US Official News
November 15, 2014 Saturday
Washington: SPEECH OF HON. STEVE ISRAEL OF NEW YORK IN THE HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2014
Washington
The Library of Congress, The Government of USA has issued the following Speech:
Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today, to draw your attention to a
speech given by one of my constituents, Helma Adde of Huntington, NY,
when I visited St. Peter’s Syriac Orthodox Church. Ms. Adde offered me
a warm welcome and introduction to the community and I would like to
share her words.
Congressman Israel, let me start with our customary greeting. Shlomo,
which in the Aramaic language literally means peace. We are very happy
to have you here in our home today, so that we may get to know you
better, as our Congressman and man chosen to be our voice in
government. And we are also excited for the opportunity to introduce
ourselves to you, so that you may know who we, your constituents are,
and so that you may understand our concerns as members of this
community and participants in this democracy. I hope this brief
history I will share with you helps you connect with us.
So who are the members of this congregation? The Syriac Orthodox
Church is one of the most ancient Christian Churches tracing its roots
to the Church of Antioch where Jesus’ disciples were first called
Christians, and Apostle Peter is believed to have established the
first church. Ethnically and historically, we are indigenous to
northern Iraq, southeast Turkey, northwest Iran, and northeast Syria,
a region encompassing what was in ancient times known as the Assyrian
empire and is often referred to as Mesopotamia, or the land between
the two rivers, and we are proud to say that we speak a dialect of
Aramaic, the language spoken by
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Abraham and his sons, and Jesus Christ. Due to the effects and
obstacles brought on by population growth, political shifts and
religious fanaticism, our community has evolved like many others and
today we have come to be known as the Syriac, Assyrian, Chaldean
people.
As modern day Assyrians/Syriac Chaldean people, we do not have our own
country, and those of our people that have managed to stay in the
homeland, today find themselves referred to as minorities in the land
of their forefathers. Our people are known to be a God fearing, peace
loving people, and have contributed to Middle Eastern society in a
positive way over the years. But, after years of being the target of
religious fanaticism, many have fled the ancient homeland, and sought
refuge in the diaspora in the hopes of providing safety and stability
to their children and their families.
Today, The United States constitutes the largest population of
Assyrian Christians in the diaspora. Our people first started arriving
in Western New York in the late 19th century, after the Christian
massacre in Diyarbakir, Turkey. We witnessed another large influx of
immigrants after the Christian genocide in 1915 under the sword of the
Ottoman Turks, during which nearly 1 million Armenians and about
500,000 Assyrians were killed. As a result, many of our people left
Mardin, Midyat and other cities in Turkey and eventually settled in
parts of New York and New Jersey. But after visiting Long Island, it
was hard to resist its beautiful green pastures, and its relaxing
beaches. Eventually, a small group made their way out and settled
there, mainly in parts of Queens, and then later to Nassau County.
These immigrants worked hard, and became prominent entrepreneurs
mainly in the jewelry and garment industry, trades brought with them
from the old country, back in the early 70s. They built homes, grew
families and raised children who became lawyers, doctors, teachers,
business owners, and upstanding members in the community. Eventually,
in 1985, this growing community, now comprised of immigrants from
Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Jordan, became large enough to establish a
church where they could all congregate and meet regularly with other
Assyrian Americans to preserve their ancient culture and practice
their sacred religion. That church was named St. Peter’s Syriac
Orthodox Church. The community thrived and grew and after years of
careful planning an opportunity arose that allowed them to finally
purchase their own church. And in 2001, with the purchase of this
church in Hicksville that we are gathered in today, we became
permanent members of the Long Island community.
Over the years, our American born generation has begun to assimilate
into American society and is proud of its American nationality. But
this generation is also proud of its ancestral roots and works hard to
maintain a balance between its nationality and ethnic heritage. We
have always been grateful to our brave people living in our homeland
knowing that we rely on them to preserve our ancient culture and
language; they are the true torch bearers so to speak. God has somehow
given them the strength and courage to stay rooted in their homeland,
a feat many of us here could not achieve. And we have always feared
that without them, our dwindling culture would undoubtedly face
extinction, and our name and language that have survived for centuries
would merely be something people hear about in history books. For
centuries, it is our ethnic heritage and religion that have made us
seem like a threat to governments in the Middle East. Some have forced
us to stop speaking Aramaic in our homes with our children, forced us
to hide our crosses, and even forced us to change our names to
assimilate into their societies and forget where we came from. They
have even turned our century old churches to mosques, and some have
even become ashes, along with our ancient archaeological sites. This
cycle has been hammering away at our people to the point where they
have realized the need for a safe haven, a place in their ancestral
homeland that they can call their own again, where they can feel safe
and protected, and be who they are. But their voices in the Middle
East are being stifled, so we, their American brothers and sisters
must be their voice.
We have undertaken this duty to be their voice, not only as Christians
and members of this church, but also as human beings and defenders of
human, God given rights. Congressman, we attempted to voice our
concerns for our persecuted people outside the UN where we rallied for
our people back in August. We also voiced our concerns when we wrote
to your office pleading for humanitarian aid and help in stopping the
barbaric acts of terrorism. And we were so grateful when you replied
both to our invitation to the UN rally and reached out to meet with us
here at our church today. And now that you are here, and willing to
build a relationship with us, we want you to know that our people need
help, they are asking for their home back. We need a safe haven for
them, in our ancient ancestral land, the Nineveh plains, under the
protection of the United Nations so that we can break the cycle of
constant persecution threatening our existence for too long. Thank you
for giving me the opportunity to acquaint you with our community
today. It is our sincere hope that our voices will be heard on behalf
of our persecuted community, namely the hundreds of thousands of
displaced men, women, and children suffering at the hands of ISIS
today.
Thank you.