tension. American forces that were supposed to secure the urban areas in order to prevent just such terror raids by Kurds did not arrive until Kurdish bands looted and ransacked the cities unhindered.” (AINA, 16.05.2003)
Das Assyrian Democratic Movement besitzt eine eigene Homepage (http://www.zowaa.org/index.htm). In einem von Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF) zitierten Artikel der Jerusalem Post vom 08. Mai 2003 mit dem Titel “Iraq’s Assyrians struggle for power” finden sich Informationen zur Geschichte des Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) und Aussagen vom Generalsekretär der Partei, Yonadam Y. Kanna:
„Considered a medium-sized movement, ADM has all the trappings of what is considered a serious Iraqi party these days—impressive offices, a charismatic leader, a clear vision, and lots of men with AK-47s standing guard outside. ADM, its officials make pains to note, also took part in the liberation of the key oil cities of Kirkuk and Mosul in the North. [...] ADM began fighting Saddam in 1979. Suffering continuous losses, it moved north toward Iraqi Kurdistan in 1988 and joined the Kurdish forces fighting there to carve out a semi-autonomous safe haven. [...] In modern times, the group, which today numbers about 1.25 million, was doubly mistreated; first by the regime and then by their Kurdish landlords.” (Jerusalem Post, 08.05.2003)
Das Danish Immigration Service berichtet von der “Joint British-Danish Fact Finding Mission to Damascus, Amman and Geneva on Conditions in Iraq” vom Juli 2003 über das ADM:
„Emmanuel Khoshaba from the Assyrian Democratic Movement (ADM) informed the delegation that the ADM worked for the establishment of a situation where Iraqis will no longer leave Iraq. He thought that security is a problem and ADM have had meetings with the CPA to Joint British-Danish Fact Finding Mission to Damascus, Amman and Geneva on Conditions in Iraq discuss the issue. In the immediate aftermath of the war, Assyrians in northern Iraq in some cases had been attacked by criminal Kurds. ADM’s armed wing is licensed to carry weapons and has protected Assyrians in northern Iraq in the area from Mosul to Al Qush and from Mosul towards the north-west. There are at moment no security problems for Assyrians in northern Iraq: ADM cooperates with KDP, PUK and Arabic and Islamist parties in the area.” (DIS, August 2003, S. 21-22)
Im Middle East Report N°19 mit dem Titel “Iraq’s Constitutional Challenge” der International Crisis Group (ICG) vom 13. November 2003 findet man eine Differenzierung der assyrischen Christen im Irak:
„Ethnic Assyrians are sub-divided into branches, or church denominations, of Christianity: the Assyrians are Eastern Orthodox or Nestorian, the Chaldeans are Catholics, and there are also Syriacs (both Catholics and Orthodox), and smaller groups. Although all are ethnic Assyrians, Chaldean sensitivities about their distinct (religious) identity have yielded the term Assyro-Chaldeans (or Chaldeo-Assyrians) to describe the entire ethnic group. The Assyrian Democratic Movement purports to represent the “Assyrian-Chaldean nation”.”(ICG, 13.11.2003, S. 11, Fn 63)
Laut DIS seien jene Assyrer, die in Verbindung mit der im Nordirak ansässigen Assyrischen Demokratischen Bewegung (al-Harakah al-Ashuriyyah al-Dimuqratiyyah) stehen, vom [früheren] Irakischen Regime verfolgt worden. (DIS, 27 Aug 2002, sec. 5.2).
Das US State Department (USDOS) berichtet in seinem Jahresbericht zur Menschenrechtslage im Irak vom Februar 2004, der sich noch auf die Lage vor dem Sturz Saddam Husseins am 9. April 2003 bezieht, von zahlreichen Menschenrechtsverletzungen der Regierung gegenüber den assyrischen und chaldäischen Christen. Insbesondere handelt es sich hierbei laut USDOS um Vertreibungen aus dem Norden und die Unterdrückung politischer Rechte. Derartige Maßnahmen werden nach Angaben des US State Department von den irakischen Behörden mit angeblicher Kollaboration der assyrischen Christen mit den irakischen Kurden begründet. USDOS weist in seinem Jahresbericht auch auf die 1988 von irakischen Streitkräften begangene Zerstörung zahlreicher assyrischer Kirchen sowie auf Berichte über zeitgleiche Hinrichtungen und Folter von Assyrern hin. (USDOS, 25.02.2004, Sec. 2.c) Zur Spezifizierung der Christen im Irak schreibt USDOS:
„Assyrians and Chaldeans are considered by many to be a distinct ethnic group, as well as the descendants of some of the earliest Christian communities. These communities speak a different language (Syriac), preserve traditions of Christianity, and have a rich cultural and historical heritage that they trace back more than 2,000 years. Although these groups do not define themselves as Arabs, the regime, without any historical basis, defined Assyrians and Chaldeans as such, evidently to encourage them to identify with the Sunni-Arab dominated regime.” (USDOS, 25.02.2004, Sec. 5)
Detaillierte Informationen zu assyrischen Christen finden Sie darüber hinaus im Nordirak Update der Schweizerischen Flüchtlingshilfe (30. Mai 2002) auf den Seiten 12 bis 13.
Für weitere Informationen zur Situation chaldäischer Christen im Irak haben wir Ihnen noch zwei - leider bereits etwas ältere - Anfragebeantwortungen des Immigration and Refugee Board in Ottawa beigelegt.
Diese Informationen beruhen auf einer zeitlich begrenzten Recherche in öffentlich zugänglichen Dokumenten, die ACCORD derzeit zur Verfügung stehen. Die Antwort stellt keine abschließende Meinung zur Glaubwürdigkeit eines bestimmten Asylansuchens dar.
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