It makes us, the Christians living in Turkey, very sad that Kurds who are the eternal enemy and murderer of Anatolian Christians and the Christians living in Mesopotamia, recently migrating to Europe intensively and presenting themselves as "oppressed", obtains both financial and moral support from some so-called Christian organizations and politicians.
Especially the participation of some European Christian parliamentarians to the campaign initiated under the name of "Peace Train" made us extremely sorry.
By this occasion, we think that it is just time for some historical facts to be known by the Christian public opinion of Europe.
Today, we wonder whether the Christian organizations and party leaders, those "supporters" of the Kurdish people who organized themselves in nearly every city of Europe under different names and especially the PKK, know that the Kurds were the real murderers of the Christians living in Anatolia and Mesopotamia. If they do not know this fact yet, we would like to explain them briefly:
It is a known fact that Syriacs, Nestourians (Assyrians), Chaldeans and Armenians who were the first Christians were subjected to the genocide between 1820-1920 by Kurds, and thousands of Christians lost their lives, and hundreds of churches were destroyed in those massacres.
Just to give an example, the massacre of more than 10.000 Syriacs and Nestourian (Assyrian) Christians by the Kurdish "Emir" (Ruler) of Jazire, Bedir Khan, in 1840’s, was documented. (William Eagleton, Mehabad Kürt Cumhuriyeti 1946 [ The Mehabad Kurdish Republic of 1946] , Translation by M. Emin Bozarslan, İstanbul 1976, p. 27)
At the same period, in a communiqué released by the Armenian Archbishop Peter Matteos dated December 9, 1847 to all Armenian churches, it was said that "Armenia had turned out a ruin in the hands of the cruel despotism of Kurds for ages, and Armenian people were the victims of these vicious Kurds like a prey. (Avedis Berberian, Badmoutiun Hayots [ Armenians History] , İstanbul 1871, as quoted in Garo Sasuni, Kürt Ulusal Hareketleri ve 15.Yüzyıldan Günümüze Ermeni Kürt İlişkileri [ The Kurdish National Movements and the Armenian-Kurdish Relations Since 15th Century to Our Day] , İstanbul 1992, p. 84, 85)
The İstanbul Armenian Patriarchate presented 529 reports of complaint during 1860-1870 period to Ottoman Administration about the oppressions and savageries of Kurds against the Christians.
Article 16 of the San Stefanos Treaty (March 5, 1878) and Article 61 of the Berlin Treaty (July 13, 1878) are the vivid examples of the genocide perpetrated by the Kurds against the Christian Armenian people.
Article 61 of the Berlin Treaty is as follows:
"The Ottoman Government undertakes to implement with no further loss of time the necessary regional reforms in the Eastern provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and promises to protect them against the Circassians and Kurds. The Ottoman Government shall inform the Great Powers at regular intervals about the steps which she has taken along these lines. The Great Powers shall be entitled to supervise the implementation of these measures." (Berlin Kongresi, Hicri 1298, Matbaa-yı Amire, p. 271; Prof. Dr. Enver Ziya Karal, Armenian Question (1878-1923), Ankara 1975, p. 10)
As it is seen, upon the demand of France, England, Germany and Russia, "Babıali" (the Ottoman Porte) undertook to protect the security of Armenians against the oppressions of Kurds, and the said States promised to watch the implementations of these measures.
Later, the Kurdish cruelties against the Christians has become more intense. Garo Sasuni mentions his opinion about this issue as follows: "To say the truth, all the genocide in Armenian provinces are perpetrated by the Kurds. During the massacres, about 300.000 Armenians have been killed. Kurds became reactionist element who was not in any way a friendly nation to the Armenians" (Garo Sasuni, op. cit., p. 124-125)
It has also been documented that between 1914-1918, 100.000 Syriac, Nestourian and Chaldean Christians were murdered viciously by the Kurds in Diyarbakır, Mardin, Urfa and Bitlis provinces. (Hori Süleyman Hinno, Farman Tur-Abdinli Süryanilerin 1914-1915 Katliamı [ Firman of the Massacre of the Syriacs of Tur-Abdin Region 1914-1915] , Athens, 1993 p. 14,15)
All of these are just a few example of what history tells us.
Today, the point of view of Kurds with regard to the Christians is the same as before, too. The known character of the Kurd has never changed.
It is known that the PKK since 1984 in the South Anatolian region killed so many Christians, expelled thousands of families, and kidnapping the Christian young men, used them in the terrorist activities. The PKK continues the same tactic in the Northern Iraq.
The PKK, and in general, the Kurdish organizations and politicians consider the Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia regions and the Northern Iraq where Armenians, Syriacs, Nestourian and Chaldean Christians live as "Kurdistan", and distribute the maps of the said region in which they claim they would establish a state. They also deny the identities of the Christian people living in the mentioned areas as they do deny the identity of their territories. They call them as "Christian Kurds" or only "Kurdistani people".
While all these developments occur, in Europe, which is considered as the center of the Christian World, the Christian murderer Kurds are exalted by some so-called Christian governments, parties and organizations. We certainly do not understand that.
It is very clear that every support given to the Kurd means a bullet to the Christian entity in Anatolia and Northern Iraq. If that support continues, it is certain that the first Christian peoples on the sacred Mesopotamian territories will be vanished by the Kurds, and erased from the history in the near future.
If the problem is a "problem of identity", the identities of the Christian Syriacs and Nestourian (Assyrian) peoples must be the real problem for the Christian Europeans, and, above all, the Kurds should be called to explain the genocide perpetrated by them on the Christians for ages.
We call the Christian public opinion to be more sensitive to, and to pose a clear stand against the Kurdish terrorist organizations.